Inliners International Forums General Discussion Truck Talk New member with a 54 Chevy 3100

Just wanted to drop in and introduce myself to all the other truckers out there! My name is Graham and for my 23rd birthday, back in June 2013, I purchased myself a 1954 Chevy 3100 truck.



The truck HAD a 73-87 truck bed on it... took that off and sold it (put that money right back into the truck). The 235 thats in it, is coming out within the next few weeks (would need a rebuild and I dont have $$$ for that), and I'm swapping in a 1968 Chevy 230/250 that I'm getting off my friend from his 55'. Already swapped rear ends and transmissions/drive shafts. Other than that... lots of bodywork is happening, and working on a 53 bed to put on it.

Here's where its at right now...



Now to get the bed and fenders sandblasted and start working some dents/dings/rust out!

Hoping to have it road worthy by summer (maybe not complete... but driveable)

Nice truck. What transmission does it have? Rear axle ratio? Jay.

Welcome to Inliners! You'll like the drive train swap you are doing.

Love the truck. Keep up the good work.

BTW- Why couldn't you have just swapped fenders instead of the whole bed?

Thanks! And it now has the SM420, I didn't swap in an effort to increase driveability like a T5 tranny would, I swapped because I like floor shifts more that 3OTT's, and had this one available for free. Not building a highway flyer, but a backroads cruiser.



The bed that was on it was actually beat up pretty good (looked like someone put a few cinder blocks in it and whipped the truck around), and had a few rust throughs. The bed that I'm putting on it was in fairly decent shape and just needed the front panel repaired and everything sandblasted... plus I like the look of the angled bed rails vs flat. now if it had the original bed sides, I would have kept those. Switching to this current bed has been a LOT of work, but its all been experience!

This is my first project vehicle and I'm learning a ton, and loving every minute of it

Nice truck. I have a '53 that I've had for a long time. I love it. I hope you have as much fun with yours. Welcome, I hope you decide to join Inliners International. We need the new blood.

Thanks! I've been working on it for about 6 months now, so I'll be catching everyone up in the next few days... I feel like having a build thread will keep me motivated to keep progress coming.

And I definitely plan on joining Inliners officially, probably after my next paycheck

Jager, You'll have fun here. We're clean old men! I'd like to follow your build. If I actually get started on one of my projects I'll do the same. Beater

I love the look of the 54s and 55 1st, much more than the earlier versions. I do however prefer the flat bed rails. (Sorry, I'm just picky that way.)

Does it have a torque tube rear or has it been swapped?

To each his own! I love the grille of the 54/55 1st series... I chose this truck over a 47 5-window and the only thing I regret is that mine isn't a 5-window (which I will get one someday)! The 47 I looked at had a lot of frame rust-through... sad.

This HAD the torque tube, but I've switched it out to an open drive

Here you go, make it a 5 window cab. http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=C-1106J

I hope I'm not coming off too critical. I have 2 54's myself, one for parts, one for building. My projest(s) aren't nearly as complete as your are.

My trucks already have an open driveline, my builder is a 3600 truck and the parts truck is a 3800.

I'm going to swap out my 3 speed for a 4 speed also. Mainly because my shift linkages are messed up. I've thought about a T5, heck I've even bought one. I think I'm going to hang on to it for future use though.
http://s1074.photobucket.com/user/whited...565750676759221

http://s1074.photobucket.com/user/whited...653061180684628

I would totally make this a 5-window... but I'm trying to keep costs low on this build (as its my first one and i'm still in school)... One day I'll find one to fix up!

And no worries! Didn't think you were being critical at all! We all have our opinions on what our projects should be, which is why we have our own projects! I'm always up for hearing other people ideas!

The shift linkages are another reason I dropped that tranny and put in the SM420... if I do another project in the future (like a 5-window), I think I'll put a T5 in it for the driveability/highway use!

Okay... since I started this back in June, and just started this thread and got in-line with inliners, I have a bit to catch you up on... keep in mind this is my FIRST project, and budget is a little low. I may not do things the way everyone would do them, but we'll see how she turns out in the end!


Looks good back there! (there's a 1953 bed... for fixing up.)


Almost home...


Interior


Seats, and rubber floor mats out!


Little wire brushing done!


When I got it home it decided it didn't want to shift into 2 or 3, only Reverse and 1.

Pulled down the sagging headliners... I found that they weren't just old... They had a mouse nest up there!



New headliner put in (needs cleaned up a bit)



Made new door panels and got them on.


Most of the wood and some of the strips out


Bed is off, frame and everything pressure washed... Ready for rust removal and a little bit of fixin' up


Drove to Kentucky (about 3hrs one way) to pick these bad boys up. Got a screamin' deal on them (less than half the cost of new ones)


With having a 1954 Truck, but having a 47-53 bed, there are different bed floor supports (cross sills). So the past week or so I've been modifying the ones I have to fit my frame. One of the biggest things, are the different sized mounts for the rear cross sill. I took the old mounts, cut them up, rewelded them to the needed heights, and then welded them back on the cross sill.










Also put POR15 on the bottom of my running boards



Cutting the new wood floor for the bed.


Started with three 9inch wide, 10ft long boards, and two 12 inch wide, 8 foot long boards of Red Oak.
the three 9inch boards were previously finished so I'll be sanding those down and making all the boards identical

I had to rip the boards down to the proper widths.
Then I had to put grooves on the edges for the metal strips that hold the boards down in the bed. Used a Dado blade and made two cuts on each edge.



Here they are, laying on the bed cross sills (just checking to see how it'd look)



There will be more catching up to do later!

Ah! I was wondering how you got the bed and cross sills to line up.

With the T5, I made the mistake of buying a mid 90's S10 trans. It is a world class, but has wide gearing and electronic speedometer. The bad part about it is that it has a Ford front bolt pattern and a GM bearing retainer. I'm think an adapter for an early Jeep T4/T5 will do the trick though.

Yep... I used rubber cut to size to make any minor changes to the cross sill height, and then had to cut those rear cross sill mounts a bunch. Got them all just about level though!

I'll also have to move the angle strips too

I got the old axle housing and spring perches completely out


And got all the brake parts switched over to the new old axle housing


new rear end was put in, and bolted down along with new shocks in the rear (I'll have to snap a picture tomorrow... apparently i didn't take a picture.)

With the rear end in, I moved on to another project... the cab corners.
I wish I had taken a before picture...
The corners looked pretty decent other than one or two rust hols about the size of a quarter or half dollar... I took a wire wheel to it, and took off about 2/5 of an inch of Bondo... and got down to the bare metal... looked like swiss cheese!!!!

Got the bad metal cut out.... solid metal surrounding the area thankfully.


Cut down and fitted the reproduction cab corner


Tack welded the corner into place



Cab corner number two is nearly finished. Just needs a few spots filled in and a few spot welds along the sides made.

Here it is when I got the truck... didn't look too bad other than a small hole or two and a bad patch job.


Took a wire wheel to it... now THAT is one bad corner... previous owner riveted/screwed (yes... both) some real thin and malleable sheet metal to put bondo over.


Cut out all the bad and got a replacement cut and fit... held on by some welding clamps


Here it is all welded (well... mostly welded) into place


A week or so ago (sheesh... probably closer to three weeks now) we had a warmer day so I slapped on a thick layer of bondo over the cab corners I worked on. Yes, the cat is my helper and does a great job.


Got that sanded down last night... still needs a little more bondo to even one spot out, and a little more sanding to get it all smooth with the rest of the cab


Since the bed I'm putting on is CLOSE, but not the exact one that was on my truck when it rolled out of the factory, I have to re-position some things, change the height of cross sills, move the angle strips... and to move those, I had to remove the old (much easier said than done). All the little squares in the following picture are where it was spot welded to the bedside... later I ground those down.


Today, I started mocking up the bed, to make sure everything was going to work


Put a fender and running board on


Cut the wood down to the proper length, drilled holes for the bolts in the strips, layed them in the bed



Now to sand the wood, stain it, blast the bed sides down, fix up both rear fenders (major task), and then re-assemble and put it on the truck until ready for paint! I got the bug again after today and can't wait to keep the motivation rollin! But... you are all caught up now with whats been done since I bought the truck on 6/23/13

Nice progress. Keep it up.

A lot of progress! Have you swaped in the engine yet?

Not yet, I hope to have that done within the next week though.

Progress looks good.:)

But, it looks like Bondo cat does not approve!

only because I put WAY too much of the stuff on... sanded 7/8ths of that off!

I thought it was because you used Bondo with cat whiskers in it. OUCH!

Hahaha.... not quite! So far thats the only bondo too, along the wend line. What you see on the fender has been removed and dents are being pounded out as much as possible

Alright fellas! Had some free time Sunday and it was in the 40's... its barn time!!!!

Got the radiator and radiator mount out.


Engine is coming out!


Empty engine bay! Now to start some cleanup...


Not working Tuesdays turned out good this week!!! (The past few tuesdays have been too cold to do anything... dang winter weather). Spent a TON of time out in the barn working today.

Wire wheeled and sanded down the inner fenders... primed and painted with high-heat paint. Making the engine bay black regardless of the exterior color I go with.


Put a new clutch/pressure plate on the motor


Installed the Bellhousing and starter



Put the motor in! Its just resting on the mounting locations right now... its not actually mounted... but it was 8pm and I was tired and getting that sucker lined up was more of a pain than I thought it would be by myself. But... its in!


I'll finish cleaning the firewall and then get that painted and the motor secured and hooked up, and hopefully get it fired up. Still doing lots of bodywork on the rest of the truck... slow and steady.

No major updates, got most of the engine hooked up. Have to hook up the carb and fuel pump (need to run a new fuel line... old one is too short). Too cold to work for the next week or so (I can;t wait for warmer weather).

In other news, I sent in my paperwork/payment to become and official Inliners member!!!

Looking Good and making progress cool.

Wow... I haven't posted here in quite some time!!! Almost a year now! My apologies fellas! There has been a LOT of progress with a LOOOOOT left to go! Sure has turned into more of a project than I anticipated originally!

I'll be updating this thread here shortly!

The 54' originally had a stomp starter pedal next to the gas pedal... Well since I swapped motors, that had to be pulled out... But I really liked having it cause no one else has anything like that.

It doesn't look pretty... But it's solid... I put a patch over the hole for the stomp starter, then drilled a new hole, and wired in a push button starter where the original was!



Then installed the radiator and distributor and wires

y I pulled the carb, brought it inside, started tearing it apart, and cleaning it up and rebuilt it. New needle valve and seat, the power piston was frozen, got that out and cleaned up... now moved freely, idle mixture screw was frozen, now turns freely, accelerator pump cup was old and cracking, got that replaced, got the body parts cleaned up a bit, put new gaskets in and reassembled it!

Before (the cable stop is temporary):


Dirty, hard crumbly gasket, filthy fuel bowl (when gas was in it, it looked like rusty water)


New accelerator pump cup in, new check balls and springs in


cleaned up and reassembled:


And for the first time in about 5 years (for the motor), and about 6 months (for the truck)... it has life!!!

(warning: don't have the sound up TOO loud, the phone reeeeally picked up on the carb sucking in air and it sounds harsh)

Then it was on to a project that has needed done since day 1... the drivers side rocker panel. Hardest part was finding all of the factory spot welds... which you can see drilled out. There were a few that I missed from the top side of the floor, but I got those eventually.


And its out!!!


Here's the new one fitted, and tacked in place... would have gotten it finished up... but I ran out of wire!

Here it is..The steering wheel... has a bunch of crachs around it (hard to see in this picture):


Here is a close up of the cracks:


All the cracks enlarged via a dremel tool all the way down to the metal frame:


Epoxy putty smashed into all the cracks:


Epoxy putty sanded down a few hours later:


Primed and painted last night:


After painting, I noticed a few spots that could have been sanded a little more, but at least now the paint wont split and crack where the cracks were!

And here they all are, only the tops have the stain so far, this weekend I'll finish up the bottoms:
.

Here is the bed wood, completely finished:

The only thing left to do is paint the bed strips, and obviously work on the bedsides.

Took one of my truck days, and drove a couple hours to help a fellow trucker (bought some parts from him a while back). He needed some extra hands and experience to straighten a few things out like hood alignment, some wiring issues, and accelerator linkage troubles.
This is his truck:


he gave me a few spare parts in return for my work and time. A side mounted spare tire carrier and a front splash pan/gravel shield for in-between the bumper and grille.

Last week, I started working on the back of the front passenger side fender... cutting out rust and welding in new metal.
Before:

After:


I've decided its time to stop keeping it locked up, and to at least get it driving before summer ends, and then do body work and drive it at the same time... so next project, run new wires throughout the whole truck... the wiring that is in it now is just butchered all over the place and theres bare, missing, and unconnected wires in multiple locations, so I purchased a wiring harness and started getting that in tonight after work

All the old wires are out! They were an absolute mess.


Here's a "fuse" the previous owner installed...


Once all the wires were out of the way, I wire wheeled the firewall, the. Threw some primer and high temp paint before puttin the new wires in


Got the lady to help install the wiring


While the gauges were out, I took all the knobs and switches out of the dash and painted the dash and everything else then reinstalled once dry

The moment I've been waiting a long time for...
https://vimeo.com/102686035

Who was that masked man any way? Really cool!