Troysters 39 Chevy

Well Im finally gettin round to makin a build thread. Between work and coaching little league the days seem to run together. Anyways, I have had the cab in the shop for a while now and have worked on it here and there. Have gotten the inside panels and dash removed. Got in a whole day yesterday. The floor and rear cab wall was in pretty bad shape, someone had cut the bottom corners to fit it on an S10 frame. Built a tubing frame last weekend to get it up off the floor and easier to move around. Braced the inside and cut the floor out yesterday. Reworked the front mounting plate shown in the last picture. Looking forward to all the help/advice that will be available.

I also have a few parts gathered up. A ford 9" rearend from the late 50s to early 70s group, the narrower one. A steering wheel and column out of a '65 chevy impala wagon. Have some 2x4x3/16 square tubing in the floor for the frame and a few other odds and ends. Have access to a '54 chevy front axle but not sure about it, any thoughts on using it? Would it be okay to use, where to get rebiuld parts? Thanks!

Looks like a great start. I hope you keep the fenders, it really makes those trucks look great. Being busy is hard, just keep plugging away. I do an hour here and there and I am making progress slowly.

Thanks for the build thread. Speedway has the parts to put discs on that axle
if that's what you want.

Nice lookin' PU... keep us posted!!! [dr

BoB

6" off the top please!!

To start off I want to give a nod to Mike S and his 40G as the reason I decided to take 6" out, I love the look of his truck. Hope mine turns out close to that. I just figured that since I've never done this why not dive in the deep end! Spent the whole weekend in the shop. Saturday morning I marked and measured and looked, then I wondered for a while. Notice in the pics I forgot the three inches below the rear window the first time. Im guessing the top of the drivers door was under some stress from the damage cause it moved a bunch when I cut it loose. Had to cut several reliefs on that side to get it to line up. Probably could have worked more on part of the fit but I think it went okay for the first one. Will get to learn some body work now. [

Pretty radical chop. It's gonna look wild when it's done.

Yep - radical. I like it!

And the journey begins!

Ah hah! I am glad to see you're getting started on your truck Troyster. There is no turning back now and so far it looks great! I really think 6" is the magic number for these cabs. Also, thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it.

chop

Like that chop. Looks cool. Always wanted to chop something just couldn't get the courage.

Finally got some time for something besides baseball. Regular season is over and my son made the all star team ([cl[cl[cl) so not done just yet.

Anyways, decided to cut out the damaged spot above drivers door because after hammering on it a bunch the curvature was wrong front to back. Cut that section out of another cab I have to use for pieces. Fit great and looks a lot better, just made a rookie mistake ( cause I am one) and cut the wrong mark on part of it. Slight gap to fill in! Have the front piece for repair also. Coming along slowly but surely!!

It's been a while but here's an update. My sons team finished third out of nine teams in the all star state tournament!
For the last three weekends I have managed at least a half day and one full day on my cab. Here are a couple of pictures of where I am at with it. I have learned quit a bit about the sheet metal side of body work. Tack it some and whack it some to help keep it straight. Still have a long ways to go but it feels more like it is going my way.

Troyster said:

.......Tack it some and whack it some to help keep it straight.

Click to expand...

THAT'S where I've been going wrong! I tend to "burn" it and "beat" it instead of tacking and whacking

Having the extra cab panels sure made your life easier [cl The truck is looking good! [P[P

Chop looks good. The worst part is getting started when putting it back together. Just getting the settings right on the welder at first so you don't end up spending more time filling holes than tacking it up! Keep up the nice work. [

Its been a while but heres some updates. I was really close to having the top welded up and I got a liitle ahead. Had a spot about as big around as a volleyball that buckeld in. Was frustrated to say the least. I have hammered on it several times, it goes up and back down, and have it down fairly small but can't get rid of the last bit of humps. Decided to move on and come back to it. Replaced the section below the rear window because I didn't like how many cuts I had in it. After some good advice from zzrodder and some other people I know it went really well. Buffing the tacks down in between rounds makes a big difference.

Got a front axle out of a 54 chevy truck a couple of weeks ago. To make a long story short I rode in the truck it came out of when I was very young. My dad drove it then and my uncle had it until a few years ago when I got it from him. Will work on it one of these days. Also got the holes in the fire wall welded up. Cut the tops of the doors to get a better visual of how short the roof is.

Any Chance I can get you to show me a picture of both sides of those slick clamps you made/used when you tack the sheet metal back together? I'm gonna have to get me some of those!!!

you can buy them at harbor freight real cheap

Thanks. Found them! going after a handfull this afternoon!

Troyster said:

Had a spot about as big around as a volleyball that buckeld in. Was frustrated to say the least. I have hammered on it several times, it goes up and back down, and have it down fairly small but can't get rid of the last bit of humps. .

Click to expand...

Hey, Its looking good! A trick I found if you have a spot "oil canning" on you is to apply pressure to keep it where you want it then strike a weld in the middle to heat it up this will expand the metal and stiffen it back up so it stops sucking the dent back in.