Stovebolt.com Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre New here with a '54

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the forum and I've got a '54 Chev that we're working on. I'm really trying hard to get this thing on the road soon so I can start hauling all the junk around for our other projects... that and the stuff for my animals!

This forum looks like it's got all the answers, and believe me, I could use the help!

I'll post videos of our project as we make progress. Here's the first couple..

The intro:

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/371/85/

First update:

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/484/1/

Let me know what you think of the truck... upcoming projects include finishing the brakes, fixing (or swapping) the transmission, a 12V conversion, some cool old interior upgrades, making some patch panels... the list gets longer every day! But the main goal is a cool old truck to toodle around in.

I'll see you on the boards, and hopefully on the road in the next couple weeks!

- Kelle

Hi Kelle,
What a cool "Blog"
You have one good looking "StoveBolt" I wish you the best and ...
Welcome to the "Bolt"


Cliff59

Welcome to the 'bolt Kelle. Cool '54. I like your build philosophy, get it on the road and make it safe!!

I'd keep that 235. The '54 was the first year of "full pressure oiling", they run forever and make decent horsepower unless you plan on really doing some heave hauling.

In the video you mention the distributor. After the 12 volt conversion (lost of tech tips on this board) I'd consider a Langdon mini-HEI distributor. I've had one for 2 years, set it and forget it, no problems.

Good luck with the build, keep us posted. Love the videos.

Welcome to the Bolt. After watching your video I have the feeling you're going to keep seeing items that need renewing until you have a brand new truck.

Hey Kelle,

Nice truck for your project, it's going to be fun to track your progress. That V8TVshow is an interesting website.


Welcome to the "Bolt"

John

Welcome to the Stovebolt, Kelle. Good luck on the '54. Keep us posted on your progress!

Kelle,

Thanks for the introduction and welcometo this site.

Your site also seems to be very interesting. Your on the right track already, being a member to this forum. You will find an overabundance of helpful, friendly and knowledgable folks here who are thrilled to see pictures and jump to the occasion to offer help in any facet of the restoration of your early rig.


So, grab a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy the ride.

Dave

Will you marry me?

i thought the same for a number of years, 23, but 2 years ago i started a full on redo. still the orginal six but many up dates. now a year and half later and about $16,000 or more and it still is not done but soon. your ideas are great, and by the way in am single and live in central indiana. ron

Kelle: Welcome to the Stoveblot website. As you have all ready found out this is THE place to be. The guys and gals here belong to the best source for all your 'Bolt' needs. My wife and I like your idea to not paint your truck. The patina is great. Love the videos. Hope to see more soon. Have fun with your new truck.

Thanks for the welcome. Glad you like the truck too.

So far I'm planning to keep the 235. My carb leaks like crazy so if I can fix it and the water pump doesn't leak other than changing the plugs, wires, distributor, I shouldn't have much to do to the motor, just hope it goes fast enough to keep me safe on the highway, to slow and I'll get run over.
Thanks for the tip on the distributor. Glad you are enjoying the videos. stay tuned, much more to come.

I really hope I can keep the truck mostly original. I need a beater and that steel floor in the bed is perfect. I don't want it to be so nice I'm afraid to drive it. Thanks for the welcome.

Dave
Thanks for the welcome, you are right, the people on this site have been very very helpful already and I really enjoy the site. As for your cup of coffee and relaxing - got no time for that, I got a truck to build...
Thanks again

Sorry Czechman, married already to a very wonderful supportive and great guy. Good luck finding a woman who will work with you, side by side as my husband and I do.

Ron
as I said to czechman, I wish you luck finding a woman to work with you. I imagine someday I'll have a nice fully restored old truck, but for now, the parts hauler is all I need and I'm so anxious to get the truck on the road, I don't have the time for a full tear down right now. Little by little though.

Thanks for the welcome. I agree that the patina look is back in style and with me driving on rock roads all the time, I'd cry if I messed up a new paint job so it stays natural looking for now.
Glad you enjoy the videos, definately more to come soon.
Thanks again!

Kelle, Welcome to the BOLT. Nice to see more females interested in old trucks. Lots of info and more than enought BS to keep you going. You have the right idea make it safe and road worthy to start. Paint a shop logo on the doors and cover the whole truck with a coat of clear to protect that finish. Then dive it till the wheels fall off. Really enjoy your Blog keep it comming

Kelle, Welcome to the 'bolt. I really like your site V8TV. Great video blogs. Cool old truck too! Being a '54 model myself I really like them. Have fun and do it safely.

Hi Kelle,
Welcome! It's good to see more girls here, as well as another 54! I've got a 54 like yours, that I've had since 1976, and always kept fixing it up, little things at a time. Now I'm in the process of a complete frame off restoration. It's a lot of fun, both owning an old truck and the folks here! There's a lot of good people here with lots of information!
Samantha

Kelle,

Your appearance on this site reminds me alot of the flap over at the Hotrodders.com

http://www.hotrodders.com/

where "powermelissa" has spammed numerous auto forums with stealth marketing campaigns.

v8 tvshow seems to be an entertaining site where restoration knowledge and product advertising are packaged together in an entertaining "watch this build" format.

Congrats to you and your husband for apparently being in the video/advertising business and helping companies sell more of their products.
I just think you should be upfront if this is your intention in coming to the Stovebolt site.

I don't buy your "I'm going to need a lot of help" line. Watching a few of the other videos on your site convinces me otherwise.

You have already told us "Stay tuned much more to come."
Much more advertising of restoration products, I bet.

Just my 2 cents.

Emerson was right on that point, Randy, but lighten up on the girl. We all have our own agenda, and if I didn't have my own way of restoring appearance (wire brush and rust paint) I might be interested in her sponsor.

Kelle, welcome. I think you will come to like that engine/trans combination, but you might as well start loking into a diff swap: Nova, Camaro, whatever. Lower numeric ratio is what it's all about when you think of keeping up with traffic, and you'd be losing the enclosed driveshaft at the same time. Don't know what's wrong with your tranny, but they are stone simple to rebuild. A rebuilt or reproduction carburetor, on the other hand, might be a good way to simplify your fuel issues.

dude?

if ya check out her and her old mans web site real good you'll see where some guy in their forum told her about the SBP

give the chick a break geesh ...I'd get rid of half the dudes in here just to have 5 more girls with her attitude hangin' around

and ya know guys as flattering as ya might think some of your macho comments are, they're not, in fact it gets pretty annoying...I know first hand because the women at the knitting forum I hang out at treat me the same way..."oh gas I want to marry you"..."oh gas I wanna have your babies"...roll eyes and fade to black...

Way to go GAS!!! Yeah, and some people on here say "who cares what somebody does to the truck, as long as it's saved by the crusher". Why not do the same here. If she is trying to market products, so be it. Just as long as the trucks bein' saved. Just don't watch the site or don't reply or something!

It was a joke, jerkoff :mad:

I don't know if she's selling products or not. And I guess it really doesn't matter. Anytime a gal knows how to do mechanical stuff.....I'm impressed!
Way to go, Kelle! And welcome to the 'Bolt!

Exactly, Rich. I don't even see any advertising in the videos, so how is she advertising?

Wow Randy. I understand your comments, but I should clarify that this project is a personal undertaking for me.. you'll notice that all the V8TV projects are American Musclecars, save for the '49 Chevy, and that's a privately owned project that I'm not promoting here.

I probably can get help from the guys in the shop, but they're up to their eyes building the Cutlass, GTO, and other car projects. I finally found a simple project of my own to play with, and this is the perfect forum to help me learn about it.

It's true I work on the muscle cars too, and I do know how to weld and do bodywork all that stuff, but to be honest, I don't know the first thing about a 3 on the tree transmission or drum brakes. That's why I came to this forum, to learn about the old stuff that's not very common.

I'm not here to promote anything, I'm just trying to get my truck put back together. If I mention a product that I'm using on the truck, it's because it works and I thought others might like to see it. I mentioned Rock Auto the other day, I have a $500 bill for all those parts... I have no need to promote them, they just happened to have what I needed and they ship fast.

I'm sorry that you're feeling "sold", but you have me misread here.

MOMMY!... Czechman called me a name!

Thanks for the welcome. I do plan to paint a shop logo on the door. It would be a logo of my family farm. Blandford Farms. I know a great painter and he said he could make it look washed out or old so I'm gonna get it road ready first, then see about him doing a few touches on the old paint.
I wish it would warm up here so I could get outside again and work on it. I'd love to give it a good bath and see how it really looks with all the dirt and (I think) moss off of it. Glad you enjoyed the blogs too.

Frank50
That black truck on your link is really cool!! Can you tell me if that metal in the kick panel area in the picture is factory or did someone put that in recently. Your interior looks much better than mine and someone seems to have rivited in Tin panels as kick panels on my truck. I'm interested to learn what used to be there or what was original.
Thanks for the welcome.

Samantha
I'm so glad to meet another girl with a truck even better that your's is a 54 too.
I wish you the best with your frame off, maybe someday I'll get there.
Do you have a link that I can see your truck pics.

Hotshoe 36.
Thanks for the welcome.
I'm betting I'll be begging for a faster motor in no time. I have a very aggressive driving style, but I plan on purely toodling with this truck and hoping not to be in a hurry.
I found some old books with pics of the inside of the 3 speed, but I haven't been able to find parts for it, so I've got a spare 3 speed in an extra parts truck, I'm hoping it is in better condition. If not, I'm gonna be on the hunt for replacement parts. Any suggestions where to find those?
Regarding the carb, I'm hoping a rebuild and some new fresh gaskets help out the leak.
Thanks for the welcome.

Gas
I'm laughing out loud and the Kinks song caps it off for sure.
Thanks for sticking up for me. I laugh at the marriage proposals too, not offended, just wish there were more women in the industry who enjoyed cars and working on them.

Welcome to the 'bolt and the various personalities within....

Czechman,
Seems to me you are way out of line with this one. A personal attack should not be allowed.
Mike

Kelle I can understand why Randy feels this way. I too seen the snowballing that was done over on Hotrodders & it wasn't recieved well at all because it was basicly spam or as a free ad for the sites powermelissa worked for which was against Hotrodders.com rules. She tried to BS a bunch of BS'ers & she got caught big time and I would hope a "local" gal like yourself wouldn't try that stuff on this fine group of people.

I have looked around your site & I can see why some may think of it as a TV SHOW on line because of all the ads. Now with that being said there are LOTS of forums that are covered in ads to help maintain the site just like yours is, so that shouldn't matter. You will see some companies names floating around here on Stovebolt, but for the most part we donate $$$ to help keep the site going & basicly ad free.

What caught my eye was the caliper of Project Cars that not only going through your shop but the Feature Cars you have on you site. All top notch stuff to say the least . I do have one question for you, since you do live in the area have you & your husband Kevin gone to the Easter Car Show over at the Muny in St Louis??? You both look familar & so do some of the projects. I'm just wondering out loud.

BUT if you need info on your old truck you have came to the right spot. This place is filled w/great information & the right people who will help you out if they can. You'd be amazed at what you will find when you poke around on this site...Joe

Welcome to the Bolt Kelle!

So nice to see more women around here!

Great bunch of guys... we just make sure they have enough Beer and they are harmless!

65panelmike its ok man Ive been called a lot worse by a lot better...

Its what I get for venturing out of the spoon...BAD GAS! BAD GAS!

farmgirl stop by the spoon sometime we have lotsa laughs down there

Now wait a minute Gas, if you hadn't ventured out you wouldn't have found me and offered to get my truck home!

I'm glad Randy attached the link to hotrodders.com website giving me the information about powermelissa. I had no idea PowerTV was doing that, but I can definitely see why people were upset.

The company my husband and I operate is very different from PowerTV. V8TV used to be a television show airing on the Men�s Channel. Last year, we moved the show to the website. If we are on forums or message boards it is to learn about something, make friends, talk about ideas, figure out questions we have on the cars we are building. V8TV does not SPAM the forum admins or the members or anybody. Yes, we post videos on the forums and message boards that we shoot in our shop while building our project cars. Yes we mention the products that we are using, because those are the actual parts being used to build the car. It�s like guys at a car show, saying their car has Edelbrock Intake, and a Currie 9� rear end, etc. We get hundreds of questions from viewers about the parts and techniques used to put a car together and the video is how we answer them.

In the case of me being on Stovebolt, it is purely personal. On the V8TV website, we have a forum and a part of that forum is called the Truck Stop. We started it because I like trucks more than muscle cars so it was a way for me to be in contact with our viewers who are interested in trucks too. While on that forum, I was invited by a Stovebolt member to checkout the Stovebolt forum. The day I realized my 3 speed transmission was not going into second and third gear, I joined Stovebolt to learn more. I have found it to be a wonderful website with lots of helpful information.

I personally own the 54 truck, I paid for it with money I made selling household items on ebay. I use that same money to buy the parts for the truck - hence it being a low buck build. The 54 is not sponsored by anybody.

I�ve emailed the Stovebolt administrators to get permission to continue posting on this site. Only upon their approval will I continue. I felt the videos were a way to contribute to the other readers who might be going through what I am or working on the same thing and either they can help me, or I might tell them or show them something to help them.

I apologize if I have offended anyone. Hopefully we will get a thumbs up from the moderator because we have a lot more work on the truck.

No problems here Kelle, I just wanted you to realize why some folks might be a bit gun shy of you. Thanks for being upfront w/everything also..

I'm happy to hear that a follow member was kind enough to steer you to us for good info on your truck & hopefully we can continue to help you out as you work on your truck. I also see that you even mentioned Stovebolt in your video & in the credits as where you got some of your info, thank you for that...Joe

Again, Welcome Kelle and please do stick around.

You asked about the "black" truck in my link. It's actually dark green with some primer and lots of patina and rust. Poor quality photo, too. The shiney kick panels you see in the interior shot are coffee cans I riveted in to cover the holes. Strictly temporary and they have since been removed. The rest of the interior you see did turn out rather well, thanks.

dang girl how long does it take to get the seal of approval over at your place?

Welcome Kelle, I finally got to see your video. I have to see that stuff at work, I'm on dial-up at home. I, personally, think that's some cool stuff. Not many of us have video access or even the nerve to get in front of a camera. Keep it up!

As far as what Randy said, take it with a grain of salt. There's all kinds here, no sense getting upset with one persons opinion. If you were doing anything wrong, the moderators would be sure to let you know. It's refreshing to see women get involved with our hobby, I wish my wife would but......she's a good sport about it at least.

I'm not John or Peg, but I do know them and feel they would welcome you as you are. When talking products that we use, we always mention the brand we use, that's how we figure out what works and where to get it. Plugging a few in the video didn't bother me at all. Kinda proud that you plugged the Stovebolt even.

Anyway, I would continue doing your thing until told otherwise (by a moderator), I sure enjoy it.
Welcome to the Stovebolt,
Scott

Hey 48bigtrucks, I'm on dial-up, and it didn't even take over 10 minutes(if you have the patience!) to load, and for me, it usually takes 30-1 hour to listen to a song. So, you might be able to look at it at home.

I would rather wait and use high speed. Our dial-up is even slower than most, it even locks up at times. I know a guy that works as our local telephone company service tech and swears he can hook me up cheaper than the going rate. I may not be on dial-up much longer,
Scott

OMG! I am so happy to see you here Kelle. I am having so much fun watching and listening to your blog. Keep it up. I too help out in the garage with our trucks. My favorite job is greasing the bearings. Pushing the grease in til it squirts out the other side. Anyways, Hope it warms up so you can get back to work. You inspire me.I like the simple approuch to your work on your truck. I too don't go for fancy paint jobs. You can't have any fun if you are worried about dings and scratches. Thumbs up from me!!!! ;-)

Welcome Kelle. Love the 54 build and blog. You might consider a pertronix unit for your distributor. They are easy to install and you retain the original look. That is if your dizzy is in decent shape. Also, you should check out Billy Bob's progress if you haven't found it yet. Good luck and I'll stay tuned.

Thanks for all the welcoming messages... I checked with the administrators, and they're cool with my project and the blogs, so we're going to keep posting them. Thanks Stovebolt!

Here's the latest - been working on the transmission, the wheel cylinders, and I finally got the wheels blasted, painted, and new tires mounted. I found a couple cool old artifacts under the seat, and I'm getting ready to "install" my new Mexican blanket interior!

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/493/1/

I'm glad everything worked out here on the Bolt..
It's great to see you ladies wanting to beat on these trucks by yourself && aren't afraid to not only get dirty but ask questions or for help if needed.

Good luck w/the project & I also like the video you're doing on it.....Joe

The only transmission I ever overhauled without assistance was the 3-speed from a 1942 Harley-Davidson WLC war bike. I did it on my shop bench with the service manual in close attendance. But I know your 3-speed to be a simple, durable unit and there are still millions of them out there in wreckingt yards and old gearbox overhaul shops. When I was 14 I worked in a shop doing nothing but stripping those 3-speeds and washing the parts.

Alright, alright!! Everybody get back to your work stations, pick up either a wrench or a broom and get busy. Nobody's marrying anybody.

Kelle -- Welcome to Stovebolt.com! Scott does know us and I doubt I can really add anything of note to what he said, but if it helps to hear it from us, we're glad to have you and hope you enjoy the site/get something from it. We have checked out your site and it is pretty cool, indeed! A very nice layout and design (an old editor of mine once taught me that when it comes to layout, there's no such thing as plagiarism...), and lots of interesting info.

I won't comment on other sites' issues. I can comment on what happens here, and so far we don't have a problem. Nor do we expect one.

Gang -- we thoroughly appreciate the passion and dedication in keeping Stovebolt.com down-home friendly. In this case, All is well.

Thanks and regards,
John

I still haven't received my ok to join your little v8 club over there farmgirl and frankly I'm beginning to think its personal....hello I'm the one that stuck up for you over here?????
and even though I crossed my fingers when I agreed to your terms of service there was no way of you knowing that

and Big Guy you need to get with Peg and determine how ya'll wanna spell center...center or centre

Gas -- Centre is spelled correctly (at least in every English speaking country I can think of except for the good ole US of A). Just like theatre, metre, centre, colour, whilst, etc. You might want to check the spelling of "sergeant" though ...

Considering it is a *World Wide* Web, and that we have a lot of Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis and Brits using (and contributing) to the site, I thought it would be a nice nod, as it were, to our Commonwealth brethren.

The trucks this site covers may be United States in origin, but the appeal and hobby is literally world wide. And that's a good thing.

And a very happy, if belated, Australia Day to ya, Mate!

Regards,
John

The latest video blog is cool. Good luck. I too agree it's good to see a gal interested in and working on an old Chevy truck.

hey big guy I'm down with the whole multi nationalboltism thing...if you remember the poster contest mine was the only one with all the representative countries flags on it...so there

Yea, I loved all those flags. I loved the whole print!

For those of you wonder what we are talking about, gas did a cool entry for the Poster contest! One of many neat ideas that were sent in.

Wonder if we should have a Poster Contest again. Seems are flourishing artist count on Stovebolt has increased. Hmmmmm



Peg

Hey Peggy that pic is HUGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE, like in SUPERSIZED, here's the smaller version ....Joe

thats because its not a picture zoo its a POSTER...man you can really see were I messed up...(embarrasedfacethingy here)

That's why I looked for the smaller picture...Joe

Keep the video blogs coming, Kelle. I think there interesting.

Welcome to the 'Bolt, farmgirl! Good to have you amongst us!

I've already got a Wife & a truck, so, no propositions from this camp!

lol... I was wondering why it seemed extra toasty in here this morning... flames always add such a nice atmosphere don'tcha think?

~Trev

Welcome to the site, kelle... Good to see you! Enjoy the site and keep up the good work on yours!

~Trev

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/495/85/

My '54 Chevy truck is becoming more solid by the day. This time, resto tech Randy Stange patches up the rusty floor in an unconventional act of auto recycling. All we can say is that the Camaro crowd may not like this one. In reality, no re-usable body panels were hurt in this fix, but the steel will go on living in the truck, and that's what really matters, right? The kick panels are gettin' the fix as well. Say goodbye to the Flintstone brakes!

Joy,
I couldn't agree more, that is exactly why I don't want a fancy paint job. I've got work to do with this truck and I don't want to worry about the bumps and scrapes. I too enjoy packing the bearings. We don't have a bearing packer, so we do it by hand, I'll have to shoot a blog of me with a big pile of grease in my hand and show how we hand pack them. I'm so happy to hear another woman in the world knows what packing bearings means and how to do it. You Rock!

Shipwright
Billy Bob is a beautiful truck.
We have been debating about what color (if any) to paint parts of the truck and I see on Billy Bob the hood emblem has a little blue in the chevy symbol. That looks nice. I also like the white grill. Mine is painted the same blue as the truck at the moment, but we all think upon the first washing of the truck when I get all the moss and dirt off, some paint will come too and it might be necessary to do a little touch up painting.
Thanks for the welcome.

Hey everyone!

Been working hard on the '54, we're trying to build one decent trans out of the two that we have. More parts to order. I think I'm stuffed in the fender in this blog, scraping the ugly before I put the new brakes on. This is definitely NOT glamorous work!

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/497/1/

I defintely hear ya. I think there is a pic running around somewhere with me scraping grease off the upper-control arms of my 66 (at 2am no less).

Its so much fun though!!

Kelle, Just watched number 5 Blog. I had to laugh because the more we look into the trucks the more things we find that really should be taken care of. In this case your brake lines and all that stuff for bleeding them . Keep it up, your going along pretty fast.

Love your videos, Kelle. Keep up the good work!!

Joy, it helps that I get to put long days into working on the truck while I'm at the V8TV shop managing the guys working on the other project cars. If I had to do it after work, or just on weekends, it would take forever. Thanks for the support. I made a list of things to do this week and dang, its longer than I wanted it to be. Getting ready to do the 12 volt conversion, I don't know much about electrical at all. My knowledge comes from me being the only one in the shop that fits under the dash. The guys yell colors like (connect the yellow wire coming from the firewall hole to the red wire hanging in your face).
This conversion doesn't sound to hard, but I'm not looking forward to it. Wish me luck.

coach-frank
Your 53 is such a beautiful truck. I really like everything about it and all your hard work really shows. Great build.

Looking good. But I did understand it perfectly. It was too insteresting to be wah wah wah! ;-)