Projects Building a 57 Chevy Shop Truck

I almost forgot how much fun it is chasing a 1/16 of an inch side to side of a 600 pound block of steel, but I've almost got it were I want it, just need to bring it forward a 1/4 of an inch without losing that centerline.
It's as high as I can go without the trans contacting the floor and I like to have an inch behind an hei distributor, even though I'll run a small cap. The theory in that is that a big block should drop in on the same mounts and have passenger side valve cover clearance if I decide to do so in the future.
I raised the engine 2 inches and the trans 1.5 inches from yesterday, carb pad at zero level to the ground, I think I can live with this.

 

Swade there was a guy East of you in Mass that had a bunch of stuff on CL. I got some stuff from him but I took the road trip. If you find anything here near the city I’ll be glad to get it if they won’t ship.

 

Your building a fine push truck.

 

Thank you for that offer

I have always wanted to visit the salt


----------

I almost pulled the front clip off today to be able to drill the holes in the frame for the engine mount but that would be a can of worms. I'm sure I would've started cleaning the frame and painting it which would lead to repainting the firewall etc etc. trying to keep on track with the project order.
So instead I leaned way over the grill, practly standing on my head, to get the front bottom bolts drilled with the 3/8's bit. That doesn't work great because of my weak blood flow, then there's the pacemaker sticking up in the way that I'm afraid to bump.
So for the front upper two I climbed my to old, to broken down ass over into the engine bay pretending to be the radiator and 30 yrs younger, but got it done. Now the real trick will be getting the back 4 bolts drilled, maybe I should invest in a right angle drill, wonder what home depot has to offer. Hhmmm

 

Can you make a small pilot holes, then drill through from outside the frame?

 

Swade, why not from underneath?

 

A smart guy would think to make a bolt hole template to use on the other side of the frame, of course I was a little late thinking of that one. You know how this stuff is, afraid to touch anything once you have it all where you want it, I'm afraid it would move jacking the truck up to get under it and I don't trust myself getting the pilot hole perfectly in the center to drill from the opposite side.
I'm going to head out there after lunch and weigh my options on what's the easiest.

 

Transfer punch the mount holes then center punch them

 

yes / what Budget 36 said.
Then use a stepped reamer bit. and lots of tap eaz- I use that stuff for drilling lubricant to - especially in hardened steel.

 

A 90 deg drill is always handy. I even have one of these kits at work, but it only has a few sizes.

 

I ended up jacking it up just enough to have a tight fit going under, so tight that on the way out it was peeling my sweat shirt up and making me get stuck...lol
The cordless drill is the only thing that would fit in the space and I only have one battery and of course it petered out on the second of the 4 holes and I had to wiggle back out.
So the next time I went under I slid the charger under, an extra trouble light, ratchet and wrench, the bolts, a leverage stick, plus the other stuff that was already under there, looked like Sandford & Son junk pile stacked up. Got them done, so off to the transmission side to get that mount in, after my back recuperates a little, should be easier needing only 3 holes per side drilled straight up.

 

You want the motor to favor the passenger side about an inch or so.. That way you balance the weight. The drivers side is heavier with the steering box, wheel, column, pedals, instrument panel, brake booster, master cyl, etc..

 

A 409 would really fill that cavernous hole nicely, just sayin: )

 

If I didn't have that crossram it would've got a big block for the torque factor, I was even considering a 455 Olds or Buick since I've had those in the past and they are torque kings.
I have an extra big block Chevy tunnel ram that I would've used if I went that route and plenty of vintage valve covers as well



but I'm happy with this small block, be happier when I get it built.



Today I decided to try a hood bird, then got carried away...lol take flight baby !



That's all I did on the truck, I hauled a 26,000 mile cream puff for a friend



And got a parts delivery from another friend in his 85,000 mile deuce, that he racked up all himself

 

In and done, it takes me a little longer but I'm still getting it done, my garage floor has a 4 degree pitch so that carb pad is right on the money, the ol truck and me can rest easy with it's first ever V8 swap.

 

I have to say the front one would be my pick and the one behind would be my second choice

 

Poor little mouse looks lost, almost enough room for 2 in there. Damn! Nice collection of ornaments

 

Little better view of those center ones


Could do a plane or a chief



Found these today, sure adds weight to the hood, probably wouldn't stay up.

 

Could do a V-twin V8..ha ha

I had called my 85 1/2 year old mom today back in Missouri to just check in with her and she ask what I had been up to, so I told her about setting up the 57's first V8. She instantly got a little excited and told me that she was glad to hear that because that 6 cyl in the old black cherry 59 (a truck we owned from the late 70's through the mid 80's) had something wrong with it !
I said well it used oil and smoked, she said she didn't remember that but remembered the time we took it to the lake and it barely made it up that one hill, it just didn't have any power Philip, I thought we were going to go backwards with my foot plumb on the floor giving it the gas ! A 40 yr old story that I had totally forgot about but she remembered clearly and was glad I wasn't going to experience the same thing...lol

 

That chief does look cool!

 

From Hero



To zero....ugh

 

Lol. Nothing a set of rubber band tires won’t clear.

 

That sucks donkey dong!

 

Yup, these tires are about a 1/2 inch shorter and a couple inches narrower than the 215/70/15 tires I have that are the intended tires for it.
I do have another set of fenderwell headers I'll try tomorrow, they don't look as good as these do in tube layout, I really liked those Mr. Gasket's.
Here's the ones I'll try tomorrow

 

About 3" - 4" engine set back ? Are the mounts bolted in?

 

Ha ha, pull the reigns back, nothing crazy with this build, it's just a shop truck.
I had the passenger inner fender panel all marked out to where the collector was going to pass through, took a bit to figure it out, I kept saying to myself to test fit the header first even though the tape on that side said it would work. I'm glad I did the extra work of pulling the front clip off and testing them before cutting that hole.

 

The was another post about the fender well header issue, he's in Hawaii......and it's a BBC I think.

 

Yes, I followed his build, those are the same headers I run on two other cars, I really wanted these headers because of how they exit straight out of the engine before merging in the middle.
These would fill that engine bay up and just look more legit as a performance piece, the others I have just look cheap to me without thought of equal length tubes or anything.
It's 8 a.m. and I just finished breakfast, I'll go check those others as soon as my body cooperates, my afternoon is shot with a couple doctor's appointments so morning antics it is.

 

Well that was a bust, these hit the steering box



I went as far as getting out the tire spoons and mounting my tires ( which turned out to be 205/70/15 ) to get a look with the first set of headers. As I expected, more interference with the greater backspace and a shorter turning radius, plus they are an inch taller.

 

^^^^^ Mock up without headers in place! Been there as well.