[img]https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...5990/filename/IMG_20211010_104619994.jpg[/img]I have sort of inherited a project, my Brother in Law purchased a 57' 3100 with a 4" Chop on the roof , well I guess I get to do all the repairs. So some background on the truck. He found it on line and bought it after just a short test drive, I had asked him to wait a day so I could be there to help look it over that didn't happen. I am in no way claiming to be the resident expert on Task Force Trucks but I do know what is safe and is not. The "Good, the Bad and the Ugly" are all represented in this build, the paint is a pearl white, not to bad from even close up (The Good), the engine is a worn, smogged out 350 with a Holley, mild cam and an HEI distributor (The Bad), the chassis is a mess of welded up parts, an early Camaro sub frame and a gen 3 or 4 Corvette rear (The Ugly). Just opening the hood would have told me I didn't want this truck, the HEI is so tight against the fire wall that the cap was cracked, the carb was leaking, the wiring is a rats nest, the pulleys don't line up. All that before I looked under the frame. The front springs have 4 or 5 twist locks at raise them up, the brake lines are only mounted at the calipers and master cylinder. The transmission cross member is a piece of steel water pipe, the fuel line is several different pieces and not mounted either. The rear trailing arms have flat washers stacked to use as bushings, the rear leaf spring contacts the passenger side rear wheel. The bed is not even setting on the mounts. All of this can be seen just by looking under the truck, not even on the lift yet. While I'm one of the first people to say I don't mind a Hot Rod truck I do at least what them to be safe. So as I expected he had already laid his money down ( I don't want to say how much, just that it was north of 20K) the guy who sold it to him said "It's yours now so have fun". I was elected to drive it home. The first thing I noticed is it had no brakes, NONE... filling the master cylinder helped.. a little. The nest is that when you hit a bump it changed lanes, not drifted but honestly changed lanes. It had a nasty vibration, anything even close to 40 MPH would rattle your teeth. We made it the 40 miles to his house just before it rained, good thing to because it has no wipers. There are many issues with the fit of the doors and widows as the chop was done by someone who had no idea of what they were doing, but all that won't kill you. So I made it to his house and survived to see another day.
Last edited by TUTS 59; Mon Oct 18 2021 05:15 PM.
Craig
"Living life in the SLOW lane"
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
A few days later the truck was taken to my house for me to work on the issues. These are a few more pictures of some of the stuff I found.
Craig
"Living life in the SLOW lane"
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- Rusty- the puzzle box lid for the C10. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny. 1962 AMC Rambler American- my wife’s
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
Well it's kind of a barter system between him and me. Ill get something done from him down the line. The 57 just needs to be road worthy and then it's back to my truck. This is not supposed to be a complete build. I gave him a parts lst today for stuff that is needed to get the brakes straightened out and the engine running right.
Craig
"Living life in the SLOW lane"
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
I really didn't want for the "Death Trap" to take away from working on my own 59' so I dove into the brake system for a start. After the truck was on the lift (man I love my lift) and I made a thorough examination, most of the lines are decent, the master cylinder is junk, the brake hoses are dry rotted and the brake light switch leaks. I pulled the master cylinder off and found more issues (surprise) the pedal assembly was just barely making contact. I proceeded to remove the pedal assembly and have a look.
On the drive home I had thought the distance between the gas and brake pedal was not nearly enough and the pedal was too high from the floor. I had thought to move the brake pedal over a bit while having the assembly out. I torn the assembly down and cut the arm bushing down by 1/2 inch and replaced the bolt and bushings for a tighter fit. This moved the pedal over but still not quite enough, it did however take a lot of the slop and movement out of the pedal arm. I mocked up a vacuum booster I had let from the 59' and made a pattern to drill the mounting holes in the firewall, I will add a backing plate to the inside as there was nothing to support the assembly before. I have a duel master cylinder, again left from the 59', that I will add once it's all bolted together. I will need to add a link to the pedal arm to give me some more room to adjust the travel, it's a little to close to the firewall.
I made a parts list for my BIL , a 4 wheel disc proportioning valve, a couple of 2 Lbs residual pressure valves (overkill maybe but it will give a firmer pedal), new brake hoses and a dozen brake line clamps. Once all the parts come in I can work on the reset of the brakes.
Last edited by TUTS 59; Tue Oct 19 2021 11:39 PM.
Craig
"Living life in the SLOW lane"
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
I finally got the booster and master cylinder mounted. I fabbed up a backing plate inside the firewall to add some more strength to the mount. The proportioning valve is from Summit, it is set up for 4 wheel disc
I still need to address the lines and add the new hoses and mounting clips. A couple more pics for now.
Craig
"Living life in the SLOW lane"
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
Craig, what size is that booster? Looks like a double diaphragm unit, what diameter. My road trip convinced me that I need a bigger booster. I will be interested in learning how it works out for you.
Mark, the booster is for a 1980's Corvette, it was a left over from my brake system on the 59'. I decided to use a hydrobooster on the 59' as my cam doesn't produce enough vacuum. The vacuum booster was a pretty easy install, I made a template to avoid cutting the firewall any more than it had been already. As I said I added a backing plate inside the firewall to add more strength to the area.
These are a couple of boosters I was considering on using, both are small enough to not overcrowd the engine compartment.
Come, Bleed or Blister something has got to give!!! '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
