54 Studebaker build. Where do I go from here? Seriously.

I am curious as to where you would start...drive train? body? wiring? suspension? I'm 42 years young and just picked up this 54 Studebaker project that was in a barn in the back of the pix. (thank you Craigslist). I can weld and am good with wood and am very creative. I'm pumped about this project. I also have an 8 year old son that i hope will enjoy this with me as long as i can be patient. It has a 400sbc, with 350 turbo. It is a 54 3/4 ton 3r5 with a 49 2r front straight axle fitted with 76 caprice rotors and hubs. No calipers or brackets yet. It needs: wood floors, lights, front axle moved forward, radiator, grill, ignition wiring (donor car or new??), the box needs moved up and leveled. The cab is welded solid. all glass is in the truck. Has brand new rubber. And it's now mine for $1,800. I think i was blessed. Please feel free to give me some pointers. I'll start searching the forums...I want to move the front axle to the front another 14". This will put the front shackle at the front of the frame. I am going to have to put in a knuckle and lengthen the steering shaft. Any pointers on that? I plan on keeping the leafs for now. by moving the steering box in front of the engine mount, i can put hugger headers on it... or do I go with headers like it has on it that are junk...they are poorly welded and i am junking them. Let me know what you all think of this project please. Thanks.... and where do i start? Wise men learn from others' mistakes...Let me know if you want any specific pix as we go. This build thread will be good to keep me going! Thanks everyone!

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check out my dodge truck build, l picked one place to start and tried to go one at a time to tackle the rest of the stuff ya have to do on projects of this magnitude.

budget is also a factor, when l did not have the funds for or got stuck for parts, l cleaned up the parts l had, made list of what l needed and did a lot of the tedious little things that always pop up.

best thing l found is do inventory of what you, a list of what you need and a "to do" list of everything the vehicle needs.

then as l finish the "to do" list l cross off those things that have finished, it helps keep track of where you are & keeps you from getting disappointed that nothing is getting done when you can look at the list and see progress.

patience is a must, most of these project take at least a year.


please keep us updated, father/son builds are near and dear to my heart.

Later

You want opinions, so here's mine, take it for what it's worth, about .02.

Those trucks look best with the front sheet metal on them. You start extending the front wheel base and using a narrow grill shell and they start looking cartoonish.

It sits low, and looks good that low, but it's channeled too much. Looks like you'd have to sit on the floor, and the steering wheel would be touching your legs, not very comfortable. And the wheel is too far from the dash, again, it looks as though it would be in your lap. I would raise the cab about half of what it's channeled now, that way you would still sit pretty low and gain some inside room. Any more lowering I would do on the suspension.

As to the headers, That set looks like it fits pretty good, maybe you could copy them with new tubing.

Wiring---I would buy one of the pre fab wiring kits, makes the job much simpler and easier. I put a 18 circuit Speedway Motors harness in my car, you probably won't want as many circuits as I did, so their 8 circuit might work better for you. It will cover the basics, you can always add circuits later on if needed.

Just some suggestions, take them or leave them.............

all tips well taken. I really like the to do list. I tell my wife to make them for me...i know, sounds backwards, but then I can check off what i've done and it brightens the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have to put a seat in the cab to check out the headroom. It does look a bit too channeled. The steering wheel is just hanging there. It will be adjusted when i put in the new knuckled steering shaft (which i've not yet investigated on how i'm going to do). The headers may work with new tube, good point.
I don't have any other front metal, and really am desiring an open engine look. I do have the hood and was considering using part of it above the firewall area. Not really sure yet. need to look at some more pix of others.

I would like to have this somewhat completed within a year. I'm just wondering if it's best to start in certain areas.

Thanks again you guys.

Keep them coming!

Here's my 1-1/2 cents. Before you get too far down the road, mock it up a few times and take pictures. Move the front axle around, move the cab up and down, move the ride height and take pictures each time so you can compare them side by side until you find a combination that has the look you want.

I write down all the critical measurements for each setup so I can recreate it.

It looks like you have a lot of room to be creative. Have fun and Keep that "Pumped Up" motivation!

Just did a Google search on '54 Studebaker pickups and didn't see any I particularly liked. Most were either bone stock or lowered, chopped, etc. It really depends on what YOU want it to look like when finished. Look at pics of other peoples ideas, do mockups like Paul J said, and poke around this website! There are some incredible builds. Here's my (goofy) take:

Agreed the front suspension could move forward. Up to you how far. I happen to LOVE the way the body and the bed sit on it, but I am a rakish proponent. The stock rear fenders are some REALLY FAT and wide ones, so fill it full of tire if you put them on. Fenderless would be fine too, but BIG tires.

As for the front, I am not sure what to do. If you want an open engine look, you could use just the center (raised) section of the stock hood or make your own, and maybe some tear drop shaped fenders, motorcycle, or half fenders. As for the grille, there are some really neat '20-30s Stude upright grilles that would look cool, with some old school headlights mounted. I think the best looking (to my eye) front end I saw on Google was one without a bumper and lowered. might have even been shortened under the grille, not sure.. Again, it depends what sort of look YOU want. Personally, I think it looks pretty darn good the way it is!

I get change back on my $.02! LOL

My first observation is that it will probably ride better without the cat between the axle and frame.....
I love the shape of these Studes and at first look, the placement of the cab and box is OK, yeah the box needs to be straightened out...
But, the wicked channel job is probably the reason the last guy gave up on it.... Put a chunk of plywood in it and try to sit in the cab and envision yourself actually driving it. Unless you are less than 4' tall, you'll never be able to work the pedals or steer it.
The best solution to this situation is to build a custom frame that is kicked up front and rear so the center part of the frame is dropped down, giving you back your interior space.
Option 2 would be to Z the frame you have, same objective. I agree with moving the axle forward - while you are at it, put the axle on top of the springs, this will effectively reduce the amount you need to Z the front of the frame by 4" by bringing the frame that much closer to the ground.
Looking forward to the build [P[P

You guys are an amazing wealth of help through your experience, wisdom, and past flops as I can imagine. This is really motivating to me. Part of being creative is combining many ideas together and making it your own. That is what I am going to do, and because of all of your ideas, i will have a lot of thinking and brainstorming and mocking up to do.
As far as the "cat" goes, i think he found a "rat" as i did, but is not really satisfied with it just yet...
Great idea on flipping the axle springs. I was going to do that on a C10 I had and sold it before I got to it. Makes sense.
I will definitely put a board in it with a seat even, and take a pix. The pix may be deceiving at this point. I will post my finding.
I do also like the rake...
I will check out the 20's and 30's grills. thanks for the tip.
I don't have rear fenders but will be on the search. They could be really cool but for now i agree...fat tires. Was thinking some old M/T 50's.
Thanks again everyone for your time. No opinions are wrong, and all are taken into consideration.

I think this is a tough body style to not use the front sheet metal. I would definitely search for the look you are after and do mock ups first. Get it looking like you want it to first, then move on the rest of the work. For me, an idea in my head looks great until I actually mock it up ~ then it either looks better or gives me that ( what in hell were you thinking feeling). Here's a couple of 50 Stude's I've had my eye on. The green one has a custom frame with vette suspension both front an rear, the other has the stock chassis boxed with a camaro clip.

Undercover Customs said:

I think this is a tough body style to not use the front sheet metal. I would definitely search for the look you are after and do mock ups first. Get it looking like you want it to first, then move on the rest of the work. For me, an idea in my head looks great until I actually mock it up ~ then it either looks better or gives me that ( what in hell were you thinking feeling). Here's a couple of 50 Stude's I've had my eye on. The green one has a custom frame with vette suspension both front an rear, the other has the stock chassis boxed with a camaro clip.

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These both look good to my eye, and I think a big part of it is that the front bumper is not mounted. For some reason putting the bumper on the front ruins the Studly Studebaker look.

Most of my opinions have already been voiced. So here's one, did you get a title? If not do that before you start anything else.

I am planning on not using any front sheet metal for two reasons. The first is that i don't have anything but the hood. The second is that i really want to do my best to make an open engine rat rod. I have been scouring the internet looking for the grill and radiator i want, but haven't had any revelation yet.
I did however get the spring packs unbolted and unriveted from the frame and slid the front axle moved to the front...about 14". It's in my shop yet so i haven't taken any photos until i get it tacked into place so i can roll it outside. Then i will take a pix and put it side by side with the stock placement.
Any suggestions on a grill??

Willowbilly3 said:

Most of my opinions have already been voiced. So here's one, did you get a title? If not do that before you start anything else.

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Thanks for the reminder!! I don't think it's too bad in iowa with a vin tag and bill of sale. It will be a long process any way, so i better get going now! Thanks again.

looks like you have a good start, finding the right grill may be a job with the wide frame rails. Probably will end up cutting one down to fit.

Un-channel it and hunt down some front sheet metal!

I love me some fenderless hot rods....but that cowl and firewall was meant to be hidden behind fenders.

Severly channeled cars are useless and generally unsafe (shortened brake pedals in order to kinda fit, knees hitting the dash (assuming you can actually get under the steering wheel), uncomfortable as hell to drive...etc).

If you are going to spend the time/money on it, you might as well make it driveable.

Blast through my build thread. It'll show you a good way to get the frame dropped and gain cab room. I'm running an open engine too, but it took a lot of fiddling around to get the proportions right so I thought it looked okay. I know some people still won't like mine, but I do and that's all that matters.

I'll continue to look through more builds. I've seen a few 54's with open engines. the firewall is going to be a challenge, and i agree it was meant to be covered by sheet metal, as were most trucks. I'm still going to figure out a way to create something that looks good (at least to my eyes). The pic I had with the steering wheel in it was deceiving. i played with it with boards across the frame and my seats in the cab and believe it or not I had plenty of leg room and head room. The top is not chopped and I have about 6 to 7 inches above my head.
I will try and get some more pictures soon with me sitting in it and also some pictures of the front end after I moved it forward 14 inches.
does anyone have any suggestions as how I can use the hood to tie into the front grill that I end up using? This will cover up part of a cowl and offers some rain protection over top of the engine and may pull it all together. Just a thought. I can cut the hood and narrow it but just not sure yet how to do it and make it work. Thank you

It will be hard to tell you how to use the hood with a front grill that you don't have yet. Find something that you like and then the process of mating the two can begin.
Head room shouldn't be an issue, what concerns most people here is the amount of the channel.
If you need to gain height for the steering wheel/column you can cut into the bottom of the dash to allow for more height. I would look carefully at the pedal postions and weather or not my knees hit the bottom of the dash when using them.
The advice on mocking up is sound as well. What you are trying to determine is wether or not this will be a vehicle that you can actually drive some where or just another poorly built and engineered "Rat Rod"...
You also need to start posting pics as it is very hard to give sound advice based on discriptions alone.
No one on this site will fault your vision of what you want as it is your truck to build how you choose.
We will however alert you to the fact that something appears to be unsafe or there is perhaps an easier way to achive what it is you want..
Just my 2 cents on a rainy Monday morning.......
Torchie.

Sometimes a little bit is more than enough

You don't have to forgo the engine bay all together to have an open engine hot rod.

Here are a couple builds on the site that are hood-less, If you were to go open sided, you could have that tease shot of the engine that would entice people to come over for another look.

My [Tripper's] '41 Ford PU build!


1956 F100 Angry Bird


-Chaz

54baker said:

I'll continue to look through more builds. I've seen a few 54's with open engines. the firewall is going to be a challenge, and i agree it was meant to be covered by sheet metal, as were most trucks. I'm still going to figure out a way to create something that looks good (at least to my eyes). ...

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You could "hide" or disguise the cowl with flat black paint, though I kinda like it myself. That's just me, probably. You could use part of the hood, that being the center "hump" and maybe trim down a stock front grille by sectioning out some of it to fit? Just kicking ideas around, good or indifferent... LOL