The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk '54 Chevy 3100

Where do I start.....

We recently acquired a 1954 Chevy 3100. It belonged to my girlfriend's father who passed away about a year and a half ago. It was given to my girlfriend and I recently.
It's definitely a project, and one I'm looking forward to. We want to have a 'resto-rod' when all is said and done.

The truck is in Alabama (where my girlfriend is from) and I'm going to have to get it here to Dallas.
The truck is a rolling chassis with cab. There's a 6cyl engine in it (235, I believe, but unconfirmed) that may or may not run. Supposedly there's a bed, but it needs to be located. I don't know that it exists. The cab & frame look to be in reasonably good shape. Lots of surface rust. I'll need to inspect further to see if it goes deeper than surface.
We also have a 350 pulled from a Camaro, also of unknown condition, that we'd like to transplant and beef up a bit. The 235 will likely be cleaned up and sold at some point down the line.

I've got a few issues.
The big one is that we live in an apartment with no facilities for working on a project vehicle. I'm looking for a storage facility that would suit my needs, not only in terms of space, but also to allow work on the truck, have electricity and so on. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any/all.

The second major issue is my knowledge and skill level. There's some knowledge and zero experience. This is going to be a learning experience for the both of us (the girlfriend is a car junkie as well). I'm investigating some education at local colleges to learn some of the things I need.

I don't have any photos yet. Those will be coming soon, when we get to Alabama again (in the next few weeks). I'll be sure to post them here for all to see.

I picked up Tom Brownell's book on restoring, and am reading it and formulating ideas.
Here's some things I know we're going to do:

• Independant suspension front and rear. We plan on cruising in this, and we'd like to be comfortable doing it. I've seen what Heidts has to offer and some comparable setups. It will give the truck a lowered stance for street.
• Decently potent 350/350 setup. I'm not going to be dragging this thing, so modest HP is the goal. I'm figuring 300-350HP, which can be easily achieved with a 350.
• Interior upgrade. again, for comfort. A/C is a must! We want to cruise in comfort. Some comfortable buckets and a decent stereo should accomplish that, I think.
• Paint will be a deep, dark green. My daily driver is an '03 Toyota Tacoma in Imperial Jade Mica. Something close to that would be the ideal. Some simple silver pinstriping and a bit of chrome. We're debating having the grille & bumpers painted silver instead of chromed for a little bit different look.

If anyone has any suggestions or tips or anything of any use, I'm all ears.
I'll be sure to keep y'all updated as to the progress of this project. I'm hoping that in due time we'll have a sweet little hotrod pickup.

Welcome, John. You've come to the right place. Since you've already picked up "How to Restore Your Chevy Pickup," you're off to a good start.

As for advice, take your time and enjoy it. Ask specific questions here when you get stumped; these guys know everything! The Stovebolt Page is a tremendous resource. As for knowledge and experience, both come with practice.

Welcome to the Stovebolt John!

You've described a pretty ambitious first project here. Sounds like it will be quite a truck when its finished.

I've seen people with shops and experience take a long time to finish something like this. Life seems to get in the way.

My tip would be to decide if the truck can be road worthy soon without creating the finished product you've described. If you can get the six running, replace the bed and update the brakes, so it can be driven safely, you can start enjoying the truck quickly.

My fear is that you'll end up paying to store it somewhere but be unable to make progress fast enough to justify the investment in rent.

I say this in part because aside from color and trim details what you describe is not unlike what I'm doing with my '54 3100. I'm three years into the project and right now am not sure it will be done in three more. Fortunately I own the ground it sits on...

Front IFS is nice, but the rear seems a bit unneccesary. No matter what you do, it will still, to some degree, ride like a truck.

I know exactly what you're saying about life being an intrusion on personal projects like this.
Getting the 6 running may or may not be an option. As I said, I have no idea as to the condition of either the 235 in the truck or the donor 350. Next time we head to 'Bama, we're going to investigate all possibilities.

And I've got some options for storage.
A coworker has offered to store it in Graham, but that's a couple hours away.
A friend is also moving somewhere closer and intends on building a shop. He's told me that I'm welcome to store there, since we'll likely work on the truck together (he has welding equipment!)
My mom also has space, but that's in El Paso. It's even more inconvenient than Graham, but there wouldn't be any issues if something happens to either one of us at work (unlikely, but always possible).

Valid point.
I want to do an IRS as well for a few reasons: To learn how to pull it off, For the 'coolness' factor (always important!).
And as for ride comfort every little bit helps!

If you wanna do all that, my man.. you need to do what the cats from "Lil Rascals Rod Shop" did with their GMC.

If I remember correctly, they took their '54 GMC (not so different from your '54 3100) and slapped it on a '84 Monte Carlo frame.

That solves alot of your problems right from the get go.. since you can often find many a Monte Carlo with the 350/350 (or 350/400) combo as well as AC, PS, PB, Cruise, etc.. and also has your "lowered stance".

You can read more about their project here

If your a beginner and have big plans for your project, i'd say the best way to go is that route.. start with the chassis that has the stuff you want on it already.

Welcome to the 'bolt, man!

I think you are jumping in the deep end before you can swim. This is a great hobby but your dream could turn into a nightmare real easily. For a first project I would buy something thats up & running or wouldn,t take much to make roadworthy. If you look around you can find a good original or an older restoration that needs refurbishing. You will be money ahead & will enjoy the hobby more. Just my opinion.

We've already got the truck. So for that reason, it's a valid starting point.
You're right on, though. It would be a lot simpler, especially for someone as inexperienced as myself, to get a running vehicle and use that as a project base.
I've got what I've got now. And I'm going to do everything I can to make it as right as I can make it.

look at www.ad-engineering.com They make an s-10 frame kit that looks to be a neat trick for the old AD trucks.

The little rascals Monte Carlo approach is actually quite a bit of work. I've seen the truck first hand and there are a lot of details that have to be dealt with to make that approach work, and some fabrication challenges that should not be taken lightly.

I've looked at it pretty hard because I have a Monte Carlo frame that I acquired to use as a front clip and now am considering going the same route they did.

If I were starting from scratch I'd look instead for an S-10 frame. Using the Monte you have to cut the cab somewhat to make it fit. The S-10 allows leaving the sheet metal essentially stock. If you go with Robert's kit (AD-Engineering) he has even made provision to mount the stock running boards.

John those of us urging a more limited approach have watched lots of others take on projects like this, and seen them never completed because of the amount of time and money it takes to pull it off. We'd all love to see you succeed and wish you the best as you start the project. We're just afraid it will be one more uncompleted project in a world that has too many of those already.

I have a yard full of them... I just need another 10 or 20 years!

Good luck with your project but in my opinion you might be biting off more than you can chew in a reasonable amount of time with your current housing and relationship situation.

The modifications you have specified will not come cheap. If you have not already done so, I would suggest sitting down and putting pen to paper to determine your build plan and the costs involved.

The IFS will be a large cost as will the engine/transmission.

Your lack of experience is not a detrement but it will lead to wasted time and money as you determine the best way to build your truck.

The lack of a close place to take the truck apart and work it is your biggest obstacle as I see it. Once you start taking one of these trucks apart you will find they increase in size by about 400%. Without a storage unit to keep them out of the weather you will find it difficult to work them effectively.

Not trying to paint a doom and gloom picture but without a dedicated place to tear it down, work it (load, dirty, dusty) and rebuild it you may wind up with a parts truck for sale soon.

Put a plan in place and work it. Identify the problems and a solution before you take a fender off. Plan on at least 2 years before you make significant progress and at least a cost of $8,000 for parts, supplies, outside labor, paint, etc.

Such a project will consume your extra time completely so make sure your girlfriend and you have an agreement in place as to cost sharing. Unless you make the trip to the altar to solve any such issues they can create tension and be a project killer.

Good luck and remember we are always here to share our experience.

Big plans call for big pockets, and a big space to work on it. Lots of eyeballing, asking around, and reworking things when you don't have alot of experience.. which ads alot of time to the project.

MOST first projects that start off with ambitious plans end up abandoned, or sold before they're ever close to being completed.. the ones that finally do get completed usually end up taking 10x longer than originally thought, and cost many thousands of dollars more.

Going with a running frame still isn't a weekend project.. hell, I spent close to 3 hours just getting rear fenders off a '51 3/4 ton once!

Greg_H,

Thanks for sharing that link!

Wondered for awhile how long it would take before someone came out with a kit to do the S-Truck swap.

Regards,
Wannabe

Hey guys:
That kit looks GREAT for 2 wheel drive.
Wonder if it will work with the 4 wheel drive S10 frames??
Ter

UPDATE:

Well, we decided that it's going to be more fiscally sound to leave the truck in Alabama and work on it there.
It's parked at her childhood home right now. There's also a workshop there that we could use for storage and work area. We will, however, have to clean out said workshop.
Another bonus is that we'll get access to any/all of her late father's tools to use for the project.

Thanksgiving weekendm, we're planning on going out there and cleaning up that workshop as much as possible and moving the 'bolt inside. If we make really good progress, we will start teardown/inventory.

Everyone has real great comments but something not touched on is I hope you and your girlfriend have a real strong relationship... hate to see you put time and money into it and then you break up. And because it's her father's truck... well, you get the idea!