Chapter 1: Wut do ya figur?
I've wanted an old truck for a long time. Years. Never really knew when or if it would happen but that didn't stop me from occasionally just sitting down and enjoying looking at them.
Last week my wife let me know there was an estate sale and he had a few hot rods on his property, some fixer uppers etc. and one included a 1957 Chevrolet 1300 short box. I was interested in seeing more of it, but didn't want to get my hopes up - we were expecting a newborn at any moment. Because of the newborn my mother-in-law was in town with her boyfriend who spent the last 40 years of his life doing bodywork including his own frame-off restoration. You couldn't ask for a better person to go with and check out a 63 year old truck with.
This is what we found,
It was in overall really good condition. Floor boards are awesome - aside from one gun shot wound and a few spots of more major rust, I was super pleased with it. Ended up picking it up and bringing it home after 2-3 days of discussion.
The odometer shows 49,999.9 currently. Curious if that's rolled over a few times or simply just that.
Getting loaded up,
Ready for the trip home.
Thankfully only a 10 minute drive. My 4Runner is rated for 5000lb and I was pulling about 4-4500lb with the truck and trailer.
Now the fun begins.
- - - Updated - - -
The plans..
Suspension:
Mustang II front end
4 link rear suspension
Airbags
Drivetrain -> Huge learning experience for me. I know the EJ platform well and variants, but domestic territory is relatively new for me. Sorry for lack of info but I'll
LS1 or variant
Auto tranny
Staying RWD
Interior:
I'd like to keep as stock looking as possible. It'll be a more updated bench seat, but I'd like to keep the shifter on the steering column so that my wife can snuggle up beside me on drives.
Exterior:
Running the petunia look for quite some time. I love the look and eventually it'll be resto'd right back to it's original colour, but the priority is getting it road worthy and ****** fast.
Back to pictures!
Interior is honestly minty.
And we were curious if the engine would turn over,
I was originally going to keep it all original, right down to the engine - if it ran, or was salvageable. Downside to that is its only 140hp stock and not really anything to call home about. Upside is it's staying original.
Ripped off the valve colour
Then pulled off the heads. We don't have an engine hoist (Yet) so I ended up straddling the engine bay and lifting this off. It was not an easy task.
Cylinder walls are rusty, one piston slaps back and forth and another has a crater in the middle. This is the time where I decided to go with a 350 small block.
You can see the amazing patch job below,
An old Texaco can that they peeled apart and riveted to the fender on both sides, same spot. I'll be cutting that metal right out and putting in a proper patch.
Injury #1 as I sliced my finger on the can lol. I'll be counting the number of injuries and hospital visits for this project as I'm sure I'll hit double digits, fingers crossed that's not the case, but I have knack for these things.
Original badges for the front fenders - a lot of guys shave these off but I think it looks too bland. These are in awesome condition so I'll polish them back to their original glory.
Popped her up to remove the tranny and driveshaft,
The bolts turn better on this than my old Forester STi conversion. Driveshaft is out.
Wooden boxes are my favourite. This wood was pretty rough in some spots specifically near the exterior. I put my hand right through some spots with ease.
Plan is to bring the rest out in it's original condition. I think I'm going to build a picture frame with it (Basically the way it is now) and then put a stencil of my truck on there and hang it in the garage.