Projects my '53 Chevy truck project

Hey that bumper's looking pretty cool with the additional narrowing. I'm sure with your talent the reworking on the ends will be worth seeing too. I can't help but think with the slanted inward bottom portion of the bumper some mid-year (63/67) Corvette tail lights would look cool. But that may not be the look you're going for. Keep up the great work!!

 

i finished fitting both headers.

 

man....everytime i look at this truck my neck starts hurting.....i hate to imagine the G's its going to give just going striaght.

 

Tony, keep up the great work! Nice job on the rear bumper. I know that wasnt easy...It fits like a glove.

 

i finished welding up the shortened bumper again, then fabricated and welded in the taillight pockets.



then i tacked the bumper to the frame with some temp brackets. i needed to get it located just right before i fabricate some original style bumper brackets. for that, i will need to pull the bed off in order do the job right.



here is the bumper with the frenched in 1950 pontiac taillights.




i still want to reform the wrap around bumper corners to flow a little better with this truck. remember, this bumper started life as a front bumper for a 1975 ford van.

 

The bumper looks great!

 

Nice ass, keep up the great work.

Greet, Joe

 

your metal work and vision are amazing. some day i hope to do something this cool.

 

sweeeeeet


cool, ya put a dodge in the the chevy, l put a chevy in my dodge.


Later

 

Damn...It just keeps getting better!

 

Awesome build! Keep up the good work!

 

with the big old hemi in the way, it is going to take 4 u-joints and 2 heim joints to make the steering linkage work. not what i want. so i needed another plan to see if i could eliminate some u-joints.....

okay, i decided to rotate the rack 5* degrees. i cut the mounting tabs ar the crossmember and tweeked it a little. this will give me the room to pass the steering shaft past the header collector and eliminate the first U-joint at the rack.



here is the results of the rotated rack. the first section of shaft passed the collector with plenty of room now and a simple straight coupler instead of a U-joint



now i can make the rest of the steering linkage. i ended up with three U-joints and one heim joint. i could have moved the steering column down and toward the passenger side another 1 1/4" to get away with just two U-joints, but it would have maxxed the first U-joint to 30* degrees. with 3 U-joints and the Heim joint, nothing is more than 20* degrees. should work better this way.





and with the head and header back on to see how well it fits. i have 1/2" clearance at the Heim joint. everything else has a little more than that.

 

next, is the 1967 chevy C/10 steering column. i started by cutting the column down 5 1/2". then modified the upper mount to lower the column an 1 1/2" over stock. i also fabricated a lower mounting flange to secure the column to the toe board.







and the linkage...



all that is left to do is shorten the inner shaft, machine the end to accept the U-joint, and finally mount the steering wheel.

as for the gas pedal, i am using a stock 1994-2004 mustang setup. i only needed to weld two mounting studs to the firewall to mount the assembly. then i can drill a hole in the firewall for the throttle cable. very simple design.



and for the brake pedal pad, i just reworked the stock pad to bolt onto the aftermarket brake lever.

here are the pedals and 23" Lokar floor shifter. the shifter even fit through the stock shifter hole in the trans cover. how cool it that.

 

Looking good. Cool how the shifter worked out. Dude you are putting many a build thread to shame with this one!

I like the rear bumper idea, but I think the angles at the ends are wrong. It seems like the ends should be straight to match the bedsides. And I would think some kind of lights recessed into the rear fenders would look good.

But of course, I didnt see you ask what I thought!! Keep up the truly outstanding work, you make it look easy.

 

Great stuff!

 

okay, i have the billet column saver kit. this is the proper way to shorten and use a 1967-72 C10 steering column. this kit replaces the old lower bearing and also provides lateral support of the shaft in the column mast. it comes with a brass bushed aluminum plug, two roller thrust bearings, four thrust washers, and two locking collars.

here are the column parts.





i ground two flat spots on the column shaft for the set screw on the locking collars. then greased everything up and started to put it all together.






here is the column saver kit installed on the shaft and ready to slide it all into the column mast.



then i drilled a diaganol slot to allow lateral adjustment of the shaft inside the mast.



then mounted it to the dash and firewall with the flanges i fabricated.




i also installed the brake light switch and dimmer switch while i has access to that area.





more to come...

 

that hemi is just bad ass. screams 60era to me for some reason

 

After sitting in the truck with the original bench seat, I realized I hate the feel of it. It is too bouncy and too noisy. The coil springs are not doing it for me. So I tore the seat down thinking that maybe I can quiet down the coils and reduce the bounce.




Well after playing around with the seat frame and springs, I officially gave up on reusing this seat. I will build my own bench seat from scratch. I will use a plywood base and high density 2445 foam. From the outside, the seat will look like a factory stock bench seat. I will use the original wire frame and copy the size and shape using solid foam.



It is going to be an interesting project. Anyone else build a seat from scratch?

 

Oh yea, tons of them....all the time...

Really though, I think you are the only one to do pretty much everything you have done.

But now you got me thinking about my seat. Several people have mentioned the seats arent all that great, but I really want the look of the factory seat just with a nice distressed leather. I will be watching what you come up with.

 

Nice work...Cant wait to see that seat finished!

 

i formed the foam block today to the contours of the lower cushion. it feels much better than those bouncy/noisy springs. i will cover it tomorrow.

 

here is the seat foam covered in red vinyl. i recovered the stock springy back rest, but do not like the feel. i will buy another piece of foam for the back rest. maybe 1838 foam for the back rest.

 

wow that seat looks good!

 

still thinking. i first need to make the '49 Ford valance panel fit. once i have it mounted, it will finish off the lower grill opening. then i can find a real 1949 Ford front bumper and make that fit. the modified '53 chevy car bumper i have will work, but it just lacks that boldness of the '49 ford bumper.

i have to stretch the valance 2" each side to fit up to the cut down chevy fenders. the Ford bumper will be tucked in 5" closer than the stock chevy bumper as you can see by the stock bumper brackets. the lower grill bar will be the stock '49 ford piece.


here is what i been playing with as far as the front bumper goes. i thought it was a '49 ford bumper and valance, but it turns out that the bumper is a '53 chevy car bumper. the valance is still the real deal '49 ford. it is funny how i turned a chevy three piece bumper into a one piece that fits the '49 ford valance.

 

man, making this '49 Ford valance panel work on my '53 chevy it going to take a lot of time. i started to fit the left side. i stretched the left corner at the factory seam 1 1/2". then formed the side to match the front fender wheel opening. trying to keep the same shape of the fender that i cut off.



then i welded a lip on the cut edge of the fender so i can bolt the valance to the fender.



i still need to work the shape some more, but it is getting close. you can see here how far off the valance is on the right side. i will stretch this side and form it to fit the right fender. if you look at that seam, that is were i cut it and added a filler piece to stretch it.



i'm off to a huge swap meet tomorrow looking for a real '49 ford front bumper and lower grille chrome bar for this valance.

note that these front fenders are only for testing and mock up. i will buy new fenders and modify those once i have the front finalized.

 

getting closer to finishing the valance panel.


here i added 1 1/2 to each side to widen the valance 3" overall.


here is the cleaned up widened panel


here is the panel bolted on the truck.



here is the side of the panel cut down and recontoured to fit the chevy fenders.


here is the side of the valance before recontouring.



fit the bumper next...

 

it took a few weeks, but i finally found a real 1949 Ford front bumper. i scrapped the 1950 chevy car bumper i was working on. i just wouldnt be happy with it.

anyway, i filled in the license plate holes and bumper bolt hole. then i had to widen the ford bumper 1 1/2" each side.



here is the '49 Ford bumper compared to the '50 chevy bumper.






i have to correct the bumper to fit the contours of the valance panel. the left side fits perfect, but the right side is a little off. must have been bumped at one time.



i still need to weld up the filler pieces on each side where i stretched the bumper. i will do that once i have it bolted on the truck and know it is okay.

 

Great work on the bumper. I've gotten alot of ideas from your build for my own 3100.

 

i finally finished the inner fenders skirts. it took forever to scallope them to to clear the Hemi. i even put a nice bead in them where i cut around the A-arms.



i am still fitting all the Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler parts together. i have the bumper valance panel fitting nicely to the chevy inner skirts. i have to form a filler piece to ensure all the air flows to the radiator and not around it.




there is still major fabrication work to make the custom front i am looking for. i am thinking i need a GMC hood and front latch panel so i can reform the front. it is going to get strange before all is said and done. so bare with me.

 

Nicer every time I see it. Mind a close up of the inner fenders. I need to cut mine around the a-arms and need to see what it is supposed to look like...