47-55.1 My 1954 Chevy 3100 project

[54ChevyLs]

I bought this 54 1/2 ton In the end of May 2018 of this year.
It was a one owner truck. I immediately starting to work on it.
Unfortunately, my garage is the size of a 2 liter bottle of coke and have to do all this outside in my driveway. I’m doing 100% of the work all by myself with zero help.
Here it is when I bought it. The original owner bought it brand new in Maryland and it stayed a Maryland truck all its life until I bought it this year. The original owner passed away in 1998 ( he was 98 years old!) and it was parked in his barn for 20 years until his wife passed away in January of 2018.

[54ChevyLs]

Here’s more pictures

My plan is a TCI mustang 2 front end, TCI rear leaf springs, 5.3l LS swap with a nv3500 5 speed trans. Going to fix the structural rust but leave the patina. I want a truck that can be driven, and driven long distances and be reliable and cool at the same time and have at least one car that I don’t have to worry about dents, chips, dings, etc.

[54ChevyLs]

More pictures

[54ChevyLs]

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[54ChevyLs]

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[54ChevyLs]

Sorry I don’t know why some of the pictures are sideways?

[54ChevyLs]

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[54ChevyLs]

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[54ChevyLs]

I still have a lot more work to do. Doing this In the driveway, by myself and only able to do it on Saturdays and some sundays, it’s tough. I’ll update as I move along
Thanks for looking

[vintovka]

Looking good. 1954 is my favorite AD year. I know from personal experience that working outside is tough, very tough. Hope you get it going before winter.

[Matt_50]

Man you are moving fast. I'm just now learning to weld well enough to do it by myself. I feel your pain too, I'm working on my truck in my backyard on a tiny piece of concrete.

[oldman3]

Doing some nice work, and moving fast, I'll stick around for the build...Jim

[focusedontheprize]

Like the guys said - you are moving fast and nice job on it. Love the color and patina. Looking forward to seeing you driving this thing soon.

[54ChevyLs]

Thanks for all of the comments guys, I really appreciate it. I am very lucky with a very understanding wife who doesn’t mind me spending some time on the truck. As for the color.. it’s orignally Mariana blue (as you can see on the firewall). All I did to the fire wall was degrease it and then clear it. The silver is actually some type of rust converter that the original owner put on to stop the rust. You can clearly see in person that he literally brushed it on..which I kinda like.. it’s different and goes with my “rat rod” patina look that I’m trying to do. When it comes time to clear the whole truck, I’m going to sand away some of the silver to have the blue pop out. I’m going to try and replicate it the best that I can with the patch panels that I did.

[8man]

Nice work.

[mikebte]

Looks like you have a lot of work cut out for you, but your coming along nicely. Nice Rig.

[vintovka]

Given your rust pics mine had none at all!! I would have flat run away had i seen that level of corrosion on mine. You may need to build a garage just to protect the great work you have done so far.

[54ChevyLs]

Thanks for the compliments. This truck is going to get driven. It will see rain. I see your in Oregon. We are in the Rust belt and this truck in my opinion wasn’t as bad as others that I have seen...

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by 54ChevyLs

Thanks for the compliments. This truck is going to get driven. It will see rain. I see your in Oregon. We are in the Rust belt and this truck in my opinion wasn’t as bad as others that I have seen...

If you think yours wasn't bad i would hate to see what they call severe rust in your area. Stood on the banks of the Susquehanna in a storm and thought all the water in the world was flowing by. Being on the beach is also no picnic (pun intended) when it comes to rust. Even when housed in a garage specifically built for it the airborne salt is trying to take its destructive path on mine. I have seen painted steel trailers here literally disappear/crumble to bits in the matter of a few years.

[54ChevyLs]

Originally Posted by vintovka

If you think yours wasn't bad i would hate to see what they call severe rust in your area. Stood on the banks of the Susquehanna in a storm and thought all the water in the world was flowing by. Being on the beach is also no picnic (pun intended) when it comes to rust. Even when housed in a garage specifically built for it the airborne salt is trying to take its destructive path on mine. I have seen painted steel trailers here literally disappear/crumble to bits in the matter of a few years.

It’s almost 65 years old. I’m a mechanic and see lots of cars everyday and you can tell the people who don’t wash them and get the salt off. There’s tons of mid 2000 cars very rotted around here. Cab corners and rockers missing off 20xx trucks.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Did you find the 5.3 with the NV3500 already on it, or did you buy them both separate?

[54ChevyLs]

Originally Posted by Rabid Anti-Dentite

Did you find the 5.3 with the NV3500 already on it, or did you buy them both separate?

I bought them separate. I had the trans as a spare.. I swapped a fuel injected vortec 350 in my 97 S10 and bought this one last year as a spare. Figured I’d use it since T56 trans go for more than double than what I paid for the LS Engine

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oooh, you said the BAD word, “rat”. We don’t use that term here. It’s bad enough that a lot of guys think decades of utter neglect constitute “patina.” May I suggest that you consider sanding off the silver as completely as possible to reveal the blue? Cut and polish it and whatever is left, that will be true patina.

Regardless of what you finally do it’s going to be a very nice truck. Please keep posting pictures, we’re picture whores around here, lol.

[54ChevyLs]

Here’s some updates on pictures
Engine and trans are in for good. (Well hopefully !)

[54ChevyLs]

Last night and all day today I spent pulling my hair out mounting the steering column and making the steering linkage to connect the column to the mustang II rack. What a pain in the @ss. I never had to make brackets and mounts before, so to some of you it’s easy, for me it was challenging since the exhaust manifold and motor mount was directly in my way...plus it didn’t help that it was 100 degrees out with high humidity