The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk guidance for a newbie

I am looking to buy a 49 50 or 51 chevy pickup. I want to put modern suspension and power steering and a 383 in it. What do you guys think my 1st move should be? I found a few sites with trucks for sale in various conditions, I want one complete but can be rough. I plan on spending a few hours tonight after the kids go to bed reading posts and gathering info.

1. Buy Truck
2. Develop detailed build plan with costs
3. Develop realistic schedule (2+ years)
4. Build extra garage to contain truck and parts
5. Sell second born child to pay for project

Good luck and we are here to help even if this did not.

Oh and welcome to the bolt. Glad you are here.

Welcome to the bolt

#1 Tetanus shot (just in case)

If you are modernizing and also doing a total resto, maybe just get the barest one available (with the least amount of rust) because you might find out all those neat things the PO says he did to the truck are not to your standards or likings anyway.

#2 Get your spouse to like it so you can get all the things you want to fix your truck; parts, tools, larger garage....

These guys and gals are terrific.

Sabrina

1. Buy a truck with a solid body & bed and stuff
2. Buy an old later model S10 longbed
3. Remove the S10 body and engine, install your 383
4. Stick the AD body on the S10 frame and have a ball!

5. Sell the old AD rolling frame and motor, body panels and seats, glass, etc out of the s-10 and get some money back!

The s-10 longbed donor frame will have all the cool stuff.. suspension, power brakes, power steering, collapsable steering column, decent rear end, the whole bit.

'47 thru '53 Chevy trucks are geared LOW, my man.. you can put a 454 big block in one if you want, but if you don't swap out the tranny and rear end, you still ain't gunna go any faster than 55mph without winding it out to 9 grand.

You don't wanna be going 80MPH and have to rely on old drum manual brakes to stop, either.. nor do you wanna hit anything head on going any faster than 10MPH with that steel rod of a stick steering column.

Svae a whole lot of time and money and just do the full frame swap.. I mean, you're putting a 383 in there, it ain't like your concerned with keeping it original or anything.

You can see what I did via my site link below my sig ... I've posted every single project I've done since buying the truck in January of 2003, with pictures and step-by-steps.

I found a truck in Texas that was already pretty much done the way I wanted ... nice paint job (though not new paint), no rust, body in good shape, frame straight and in good condition with a Mustang II IFS already done, 350sbc with a 350 turbo trans, mid-70s Chevy 12-bolt rear end and the gas tank moved out of the cab (a lucky find!).

Even with all that already done, the interior floors and firewall were full of exposed holes, the heater barely worked at all and the wiring was a nightmare! Often, my headlights would go out without warning and sparks would start flying under my dashboard like it was the 4th of July! Scary!! And this was to be (now is) my daily driver ... so I immediately parked it and ordered an EZ-Wire kit ... rewired the whole truck (I loved doing that project!) and put a new AC/Heater in, sealed up the floors and firewall and, well, as you can see by the list of projects on my site, it kept going from one project to the next -- and what fun!

Welcome aboard, looking forward to seeing your progress. Don't forget us here in Texas when you are looking for your truck, we have dry(less rust)air. There are a lot of old farmers and ranchers here, and in the 50s I think it was a law that you had to KEEP your old truck, because every other field and barn has an old Bolt resting in it.

Cliff59

fumblin is on the right track. if you want to build a wild street truck this is the formula i would go with. the safety improvements of the s-10 chasis are not to be missed. i wouldn't want to get speared by the steering column in that truck. i think that the 383 is a good idea for a motor, i have always wanted one. someday my 61 will get that treatment. my only suggestion would be to put a 5spd manual in it, or a six speed. that is a cool combination. anyway good luck and welcome to the bolt.