squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

**squirrel** · November 9, 2011, 11:26 AM

Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post

what happened to "I'll just paint it with a brush and drive it?"

Still doing that....the engine in it was tired, and I only have big blocks laying around, so it got the engine swap. The painting is all being done with a brush, and I had planned to do the minor bodywork I'm doing.

Should be on the road again by the beginning of the week, I think.

**Huskinhano** · November 9, 2011, 02:58 PM

Amazing how that BB just drops in and bolts up to everything. Is that a 3 speed or granny 4 speed? I bet if it's the 4 speed, you'll be able to yank anything in 1st!

Maybe put a cable on the motor to the frame for just in case.

**squirrel** · November 9, 2011, 04:51 PM

yeah maybe I should chain it down! It is a granny 4 speed, one tons didn't get 3 speeds. Although I have a couple saginaw 3 speeds...

Motor is back in after painting the firewall and installing the clutch and getting the clutch linkage fixed. Dealing with exhaust manifold studs now....why is it that of the 3 left side manifolds I have, the one with good studs has the AIR crap on it?

**HillbillySailor2** · November 9, 2011, 07:36 PM

Between this and the Volvo, you're one busy man, Jim! That engine looks great in there!

**Stich496** · November 9, 2011, 08:58 PM

engine looks to low !!!!!!!!!!! needs something,but WHAT? ?
6-71 ya ya thats it..

**squirrel** · November 10, 2011, 06:04 AM

My son was saying it looked like you could fit a blower under the hood.....you can. I had the blower motor in my 59 truck a long time ago

**JOES66FURY** · November 10, 2011, 06:46 AM

Not an engineere or anything but the lack of real forward support on that engine scares the poo out of me. i am all about overkill...engine plates maybe...I would be concerned the torque would snap those itty bitty forward supports in 2...just thinking out loud really...

**squirrel** · November 10, 2011, 07:00 AM

The two 1/2" grade 8 bolts that go thru the 1" thick by 3" wide by 4" long steel encased rubber mounts at the lower rear corners of the bellhousing are what hold the engine in place. The front mounts just keep it from moving up and down. Looks scary...works great. All chevy light trucks with manual transmissions from 55-59 were built like this. They used the same bellhousing mounts thru 1972. On the trucks that I put an automatic in, I add a crossmember under the engine, and use the normal 1960s type mounts on the side of the block.

**JOES66FURY** · November 10, 2011, 07:08 AM

This is why youre my hero.

**SuperBuickGuy** · November 10, 2011, 07:30 AM

Originally posted by squirrel View Post

Still doing that....the engine in it was tired, and I only have big blocks laying around, so it got the engine swap. The painting is all being done with a brush, and I had planned to do the minor bodywork I'm doing.

Should be on the road again by the beginning of the week, I think.

I'm sure you'll finish yours, but for me the road to project perdition is paved with "why don't I just" or "while I'm at it"

**Stich496** · November 10, 2011, 08:04 AM

Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post

I'm sure you'll finish yours, but for me the road to project perdition is paved with "why don't I just" or "while I'm at it"

one thing ya one thing leads to an other..

**squirrel** · November 10, 2011, 08:53 PM

This one is proceeding mostly to plan, of course my mental plans seem to require a lot of work...but it's getting there.

Put the second coat on the inside of the cab, it covered well. I swiped the rough original firewall pad from my orange truck, which deserves a new one. I cut some roofing felt and fit it to the inside of the firewall first, to help seal up the holes that I should have welded up, then put the pad in. Now I can run the wires, etc thru the firewall.

I got the throttle linkage done, water pump/pulleys/alternator/fan installed, put studs in the manifolds and installed them and the spark plugs, found an air filter, installed one front exhaust pipe, etc. I have the full exhaust system from the 86 Suburban that donated the rearend, but I'm gonna have to modify the pass side head pipe quite a bit. The original is angled at about 45 degrees, so it would run right into the bellhousing crossmember. I am using an early full size car passenger side manifold, which dumps straight down, so I'll need to find a 90 degree bend and do some creative cutting and welding. Hopefully the tailpipes will fit reasonably well, there might be problems because I moved the gas tank kind of close to the rear axle compared to how it was in the suburban.

I need to pull the front end sheetmetal apart and start working on that, so I can see how the radiator fits. I did run into trouble with the mounts, the pass side front mount is right in the way of the lower radiator hose with the short water pump, so I decided to use the long pump instead. I have all the brackets and stuff for both setups, so it's not a big deal, but the fan might be a tad close to the radiator, I may need a shorter fan spacer, or something.

Attached Files

**67pete300** · November 11, 2011, 07:47 AM

This build rules. And amplifies my desire for an old Chevy truck that is dirt simple to work on. Certainly I don't have the skills and piles of parts laying around that squirrel does, but he sure makes it look easy!

**squirrel** · November 11, 2011, 12:35 PM

More progress, sort of. I tore the front end apart, and started stripping the paint off the grille. It looked like it was chrome under there, and sure enough it still has the original chrome with it's unbuffed original finish, they didn't sand it before painting. There's some rust showing thru, but not enough to make it look bad (as I see it). This grille is probably worth almost as much as I paid for the truck....

I also started fixing a rust hole, the only rust I've found on the truck are some small holes in the rear cab corners, the bottom of the front fenders, and one area on the hood, where the rear inner brace is close to the skin, and catches dirt and water and battery acid fumes.

Attached Files