The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1953 3100 Chevy - Father and son project

My dad and I are restoring a 53. (Chevy, 1/2 ton, 3 window cab) We have a VERY interesting backround to it.it's not just a "we bought a truck. it was fun."
No.
We spent almost a whole summer looking for one. The first one we went to see was a 1948 bigbolt. too big of a bolt. The next one we looked at was a 1949 international[Yuk!].It was a sorry excuse for a truck. It had weeds growing in the grille. And in the bed,it looked like the owner had put sugar in it,because ants were crawling through every crack it had. Finaly dad offered $500 for it.But then,the guy said:"Shoot! I said 5000!" apparently he wanted to keep it. When we got in OUR truck,all I said was:Dagnabbit! Why DID we rent that trailer!" Dad and grandpa just laughed. Our third truck Wasn't too much different. It was rough, but we considered it . We drove back home a little later. The next day my dad was at work,he was about to get the guy with the truck on the phone,when his phone rang. It was a guy we'd tried to talk to earlier, but he never got back with us. The truck was in GREAT shape. (The craigslist ad said: rebuilt engine/transmission/ready to paint. Needs glass, wiring harness, grill, and bumper:$800) Dad offered $600, and they agreed on $700. Ended up getting it for $650 cuz the seller couldnt find a few of the minor parts. (air cleaner, and hood name plates, and his bill of sale.) Later, dad bought a tow bar and tow lights. Then on October 24th 2009, we rounded up gandpa and we went to get it. It really was good. As we were getting the tow bar on, the owner and his friend that was helping was like:"Nope. It won't work." So HE attached it HIS way. My dad didnt like the way the tow bar was bolted on, but the senior guys on the scene said it would hold. And when we started driving, took the first right hand turn out of the parking lot into the street, and one of the mount points came off. I said: "Dad, let's rent atrailer,ok?" He said:Let's give it one more try." one HOUR later, we started driving again.Then, about an hour later, the sun started to dip,and we found out we needed air.Dad had an electric air pump, but we had no outlet. Right when it was dark, we started running out of gas.we all went:"Oh no." Finally, a gas station came up on our side came up. I was just plain relieved. Once we were gassed and aired up,we were on the road again. The only trouble we had were angry people honking because we were going slow. Once we got home,we had dinner, and sat down in front of it, and just sat looking at it.
Now, my dad and I work on it over the weekends. I get the truck when I'm 15 or 16, if I learn how to take care of it, fix it, and earn enough money to pay for it... Dad hasnt decided yet how much I need to pay. He says it will mean more to me if I earn it.
If you have any parts,near Frisco,Texas, tell us.
I'm Mac Landau, I'm 9 years old, and ready.
Thanks,
Macx.

Love your truck, i remember how long it took me and my dad to find my first car. When i was in grade 1, i decided i wanted to fix an old vehicle. We looked at quite a bit of vehicles before we finally found one good enough. By that time i was 11 years old.

macX, nice story. Just remember, time really goes by fast and before you know it you will be telling this story to your grandchildren while helping them on their project. There is no better life.
Good luck.

Howdy everybody... This post is from Mac's father. My name is Keith. Mac and I have been lurking here in Stovebolt for a few months since we discovered the site, while looking for a truck.

About a year and a half ago, Mac started talking about wanting a '97 GMC truck, like I drive. I dont remember exaclty how his interest changed to the old fat fendered/pointy hoods of the early 50's and older. But, his interest didnt fade, and seemed to grow stronger. So, I figured it would be easier to find one now, than 6 years from now, so we started looking. That turned into an obsession, and now we're both hooked on Stovebolt, and the old Advanced Design and Art-Deco trucks...

I've made contact with a few other bolters already, gotten advice, answers, parts, and even a freebie.

Since Mac is only 9, we're gonna share this account. And frankly, most of the posts will probably be from me, especially if it has to do with buying or selling.

But I wanted Mac to write his own story to submit for the Gallery, so this one will be his thread, and even though we are making slow progress, (cuz we just dont get many hours a month to work on the truck...), I'll have him keep this thread updated as we make significant progress or improvments.

Thanks to everyone that makes Stovebolt run. This really is a fun and valueable resource, and Mac and I have felt like family here, even though it took us so long to introduce ourselves...

Keith

Although Mac's interest may come and go at times you know he will never have to buy a truck. He now has one and I can just see him driving it off to college and being the talk of the campus. Then, years later he'll be doing it for HIS son!!

Best of luck and let us know how we can help. There's lots of bolters in Texas too!!

Mac's dad Keith, here...

This was a "no title" when we bought it back in October.

I'm happy to report that the bonded title application process is now complete, we have legal registration, and antique vehicle licence plate valid until 2013, and should be recieving in the mail that blue clear Texas title in a few weeks...

It was challenging to complete the process within a reasonable cost... Without an appraisal, the bond would have cost $300 or more. Finding someone that charges a reasonable or no fee to give an appraisal wasnt easy. In the end, got an appraisal for free, the bond premium was only $50, and tax/title/registration for 3 years, was $120.

We would have had to spend the $120 anyway, so the only extra cost of buying a "no title" truck was the $50 for the bond... If we can make it 3 years now without a previous owner making a clain on the truck, we'll be in the clear! The downside is, if a previous owner comes along, we'll have to re-pay the bond...

We feel pretty save, though... The previous title/registration didnt have a correct or valid VIN number, and the county clerk changed the record, so if there is a PO out there with papers in hand, they dont have the same VIN# that is on this truck. Engine and transmission have been changed, so those numbers wont match either, if that is what was on the previous title...

So, the next project for Mac will be to repair the license plate/tailight bracket, and mount this new Texas plate!

Then he gets to rebuild the master cylinder... He did all 4 wheel cylinders already. The MC didnt want to come apart easily, so we thought we'd give it a try as it was, before we risked damaging it with heat and vise and clamp, etc to loosen the thing up. But, no joy. The old thing needs rebuilt, if we can get it apart. We'll have to think about a disk brake upgrade if we damage it beyond repair trying to loosen it up. Might as well invest 3 or 4 hundred in disk brakes, as 100+ on a new MC...

Stay tuned.... We'll keep our progress updated here ...

Hey,Mr. Paris! This is Macx, I agree with your tag about Stovebolts and fords.Macx

Truck story Part 2



After my dad and I brought home the truck we started doing little jobs like fixing the vents. But soon after we decided to work on the
brakes. But that was postponed because of bad weather. A few weeks later we started working on the brakes.We worked and worked almost every weekend for 5 months.Finally, the brakes were done.(After bleeding them about 20 times!)


Now we got to work onthe engine. We installed the distributer and coil and cleaned the sparckplugs and sparckplug wires. Soon we found out the sparckplug wires were no good. So my dad bought some new ones. We put those in and looked up the firing order for the cylinders. A few days later we had the engine turning and smokin'. Here's another clip of the engine running...

Way to go. Take your time and do it right. By turning and smoking I hope that means you got it running. If so, maybe the smoke will clear up some after everything "burns off". I figure you had put some type oil in on the pistons while it sat?

Good work.

Hi Alvin. You read Mac's post before I got a chance to upload and link in some videos....

Here's the first example of what Mac callled turning and smoking

Finding out that the engine was good was a big milestone... It was reported to have been rebuilt, and felt right turning it by hand, but there's a lot that can be wrong even though the outside looks clean... But, a few stabs at getting the distributor where we wanted it, and a working set of points out of the pile, soon there was a little backfiring, then some real encouraging i think i cans, and then a little purring/growling... That was all with no fuel except what the float bowl would hold. So we hooked up a temporary line from a gas can to the fuel pump, pumped all the bad gas out of the fuel pump, and hooked her up to the carb with a new filter. A few more starts with priming the carb, and then she was runnin smooth.

Still a long list before we can road test... Gas tank cleaned out or replaced, dunno yet... New fuel line to the pump... alternator... throttle linkage to the gas pedal.... Then we can keep it running long enough to set the timing, and confirm that the water pump/cooling system is working... Exhaust pipe and maybe even a muffler... After a nice good bench test once everything is functional, we sure are eager to try her on the road...

The PO (or the PO before that) hooked up the beehive oil filter to return the oil on the passenger side at the top of the head just behind the dizzy... I dunno if they knew of a oiling problem getting oil to the valves, or just didnt know that the returning oil should have gone back into the block on the same side where the outlet was... Getting 25 or so pounds of oil pressure on the aftermarket gauge we have hooked up under the hood with the cheap plastic tube those come with. I'm keeping an eye out, though, for signs of getting too much oil in with the valves, since all the filtered oil is routing through there for now.

Cool, way to go. Sometimes things do go right!!

alvin, i don't if we put in any oil to the pistons,
but i can ask my dad. any way, my dad and i drove it the
wek after my b-day. but we broke down after the 1rst test drive.
but later that day she drove like a greased wheel monkey.
best of luck!

.... the engine sounds good. Brings back memories of an old truck I had long ago. I suppose your dad knows that the truck is really YOURS

hi! this is macx and i'm finally writing again. the next chapter of the trucks trilogy is about how were hooking up the wiring, and how we almost had to scrap our engine.One day, my dad went out with me to try to start the truck. it had been under a week since we started the old girl,and i guess that wa about a week too long. All we had was that electrical doesn't sound right sound. we were so bummed, we almost decided to buy a new engine.
We tried everything,oiling the rocker arms,taking off the fan and fan belt and hand cranking. We kept working for 2 months and we got 0 improvement.Finally we decided to take off the spark plug wires and put them back in, and we also drained the rocker arms of almost all the oil, punched the starter, and it worked like a charm. That old bolt was running better than ever. and now were working on our wiring. we hooked up the brake and turn lights, and now were working on headlights. And on an almost unrelated subject, my dad got a new project freebie: a 1929 Mercedes kit car for my mom, and that thing blow some minds. bodys in great shape. thanks for reading!

more details about the engine trouble

Be sure dad helps on the truck first Its got to be in tip top shape by the time you get your license!! Sounds like your work is paying off. Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us posted.
How's school going?

Hi alvin, school is going very well,and i cant wait til christmas break.