'58 Chevy Pickup Build Pics

I was inspired by pics that another forum member posted of the dash in their '58 Chevy pickup. I had most of the dash apart to facilitate a swap to electric wipers so it seemed like a good time to two-tone the dash and clean things up.

Pic # 1 is after painting it '10 Ford Performance White (slight pearl)
Pic #2 is the gauge cluster with quick connect plug
Pic #3 shows the iPod controller and radio delete plate, I'm just waitin' on a new lighter and extra chrome knobs to fill the remaining holes.
Pic #4 With the column and wheel back in the dash is really starting to take shape. I still have to tuck the wiring up out of sight and install a trio of SW "Green Line" gauges under the dash. I will probably get some mild pinstriping on it at some point too...

 

nice dash.............I'm impressed

 

very nicely done! Love the color!

 

Looks really good!!

 

Thanks for the kind remarks guys. Since there is a lot going on I chose to turn this into a build thread.

The big brown truck showed up with some goodies so now the gauges are in. The remaining parts to get the engine put back together also arrived, after an afternoon of wrenching the longblock is assembled. I treated it to a glossy coat of Alpine Green which is commonly used on Detroit Diesel engines. By morning the paint should be dry enough to start dressing it out, stay tuned...

 

Cool...The radio control is a clever idea. Tach looks good too

 

So clean....I really like where you're going with this...

 

This is looking nice. Would like to see a side view pic.

 

Sunday progress...

The paint was nice and dry this morning so I started dressing up the engine. Things started off on the wrong foot when I messed up the timing cover seal and had to make a parts run before I could continue. When I went to install the pan I discovered that my gasket set had 2 right side pan gaskets and no left side gasket, it was off to the parts store again.

Everything went smoothly after that, the attached pictures show the engine as it sits right now. The valve covers are "no name" from a dealer's display, they were cheap enough and only needed a good polish. The rest of the shiny stuff was picked from the pages of the Summit catalog. The engine hardware was a was a mixed bag of hardware store stuff and allen head screws so I went with the ARP polished stainless 12 point fastener kit.

I am really pleased with this weekends progress. Back to the 50's is less than 2 months away and I'd like to have a little time to sort things out...

 

I previously started a thread about the truck then neglected to update it and it fell off the end of the earth. The '58 used to be my brother's truck. we lost Chris in May of 2010. One of the many things we had in common was our passion for cars. I helped him out with the original build and now that I'm the caretaker of his truck the plan is to refine a few things and enjoy the hell out of it since he no longer can.


Starting point, a worn but solid Texas farm truck...





Better days ~ Chris taking a break during disassembly...

 

Attached is a shot of the truck on it's maiden voyage and another of the engine prior to the catastrophic camshaft failure...

 

Very nice way to carry on your Brothers memory.

 

The 19 gallon under bed fuel tank showed up on Tuesday so I'm going to try getting it mocked up tomorrow night. Today I scored a low profile surface mount vented fuel filler and cap from a local boat shop for a measly $10. It should solve my biggest concern which is routing the tank vent high enough to prevent a gas leak if it's overfilled. It's not too bad looking either...

 

Tonight I trial fit the under-bed tank from LMC Truck. It looks kind of huge in the picture (must be the angle) but it actually only hangs a couple inches below the bumper. A coat of satin black on the back side will help it to disappear when viewed from behind. I'm still trying to figure out how to accurately transfer the fill pipe location to the underside of the bed, any suggestions would be much appreciated...

 

On Friday night my ribs still ached from rolling around on the floor during the fuel tank trial fit. To give them a break I worked on a project that could be done standing up. I painted the needles on the '58 gauges flourescent orange to match the SW green line gauges. I also covered the upper door panels with vinyl and made patterns for kick panels. That's it for now...

 

I didn't make as much progress this week as I had hoped but things are still on track to be done by month end. A friend at work welded a bung on my radiator to relocate the thermal switch for the electric fan. I also polished the tanks a little to match the polished aluminum and chrome in the engine compartment.

Tonight I pulled the seat, fuel tank and carpet to prepare for fatmat. When I pulled the jute insulation from the back of the cab I discovered a message in my brothers handwriting which is ironic because this Sunday marks the 1st anniversary of his passing.

After I scraped off the old adhesive it was time to apply the fatmat. It was my first time using this kind of product but it went pretty well. I did a double layer on the firewall and cab floor and a single layer on the back wall of the cab. The kit contained 110 square feet so there's still plenty left to cover the doors and kick panels.

I layed the new carpet out to get the wrinkles out before I cut and fit it tomorrow. If there's enough time I'll get the snow white pleated vinyl headliner in too.

Oh, and props to Mark at New Image Coatings for getting my manifolds blasted and coated in just 2 days. If you are near the Twin Cities and need some ceramic or powder coating done give him a call.

Stay tuned for the next update...

 

Thanks to parts delays and bolt on parts that aren't, it took a lot longer than expected to get to this point. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, all that's left is to fabricate the fuel pump to carb line and a spacer for the alternator. Here's how it sits as of this evening...

 

I also got some interior work done, here's a couple of pics...

 

looks good!

i'm curious why you didn't just use the stock gages, that's one part of these old trucks that usually works...?

 

There's a couple of reasons, I prefer a voltmeter vs. an ammeter and the aftermarket gauges provide a little more accurate idea of what's going on compared to the stock '58 gauges which are basically a couple of dots and a needle. If that's not enough, the SW green line gauges just look cool...

 

Nice work! Look foward to completion!

 

Wow that is a great looking truck. Some day I will have one of these as a daily driver.

 

Progress report for this week:

Engine is DONE! I'm pretty stoked how it looks, to date this is probably the most carefully detailed engine I've ever put together. It will take a few evenings to prep the inner fender walls and frame for a nice coat of satin black. If everything goes according to plan I should be able to drop it on on Friday night.



The purple air cleaner element was my brother's handiwork, I like it because it brings a dash of purplr to the engine compartment. I hope to find a machined finish aluminum air cleaner lid and have it pinstriped to give the air cleaner a little more traditional appearance.



The interior is also close to being finished. The carpet is all fitted and the column is back in. I got the upper door panels recovered in with white vinyl and the rear speakers are mounted and wired. New seat mounting brackets are about half finished, I should be able to wrap them up tomorrow and get the old seat back in.

 

I'm doing a 58 as well. Lots of inspiration here. Really like the steering wheel and tuck and roll.

 

WOW, nice work and killer truck....subscribed...

 

sorry about your Bro , youve done a beautiful job on the truck its rolling eye candy for sure , awesome ride

 

That's pretty rad truck there.

 

It rained off and on all day so I took advantage of not being able to do any yard work by getting the inner fenderwalls and core support repainted. I also got the garage straightened out and organized the remaining parts for the engine install...



The motor will still go in on Friday night, in the meantime I can finish my seat mounts and make a fuel line from the new tank to the fuel pump. I'm also reworking the firewall mounted battery tray into a drop-down battery tray mounted on the right frame rail. Back to the 50's is getting close but I think the truck will be drivable, even if it's unfinished...

 

Great lookin 58! Cool to find the message your brother wrote on the cab. Five boys in my family, I lost the one just older than me 3 years ago. I'm sure yours would be proud of what you have done.

 

More progress: Projects are getting smaller, that's good news because Back to the 50's is less than a month away. My plan is to wire the engine while it's on the stand and use a quick disconnect plug between the engine and the main harness. As part of the process I fabbed some brackets to route the wiring.



I did the same thing on the other side to secure the alternator wire.



The seat adapters are done too, they will allow me to bolt the non-original seat down using the original mounting points. I have a seat from a '59 that will get reupholstered next winter, when I switch it out there won't be any extra holes in the floor. Tomorrow I'll put the seat back in the truck and get it out of the way for the upcoming engine install...