The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1955 1st series 3600 - Can it be saved?

I use a pump up yard sprayer for a temp fuel tank. Hook it straight to the carb with the tank in the cab.
Reach over and give it a pump a few times and I can then move it around the yard or on and off a trailer.

Don

Oh that will be remembered for future use. Gas doesn’t eat the seals?

I haven’t had an issue with the pump, been doing it for years. But, I also only use non ethanol in all our gas engines.
You can pick up a sprayer cheap at yard sales or auctions.

Don

Edit: Don’t pump it too much or the gas will open your needle valve and overflow the carb.

Well after getting more familiar with what it will take to save this cab, I'm going to answer my own question with no, at least not by me.

It will take a lot more money, effort and time than I want to put into it. Plus, my this is my wife's truck, and she wants it yesterday. She found on facebook a truck that was 15 minutes from the house. It's even the same color. It's a '51 by the VIN, but I think the split window looks better anyway. So we bought it and she got it home yesterday. It's a little bit rougher than I thought after we got the cab cleaned out, but I think it will do just fine. The floorpans are rusted but everything is still solid. I don't think we'll have a problem swapping cabs and driving it like it is until I get my welding skills up to par to replace the rusted parts. I thought about using the new frame but it's been welded on a whole lot and I want to stick with the 3/4 ton frame and running gear. The 1/2 ton has a hanger bearing or something with no driveshaft or transmission. Someone also took a cut off wheel to the engine crossmember, they didn't get it in two, but I think I'm better off repairing the 3/4 frame since the running gear is already in place.

My plans are now to get the cut cab truck running and pasture ready. Once it cranks and runs by key or toggle switch I'll see what kind of shape the clutch and transmission are in. If that checks out I'll worry about stopping it and then steering it. After all of that is right I'll move towards getting the cab swapped out and making most of a truck out of it. I wanted a flatbed when I thought this truck should've been a dually. After finding out it's not I definitely want a bed on it because single wheels don't look right to me with a flatbed, and the beds for these trucks are gorgeous. Maybe one day after everything mechanical works like it should I'll worry about paint and looks, but that day is a long time for now.

Lastly, since I am new here I'm still exploring the forum and learning its' customs I have a question for the powers that be. I was going to to make a build thread for this truck, but I see the Project Journal area is for serious projects only. Am I allowed to treat thread this as such, is there a location for less concise builds or should I just avoid a build thread and create a thread in the specific forum when I have a problem that search won't answer? I just want to abide by the forum and not cause any issues as it's looking like I will be here for a while.

Anyway, here's some pics of the donor cab. I would like to note that the drivers side stack of the "headache rack" is, in fact, the exhaust. No muffler. Wild. Edit after previewing the post: I love the forums auto-correct. lol.

The “Project Journals” forum has just recently been open to anybody that wants to track their build there, so start you “Project Journal” and we”ll all be there for the ride!

Well that's great to hear! I will be getting one up in the near future. The over time at work will surly hamper its creation, but I guess that's just more money for the truck.

Remember this, the Project Journal Forum is to document your build progress with detailed narrative and photos. It is NOT to be used for posting questions, those belong in the individual Garage Forum that matches the subject matter. IE; engine questions in the Engine Shop, transmission question the Driveline Forum, etc. looking forward to watching your progress.

That’s a 10-4 boss.

So we're driving it.

Ain't got no brakes, but you don't have to worry about brakes. Won't idle either, but you don't have to worry about having a truck that will idle.

There will be a build thread for this truck soon and we'll talk about it there.
Click the link to see it move under its' own power for 20+ years! Ignore the dude riding on the frame, he's just ballast cause there wasn't enough weight over the axle. And you don't have to worry about that front tire, she's mint.

Make sure you click to turn the sound on. [img]https://i.imgur.com/hXBNdI5.mp4[/img]

Good start! Bet your wife is thrilled!

Man, she is absolutely beside herself. The donor cab is almost ready to set off and I was showing her what all was left to remove. She was tickled to death to see what progress we made. She's so excited, I love it.

Absolutely cool.

John

Keep it going. Just 15 minutes EVERYDAY will git r done sooner than you think.....but hour will get it done 4 times faster. Still I've had projects that just a few minutes EVERYDAY will surprise you in a months time! Keep up the good work. I can see you and the lady taking it to the first cruise in with a BIG smile on your face! Go man Go.

Thank you!

Man I love working on this thing so much. I guess the thing that I enjoy the most is seeing the progress. Taking something that is sitting in a junkyard and bringing it back to life is just the tops for me. This truck will be rusty and dented and rough when it gets back on the road. But it will be back on the road. Alive.

One day I'll be able to teach her to drive it. She's got a beautiful 35 Massey Ferguson, so she's got the basics down with shifting gears, but we'll have to transfer that knowledge to the column shift. After we get it roadworthy, I know she'll want it to be pretty again so that will make me learn how to make pretty welds, and hopefully how to paint.

Usually it's junk trucks or tractors I've drug home for me that I'm working on. Having this be her truck just adds a whole 'nother level to things. She's so happy and she hasn't even driven it yet. I love everything about it.

I'm still here.

How many of you gentlemen are married? The ones of you that are might be shocked by this, but my wife changed her mind. Once she had time to think it over, she didn't want a split window, she wanted a '54/'55 cab for her truck. I told her what was told to me here, that those cabs are rare as hens teeth. I told her if she could find one for a decent price, we would see what we could do.

So she did.

I haven't even confirmed if it's a '54 or '55 but she found a cab and we picked it up today. The back windows are intact, but the rear glass has taken three shots from a BB gun it seems. It's got a rusty floor board and needs corners, but is otherwise solid. It even has the original radio and a factory heater. Drivers door is rusted at the bottom, but I've got a good set of doors. There's a little damage at the ash tray but we got it at what I think is a really good price.

I picked this up from a guy that would fall in great here. Evidently, he builds a lot of these trucks. Like really a lot of them. He even had a truck that he'd built that has been in a fairly recent movie. My wife got to sit in it and she was tickled. It was an LS swapped truck with a custom interior. It really was a beautiful truck. He had one on the lift, and the first things that stood out to me were the power brakes and a/c lines running into the cab. Dude knew his stuff.

I'll get some pic up of the new cab tomorrow. Build thread is inbound, but I will wait until I start really working on it.

Here's the cab.

I hope to start serious work this winter, I will start a build thread then.

In reality that is a very solid cab. Finding a windshield for a 54-55.1 series might be tough but I will be they are out there. Going to be a great project.

The Stovebolt.com discussion forum has been infected with/by Websearch.
I cannot post a search-link/url using another internet search "engine" - like G o g g l e.

Try a search on "1954/55st Chevrolet truck windshields"
There are a lot of well-known sellers.

That cab is solid. Good score.

John

You hit the jackpot on that cab.

Thanks guys. I’m looking forward to really getting the ball rolling. I’m going to sell the ‘51 cab and front clip to try to recoup some of my money, but it will probably all just end up going back into this truck.

Were you able to salvage anything from the 54/55 cab and frame that I gave you?
Jerry

I haven’t yet but then again I haven’t touched any of the trucks since I was up your way, I don’t think. Nothing major anyway.

I think she’s leaning toward a a flatbed for this truck, but if not I’ll use part of the bed to make a complete one. I’m also giving serious thought to doing absolutely nothing to the body and putting a drive train and glass in it and driving it.