The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1955.1 Chevy 3100 “Buddy Project”

This past Saturday, I helped a buddy pull an old 1955 series-1 pickup out of a shed where it had been sitting for 12 years. Our plan is to get it to a 'daily driver' status, then decide how far to take the resto-mod trail. A previous owner had made a 'hot rod' out of it back in the 80's, so it has already seen some modifications from 'original'.

The Good:
The body is complete, with very little rust and only a couple of small dents. Inside, the dash is complete...it even still has the ashtray! The frame is in good shape, with no apparent rust. The axles and suspension also appear to be in good shape.

The Bad:
In its 'hot rod' days, a previous owner has done some naughty things to it. The wiring is a disaster...they used a long terminal strip mounted to the firewall to make connections (as can be seen in the second photo); an aftermarket wiring harness is in the cards! The original motor mounts have been changed to accommodate a small block Chevy engine; the exhaust manifolds and pipes are still hanging under the truck. Steering wheel and column has been replaced by parts from a Nova (unknown year). It has a flex shaft that appears to connect to the original steering box. All of the original standing pedals are gone, replaced by hanging pedals for gas and brake. The geometry of those pedals is horrible, so the pedals have to go. The brake has a vacuum-boosted master cylinder mounted to the firewall, which I suspect is from said Nova. All glass needs replaced. Raccoons have torn up the seat (not a big deal to re-cover), but they were kind enough to leave us a considerable supply of turds in the cab and bed. (just typing the word "turds" makes me laugh!)

The Questions:
- My buddy has an affinity for three-on-the-tree shifting from the days of his youth. I'll be looking for a V8 (since it's already set up for it) with a three-speed manual trans behind it. That means I need to source a wheel, column, and linkages...not to mention the engine and tranny itself. Searching the usual sources on the internet didn't find any used or aftermarket column-shift setups. Any ideas for a source?

- What transmission should I be looking for? I seem to recall that the bellhousing bolt pattern changed in the mid-60's to the modern SBC.

- I haven't found a 100% solution on the internet for my pedal problem. I've been looking for a standing brake/clutch assembly (I'm guessing that I'll have to construct a hydraulic clutch setup). One that can go under-floor would be ideal, but failing that, at least one that doesn't make the firewall look like what the raccoons left us. Any suggestions?

We were originally thinking of doing an S-10 frame swap. Once we got the truck out in the daylight and could see its condition, we would prefer to overcome these obstacles and keep it a 'genuine' vintage truck. Any advice or opinions from the brain trust are welcome.

Thanks!

-Kevin

After some consideration, my buddy has decided he wants to stay with a more 'classic' approach, and use a 235 with three-on-the-tree. Miraculously, I found an engine/transmission combo on Craigslist that got pulled out of a running '55 passenger car about 3 weeks ago, so we're going to pick that up this weekend.

A challenge I see, is that the chassis appears to be missing the crossmember where the rear motor mounts attach. So far, I can find online every other crossmember but that one. Anybody know of a source?

Otherwise, there may be some serious junkyarding in my future.


-Kevin

Shakey 61 Good find,would go with alater 261 and work for an original truck. That version is one of the best, just have to clean-up after the "rodders. That will make you a nice outfit !!

That rear crossmember is not removable, so have to do some serious removal work, or build a new one from scratch, both major work.

Ed

Is it the angle of the picture - or is the bed really short?

Looks like a super fun project, and I love your buddy’s need for that bolt action shifted 3 speed. Only have one vehicle left with one but I love to drive it.

It's a regular short-bed...the whole truck seems much smaller than my '61!

The crossmembers were cleanly removed; it looks like a PO drilled the rivet heads out, then hit them with a cold chisel, just like the shop manual says. The rivet holes are not deformed at all. The existing tubular aftermarket crossmember visible in the photos is bolted in...looks like using the existing rivet holes.

The shop manual says hot-riveting is the recommended method of re-attaching a replacement crossmember. I don't have that ability, but I'm guessing that bolts or welding would work just as well. With so many people replacing the stock crossmembers with SBC/TH350 compatible ones, you'd think there'd be extras somewhere!

-Kevin

Look for one that was removed as cleanly as yours.

Ed

No doubt! The rest of the PO's work is 'less than admirable', so I'm guessing he had someone with skills remove the crossmembers for him.

-Kevin

Second to hot rivets is grade 5 or grade 8 bolts. The bolts need to fit really tight. I replaced my front spring mount rivets with grade 5, 1/2”-20 shoulder bolts, making sure the shoulder went all the way thru so none of the threads contacted the bolt holes.

Here is the thread where I replaced the rivets. There was some really good advice from fellow ‘Bolters on how to accomplish this. As you will read, it’s more than just putting in replacement bolts.

I've replaced a couple of rivets on my frame, and have running board brackets and shock mounts to put back on as well. The method I use was to put the rivet in place, heat it cherry red with an O/A torch, then use an air hammer with a riveting attachment to peen the shank over and form a head. The back was bucked with a piece of 1-1/2" dia steel with a recess in it to match the rivet head. One rivet that had sheared off on a cab mount bracket needed a larger rivet, so I fabricated one from a bolt, grinding the hex head to a domed profile typical of the existing rivet heads. For the others, I bought a batch of rivets of the proper size. Got them online. Hanson Rivet is a good source for all kinds of rivets, including tubular ones for sheet metal parts.

An update on the truck, then a question in the next post:

My friend decided he'd rather stay closer to original, and find a 235 engine to put in his truck. About three weeks ago, I found a Craigslist ad for a 235 engine with 3-speed manual transmission in Minnesota. The owner had pulled it from a running '55 sedan about three weeks prior. We drove up to MN, and brought the engine home, along with an extra 3-speed transmission with OD, and a few other odds-and-ends. On the way up, we stopped by a field near Mason City IA, and paid our respects.

Two weeks ago, I located a crossmember and steering box with column in Pennsylvania (Thanks Glenn!). They were shipped to Missouri, saving us a trip to PA!

Many of the big pieces are coming together. We still are looking for brake, clutch, and accelerator pedal assemblies. I have a few leads on some old donor trucks that may be in the area. There is a large auto swap meet in Springfield MO this coming weekend, so I may spend a day or two there looking for parts.

Our goal is to have this beater on the road by October!

-Kevin

Today, we did a test run of the engine from MN.

Previously, I'd looked up the various casting numbers. It seems that although this had been recently pulled from a passenger car, it is actually a 1955 second-series pickup engine. The paint color threw me, as I was expecting blue for a passenger car, or gray for a truck. Perhaps this was a rebuilt engine (wrong color of green for a Jasper engine) that was installed in the car.

The engine has a Rochester carb with automatic choke. The starter, fuel pump, distributor, ignition coil, and plug wires are all somewhat recent replacements. Someone split the exhaust manifold between cylinders 4 & 5, so there are two exhaust pipe connections (it seems rather well done). The 3-speed transmission currently on it does not have overdrive.

The oil filter is pretty clean inside, but the rocker arm area is a bit grimy in places. I wanted to start the engine with the valve cover off, so we could ensure everything was getting oil. With a bottle of gas and a little starting fluid, the engine started right up. That split exhaust manifold sure has a different sound than my truck! We only gave it a couple of brief runs, since we didn't have the cooling system connected.

I'm glad we had the valve cover off, because we noticed a problem with the #1 exhaust valve spring. The spring does not quite close the valve. When the rocker arm is at it's highest position, there is still an excessive gap between it and the stem. I can pull the spring upward, and close the valve. I also noticed a lot of lateral play with the valve stem, even when the rocker arm is compressing the spring. Oddly enough, I can't hear a miss, and the #1 spark plug is only slightly more sooty than the other plugs. Here are links to a couple of short videos showing the problem:

#1 Exhaust

#1 Exhaust Compressed

Am I looking at a badly-worn valve guide? If we hadn't had the valve cover off, I would have not noticed that anything was amiss. It's hard to say how long this engine has been running this way. It's difficult to be certain, but the spring looks a little different from the other exhaust springs...is it possible that the spring was replaced with an inexact replacement, and has worn out the valve guide?

What does the brain trust think?

-Kevin

Shakey 61 Your lucky that didn't kill the engine,can doctor it now ! That valve seat is gonna need help,good time to put in hard seats for no-lead use.However your guide may be tough to change dont know what could have broken it off like that,rough handling or wreck !

Definitely time to pull the head and assess the damage. Any good machine shop can replace the guides and resurface/replace the seats, but with that amount of movement, lets hope that is all that’s necessary.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Broken valve spring? I've seen that a few times.