Man that sbc looks small in that engine compartment! lol Thats one of the things I love about the old trucks, plenty of room to stuff whatever under the hood. Hell when I put the 429 in my '56 F100 it seemed as if I could stand in there and work on it.
Dubie, looks like you're on your way to a nice truck. 55-59 chevy trucks are my favorite body. keep up the good work, and have fun doing it.
yeah the engine does look small in there. I was surprised at jus how much room is left under the hood. It'll fill up when I mount the hood hinges, battery, Rad, hoses, wiring, plus the carb, air cleaner etc.... the only thing that keeps holding me back is parts. I spend more time waiting for parts to arrive than anything. I bought a parts truck in the spring and robbed a ton of good stuff off of it, but some 60 year old parts you don't want to re-use Thanks for checking in guys. I plan on driving this bitch this summer so I'm starting to haul some serious ass
Looks likes it's really coming along, it looks great! What paint did you use on the frame? Almost looks like a "hammered" finish
it is a hammered finish. I cleaned it up with a wire wheel and wiped it all down with alcohol. I brushed on 2 coats of Tremclad satin black and while the 2nd coat was still tacky I sprayed a coat of silver Tremclad to give it that hammered look.
rust repair, under coating and a little painting got done this weekend. By the end of this week I plan on being done all the sheet metal welding and the body can start being hung on the frame. I dug out a few license plates I had saved from cars and trucks I have previously owned and decided to rivet them onto the ceiling of the cab, right above the wind shield, just for that extra personal touch
it's alive and well up here. My wife and I head up the Rock City Kruisers car club and right now we have 28 active members. The rodders between here and The Pas is in great numbers now.
My Rebel wiring harness just showed up last night. It looks to be a really well built kit with very detailed instruction for us wiring newbs. Thanks to Tugmaster (Todd) for the great service, I recommend him to everyone.
this weekend was all about the rust repair. The step side fender both had some rust in the same place, right where it meets the step up. Someone had body filled the holes previously so I wanted to make sure that all came out and new metal went in. Also, both fenders were split in the same place on the back end. Obviously it hot something at some point in it's life time and nobody could be bothered to fix it. The passenger side fender had a crease just under the upper body line that ran into the wheel well edge. After some work with a mallet and a couple pieces of 2x6 spruce, it's all straightened out. With having this entire week off of work, I anticipate a lot of progress happening. But now I can at least bolt the fenders back on and get the bed mounted. The one big patch that was welded in was done with flux core wire. I ran out of gas shielded after my 2nd tack. SO I pounded the edges in by 1/16" just in case my welding was a bit sloppy. It gives me a little room to work the body filler afterwards. The front fender is is where I found the bondo abuse. Lots and lots of filler
A bit more progress. The last of the rust has been cut out and replaced with new metal. my hot rod hottie wife was out in the shop with me the entire time. SHe even took on a few tack welds on the front fender. Then she took after the gauge cluster and took it apart, cleaned, painted and re-assembled. And the Rebel wiring harness has started getting installed. The fuse box is mounted and all the wires are run to their future homes. Oh, and we finally got the cab mounted permanently on a new set of cab mounts. I was putting it off because one of the previous owners welded the old cab mount bolt to the cab support so I had to cut the support out and rebuild it with a big washer and some sheet metal
sound deadening, and wiring along with some door panels were on the docket for these past few days. The material I got for the seat was to small so it's now being used for door panels and the headliner.
I haven't updated this in a couple months so I figured I'd get everyone caught up. The progress slowed as the snow melted and we could get to our landscaping. We built a house 2 years ago and are now at that point of making something out of the huge back yard we have. But here's where we're at with this shop truck build. All the wiring for the engine, headlights and cab is done. We just have to wire in the tail lights and brake switch. The engine will be getting the finalizing touches this week with fuel line, coolant lines, carb, plugs , wires exhaust manifolds etc.... I also welded up some tubs for the box and made up an upper rad support for this aftermarket rad. My wife carpeted the cab and made a seat cover from an old blanket that my folks had kicking around their cottage. So we're almost ready to turn the key on this new engine
here's a shot of how the truck sits now that the right tires are mounted. You can get a sneak peak at the headliner the wife stitched up for it as well. She did an amazing job for someone with limited sewing experience
I go the tubs welded in last night. Tonight I'll be installing some tail lights, running the fuel line, and possibly helping the wife install the head liner
FINALLY some updates! It is looking good, I dig the headliner... I guess I got spoiled when I worked at the upholstery shop, all of my stuff cost between the seat, sun visors, and head liner about $450 and my time. Your wife took care of it and I am sure wasn't out much time or materials and it looks pretty good! Are you going with an oak bed or what?
I'm using black oak hardwood for the bed wood. It has a satin finish but I'm going to sand it and apply 3 good coats of lacquer over top. The stitching took the wife about 5 hours in total and a material cost of about $50 in vinyl. The blanket was a whopping $4 so it didn't break the bank.
Man I dig that profile! Chevy really nailed it with the later '55-'57 body style. Even though I'm a diehard Ford guy I've liked this body style for decades and if I found a 55-57 Chebbie pickup I do believe I'd be all over it. 'Course I would have to a put a hot 409 an 4 speed in it.
it's finally progressing along nicely. We hope to fire this new engine over the weekend and break in the cam in.
WE have power!!!! I checked all my electrical connections last night and besides running into a ad ground on the one headlight, everything works. I even bumped the starter to make sure it was all hooked up right. A shout out to fellow Hamber 1959Apache for assisting me with the wiring for the light and ignition switch, tanks again bud. I'll post a couple pictures tonight
The Jalopy Journal
