Me & Gramps' '51 GMC 5 Window Project

New 12V heater motor, emblem, and gaskets came in. The emblem isn't quite a replacement, so I had to glue it onto my existing, beat up, emblem.





Motor wasn't quite an exact fit, so I had to elongate the holes a bit.





Our push nut/keeper broke on us so I ran to O'Reilly's to pick up their assorted pack, which of course didn't have the right size. Having taken apart a heater that was JB Welded, I didn't want to do that. I'd hate to have this motor crap out on me and deal with that again. Another heater I took apart had a set screw to hold the fan in place, but this one didn't for some reason. We improvised and it worked out well.



Got the heater all put together and hit the front with another quick coat of paint since the screws stripped the hammered paint when we tightened it all up.



Heater looks great all together.

 

Temporarily mounted the heater up just to make sure it all fits ok. Like everything else on these trucks, no two are exactly the same. Gonna take a little work to get a tight seal on the kick panel, but nothing crazy.







There's just something about the fresh air heaters, I love they way they look in the truck.

 

Got a few other odds and ends done...notched the passenger side wiper arm a bit because it was hitting, cut the defrost cable to the right length, and pulled the column mount to get the space cut out. Gotta wait out this cold weather that's coming and then we'll get to work on the bed and front clip. We're gonna put the bed and fenders on the frame so we can get our rear end tightened up where it needs to be. Once that's done I'll get a drive shaft made so we can put it in and test fire the motor. Then we need to mount the front clip to check clearances on our inner fenders and make sure the cab mounts are where they need to be. Once they are we can weld them into place finally. Can't wait to see this truck continue to come together....

 

Damn dude, now that is an update, everything looks so good, I am jealous....

 

Have you been on the old gmc trucks website. www.oldgmctrucks.com

 

Yeah, I'm Cubby over there as well, I just don't post much.

 

Got to head down and work today. Column is hanging because we're waiting for the base of the mount to get done.



The goal today was to get the box in place to make sure it all lined up (since we've cut it down from a long bed) and to make sure we had the rear wheels centered up in the fenders.





Box lined up nice, so we mounted the left rear fender to check our tire in the well.

 

Loved seeing this thing look more like a truck and our tire looked good in the fender, but I was a little disappointed with the height. We added a small block to each of the saddles and I will be running 1.5" shorter tire, so ride height should be a little closer to what I'm wanting.

 

Got the rear end tightened down and measured for the driveshaft. Still need to get some shocks mounted up, but it's on the list. One last thing we did was created an additional cross sill for the wood to sit on. I am planning on doing boards laminated together and not using the metal strips. We decided it wouldn't hurt to have one more cross support for the wood to sit on.





Next step is to get the driveshaft made, mount it, and test fire the engine. Looking forward to it as always...

 

Nice. I am thinking of something else besides strips for the bed as well. Just don't know what. Good job shortening the bed, looks like it all lined up perfect. I am super jealous of the door gaps, they look perfect.

 

I can tell you that bed worked out good, but its still gonna need a lot of work. It DEFINITELY would have been easier to buy new bed sides, but this was much cheaper! Door gaps really aren't bad, but there's a few spots that I'm afraid we'll have to live with...there's a limit to how much you can fix without throwing somewhere else on the door off. I'm not looking forward to working the strikers and getting them closing right. As far as the bed wood, I'm planning on doing something like this:

 

Why do all the pictures show your grandpa doing all the work?

 

Haha, he doesn't take the pictures so I take them when he's working on something. The rest of the time he's complaining about me working him too hard or being too picky! Also, he's the real talent here so usually I mess it up and the photos show him fixing it!

 

Had some family in town visiting, so I headed down to see them on Friday. While I was there we just got a couple things done. Got the base of the column mount back from Steve with the cut in it, so we bolted the column back in and ran the wires through the new space. Cut the factory wire cover down to length and put it in as well.





Had a drive shaft made this week so I brought it down and we bolted it in.

 

I also got a Forty Ford wheel from Limeworks this week with the GM adapter. After trying to install the wheel, it became very evident that the column is missing something. I messaged with 65Standard and I've come to the realization that I'm missing the cancelling cam. I know what it should look like and I went to Auto Zone to try and get one or at least a part number but they don't show anything in the computer under a mid to late 70's Chevy Van, which is what this column is out of. I also had him search for horn contact ring, which also yielded no results. When I had the ever so intelligent "parts guy" switch to a 70's C10 in the computer it brought up a cancelling cam that looks like what I need, but I don't really know if it will be the right part. I also don't know if that is all I am missing. So....here is a picture of what I have. If anyone has a mid 70's van tilt column or knows about them, could you tell me what all I am missing??

 

Nice work looks great and congrats with your daughter

 

Are your gauges in the wrong spot?

 

We're gonna drop the rear with blocks and slide the axle back to center the tires in the wells.

 

Thanks man!

Yeah, they're backwards. We had to do that in order to use the lines already on the gauges. Could have replaced them with longer ones, but it was easier to just swap them.

We did that first. Decided to get the new springs, which should ride better, got us lower, and kept us from worrying about the scrub line.

 

Got the answers to my column questions. If it helps anyone else, the thread is here

 

Cubby,
What an awesome build thread. I tried to document mine but didn't do nearly as good of a job as you in getting all of the pictures.
So cool that you get the opportunity to do this with your gramps. My truck was bought new by my grandfather so I also have a family connection with mine.
Great looking truck!

 

Thanks so much! I read your backstory on the truck and that is so awesome! I have the original invoice, key, and insurance card on this truck, but it would be so much cooler if the name on those documents was someone I knew!

 

I ordered a couple small green LEDs HERE and we mounted them up in a small piece of stainless for turn signal indicators. Also got my cancelling cam confusion sorted out thanks to the HAMB and got my Forty Ford wheel mounted up. I think the wheel looks great in the truck!

 

Gramps tracked down a compressor and got it mounted in last week.



Also got the throttle cable in. Pedal and cable are both from the 89 Chevy. Cable is a little long, but seems to work just fine.

 

great story & you picked a classic Chevy truck model/year to start with!

 

Yesterday was a day I have been looking forward to for a while, because it was test fire day. Truck fired up nice the first time, but we had a couple noises that didn't belong. First off, the fly wheel was rubbing on the plastic dust cover. It came with the 700R4 but apparently it's not got quite enough clearance. Pulled that and found that even though our bolts were bottomed out in the torque convertor, they weren't quite tight on the flywheel. Pulled all three, shortened them and put them back in. Fired it back up and had a rod hitting the pan. Climbed under and found a very small dent towards the front of the pan. A little tapping on the sides of the pan was all it took to open up clearance. So we fired it up again and all the noise was gone, but we had an exhaust leak on the center passenger side valves. Took the headers off, which was a joyous task, and planed the mating surfaces down some. Also found some different gaskets at Bumper to Bumper, the ones we had were square (all O'reilly's had) and our header inlets were more oval. After the circus that was the first 3 test fires and all the pain that ensued we fired it up again and finally had success.

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Dude, your grandpa is a pro, that is so bad ass. Truck sounds good, as frusterating as all that is it it worth it when you hear it run right. Congrats! Turn signals are cool and man does that wheel look good...

 

Hopefully I'll be posting another video soon like yours!

 

Cubby - If you Gramps to shoot the video give him credit as "the giggler".

Seriously, I'm jealous of you and your Gramps. My pops is in the hospital right now, and I'd give anything to be able to work with him on my '53. All I can say is treasure the time you get because you never know what will happen tomorrow.

 

Haha, he'll be the giggler for sure! Sorry to hear about your pops! Hope whatever it is, he has a full recovery! You're exactly right, and I do treasure every minute of it!