I picked up my '54 chevy project today. Thanks to my good friends nick and joel for all the help. Well, here she is beautifully propped up in my carport. This will be a slow build as I have to get rid of a few things to help fund this project. My plans are to lengthen the frame as needed, mount the body, and continue body work until I can afford powertrain parts. I will be building the truck to be my daily driver so I will spend time making it right. Here's what I start with... 1954 Chevy Pick-up body just laying on top of an 80's reg. cab s-10 frame. Questions? Suggestions?
looks like a solid start. to save some framework I have taken a section out of the box before. just depends on what you want to haul. what are your plans for your drivetrain?
I don't want to shorten the bed any because I will use it to haul my chopper and I'll need every inch. Small block chevy mated to a 700r4 or something along those lines. I need it to be reliable and I want to try to squeeze every mpg out of it too so it will be a mild motor for sure.
Haven't investigated the cowl area too closely, but most likely pretty solid. The whole truck is pretty solid. Floor pans will need some work and I might have to replace a cab corner... but the guy who had it a while back had already purchased the cab corners so I've got them.
Looks good from where Im sitting! Im just trying to figure out how come I cant find someone to sell me a truck for $50 in fuel. Thats a full tank in an escort now a days!
Haha well the truck was free if I removed it from the backyard. I just had to pay for the fuel in the friends truck to haul it
cool. most of the advanced designed trucks around here that i find are rotten.good find and good luck.
Thanks! What do you guys think about a sbc vs. an inline six like a 250 or 292 for daily driving? The most I would ever haul would be a motorcycle in the back.
NIce score bro, love that 54 grille, the old girl looks complete. Good Luck with the build. ~Sololobo~
One suggestion would be to toss the S10 frame and find yerself a Dodge Dakota to steal the frame from. Take it from a guy who has done it both ways. Here are my reasons: 1a) the S10 is much narrower than your truck's original track width and they just look silly if you don't space the wheels out. b) you'll also have to tub the bed because of the narrower rear end if you go with the stock S10 rear. 2) the S10 steering box is in the way and requires HACKING the rad support and under hood sheet metal. Again, ugly and the work is unneccesary. The Dakota has rack and pinion and the location of the front frame horns is perfect for mounting the stock rad support with a very simple cross member... Running a steering shaft is easier too. 3) you don't have to lengthen the frame. You might think your better off with your free chassis but yoy will spent quite a bit more time making it work and then there are the afformentioned areas you will have to hack up to make things fit. I'm in no way a Dodge fan but this is something I learned the hard way. I'd hate to see you go down that road. I bought a Dakota for $300. Sold the V6 for $200 and scrapped the body for a bit over $100. You should be able to get $100 or so out of your S10 frame. Even if ya got $50 you still have a free truck.... Just food for thought.
When you ask question as such you are subject to add to the confusion. I got in a rut of SBC on so many of my builds and wanted to do something a little different. My good friend is all excited as he just knows I'm gonna go the big block route. Just the opposite. I already had a real nice 250 inline and got the head worked ($$$ more than a new SBC crate engine) added Langdon cast headers, Offy intake, H.E.I, Holley 390 4 barrel along with a few other goodies. Got 1500 miles on it so far and have enjoyed each and everyone of them. Wish I had done it long ago as I had the 250's in the shop as well a finished built 292 for over two years.
I ran a 292 in my 68 shortbox for many years....happened onto a new rebuilt 292 and installed it to replace the worn 292 after driving the truck for 3 years. I loved it but don't expect miserly fuel mileage from one. I got an honest 17 mpg using an overdrive 3 speed tranny. The new 292 then got a Clifford 4 BBL intake and a Q-jet, 6 into 2 clifford headers and an HEI with a 700R4 tranny...ran like a scalded cat and the exhaust note was wild with twin glasspacks and a pair of 4 inch chrome "blewey cans" out the back. Fuel mileage suffered but the fun factor went way up.
Thanks for the heads up! I didn't know that it was that much work up front. The s10 frame came with the body because the guy who was going to build it before picked the frame up to do the swap. I'll keep an eye out for a dakota frame. Does it need to be like an 80's-early 90's frame or a 99-00ish style frame or what? I think the only thing I'm missing are the pieces that go in front of the rear fenders just above the running boards... Anyone know where to find these? I look at a couple sites with restoration parts but don't know what they are called. I would like to run an inline six, just not sure where to find one for a decent price. Seems like you can get a sbc anywhere, and most of the time for next to nothing. I can deal with 15+ mpg... I live in MS and most of the time I'll be riding a motorbike of some sorts on the commute to work. It's nice to hear that the truck can be pretty lively with six.
Well I really wanted to have an update on the truck by now, but I've been trying to finish up a few things with my last project. It's a lot of fun to ride, just got a little more carb tuning to make it right.
wow, not a single comment on my sweet bike! ok ok I know this is a car website, but I haven't been able to wrench on the truck because I've been busy trying to get the carbs tuned up on this thing!
Splash aprons are what the panels are called. Shoot me a messge if you have any questions, I have built 3 of these, Old school, street rodded, and restored. http://talk.classicparts.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7 Check out this forum. My build thread on the 53 resto.
Been busy lately, but here's some recent progress... What we have here is the entire rear frame complete with trailing arms and panhard bar from a 1966 chevy truck. I have decided to 'bag my '54 and I had a couple choices when it came to the rear suspension. 1) I could fabricate a 3 or 4 link system from scratch. 2) I could purchase an expensive 4-link kit or 3) I could use the trailing arm suspension from an old truck to get a wonderfully comfortable ride, while retaining a factory look and elimation a lot of metalwork for myself.
I cut the crossmember out with the trailing arms and removed the coil springs today. I still need to get the body situated back another couple of inches to get the front wheel centered up in the front fender. One question: what is the reason that most people mount the body 4-5 or more inches high off the s-10 frame? Why not just mount it with a small rubber spacer directly to the frame and take full advantage of the fact that the cab is already channeled.
they mount them so high so they dont have to cut the floor for the tranny hump....i mounted mine right to the frame and built a hump.
The rear frame kickup will fill the bed otherwise; also you'll have to design a new floor with a transmission and driveshaft tunnel. Your frame looks interesting. What's the width difference between the '66 and the S10? I almost bought a '47 GMC last month but it had a frame rot problem right where the bed meets the cab. I'm still looking.
Is that all? I don't mind building a tranny hump or tunnel. I believe the s10 frame is 5-6 inches wider than the '66 so I'll have to extend the crossmember to fit the wider frame span. As far as the frame kickup filling the bed floor, I'm not worried about that because if I raised the body up I'd have to put a large notch in the frame to be able to lay it out on 'bags anyways. I will raise the bed floor as needed. I'm not too worried about losing most of my bed as I won't haul much besides a motorcycle with a front wheel mount.
I almost bought a '47 GMC last month but it had a frame rot problem right where the bed meets the cab. I'm still looking.[/QUOTE] This is very common. It is where crap falls between the cab and bed and isn't cleaned out, or where leaves collect when it is sitting.
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