1957 Chevy truck re-rebuild

[Stepside Jim]

Originally Posted by OldChevysRule

Jim....you are doing an awesome job on your build and your fabrication skills are incredible. I can't wait to see the completed project. I know your dad would be proud. Take care and keep up the good work.....Jason

Thanks Jason, I always enjoyed fabrication but with this truck I've really tried to raise my level to a whole new height.

I've had a couple of days off so I've been getting black on pieces.

The axle is blasted, welded, epoxyed, primed, sanded, epoxyed and now ready for paint.


Now a couple coats of Rat rod satin black.



Next up was the main front suspension parts.

I didn't need to sand out grinding marks on these so.... blasted, epoxyed and right to Rat rod black.
One note.... I recommend installing the bottom press in ball joints before paint. Being press in, while installing them after paint, it is easy to scratch the fresh paint while installing them.




Oh, the check list.... axle paint, check.... front suspension parts, check.

[Kim57]

Those look real nice.
Kim

[crowmagnum]

incredible work you've done here, this thread is about 60% of the reason for joining this forum just so I can follow this build, keep up the awesome work

[Baldeagle SR]

That is really going to look nice when put together,
Rich

[Stepside Jim]

crowmagnum, one of those fellows hiding in the back ground, hmmmm, I was one of those guys for a while also. Thanks for the kind words and for checking in.

With these days off I'm watching time fly by but I am making progress and that's what it's all about right now, getting as many of the time consuming odds and ends out of the way.

Last fall I applied a couple coats of black on the door panels and the floor counsel. I wasn't too concerned about priming and blocking these parts I was concerned about them being straight without any dents or marks that would show through the vinyl covering. I also did this so the paint could fully cure. This is the first time I've tried to do this vinyl work and I wanted to be sure the paint wouldn't give me problems if I had to re-do the vinyl work.


First door panel... I had to weld holes shut and and fix a few areas and should be smooth enough for vinyl.


Cutting the material. Looking at the back of the door panel, many of these same dents and dings had to be smoothed on the front otherwise they would show through the vinyl.


I used a 3M spray can adhesive, worked great. I had to be careful getting the vinyl to follow the rolled decorative bead. I started at the center and worked my way out.


Having the stainless trim I poked the mounting holes in the vinyl and mounted the trim. I figure it will keep the vinyl tucked tightly in place as the glue sets.


I did a couple of practice runs before committing to using the glue, I had to figure how and where to make the cuts, especially around corners.


At this point I just need to trim off the excess and poke the mounting holes. One thing I did find that helps was once I sprayed the glue I used the heat gun for a very short time to turn the glue from a liquid to a tacky gel.


Ok, I'm very pleased with the result. I still want to taper the ends of the trim and finish cutting open the mounting and handle openings.


The rest of the door will be gloss black, I hope with this flat black vinyl and the chrome of the trim and handles I'll have a conservative yet aggressive look to the interior.

[_Ogre]

nice work on the door panels, make the ss trim pop

[Clarance J]

Hello Jim, those door panels turned out real nice. I like the idea of using the same color in different shades and textures with the polished stainless trim that you made. I think you will get the effect that you are looking for.

Earl

[Nev68]

The door panels look great. Well done!

[ChuckDriver]

The frame looks fantastic!

[Stepside Jim]

ChuckDriver, Nev68, Kim57 Thanks all, I can honestly say.... Damn, now this is starting to get exciting.

As I mentioned before, it was a constant up hill climb, but now it's starting to go forward on it's own momentum. Sure it had it's moments over the last couple years, but now it's happening.

More pics coming tomorrow. Jim

[Kim57]

The door panels look real nice.
Kim

[butchp]

I like your core support and bumper mounts. Nothing has been said about them.

[Stepside Jim]

Now that things are coming along in the paint department I'm getting a little more excited.

The stainless work was something new to me and was quite a learning process. Once I started to figure it out I could see it was gonna be exactly what I was looking for to get the black interior to "pop" so to speak.

butchp mentioned the core support and the front bumper mounts. Both of those were done before I got the truck, they worked well so it was something I didn't have to mess with.

I know there are different ways to connect the Camaro sub-frame on these trucks. Who ever did this swap back in the "80's did a nice job. I know when I first got a look at this truck it took me a while to figure the swap, it was the first time I had dealt with such a thing.

A while back I posted some pics where I did clean up the end where the frames connect. I wanted to taper the Camaro frame to meet the truck frame. I was looking for a near seamless union of the two.

Now that the paint is finished I'm happy with the blend of the two frames. For what ever reason the digital camera doesn't like taking pictures of just black, it always seems to pull in other reflective colors and it turns out grainy.



I think at this point anyone who looks underneath might just accept that the frame is one piece with the blend.

Thanks again for all your support, now that things are happening pretty quickly I'm gonna be posting more pics, hope you all enjoy.

[Kim57]

That's a real nice looking transition.
Kim

[Baldeagle SR]

Very nice work. love the frame.
Rich
my build
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=576185

[Stepside Jim]

Originally Posted by Baldeagle SR

Very nice work. love the frame.
Rich
my build
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=576185

Thanks Rich, do I see you've been driving yours, it's gotta be fun.

I've got more pictures so I'll get right to them.

The flat floor was an issue with me since I wanted the B&M shifter to be at a comfortable height.


I had to create a stand, or hump to raise the shifter.


I started by cutting a large piece of material and only gluing the top to hold the material in place. One the top was secure I sprayed glue to one side at a time.

I did use the heat gun to speed up the adhesive then pulled the material down over the side.


I have already put the material on the cup holder......holder.



With the material attached I had to see how it all looked together.


The final piece of stainless I made was the flat that surrounded the shifter and cup holder. It was a little nerve racking while I made it. I think sometimes it's not so much the difficulty of fabricating something that is the nerve racking part. For me ,sometimes it's the final look and is it necessary to take time to create what I'm working for. Basically, is it worth the time to make.


In this case the top stainless piece was well worth the effort, it really completes the look.


The cup holders are being sent off to be chromed. I considered painting them silver to match the silver that will be on the outside of the truck but the chrome will give a much better "pop", much the way that the polished stainless does.

[Baldeagle SR]

Jim the console and shifter box came out nice.
I need to come up with something for a cup holder. for mine
Rich

[_Ogre]

console looks good
couldn't make polished ss cup holders on the torchmate?

[Stepside Jim]

Baldeagle SR, cup holders, 30 years ago, never gave it a thought, today, gotta have cup holders. My how our priorities change. Lol.


_Ogre, yes I could have..... The top ring would be no problem. I didn't have any tube close to the right size, around 3 1/4 " . I was determined at the moment to make these so I used 3" exhaust pipe and graphed in a small section to get it to the diameter I was looking for. I did think at the time that I'd be happy with paint, but at this point I know I wouldn't be completely happy with paint.

I called Pauls Chrome as advertised on Classic car show, gonna give them a try. I know it'll probably be expensive but at this point, I'm not stopping now.


Jim

[Stepside Jim]

Now that I think I've got the interior vinyl work figured out I'm going back to priming and paint.

I've been spraying the satin black but now it's time to go to gloss black.

Basically everything pertaining to underneath and suspension is going to be stain black, most everything above that is going to be gloss black.

The first items I'm going to use gloss black is the inside of the front wheel well panels. Problem is, I want the bottom side of the panels to be satin black, so I will spray the satin black first.

I've welded all the unneeded holes and removed most of the bumps and wrinkles. Then filled and block sanded and got the sprayed with a coat of epoxy primer.


Now the bottom sides are stain black. I didn't overly focus on getting the backsides free of bumps and wrinkles, I mainly cleaned up the bad and obvious ones here.


I allowed them to dry for a couple of days then carefully taped off the back sides. Especially being sure to cover over the bolt holes.


Then thoroughly covered the backside.


Then the front got a coat of epoxy primer.


If you never sprayed base coat, clear coat be prepared for the flat finish of the base coat. It will be just a fast drying color base.


Shortly after comes the clear coat.



More to follow....

[Kim57]

Those came out real nice.
Kim

[Baldeagle SR]

Very nice Jim
Rich
my build
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=576185

[dug224]

Love how you tied the console to the doors with the trim piece. Hope my body paint looks as good as your frame!!! Keep the photos coming. dug

[Stepside Jim]

Ok, you asked for more photos.....

The whole idea with the inner panels is I like how they ,have so much flat area and I also like the bead design that is pressed into them.

With this next picture I realized how the silver and the chrome of the engine will reflect if the panels are gloss, as glossy black as they can be, so that was my goal. Smooth what I could and get the best finish I could.


Although the panels looked good in clear, I had to go to the next step. I believe now a days it's called cut and buff. Back in my time it has color sand. Either way, I had to get rid of most all of the imperfections in the finish.

It starts with 1500 then 2000 grit paper. Wet sand till the surface is clear of all the bright spots you see here.


And here.


Til the are looks like this.


I use a clear coat heavy duty compound with a 3M foam pad til all the fine scratches are gone. Then a different fresh foam pad and glaze buffing compound. Nothing better than seeing a crisp clear reflection looking back at you when done.



This should give me the reflective finish I'm looking for under the hood.

[Kim57]

Those are beautiful.
Kim