The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1953 Chevy 3100 - "The 1953 that Came Back"

The hard work is paying off! I like the patina look and seeing your progress gives me hope to get mine back on the road.

Made some progress on the front end this week. I took apart the grill and found the nose of the grill had up to 1” of filler in it. I sanded it out and spent some time with the hammer and dolly to get it in better shape. I put some filler back and painted it up. The front grill on the 54-55 is pretty big and wanted to shrink it up so to speak, so I patina painted the lower section and painted the remainder with a metallic silver for contrast. I think it looks really good!

I did lots of painting today
-underside of hood (gloss black)
-front apron and license plate mount(patina)
-front bumper (gloss black)
-speaker grill, ashtray and glovebox (bronze)

Need to let them cure then get them put on the truck. I have plenty to do until then so I can continue to make progress.

Thank you, I just read through your build (doing great). I see the light at the end of the tunnel finally and that helps to keep up with the progress!

Made progress last week! Painted the inside of the hood and radiator support, glad it’s under the hood it didn’t come out as good as I wanted but it’s good enough. Asked a neighbor for help to get it on and wet down the fender and hood to see what it will look like under clear and I like it. Still have lots of adjustments to get the fit right and plan to get that done this week.

While I was waiting on paint to dry I worked on the stereo, grill and glovebox. I got the radio and speakers from Jon Goodman and I am very pleased with how it turned out and it sounds great for a couple of small speakers.

This weekend I decided to see what it would take to mount up the rear sway bar. For the chassis swap I used and rear end from a 1999 4wd Chevy Blazer to gain 4” in width. I also got rear disc brakes with 3:73 gears (open diff) and took the rear sway bar set up while I was at it. After mounting it to the rear end I measured where it would land on the frame and fabed up some brackets and added a bushing for more support. Now that the paint is dry I mounted it up and geometry is spot on.

Still making progress and trying to get 15 minutes in a day. Had the local glass shop that cut my glass come out and install the front and rear glass. I haven’t installed much glass and what I have done didn’t always go well so decided this was something I would have done. I’m happy with the results and was able to install the inside window trim. It’s starting to come together and that is keeping me motivated.

On to the front end and that’s where things started going backwards. First issue is the upper hood hinge mount hole threads stripped out on the passenger side. Before and after painting the inside of the hood I chased the threads with a tap in hopes this wouldn’t happen. Without this being fixed the hood alignment is near impossible. I bought some Helicoil and drill/tapped the hole. There’s not a lot of threads so I put lock tight on the threads and letting it cure. Fingers crossed this works or I’ll have to figure something else out.

My second issue is the front radiator support is too high, not allowing the hood to close properly. I used the EZSwap kit and followed the instructions and cut below the cage nuts and bolted the the lowest hole as instructions specified. I called Ed at EZSwap and he said some trucks need to be cut further done and possibly shimmed. That was frustrating news because it will cause me to have to redesigned multiple things. I should have done a fit up prior (my fault) to making the radiator mounts and painting everything up.

My plan is to get the hood fitment right so I can properly measure where to cut the radiator support for proper height. This should provide the correct hood to fender fitment and then I can either make new radiator mounts or fix the ones I already made.

Doing a frame swap is not the easiest even with a kit and has taken more time then I initially thought it would but… I’m learning new skills, making friends and making a truck the way I want it!

The glass looks great. Years ago I installed some glass by myself - how hard could it be? A thousand pieces later I had the glass shop install a new window for me. I've learned my limitations.

I have been busy finishing up the front end and getting it “good enough”. I’m sure I’ll adjust it a little more later on but it works for now.

I moved on to the bed and raised the bed floor 2”. Turned out good and have 8 holes left to drill and will do that when I install the bed wood. I welded up a few spots in the bed side and sanded out a bunch of old body filler so I could lay down some layers of paint to patina the bed. Still have some more wet sanding to do but think I’ll get it together before I finish it up.

Had to do some patch work on the fenders then some body work to get out some of the bigger dents. Again, not making this perfect because that’s not the look I’m going for. I am repairing all the rot and preserving it for many years to come which to me is important.

Laid out the boards and checked fitment and happy with how it looks. Marked and drilled the holes on the side boards and sanded everything down lightly with 320 grit. Wiped it all down and started the first coat of stain. Will do a second coat tonight. Plan to get the other side tomorrow. Then the same process for sealer over the top of the stain. So hopefully in 3 more days the boards will be done.

During the drying process I’ll paint hold down straps and get some wet sanding done on the fenders, tailgate and running boards.

Still lots to do but still moving forward!

Bed is looking good. Are you using oak?

Yes, wasn’t that much more than pine so decided to step it up a little. One board is a little warped but should be fine when it’s all bolted together.

Good progress and fixing my mistake the last few days.

Finished staining and coating and have everything loosely installed in the bed. Still need to measure and square the bed up then tighten all the bolts.

I test fit the tailgate, fender and running board to get a look at it and that’s when I noticed my wheel “issue”. In the EZ Chassis swap kit it provides an offset shim for the spring pack. It’s suppose to move the rearend forward but I messed up and installed it backwards and moved the rearend back. Needless to say I was not happy with myself! I fixed that today and dropped my driveshaft off AGAIN to be shortened. They were great about it and will have it done tomorrow and will give me a discount which is a plus.

Things are moving at a good pace and the list is getting shorter. Shouldn’t be too much longer for a real test drive more than up and down the driveway.

Too long is better than too short.

I cut that piece 3 times and it's still too short!

Otto, You should make YouTube video showing how to cut lumber to make a longer piece of wood! 😂

Hahaha! It would probably go viral!

Back on topic please gents.

The bed is on and took me what seamed like forever to tighten down all the bolts. Finished the patina on the fenders and bolted them up as well.

Had issues with the running board aprons fit up and called Ed at EZ Chassis Swap because it seamed like the bed might be off. After talking through the issue my running boards/aprons are for a 54-55 (shorter) and I need the 47-53 (taller) aprons. They should be here Thursday.

The gas tank filler neck was my next problem. I was going to cut down the S10 filler neck but didn’t like that the fill hole would only be 1” above the top of the tank. So I started digging through old parts and found the original filler neck and decided that would be better and I think it looks alright. A trip to the parts house and found a filler neck with a bend that would work to connect to the tank. I’m going to paint it up but wanted to make sure it fit and worked first and it does.

Need to get the seat bracket fabricated and fix/mount the taillights and it’s ready for a true test drive.

After fitting the fenders and rolling it out in the open i got pretty excited.

Coming together nicely and definitely worthy of the excitement! Looking forward to first drive pics.

Well, I’ve got some necessary things done to make it drivable. Fabbed up some seat brackets for a bench seat out of my 65 Chevy II, tail lights mounted and flashers to allow for LED lights. I have been driving it any chance I get and really enjoy it.

Still need to put in the headliner, killmat the floor and have a carpet made for the floor. My winter project will be to install an HVAC system to make it more comfortable for this hot days.

A special thanks to a good friend I met here and has been so so helpful in getting my truck going. His knowledge base and willingness to help has been great to have the help to finish it up. Thank you Jason for your help and a great friendship!

Your truck is really looking great. I like the stance. What is the measurement from the top of your running boards to pavement? I need to set ride height for mine before fitting and fabbing front and rear ends.

5” at the front and almost 6” at the back.

Thank you for that. You’re lower than expected, but it sure looks good.