56 Chevy (RIP)

[Jason 56]

Looks like you have all the typical rust in these trucks. I can definitely relate to that problem You’re making great progress. I like the patina look. Especially in black with all that character. Keep the pictures coming. I’ll be following

[Snake72]

Update time! Nearly finished with cab rust repair, driver side came out great. This cab work was not for the faint of heart but the patch panels actually fit up really well. A lot of trimming and fitting, time and swearing. Door test fit and gaps was better than expected, just fell right in.

[Snake72]

Plan for the cab floor is epoxy prime and raptor liner, sound deadener then carpet. Rest of cab interior will be repainted this blue/green color, likely single stage. Need to make sure the transmission will clear the hump and floor without mods before I epoxy prime.

I stripped the 5.3 down to long block, plan is to have heads rebuilt, examine and reseal the block, mild texas speed cam and LS6 valve springs, but otherwise stock 5.3. I'm going to pick up a Aisin AR5 transmission out of a chevy colorado tomorrow, this is a 5 speed that I'll use with fab bot adapter plate and LS1 clutch components. Will need to figure out clutch and brake pedals for hydraulic clutch. Probably use firewall mounted power brake booster.

[Rickysnickers]

Looks like your cab body work came out really well!

[Tempest67]

nice metal work, keep it going

[Snake72]

Thanks guys. Picked up this AR5 transmission a few days ago, gave it a rustoleum restoration and have the adapter plate on order from fab bot. Cleaned up the 4L60e bellhousing as well.

[Snake72]

picked up an '88 C4 rear suspension yesterday, found out the same seller will have an '89 front suspension available soon and made a deal for that as well.

[Snake72]

Cleaned up the C4 suspension and mocked up under the frame at approximate ride height, picking up the C4 front suspension in the next week or so. The Flat Out Engineering components leave a slight rake, supposed to be about 1" front to back, which should be fine for my application but I'd like it as flat level as possible. I may C notch the rear frame and tuck the batwings up into the frame 1" but we'll see how the mock up looks when I get all the components together.

[Snake72]

Acquired an '89 vette front end this weekend, 70k mile car that had a mild engine fire, everything is super tight and clean. I already removed the control arms, spindles, brakes, rack and pinion etc and will be cleaning them up. So far I've been impressed with the quality and condition of all the vette components especially being 35+ years old. The only real concern I have is fitting the LS motor over the rack and pinion which apparently can be a real bear with the Flat Out Engineering set up. Sounds like I'll have to "clock" the rack and pinion 90 degrees to get the pressure lines coming out to the front instead of above the cylinder for oil pain clearance. I've seen other builds that required moving the engine way back in the bay and cutting into the firewall to get clearance. Also I have read that the stock front sway bar wont work, but I'm determined to get installed somehow.

[Snake72]

Work continues on the cab. The last rust repair is above the windshield on the interior side, I could never figure out why this area was so rusty, it doesn't seem like a place for water to collect. After cutting into it, I found out why it rusted so badly. It was absolutely packed full of mouse nest, mouse skeletons, peanuts, sudflower seeds, etc. The whole top portion of the windshield frame will have to be replaced but the rest of the frame is perfect.

Also noticed this red and blue paint on the bottom of the windshield frame that was under the gasket, is this a factory paint marking for something?

[Snake72]

Progress. The upper windshield frame repair was not my favorite, a lot of fitting that had to be precise for the windshield and gasket to sit and seal correctly. But its done, and came out pretty well. I ordered both the inner roof patch panel and outer roof skin support panel. The hardest part was drilling out and cutting the spot welds free from the outer roof skin without damaging the roof skin itself. I cut an oversized section from the inner roof and elected to butt weld the patch on the sides but spot weld the upper seam to hopefully avoid warpage along the long top cut. A little filler will cover the overlap. Prior to welding, I treated the surface rust inside the roof and used weld through primer on all overlap surfaces.

Also, without a rotisserie, I needed a way to flip the cab up to clean and prime/undercoat the bottom of the cab. Came up with a simple extension off the front of the wooden dolly I'd made. Simply tip the cab onto the front firewall and support from the rear. Super easy, one man can lift the cab and it balances perfectly on the firewall, but I still used a brace to keep from tipping back down.

[Snake72]

I'm sure someone has done this method of cab flipping before, but in case someone needs a cheap way to flip cab by yourself, cab is surprisingly light.

[dagnabbitt]

Wow, great work.

[Tempest67]

Nice work

It is very satisfying to remove rust and replace it with new metal.

[8man]

Man, you have done some really nice work in a short amount of time.

It is looking good.

[Snake72]

Thanks guys! I'm ready for a change of pace from cab metalwork. Going to wire wheel the bottom of the cab, seam seal, POR15 the old metal, then raptor liner the entire underbody. After that is complete, I'll flip the cab back down and scuff then epoxy prime the firewall and whole interior, and turn my attention to frame and suspension, engine and trans mounts/mock up.

I really don't want to have to cut the firewall for engine/trans clearance but have to see how everything sits during mock up.

[dsraven]

if you haven't mocked up the cab on frame with the engine and trans you want then maybe wait on the raptor liner in case you need to do a little mod for engine or trans clearance. epoxy prime for sure but \i would wait on the rapror if it were me. if you need to cut, weld or bolt through then the raptor is gonna need to be scraped off or it may interfere with the process or not allow the fasteners to be torqued correctly.

[57tailgater]

I am enjoying this thread and really liking your cab repairs. While you have it flipped on its nose, can you get me a picture of the right rear cab mount? Mine is bad and I'm looking to see what it should look like. Thanks and keep up the great work!

[Snake72]

Ask and you shall receive. My driver side rear mount was completely disintegrated, I handmade one with scrap steel. It is posted a few pages back on this build.

[57tailgater]

Thanks for the pic! This works perfect! I'll check for the pics on your rebuild of other one.

[Snake72]

Cleaned up the flaky rust on the floor bottom, actually cleaned up really well. Threw a bunch more welds on the repair areas, it's certainly not going to fall apart. Coated the rusty areas with POR15, love it or hate it, I've had good results when used as intended. I'll let that dry, scuff everything up and spray epoxy across the whole floor, hopefully this weekend. dsraven made a good point about waiting until mock up is complete before spraying raptor liner.

Hoping to sandblast the frame this weekend as well and move onto the frame work and suspension.

[dsraven]

man, those rear cab mounts. a rust sandwich.dunno what was actually holding my cab on the frame. front and rear cab mounts were both just rust formed into a shape.

[Snake72]

Dude, I seriously can't believe my cab didn't just fall off the frame. 3 of the 4 cab mounts were nearly non existent and such a critical point for safety and structure. The rear passenger side cleaned up really well and was solid.

[Snake72]

Seam sealer is done on the bottom of the cab. I didn't have time to spray epoxy yet, maybe this week. I did get a nice day for sandblasting the frame. I like to use black blast for a blasting media, leaves a very nice tooth for paint and primer. I decided to use POR15 on the frame, had great results doing the same thing with my '72 sandblasted frame. I know I'll have to grind some off the front frame rails to install the C4 crossmember but this way I'll have a clean frame to work on over the winter. I'll scuff and do a topcoat after suspension bits are all installed.

[Snake72]

Epoxy primer sprayed on the bottom of the cab, I've had good luck with eastwood epoxy in the past, if I ever do a higher end build I'd like to try SPI epoxy.

With the cab rust repair done, I shifted to the driver door. Rusted out door bottom and lower skin as well as the door hinge mounting bracket was completely disintegrated. I ordered a new lower skin, door bottom and hinge mounting bracket. The bracket is well made but fit like crap. I had to drill out the spot welds holding the bracket together, realign everything, and reweld but was easy. Watch this video if you're doing the same repair, it helped me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=940kzxK8BM4.

The door bottom also fit poorly and does not have the factory impressions on the hinge and latch sides. I wanted to use as much original metal as possible, so I did some slicing and dicing, a lot of stitch welds, and took a lot of time between welds to avoid warpage. I made cardboard templates to make sure the curvature of the door bottom remained the same. Don't judge my amateur welds, but it came out decent. Need to fit the lower skin and then I'll finish welding and grinding. Also, I've been using the Fitzee fabrication method of "cut and butt" for welding patch panels, watch his videos on youtube, it works really well.