1954 3100 C4 Tube Chassis Build

[STOCKISH]

Not this week so far. Been rocking at work, hockey and baseball with my little man, etc. Probably this weekend for sure. will be starting a 5 window conversion soon as well!

[FarmerSid]

5 window conversion? Do tell.....Raking in the gold eh! I'm off to a three day hockey tournament tomorrow morning in Toronto (coach) so I won't be able to touch my truck till next Wednesday at the earliest. Both boys have hockey Monday and Tuesday night. I expect an update when I get back!

[STOCKISH]

Ill do my best not to disappoint. Hope to have the 5 window stuff here soon and I will get lots of pics for everyone!

[xpickup]

STOCKISH, looks great. I can not wait for the 5 window swap.

Shannon

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome build! Be sure to drive it down to Charleston when you are done!!

[STOCKISH]

Thanks man, Id love to go back to Charleston sometime, would be a fun road trip.

[FarmerSid]

Hey Josh. Got to thinking about the long lower control arm bolt. I know you said that it's 1/2" diam. 18" long and threaded 2" on each end. Did you use anything special for that rod?

[STOCKISH]

I believe its driveshaft steel they use for large electric motor driveshafts. Its like grade 10.9 or something crazy. Hows your progress coming along? You know, you need a build thread buddy!

[STOCKISH]

Was hoping for some progress last night but to no avail. Sometimes I think I should have just thrown a solid axle and leaf springs under this thing....
On a positive note, I ordered a C4 torque arm so I can get the rear end and trans tied together. Cool that it negates the need for a transmission crossmember. I just need to get the 4 trailing arms mounted so I can be done with the rear of the truck finally. Just need to find exactly where my wheelbase needs to be to center the rear tires in the fenders, my rear fender is so beat up I don't trust it to mock up and determine the final wheelbase.

[99 to Life]

Do you have another fender and moch up for the other side? I don't think you could go wrong with a 117-117.9 WB. s10 swaps are 117.9 and most of them look good. anything is better than the 116 stock.

[STOCKISH]

I don't have the other side fender. I'll pick up a good one and go from there. Seems like 117-118 is pretty common though. Just want to be certain .

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Awesome build! Be sure to drive it down to Charleston when you are done!!

Originally Posted by STOCKISH

Thanks man, Id love to go back to Charleston sometime, would be a fun road trip.

X2....excellent build. If you drive it down to Charleston, strap the 292 in the back. I want one!

[STOCKISH]

Already sold it. You should have come to get it.

[jcramsey]

Originally Posted by STOCKISH

Already sold it. You should have come to get it.

I definitely would have...too little, too late..just found your thread today!

[STOCKISH]

Ok guys, I think I have this figured out. My wheelbase is actually going to be 116". The reason is this. I wanted to push my bed a bit closer to the cab to take up some of the gap that was there. I also think I could have moved my front wheel a little further forward than I did, but at the end of the day I think it will be ok. Still looks bad ass to me and if need be I can change the front wheel openings enough to make it perfect. What do you fellas think?

[ghettoluxury]

The rear is spot on. If it was me I would have pushed the front forward a little more.

[STOCKISH]

Yeah, I will have to look into changing the wheel opening a bit, it looks worse because of that angle as well. I will get a better pic straight on to see what everyone thinks.

[STOCKISH]

Ok, after posting my last response I came back out to the garage to get a better picture. I looked and realized I did not have any of the alignment shims in between the control arm and the control arm mount. I put the shims back in it that were originally in the Corvette suspension when I bought it. This is how the wheel looks now. Looks perfectly centered in the wheel well as best as I can tell. Pics in a few.

[99 to Life]

What I'm wondering is how you moved the bed forward and still have the same length running board? Something would have to give aka be pushing or flexing on your fenders. Do you have enough bolts in them fenders too? They have room to play up or down and the rear has play forward to back. It looks like your front fender is a tad bit high which will make that gap look off too.

IF you really wanted, you could move your bed forward say 1". Move your cab back about 1" or say .75 on each. That way your front fender moves back and centers up in the well better, if that is the real problem there and not just an illusion or whatever pics do.

Then your rear fender would relocate on the bed, thus needing different bed mounting holes (some guys do this) I've thought about doing it. Anyway, then you can keep stock running board, splash filler pan. Then just move your rear to where you want it.

Lotta options really. its also nice to have engine in there to help see where things will fall with it. i don't think you'll have any issues really and if you did you could recess firewall or a few other things.

[STOCKISH]

[QUOTE=99 to Life;6632583]What I'm wondering is how you moved the bed forward and still have the same length running board? Something would have to give aka be pushing or flexing on your fenders. Do you have enough bolts in them fenders too? They have room to play up or down and the rear has play forward to back. It looks like your front fender is a tad bit high which will make that gap look off too.

Then your rear fender would relocate on the bed, thus needing different bed mounting holes (some guys do this) I've thought about doing it. Anyway, then you can keep stock running board, splash filler pan. Then just move your rear to where you want it. QUOTE]

This is what I did, I slid the bed forward but slid the fender rearward on the bed side. Still looks proportionate and gave me the smaller gap between the bad and cab that I wanted. The front fender is mounted to the cab in the factory location, the wheel was back in the wheelwell because the shims for the caster and camber adjustment werent in there. When I put the shims back in the wheel is perfectly centered front and rear now. Phew!! I knew I had centered the wheels perfectly before, I was getting worried for a minute trying to figure out what I screwed up. Pay attention to the basics!

[ChuckDriver]

Winner, winner!

[ghettoluxury]

And we have a winner! That looks spot on to me.

[oldman3]

Let's make it four for four, winner....Jim

[mcbassin]

Awesome work Josh! Please tell me you're keeping this one...for a while at least.

[Ozzy2013]

[quote=STOCKISH;6632604]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

What I'm wondering is how you moved the bed forward and still have the same length running board? Something would have to give aka be pushing or flexing on your fenders. Do you have enough bolts in them fenders too? They have room to play up or down and the rear has play forward to back. It looks like your front fender is a tad bit high which will make that gap look off too.

Then your rear fender would relocate on the bed, thus needing different bed mounting holes (some guys do this) I've thought about doing it. Anyway, then you can keep stock running board, splash filler pan. Then just move your rear to where you want it. QUOTE]

This is what I did, I slid the bed forward but slid the fender rearward on the bed side. Still looks proportionate and gave me the smaller gap between the bad and cab that I wanted. The front fender is mounted to the cab in the factory location, the wheel was back in the wheelwell because the shims for the caster and camber adjustment werent in there. When I put the shims back in the wheel is perfectly centered front and rear now. Phew!! I knew I had centered the wheels perfectly before, I was getting worried for a minute trying to figure out what I screwed up. Pay attention to the basics!

Looks great!