47-55.1 1953 3100 "Honey-do"

[rnrdthefox]

And so it begins. A picture of this truck was texted to my wife around Christmas 2019 from her step-dad with a message that said Merry Christmas. We didn't get to pick it up from Arkansas until last October. This gave me some time to do some research and formulate a plan.

Sorry about the matchbox car looking photos from the side. I scaled the hi-res pics to meet the size limits and that's what happens.

[rnrdthefox]

So what's the plan?

- 6.2L and 6L80
- TCI Frame
- Must be "Red" according to the boss
- Power windows (removing the vent window)
- Power door locks
- Power seats
- A/C
- Dakota Digital gauges
- Wheels and tires TBD, but probably 18s or 19s and as wide as I can go in the back w/o interference
- Gas tank under the bed with a behind the license plate access to filler cap

It took about 6 months, but I picked up a 2008 Escalade donor from auction for slightly more than the price of a used engine and tranny from one of the wrecking yards. These pics are after giving it a good cleaning inside and out before I started taking it apart. Since it was going to sit in my driveway for several weeks, I needed the HOA to think all was well while I pulled everything from under the hood and all of the front seats, electronics, and misc parts. Then over one weekend, I stripped the hood, front bumper, fenders, a couple of doors, HLs, mirrors, etc for sale on Craigslist before hauling to the Pick and Pull.

[rnrdthefox]

I pulled everything that I thought might be of value. I wish I had a place to "park" it out of sight as there were a few more items I would like to have had after the fact. I could have sold a few more parts also. Oh well. That's how you roll in the land of HOAs.

[rnrdthefox]

While all of this was going on and still a couple months from going to pick up the truck in Arkansas, I got the frame ordered and started putting it together to transfer the body parts to the new frame. This thought process is all about the limited space. Once the truck arrived, and I started dismantling it, I would only have a few days before the HOA would start complaining about a junk vehicle sitting in the driveway.

[rnrdthefox]

Next I tore the engine down and inspected it as it had a "tic" in the valvetrain that I heard when I did a preauction inspection. I knew something wasn't right, but wasn't as concerned as I knew I would be doing a basic rebuild anyway. I sent the block and crank out to the machinist and the tranny to the tranny shop to get new clutches and the tail converted to 2WD from the tail and housing for AWD.

Sorry no pics of the tear down as I was in a hurry to get it to the machinist. The tic was from a lifter that looked like it wasn't pumping up fully and was galling the lobe. But, all is not lost. I promised the boss it would go back stock. No wild or loud engine with an aggressive cam. This gave the excuse I needed to put a mild cam in it form Texas Speed. A win for the little man!

You can't really see it in the picture behind the engine, but that is the radiator from the caddy. I built a rolling test stand for the engine/tranny/radiator/exhaust so that I can hook the ECU and harness to it and check the initial fire up and tune without it being in the truck.

[rnrdthefox]

About now, it's October and time to make a trip to Arkansas and pick up the truck. For once, with COVID in full swing and going stir crazy at home, I was looking forward to the 13 hr drive back. We have made this trip many times through the years, with and without kids and it gets old so we generally fly when given the option. The weather was good so we picked up the trailer and headed out. We only stayed for the weekend as we were expecting our first major snow storm in Colorado and got back just in time. The next weekend was nice so I started pulling it apart and determining how much rust I was going to have to deal with.

An interesting note, the tires were certainly from back in the day. They actually held air. Wow.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rnrdthefox

I pulled everything that I thought might be of value. I wish I had a place to "park" it out of sight as there were a few more items I would like to have had after the fact. I could have sold a few more parts also. Oh well. That's how you roll in the land of HOAs.

Glad to see another mate fight the good fight with the HOAs ha ha (I can't wait to move out of their reach) enjoying your progress/build, concerned that the donor was not wrecked which makes me wonder why it made it to auction

[8man]

Nice work, and that is a good looking Bronco sitting next to the truck.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice work, and that is a good looking Bronco sitting next to the truck.

Thanks. The Bronco was a restomod several years back. I enjoy it a lot. It was my dad's and had ~ 23K miles when I started. It required a ton of metal work after sitting outside it's whole life.

It's got a 393W stroker with Explorer top-end and 94/95 mustang computer driving the engine and 4R70W, PS and power disk front and rear. It will cruise down the interstate at 75 like a dream. I need to get it out now that it's finally spring here in Colorado.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Glad to see another mate fight the good fight with the HOAs ha ha (I can't wait to move out of their reach) enjoying your progress/build, concerned that the donor was not wrecked which makes me wonder why it made it to auction

Thanks. I can't wait to get out also and have more room/freedom.

It was wrecked although not that bad. You can't tell from the pics, but the rims were trashed (broken inside lips) and the back bumper gone. It likely jumped a curb at high speed and ripped the bumper off. Also the rear door panels had been removed as if it was being searched. I had a person that wanted the frame before I hauled it away, but when he had his insurance run the vin, they said they wouldn't insure it. It had been turned in for fraud.

[lv2tri2]

Originally Posted by rnrdthefox

So what's the plan?

- 6.2L and 6L80
- TCI Frame
- Must be "Red" according to the boss
- Power windows (removing the vent window)
- Power door locks
- Power seats
- A/C
- Dakota Digital gauges
- Wheels and tires TBD, but probably 18s or 19s and as wide as I can go in the back w/o interference
- Gas tank under the bed with a behind the license plate access to filler cap

It took about 6 months, but I picked up a 2008 Escalade donor from auction for slightly more than the price of a used engine and tranny from one of the wrecking yards. These pics are after giving it a good cleaning inside and out before I started taking it apart. Since it was going to sit in my driveway for several weeks, I needed the HOA to think all was well while I pulled everything from under the hood and all of the front seats, electronics, and misc parts. Then over one weekend, I stripped the hood, front bumper, fenders, a couple of doors, HLs, mirrors, etc for sale on Craigslist before hauling to the Pick and Pull.

I like your build, I'm in the finish

[rnrdthefox]

Time for an update I think. I've been focused on some other things lately and Elk hunting season is approaching in a few weeks, so the distraction will likely last into the fall.

My focus of late is cleaning up a few loose ends with the cab and doors. Much of the time of late has been fussing with the doors on final gaps and alignment before I welded in the door strikers. I've got the doors now ready for the media blaster and will likely drop them off this week.

First, I wanted to close the hole over the transmission. Here are some pics of the transmission cover that I fabricated.

[8man]

Nice!

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice!

Thank you Sir!

[rnrdthefox]

Finally welded in the door strikers. I fussed with the doors for a couple of weekends going back and forth with depth of closure to get minimum amount of filler on the doors themselves and keep it on the cab and also tweaking gaps. For some reason, I didn't get final pics of the door gaps and contour alignment. Go figure. I'll snap some late once I get some epoxy on them and remount them. Here are a couple pics of the striker pockets.

[rnrdthefox]

Cleaned up a number of welding areas from replacing the door skin and adjusting gaps with cloths hanger rod. Here are a few pics.

[mongocanfly]

NICE!!!!!..i like it ..

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

NICE!!!!!..i like it ..

Thanks. It's going to be a long journey.

[NorCalGal]

I’m in for the build.

[GreasyLikeaBurger]

Nice. Going to follow your progress.

[6DoF]

dude, playing the full HOA game on a top-down build, well played! awesome start to the build too.

[8man]

As said before, nice start to the build.

[oldman3]

I'll hang around for this build, nice job on everything so far...Jim

[rnrdthefox]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement.

I started next on the floors. I ended up replacing the sub-floor supports, front floor pans, inner kick panels, re-working the existing inner cowl braces and part of the bottom of the right door post. I'm waiting to weld the outer cowls until it's media blasted. At that point, I will do final welding of all the panels and filling the extra holes in the floor and cowl. I also want to do some additional bracing underneath across the floor to each door and around the tranny cover. The stock seat frame provided a lot of the floors rigidity. I'll try to use the braces for the seat mounting points also. Debating on Epoxy Primer at that point.

[rnrdthefox]

More pics of flooring and cowl work.