53 Chevy rebuild

[klink]

I bought this truck in 1986. Back then it was my every day driver. It was all original and blue at that time. I painted it yellow shortly after I bought it, lowered the front and drove the wheels off of it. In 1988 the 235 gave up the ghost.

So I did what everyone was doing at that time... I subframed it... I used a 68 Camaro subframe and a rear from a 70 Camaro. It was slammed and had more power... I loved it. 15 years ago I re-did it. The older version of me hated it... it drove and rode awful but it looked good. 4 years ago the 350 in it chewed up a off brand roller tipped rocker, push rod and lifter. I replaced the bad parts and continued driving it. It still runs all these years later but it starts hard and really doesn't run all that well.

A few weeks ago I found an original chassis. Not sure of the year because most of what I was told about it has been wrong. The 235 in it is a 54. The head is a 261 from 56. My plan is to rebuild it and put a Tremec TKX 5 speed behind it. I've ordered some suspension parts and will only be dropping it 3 inches. I want to enjoy it so I'm not going crazy with any aspect of it.

 

[Burgerman]

Very cool. Keep those photos coming.

 

[lowbudget50]

Very cool story with the truck!!! I'm going to get my 50 back on the road this spring!¡! Glad to see you didtch the stub, I have never liked that approach. Mustang 2 is my route of choice. Or crown Vic, I found a guy who builds custom width cross members for the crown Vic stuff. Uses all stock arms but ditches the wide aluminum center section. I'll be keeping an eye on this one!!

 

[zzrodder]

Great story and good score on the chassis. The Camaro sub was the thing to do at the time but they're so out of step with todays builds. Have you thought of doing an axle flip and C notch to get the front down? [cl[cl[P

 

[bob w]

You've had a long term love affair with your truck. Glad to see you ar bringing it back for another encore. Enjoy. We'll watch your progress.

 

[smallfoot]

I'm in...[cl[P[P[P

 

[klink]

Great story and good score on the chassis. The Camaro sub was the thing to do at the time but they're so out of step with todays builds. Have you thought of doing an axle flip and C notch to get the front down? [cl[cl[P

I have... recently my wife and I were talking about the truck when we first got it and that's the version I'm going for, only this time I have a little more disposable income to devote to it.

 

[klink]

Stripped the chassis down to just the frame, or mostly frame. Now I'm going to wire wheel it and apply some "rust paint".

 

[Flipper_1938]

It's not too late to go S10. You could have the low look and a decent ride. Not sure how hard it is to put an inline in a s10 though.

 

[DozerII]

Cool back story on the truck I will be following along. [P[P

 

[BillM]

I agree with Dozer - love the story and I'll be watching as well.

 

[klink]

painful progress

I've been working on this, it's just been tedious slow moving work. I scrubbed the frame and wire wheeled it to get it ready for Eastwood encapsulater paint. It really was a slow process. I also moved the shock mounts inboard while getting it ready to paint. I used Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator Plus on the frame then covered that with Eastwoods black epoxy primer. After this process I cleaned up the shop. A good friend allowed me to store my '30 Chevy project in his barn.

The frame was pretty typical of a truck project from someone else... the rear frame section was rattle canned 20 years ago, the section under the cab had never been touched and the front section looked REALLY good. While wire wheeling it paint on the front section started flaking off in alarmingly large chunks.... so at first I thought poor preparation. So I got out a scraper and realized it was a problem with SILICON... a lot of the shiny frame paint just flaked off while scrapping, but some of it was adhered really well. It was when I started to apply the encapsulator that I realized there was an issue... FISH EYES... so I cleaned that area fairly thoroughly. Now it's ready for the final frame color layer. Semi Gloss Black.

I hopefully have a multitude of parts showing up this week so I should be able to create the illusion of progress....

 

[bob w]

Remember, it is a labor of love. It'll be worth the effort. You are treating that truck right.

 

[soltz]

Progress is Progress, it all good [ [cl

 

[klink]

Remember, it is a labor of love. It'll be worth the effort. You are treating that truck right.

Bob, it is a labor of love... I'm also finding out my body doesn't like laying on the concrete and more importantly it doesn't like getting up.... is that the labor you are referring to??? LOL

Progress is Progress, it all good [ [cl

the
"paint prep" progress was good, but I didn't get "lost" in the work... but it had to be done. I was a "bachelor" last week so it was a good way to spend my time...

 

[lowbudget50]

It is a labor of love that's for sure! Keep it up

 

[kenny c]

Looks like nice progress.[cl[cl[P

 

[Couper]

Very Nice![cl[cl[cl

 

[Old Iron]

It's always worth cleaning and painting the frame before assembly.
I might be a bit lazy but, I take mine to the sand blasters for the cleanup.

 

[lowbudget50]

It's always worth cleaning and painting the frame before assembly.
I might be a bit lazy but, I take mine to the sand blasters for the cleanup.

Agreed. I have them blasted. No mess in my shop hahahaha