I was away for work for a week, so I couldn't do anything to the '57. I got back and did a few things yesterday, but wasn't too motivated for some reason.
I laid down some fresh paint on the long block that I assembled last weekend just before I left.
I also decided to try another spare fuel tank that I had sitting around. This is a poly repo tank from Tanks Inc that I used in my '69 Suburban. It has an EFI pump installed, so I will have to make a new pickup and sender so that I can use a regular fuel pump for my carb. This tank hangs fairly low, but ends up being about 1" higher than the sump of that fuel cell would have been.
That box is 5" high, so the tank should have 6.5" at ride height. Since it is a poly tank, I will probably build a full skid plate for it, just to be safe.
The fuel inlet is on the side instead of the top, so that should also make mounting a fuel filler a bit easier. I am still kicking around some ideas for said filler, but I guarantee I'll come up with something neat. It also conveniently has a notch already to clear my bed strip.
After all of this mess, I repaired/modified the steering column that I got for the truck. I pulled it from a '93 Astro van. It had 2 loose screws in the tilt mechanism like every old GM column, and I put in a new key switch since I didn't have a key. I also cut off the stock floor mount flange, the shift linkage arm and ground down the bump where the column shifter attaches.