The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1953 Chevy 3100 - Restoring the Basketcase

Hey Everybody,

Quick update: progress on building out the interior continues. Headliner and visor installation is complete, including the vintage Chevrolet visor mirrors. I grabbed those from the same 1961 Impala that I got the engine from. Next up is windlace installation on both sides and window trim on the passenger side. Eventually, I'll have to go under the dash and clean up things.... I'm going to hold off adding the rubber floor covering for now. I want to drive it a bit, first, to make sure there are no transmission issues. The transmission is completely untested.

Your truck really looks great and it must feel sooo good to be nearing the end of all your hard work. It’s a big accomplishment. Don’t forget to take time to just look at where you are and remember where you started. I refer to this as “a great kick in the pants”

Love the vintage visor mirrors! Your interior looks great. Nice work.

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the praise! I still have lots to do, so onwards and upwards. Driving it isn't too far away, now!!!

Hey Everybody,
Progress update: set the bed onto some 2x4 lumber over the frame. Picture is attached. I removed the plain angle iron to reveal what's left of the original angle strips, what's left of the front panel and what looks like rot on the side panels. Anybody surprised? Nah! Next steps: get the angle strips off and assess what repairs are necessary for the bed sides, then get to it. I have a replacement bed front. It is currently being painted so I can install it when I'm ready. I also have all of the cross braces, including a rear cross brace, all new bed wood and strips and all of the mounting hardware. Now I just have to do the work.... on a different note, I still have serious concerns about the engine. Before putting the bed onto the truck, I tried driving the truck down the driveway. It idles fine, but sputters and cutout when moving. It also smokes excessively. Not sure what to do, but I am sure I can't afford to send the engine off to a machine shop.... oh well, one step at a time.

A good idea to determine the source of the engine sputtering and cutting out so you know where you stand. I would probably look first at the carburetor as the idle circuit is apparently okay but that doesn't mean much when operating at higher engine speeds and loads. Ignition is also a possability. Neither the carburetor or the ignition would signifcantly affect the smoking, look at the spark plugs to see if one shows more signs of oil injestion than the others.

WICruiser, thanks for pointing in a direction to investigate! My current setup is completely stock, except for the Fenton headers. I have a rebuilt Rochester BC carburetor, stock intake manifold with heat from the Fenton headers through one of the online kits. The BC gets heat from the headers, as well. The ignition is completely stock. The distributor is original, the points and condensor were replaced with flaps parts. I'll take the plugs out to see if one is worse than the others. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away on the bed.

Is it blue oil smoke? or is it black , sooty smoke?

My truck sputtered and backfired and blew black smoke shortly after being revived from a 5 year slumber. It turned out to be a faulty accelerator pump in the carburetor leaking fuel into the intake and not giving enough fuel when the throttle was pushed.

I thought for sure I had an ignition or timing problem at first but everything in that department checked out.

Rebuilt carburetor did the trick.

Otto, it is the blue oily smoke. I rebuilt the carburetor, but I could have done it incorrectly.

No, you probably did it right. Blue oily smoke is burning oil. Check all the plugs and see where the oil is getting into the engine. It's either piston rings, valve guides or valve seals.

I am not an expert on the Rochester carburetors but there are those here that are. I did not realize that you rebuilt it, but it may still be the problem (not necesarily from something you did or didn't do) but hopefully others here will be able to provide some diagnostic tips to get you running better. I doubt the oil smoke source is the cause of your not running above idle.

I suppose I could try a rebuild on this beauty and try driving the truck again.... This carb was billed as NOS, but some of the screw heads show signs of use. If it was used, it was lightly used. Either way, it would need refreshing to get new gaskets in it.

So, rebuild the Rochester and try again or rebuild the Carter and try that one? Thoughts? Of course, neither will address the smoking engine issue, only the sputtering and quitting issue.

The Carter is a superior carburetor and will give you superior performance.

Contact Jon H and get the correct kit for that specific carburetor.

I agree with Otto, the Carter is a much better carb than the Rochester. Here is Jon H’s contact info: CarbKing

Hey Everybody, quick update. Been working on the bed metal. Both the front panel and rear part were beyond saving and are being replaced. Pics of before and after attached. The front panel has the crossmember attached. There are a bunch of repairs to the bedsides that will have to be done before I can add wood and secure the bed to the frame. Speaking of the wood, I did a test fit of the wood and found it to be a little too long! I tried multiple pieces and all were long by the same amount. Once the repairs are finished, I'll fit them all and trim as necessary. It's not difficult, but it is annoying, as the trimmed areas will need to be finished again. So will the areas that get holes drilled through them. After all that, I'll be forced to address my engine issues....

Any chance that you did not have the wood all the way forward? It overlaps the box front if I recall correctly.

The bed wood should butt up directly to the front panel, but there is a z-bend toward the back to form a shelf for the wood and for the front cross-sill to bolt to.

I think I've got it assembled correctly, but I'll post a close up pic when I get back to the garage.

As promised, pics of the bed metal, bed wood and wear strip. I included the wear strip to see if it fit (it does) and if the holes aligned with the holes in the crossmembers (they do). At this point, I think I have the crossmembers installed correctly and the bed wood is actually too long by about 1/8". Even if I wanted to "persuade" it into place, it wouldn't go without bending my new metal and would leave no room for expansion with the weather changes. At this point, I think I need to trim the boards to fit and allow for expansion. I'm not sure what is an appropriate amount to allow for that expansion, though. Thoughts? Am I reading this right?

Grey Ghost, I remember the same issue, I had gotten a spec sheet and milled and cut as the dwg. had shown but had to come back and trim off another .125 also. Not sure how much it could expand depending on the wood but I left .0625 on each end. Mine is cypress wood.

Southerntruck,

Thanks for the info. So about 1/16th on both ends.

The expansion/contraction effect from heat/cold and humidity on the length of boards are negligible. You must account for it on the width which is why they cut the wide grooves for the bed runners.

Here's how I'm addressing it. If you notice in the pic, the wear strip fits exactly as Southerntruck describes. I decided to use the wear strip as the standard and used it to mark the length of each piece of bed wood. I cut each piece to the new length. I test fit each piece and all of them simply dropped into place. There wasn't a lot of space for lengthwise expansion, but the fit wasn't tight either. They dropped in and fit loosely. I'm hopeful they will be fine. If not, I'll do it again. It only costs me time. Currently, all of the freshly trimmed boards have a new coat of stain/poly and are drying. They'll get a second coat of clear poly tomorrow. I tried to post a pic, but am having website issues. I'll try to add one later. The pic shows what I cut off of each board. Including the blade kerf, it totals about 1/4" of board removed.

Be sure to stain the edges and your freshly cut ends as well.

Hey Everybody,
Time for an update. First the good: I've been working all summer on the bed metal. I replaced the front panel and the rear support. My last update I mentioned test fitting the boards. I notched the front of the passenger side angle strip to clear a bolt that attaches the front panel to the bedsides. I used screws and nuts to attach the strip. I also drilled out the holes on the bed wood and stained/sealed the holes. I haven't drilled for any of the bed to frame holes yet, as I still need to repair a fender and running board, which I need to positively locate the bed and holes. The bad: first pic shows the driver side fender mounting holes. Not much left of the surrounding metal.... The pic shows my taping off each area for cutting and replacement. The next pic just shows a patch tacked into place. I used the original piece as a template for locating the fender bolts hole. It could be off a little and might require some tweaking, but it should be close. Next pic shows the collection of what I cut out and replaced. Each one took a day to cut out, cut and fit the patch and then weld in the patch. It was slow going. But apparently not slow enough! The ugly: it seems as though I induced a massive warp into the bedsides! I've spent over a week trying all of the techniques to try and straighten the panel. My efforts resulted in mild success. It's far from perfect, but I'm going with it. Fourth pic is using the bed wood to verify, after measuring, that the wood still fits. It does. Last pic shows the warp. Sigh. It will impact a handful of the angle strip mounting screws. I could switch to same diameter, longer screws to at least make the connection. I'll see how it goes. I mounted the tailgate this afternoon. Next up: repair the fender and running board. Sorry for the long post. If I had the money, buying a whole new bed would have been the answer. However, this whole adventure has been on a shoestring budget. So whatever can be repaired must be. Onward and upward.

I went thru the same drill on repairing the fender holes, but I tried to minimize the warping of the panel by using rounded patches rather than square corners on them. You definitely need to pay attention to planishing the welds to keep the shrinkage down. I still had a bit of warp in the bedsides, but bolting the fender on took care of that. There might be a little more stress on the fenders but they should last thru my remaining lifetime. I also had to patch a pretty long length where the angle strip mounted on one bedside that was rotted away.

But I'd say you did pretty well.

Hey Kevin, thanks! It's funny that so many if our trucks need repairs in the same areas. I was thinking that the warping was due to too much heat applied too quickly. After I noticed that there was warping going on, I made a concerted effort ot use compressed air to cool each weld. I really didn't notice any positive impact from doing it, though. I did attempt to planish my welds. Again, I didn't notice any effect. I guess I just don't fully understand the process and what's happening in the metal. Fortunately for me, this is the first warping that I've encountered and I'm nearing the end of the metal work. Frankly, I'm ready to move on to some mechanical issues and get a change of pace! Soon....

Mike,

Go back and read MPandC's Tech Tip on welding sheet metal. Robert is a master at explaining how things work, and does a great job on highlighting the need for planishing welds.

Hey Everybody, Time for an update. I've been in a steel cage death match with the tail gate for a couple of weeks. Finally, I prevailed...sort of. My tail gate is really beat up. During its life before I owned this truck, it had the driver side, formed part removed and a "field repair" made to keep the truck working. It also suffered a huge hit in the center that ran from top to bottom of the tail gate. Net result was that it was bent. Kinda like a board that is racked. In turn, it bent the brackets that the tailgate rotates on (hinges). Once I repaired the bedsides and squared up the sides, the tail gate no longer fit. I replaced the tail gate hinges, straightened out the actual tail gate and made a few welds to the passenger side formed part of the tail gate. When installed, it did not fit at all! Turns out the formed part was misaligned when welded on (by a previous owner). I hadn't noticed until I attempted to reattach it. So...pulled it off, used a cutoff wheel and undid my welds and the previous owner's welds and then properly aligned the formed part of the bed. I mounted the tail gate and then welded the formed part in place. Now, it fits! In fact, it moves like butter! Is my tail gate still sad? YES! It is a part of the truck, though and it can still serve its purpose. So, this is how we'll roll.

Mike, you've done a great job on that tailgate. Mine was so bad, I cut out the center section and turned it into a wall hanging. I bought a replacement tailgate from Mar-K back in the day.

Kevin, thanks! I really like your wall hanging idea!