Projects 51 Chevy 3100 project

I put some POR-15 on the floor and sills. Top coated with some rustoleum satin black and hunter green (for a splash of color - haha).



Also put some POR-15 on that section of frame & master cylinder bracket while it was easy to access.

 

That's the color of my truck. Check out my thread "For the A.D. crowd"

 

jcmarz, I like the looks of your truck. My wife likes green and that's why I decided to put some on mine. I got some 15" rims with the truck I just picked up, and I'm thinking of putting green on them and using em for this one.
That's some nice work you did on yours.

 

So are you going to build the other one as well or make one good one out of both? That is the same thing I did, only I bought the second one, even though it was in worse shape, thinking it would be easier to fix the rust than someone's hack job. I don't know if I was right or not because I sold the original body after I bought the second one.

 

Well... that's a good question. I've been mulling that over in my head since I bought it. I probably won't make the final decision until I get the new one home and get a really good look at it. I do know the floor is in much better shape... And the bed too...

It seems a shame to abandon what I've done on this one, so I may just make it solid & drivable with future plans to fix the new one and eventually swap the cabs.

Or i could just put the new one back together and flip it to help fund this one...
Agh, too many options! But I need to get at least one going or my wife is going to get me certified and have me commited.

 

Got my first patch panel in - driver's side floor. Started cutting away the side cowl...
Feels good to get that first panel in. It gives me a little more confidence to forge ahead.



Tomorrow the other 51 arrives. I keep thinking that I should not have bought it. Money is tight, and I really didn't need it. My wife is really too supportive sometimes.

The new one is blue so I'm calling them "Black" & "Blue". I'll post some pictures of it soon.

 

Just got "Blue" delivered this evening. Father & son were really great individuals to deal with. Went the extra mile to make sure I got all the parts and even threw in the engine stand.

Cab & bed are not fastened and are just sitting on the frame. Lots of boxes of parts.







Going camping with the family for a few days so it will probably be next weekend before I can make any more progress.

 

sweeetness

 

Spent the weekend cleaning out the barn to make room for the extra truck parts. Had a good Toro self propelled push mower I decided to sell. Put it in the front yard with a sign - $150 obo. Well... I guess someone figured the best offer was zero because it disappeared. Dang, my wife and I could have really used that $150...

But I did spend a few hours the last couple of evenings bending brake lines. I got the rear wheel cylinders installed and rear brake lines run.

I was thinking of running the 15 inch rims & tires I got with Blue, but the rear axle I installed is about 2 inches wider than the original. Looking at the offset on these rims I'm not sure the tires will fit within the fenders. I think it will be close.

 

cant leave things in front of the house anymore ....

just makes you want to put a chain n lock on everything =/

 

Started tearing into the front end this weekend. I have a couple of like-new 5 leaf spring packs and shackles I picked up last summer off craigslist so I decided to install them. That should lower the front end a few inches. Springs had new bushings installed, but turns out my threaded pin that goes through the spring bushing is worn out. Figured I would just take one off the Blue 51, after all, that's what I bought it for!

But even though they were brand new, I spent about 40 minutes trying to get the pin out of the spring eye! Dang thing was rusted solid & wouldn't budge. Vice grips just kept slipping no matter how hard I clamped it on. I even took the torch to it hoping that would help break it loose - still no good. Previous owners must not have greased it sufficiently when they put it together. Oh well, I'll try the other side tomorrow if we don't get rained out.

 

Had a pretty good day on the old truck despite the rain (at one point we had 1/4 - 1/2 inch hail). Working around the periods of rain I managed to swap out the front spring packs, making sure to replace any worn out pins or bushings. Everything is all well greased and bolted back together. I figure this should lower it a couple inches in the front since the packs I put in only had 5 leaves.

Next is to pull the front drums, brakes, and backing plates and replace them with the ones I bought from a co-worker last summer. I really want to get all the brakes installed and plumbed before winter sets in.

 

I've been busy re-roofing my house so not much progress. Still hoping to finish plumbing the brakes before winter, though.

My wife asked me to uncover the trucks so she could get some pictures. Here's one.

 

Subcribed. Hows the build coming along?

 

Are you sure the wife didnt have some other reason for taking pics of the trucks??

 

Sorry, not much to report. Other life demands getting in the way and now winter has set in...
Haha - my wife has always supported my "old car" interest and is still behind me. Although she has questioned me a couple of times on my decision to get the second 51. But I've questioned myself about that one also.

I can't wait to get back at it again. It's going to be long winter.

 

Well, it's been a long winter! Lots of snow, and colder than average temps (just like the rest of the country I hear).

But finally most of the snow has melted, and we had a day that was sunny and in the 50s. So... on Sunday I started disconnecting the front axle from the Blue pickup I picked up last summer. Since the one under my builder has worn kingpins, bent tie rod, worn out brake hardware & lines, I figured I would just swap axles before picking up from where I left off in the Fall.

So not much to report yet, but at least I'm back at it!

 

Most of the snow has melted here in lower Michigan. Warm sunny days is usually my motivation
Keep us updated.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Good grief that is a lot of snow....I am so glad I dont have to mess with that crap....sorry, but sheesh.....

Get after it, you dont have an excuse now, haha!!

 

Just a great build. I'm constantly checking and making mental notes as I debate updating my stock 51-3600. Just looking at your T5 conversion and have a couple questions,,,what's the source transmission for your ebay shifter handle?

Also I may have missed it, but what did you use for the spacer needed to make the shifter a short throw?

Thanks in advance, RR

 

RR, sorry - there was no information on the source of the shifter other than the PO thought it probably came off a very large truck. The shaft was way to long for my application and actually had three bends (hard to see in the picture), and I cut it at the lowest bend and welded it to the ball end of the Camaro shifter. Red arrow shows where I cut the shaft.




For the short throw spacer I used a piece of my wife's cutting board (she wasn't particularly happy about that, but I did get permission first!). The cutting board was made of a hard rubber/plastic and was exactly 1/2 inch thick. I traced the mounting plate of the Camaro shifter to the cutting board and cut it out on my bandsaw (wood blade). Very easy to cut and drill. I made two and just doubled it up with red gasket sealer (same as I used when assembing the T5), and then also used the same sealer top & bottom when bolting to the tranny.
Time will tell whether it will hold up, but I'm thinking it will. If I ever notice a problem I'll just have one milled from aluminum or some such thing.

Hope this helps. Sorry I didn't document that before - I tend to forget the details.

 

Finally had some nice weather this weekend so I spent some time on the truck. On Saturday I removed both front axles from the 51s to do a swap. The truck I picked up last year already had the frame and running gear redone so using the front axle would give me new kingpins, a straight tie rod, new brakes & hardware.

On Sunday I got them swapped and also started in on the brake lines. I got the front lines completed and run back to the transmission crossmember. So one more line to run across to the MC, then another line from the MC to the rear axle to finish it up.

Looks pretty much the same, but it feels good to be making some more progress.

 

Nothing exciting, but I did finish running my brake lines.
Went to bench bleed the MC and was having a difficult time getting the air out of the one resevoir. When I pushed the piston in I could see the air would move through the tube, but when the piston was retracted the air would move back the other way almost the same amount. Very frustrating.

I thought my MC was supposed to have built in 10 psi check valves, but after searching on line I saw where others reported that sometimes the after market ones do not. Sure enough, when I checked mine (by inserting a thin wire into the brake line port) I discovered mine didn't have them.

I ordered a couple of inline check valves online and will hopefully finish up the brake system when they come in.

 

Is your flexible brake line twisted? From the pictures the lay line gives that impression. If it is twisted then it may kink when turning the truck. I hope it is just optical illusions. Looking good. At least you are getting some work done on your truck. Mine is just sitting. Between work, the other job, and other commitments, I don't have much time to touch it. Keep going and make me look bad, HA HA.
Mark

 

Been forever since I've posted, but I am making some progress on the old truck.
Daughter is home for the summer before starting grad school so I roped her into helping me install the rear window. Bought new rubber and used the glass that came with the blue parts truck. Window is slightly fogged but really not bad (and it's not broken!).

Placed the rubber on the truck and cut to fit.


Installed glass in rubber seal using the string & soap method. This is where I used the help of my daughter - her inside helping to hold the glass while I worked the string. Unfortunately, the string we used kept breaking so that was a pain in the butt! But we got it in.


Next I had to use a little creative engineering to replicate the installation tool for the rubber lock strip. Here is a picture of the tools I used. (I bent a finishing nail to form the tool)


And here is a pic of how the tool was used to install the rubber. Lots of soap helped the tool slide!


And the finished product. Thanks to my daughter for helping out - I couldn't have done it by myself.


I also finished up the drivers side inner to outer & cowl patch panels. I will post pictures of that later.

 

Looks great! Nice tool you made.

 

Started working on the driver's side cowl section last summer. I made a sheet for the kick panel and got that in. Nothing fancy but it fills the space. Also finished removing the old outer cowl piece that was still spot welded to the door/hinge mounting metal thingy (can't remember what that is called right now!)


Test fit of the inner to outer patch panel and the outer cowl section showed there was a lot of tweaking to be done.


To get the inner to outer cowl section to fit better I wedged it between a tree and one of it's branches and twisted the heck out of it. Sounds weird but that made it fit 50% better. I then had to remove a wedge of about 1/8 inch and weld that back up because it was just too wide in the lower section. Here is a picture of the section I took out (not sure how hard it is to see in the pic...).


Then after a little more cutting and re-welding on the upper section I was happy with the inner to outer cowl piece. After that the outer cowl patch fit well and was a pretty straight forward installation. Here it is spot welded in place.


During this process I also removed the emergency brake unit from the blue parts truck (mine was missing), wire brushed, and POR15'd it. That is all set to go in as soon as I get the rubber seal & retaining plate (on order) where the lever goes through the floor.

I finished the seam and gave the panel a couple of coats of paint - first coat of hunter green and a second one of satin black. I don't have a pic of that but will post one soon.

 

I kept going back on forth on whether I should address the rear cab corner at this time. I really want to get the gas tank in and take it for a test drive, but I know those corners need to be fixed and I didn't want to have to work around the tank or take it back out. Sooooo... I decided to just go for it. After all, how hard can it be compared to the front cowl section! haha
Here is what I started with. It had been patched at least one time previously.


And this shows what I'm dealing with underneath!


I'm hoping I can get both cab corners done (this is the worse of the two), and the tank back in before Fall. We'll see...

 

Here is a pic of the finished left cowl section.
Best part on the whole truck now... eh eh

 

The last couple of days in the evening I've been screwing around getting my parking brake linkage all hooked up. I don't know why I bothered with the original setup - I should have just gone to the pick-n-pull and grabbed one from an S10 or something. It would have been much cleaner looking.

I have a week off from work so I'm hoping to make some progress with the rear cab corners. Of course, I'll need to work around a 3-4 day camping trip with the family so we'll see...