The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk New guy here,needing advice?

Happy Friday to all! Payday and 2 days off to work on my new hobby, my 57 truck! Im so excited! I just got a Chevy 57 stepside that Im gonna try to hot rod. Anyway I was wondering if its possible to have an old cool truck look on the outside, but yet have all the modern luxuries of a new ride on the inside and underneath? So,I guess my question is can I take off the body of my truck and put it on a modern day car/truck chasis? Is this possible and how hard is it to do? Thanks!

Easy. But you can rebuild with new parts every thing on your 57. and still have a truck.

I wouldn't call it easy, but it's do-able - might be easier to change out suspension/steering/driveline/brakes and add any other "comforts" ya want, like A/C and stereo

lotsa possibilities, you should poke around the site and the forum a bit and get some ideas to mull over while you gather up a few more paydays of pocket money

Bill

I agree with red58 it would be easyier putting on new modern stuff onto your old frame. When putting your truck onto a newer frame you have to keep in mind your going to need to build rad cradle mounts, cab mounts, box mounts. Newer frames have a larger arch over the rear diff, take that into consideration. are you going to have to lift the box higher up on the frame or cut the box wood out to allow for clearence. If you lift the box up you have to do that with the cab also to keep the body lines flowing. There are lots things to think about when doing a project like that. It's not as easy as it sounds. Good luck with the project and send us some pics.

All agreed if the frame is good keep it. If you plan on adding aLOT of ponies you might want to box it. Easier to add a lot of goodies to the orginal frame and keep on truckin.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Good luck) Pops

Thats exactly what im doing to my 57 truck Rev. Im installing a LT-4 corvette engine and 4L60E four speed auto. I have a 1970 nova front clip and a 70 nova rearend in place. But you can go with a mustang front end. Using the mustang front end doesnt interfer with the radiator mounts which align your front fenders and hood or take away your bumper mounts.I have tilt,ac,ps,pb,pw etc. I will run after market autometer guages and custom autosound stereo with remote cd player so I dont have to cut out my dash to make it fit. So I have the best of both worlds a truck that is stock looking outside but modern underneath. And with fuel injection I will knock down around 24mpg and not puke and spit when I go up into the hills like carb ran rigs. If you have any further questions send me an email and ill be happy to let you know whats work and hasnt with my build. Welcome aboard and good luck!