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I went with my Brother-in-law yesterday to pick up his newest project. He bought a 57' 3100 that from a local Classic Car Sales, the truck has been worked over to say the least. While I don't consider myself to be a "Purest" there are some things that I just don't agree with. I wish he had let me go over the truck before he completed the deal, it seems I now have some work to do.

The roof has been chopped about 3'or so inches, it has an older Corvette rear suspension with an early Camaro subframe grafted on the front. The fit of the windshield is questionable, the door glass isn't much better. The front suspension is way out of camber and the springs are aided with turn locks. While it does have 4 wheel disc brakes it has no booster or proportioning valve, no residual pressure valves. The brake master cylinder is mounted high on the firewall leaving the pedal a ways above the floor. The brakes barely stop the truck. There is a nasty vibration at 50MPH that gets worse with speed. The steering darts all over the place and hitting a bump will knock your teeth loose. I has a SB (he was told a 350??) with a mild cam and a what believe to be a Power Glide trans as I only count one shift.

The paint is a pearl white and looks decent from 20ft, the body work isn't that great either. There doesn't seem to be a uniform theme with this truck, it has roll pans front ant rear, hidden tailgate latches, 39' ford taillights, aftermarket HID headlights. The bed has a wood floor that was LineX'ed , the inside of the cab was also treated to this. The Battery is under the passenger side floor, accessed through a plywood cover.

I suppose I'm making a big deal of this but it just makes me wonder about some of the work that gets done to these old trucks. I fully understand wanting to make a Custom truck of your own design and style, but shouldn't safety play a large part in the design. I'll get off my Soap Box now.

Amen!

Hey, it’s a start!

Somebody spent a small fortune on louvers.

Wow "3' ". That's a hell of a chop job.
Flip it to another unsuspecting buyer.

I'm surprised you even went above 50 MPH given your description.
You don't have a death wish, do you?

So this is your BIL's project? It sounds like you've inherited it. Good luck with "his" project.

But you know that anything can be fixed given enough time and money.

Flip it into the lake and collect the insurance.

Well he has a Big Block F@%* that he spent a lot of $$$ on so this can't be any worse... YEAH RIGHT !!!

If it were mine, the louvered hood would have to go. At least it’s a Chevy.

John

The tail lights are 41 Chevy not 39 Ford. Didn't say which way camber is off but looks like lots of room for shims. Disc brakes without a booster are like no brakes at all unless you're King Kong. Glass is very hard to get right on anything with a wrap around windshield. My approach would be BRAKES, steering, and suspension. Once these are brought into spec then a drive will reveal if it is worth any more time or money.

Evan, that is spot on the approach I was thinking. I have a new vacuum booster that I didn't use with my 59' so that will be donated. Both the driver side and passenger front tires have about an inch of negative camber, there are about 3/4 inch of shims on the upper control arms now. The front end will take some figuring out, a good friend of mine does the set ups on the local round track cars, he should be able to help. I will get the truck up on the lift this weekend and get a better look at the overall chassis.

What's annoying or depressing about that one is that it is kind of pretending to be finished. Looking all cool and custom as it does (at a glance) I'm sure that it brought a substantial price.

On the bright side , nice job putting on the happy face in the 1st image. Very entertaining!

With the distance the fan is from the radiator, three miles and the engine will boil over!
And that is not Tuts with the smiley face.

Don

I put a of 50 Miles on it bringing it home and it never got a have 160. The smiling face is my BIL David. He is just happy that he has me to work on it.

You can probably find some adjustable front control arms easily. I had camber issues on a 39 chevy coupe with a nova front end that the adjustable arms "fixed".

I found a mostly complete chevy truck in a wrecking yard and pulled the proportioning valve ect off it, then bought new parts from the FLAPS to complete the project.. it all worked great.

If you have flat door glass, then the "Hot Rod Glass" company might be able to help you out at a decent price.

Good luck... and make him to the work as you supervise!!

Rusty, I thought about adjustable control arms, good call. He thinks he needs a "Beer Assistant" not sure how much real work would get done.

Lipstick on a Pig! I bet you can’t wait to dig into that project!

He's already talking about fuel injection, it doesn't even have brakes yet! I reined him in a little for now, he needs to figure out what front clip is actually under the truck so we can find parts. He is fine with just making it safe at the moment, brakes, steering and suspension are the priorities. I'm sure it will get completely out of hand before long.

Building my 59' has taught me many lessons, most the hard way. I should have never disassembled the truck, should have tackled one project at a time with and end goal in mind. My BIL (David) has never kept a project for very long, he goes from one to another leaving a lot undone. The Big Block F@&d is just the latest, it was just painted and doesn't have the drivetrain completed and he is already wanting to sell it. Time will tell.

We have to keep people like him around to sell partially completed projects to the restof us cheap.

[quote=TUTS 59] He is fine with just making it safe at the moment, brakes, steering and suspension are the priorities.

That was exactly my intention !!!

Now look ---

That's how I got most of my old vehicles! Some people rescue cats & dogs...I rescue old cars and trucks!

-Kevin

Before investing in adjustable control arms take it to a GOOD front end shop and have the front cross member bent back to factory specs. Most have sagged during the years to a point shims can't correct. Once the upper A-frame mounts are back in position alignment problems disappear.

I'm not sure if we have a shop around here that would get that involved. Locally we only maybe one shop that still may have that kind skill, the guy is a little grumpy, think "Jerry" and add a very mean disposition.

You wish the guy who built the truck kept records of the parts he used. The front clip, the rear end so you know where to start. Brakes, suspension and frame. Hope all works out.

Well I got the truck on the lift today and had a good look at the frame and modifications. It's about like I thought some scarry stuff going on under a pearl paint job.

I'm going to start a thread in the projects forum to track the work being done.

Some pics just for a taste.

WOW Craig, some major Cobalogee stuff going on under there.
And as for the welds, we’ll wait for Jerry to comment.

Don

Looks like you have some cutting ahead of you.

You think those are booger welds?
I’LL show you booger welds!!!

I think we all have examples of those. Maybe not hanging on the shop wall for all to see, but.....

Right᠁
Better ground down , cut out , plated over and properly welded.