47-55.1 Long Time Coming......

[dsraven]

oh, now you're just gettin fancy. lol.
good job. it's gonna be great when it's done.

[28TudorAZ]

Nice with the front bumper and splash guard. I did something similar but I just slid it back and cut it the back even with the fender.

[gsinon]

Nothing too exciting to post about of late. Still playing with front end sheetmeatl fitment.

Today I had a couple buddies stop over and give me a hand it slide the bed in place. I need to make the rear bumper brackets and the bed needs to be on to make sure everything fits. Its really cool seeing the bed and cab all in one color, even if it is only primer!





I love this picture showing all the work that went into making the top of the bed roll on the same curve as the back of the cab. This one picture is so satisfying.

[8man]

That's really looking good, the fit is fantastic.

[Rickysnickers]

The detail you did at the front of the bed, the curved portion looks really good.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by 8man

That's really looking good, the fit is fantastic.

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

The detail you did at the front of the bed, the curved portion looks really good.

Thank you both. It was a fair amount of work, but something I always felt GM should have done.

[gsinon]

Here is a little side project that I have been working on for some time. I had decided to mount a 30's era accessory trunk in the bed for a place to have things like cleaning supplies and such. With the limted room inside the cab I thought this was a nice place to store all that stuff.

I found a trunk on FB Marketplace a couple years ago that was in pretty good shape. If I remember correctly, I paid $75 for it. Sorry, no good before pictures. I had it sitting in the bed of the truck and just looking at it the way it will mount. A little while later I was going through some boxes and low and behold I found a box that my dad had bought from Hagan Accessory's some 20 years ago with a brand new 3rd brake light kit inside. I decided that they way the trunk sits in the bed this might not be a bad place to use the 3rd brake light, and its a little nod to my dad that I lost a couple years ago.

Here I have it cut and rough-mounted.








Fast forward to having stripped it to bare metal, done the body work, and had it in primer. Here, you can see the lens is now flushed in. Also, all new Chrome hardware.










And today I got it painted, with what will be the color of the entire truck!






In the shade or cloud cover it will be a fairly dark maroon/plum color. As seen here:




But in full sun it will be bright and has a very strong candy tone to it.







After getting full coverage on everything, I unmasked the lens and dusted on one coat of color to help hide it when the brake light is off. When lit it will still show through very brightly.



It is going to sit in the booth through the holiday weekend. Afterward I will sand and buff a couple areas and then assemble. Pics of that to come.



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[8man]

The Dad story got me. That is great.

The third brake light is a good idea; people are looking for them now.

That color is a head turner for sure!

You will have some stories to tell at the car shows.

[Rickysnickers]

That color is awesome!!!!

[gsinon]

Thanks for your comments on the color. When I first started this project the thought of going all in on paint and body was never the plan. However, if I was going to do so, it was going to be something very reminiscent of the 50's era.

During all this time, my dad's health changed, and he ended up in hospice for 11 months. For the most part, he was still very lucid and communicative until the very last week. I had posted all sorts of pictures of the many hot rods we had owned over the decades in his room. One in particular was the 87 Chevy squarebody that I built for my daughter as a high school graduation present in 2020. For that build, I created this one-off custom top color. On one of the many visits to be with him, he said to me he had a great idea. He thought the 51 should be painted this one off color. No patina, or the other color that I had been talking about. He reasoned that the round body of the 51 would lend itself to this amazing color.

After he passed, I decided to fulfill his dream.

Here is the picture that was posted on his wall that led to the color change:

[8man]

Again, I say your stories will be awesome! Great tribute.

[dsraven]

sorry to hear about your dad. sounds like your family is pretty tight.
that color looks awesome. is it the lighting or is the bottom half black?
that color catches the light just right so it highlights the body lines to show a different color than the part in shadow. your rounded edges on the old truck will look awesome in that color

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by 8man

Again, I say your stories will be awesome! Great tribute.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by dsraven

sorry to hear about your dad. sounds like your family is pretty tight.
that color looks awesome. is it the lighting or is the bottom half black?
that color catches the light just right so it highlights the body lines to show a different color than the part in shadow. your rounded edges on the old truck will look awesome in that color

Thank you. To say my dad and I were tight would be such a gross understatement. I am who I am, and have the abilities I do all due to him. He taught me everything. When I married in 1992 he was also my Best Man. This coming January will be the 3rd anniversary of his passing. Nothing is the same anymore, and as hard as it has been, I know none of us gets out alive. We all have an expiration date, so to speak. While he and I did all this together, now I work alone with my thoughts and music to keep me company, except for the rare occasion when I need another set of hands, like installing the bed.

As for family, sadly I don't have any to speak of. Only child with both parents gone. I have one aunt that I don't really hear from or speak to much. Holidays like tomorrow are now quiet too. Both daughters are in Grad school and don't travel home for Thanksgiving. Thankfully, I do get to see them for a few days over the Christmas holidays. We are tight, but they are doing theor thing and out of state.

Your eyes are correct, the C10 is 2 tone. The bottom is black, a quarter-inch stripe (including the grill) of a Ford color called Vapor Silver, and then the top color.

Another angle:


IMG_4133 by Glenn Sinon, on Flickr

[dsraven]

that looks awesome, and super straight. great job.
will you also 2 tone your current build?
i thought of doing my truck in the ford candy apple red but when I asked the costs at the local body supply the guy said a couple gtand for the color.
yeah, not doing that for my daily driver (if it ever gets finished, lol)
prolly go with a solid color base clear. offset with satin black bumpers etc
keepposting your progress, can't wait to see when the color gets shot.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by dsraven

that looks awesome, and super straight. great job.
will you also 2 tone your current build?
i thought of doing my truck in the ford candy apple red but when I asked the costs at the local body supply the guy said a couple gtand for the color.
yeah, not doing that for my daily driver (if it ever gets finished, lol)
prolly go with a solid color base clear. offset with satin black bumpers etc
keepposting your progress, can't wait to see when the color gets shot.

The 51 will be all one color, no plans to two-tone it.

The cost of paint and materials has gotten out of hand. Heck, PPG just announced another 7% price increase. Thankfully, even though I no longer work for PPG, my relationships are still strong. The local rep has given me full sponsorship of all liquid products for the 51, with two gallons of each product, from bare metal epoxy all the way to the glamour clear, for a total of a little over $6k in materials.

I'm glad some of you are following along. I just had surgury on my hand which is going to slow me down. I'm not allowed to work on the truck for a month now. A little bit of a forced break. Still hoping to be spraying color this spring or early summer.


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[Rickysnickers]

I hope you heal up properly.

[dsraven]

carpel tunnel?
I have it in both hands. not fun when it gets bad. hope it all goes well in surgery and you get a good physio experience. the hard part will be to find something to do while healing up so you don't do something to set you back

[8man]

Having had hand surgery, do what they tell you for rehab. Good luck with the recovery and you will be back on the truck before you know it.

[gsinon]

A month not being able to work on the truck has been kind of refreshing, if I'm being honest. Sometimes a forced break is a good thing to step back. My hand is now better, the surgery was for trigger finger, a minor issue in all. But my grip had gotten weak and was becoming an issue. Now pretty much back to normal I can get going again.

Today was supposed to be a half day at school prior to a nearly two-week break, but we have a snowstorm on its way into town, so school got canceled. I'll be spend some time out there today on the truck instead!

What I have been able to do in these last few weeks was make a plan for the bed wood project. I made a decision not to buy a pre made kit. First and foremost, the normal kit has too many boards and has a bit of a busy look. There is a really nice wood supplier about a half hour away. I went a couple weeks ago and went shopping. I know very little about wood, but the guy I worked with was great and led me down the path of what would work and what wouldn't. This past saturday I went back in and placed an order. I ended up getting six 8' (yes I have a 6' bed) pieces of Hickory. They are milling them to 3/4" and 8.5" wide. At school we have a carpertry trade shop right across the hall and the teacher there says be can help me trim everything to my exact specs as well as the notches for the stainless strips. I can't wait to get going on that part of the project right after the new year.


Lastly, I did spend about an hour yesterday assembling that box that will bolt to the bed floor of my truck. Here are a few pictures of the completed box.

[-Dan-]

Damn... Looking forward to seeing more of your creativity.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by -Dan-

Damn... Looking forward to seeing more of your creativity.

Thanks!! I'm glad you are enjoying the build and following along!

[gsinon]

I hope everyone had a great holiday with friends and family. My Christmas was great with both my daughters home for a few days. My oldest is in her 5th year and graduating in May from the University of Pittsburgh with her Phd. She and her boyfriend both came home for four days. He is a great guy and my wife and I look forward to their visits. My younger daughter is in her second year working towards her Masters in English at SUNY New Paltz. Even though she is only a few hours away, we don't get to see her all that much as she has a busy schedule.


Today I got a few hours in the shop working on the wiring for the bed box. I made up a harness to wire it in when the time comes. I also installed LED bulbs in the box for the 3rd brake light and was able to see how it would look since LL i have been using was a flashlight. I Like it!!








Last night, when the house got quiet, I started playing around on ChatGPT, an AI website. If you haven't yet give it a whirl.

This picture is something I found on the net somewhere and has been an inspriation on how I want my truck to sit and wheel/tire fitment.


So I uploaded that pic to the AI website along with a photo of the painted box and told it to paint this truck using my color sample photo. In about 90 seconds, it gave me this, which is darn close to how I expect my truck to look.



I have a picture of my 55 Chevy and 87 C10 in front of my attached garage. I threw that on the Ai site and told it to insert the picture it made of the 51. Again about 90 seconds later it gave me this picture. While the proportions of the C10 are now off a bit, it amazes me how good it makes it all fit together, shadows and all.




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[gsinon]

No pics, but back in the shop yesterday. I cleaned up the shop first, then swung the truck sideways to have more room to work all the way around it. I am stilling working on fitting the nose and I keep running into walls.

I had taken the grill and right front fender off to make a couple adjustments to the fender. Yesterday I hung it all back in place. When I closed the hood, which I had not adjusted since before my hand surgury, the right fender is now back about a half inch to the front edge of the fender as compared to before. Tomorrow I am going to remove the inner fender and reintall the fender and make some adjustments. I feel like the inner fender is putting pressure on the fender and making things not sit right. Both are aftermarket parts, so I know that is wreaking havoc.

This is the part of this build I have been dreading, and yet here I am. I also have been thinking about assembly after paint, and how am I going to install everything without scratching the daylights out of each part of the nose.

Rant over.......

[dsraven]

sometimes having some friends over for a brewski can help you out alot. tape all the edges where the bumps may happen, have some cheap cotton gloves ready for everybody to wear, then explain what the plan is and get after it. beers after the assembly. freinds, in general, like to see what your project looks like and most of them will feel like they are a special part of it if you just ask them for a little help.
for me, after having my right shoulder torn apart again, i will be asking my son and 2 son in in laws for help. they always like to see whats going on in the shop.

[gsinon]

Originally Posted by dsraven

sometimes having some friends over for a brewski can help you out alot. tape all the edges where the bumps may happen, have some cheap cotton gloves ready for everybody to wear, then explain what the plan is and get after it. beers after the assembly. freinds, in general, like to see what your project looks like and most of them will feel like they are a special part of it if you just ask them for a little help.
for me, after having my right shoulder torn apart again, i will be asking my son and 2 son in in laws for help. they always like to see whats going on in the shop.

Thankfully, I have a great friend group of like-minded car guys that I know will lend a hand when needed. I'm just so used to working alone that I do my best to get things done when I want, without scheduling. Once in final paint I will for sure need a hand so I don't destroy all the fancy new paint work.



I have been struggling with how the passenger fender fits in many ways. First off at the top of the headlight it is down almost a half inch as compared to the driver side. I have made a ton of small adjustments all to no avail. I finally thought about what the inner might be playing in the equation. So this morning I went out to the shop and unbolted the inner fender from the cowl. When the bolts came out the fender sprung into proper shape and now everything seems to fit as it should. Both sides are now of equal height without any adjusting. What I am going to have to do is get under the truck and slice upward near where the inner fender botls to the cowl. I will then be able to spread the are open enogh to bolt the flange back to the cowl. I'll then make a patch panel to fill the gap. I'm super relieved to have finally found the culprit for all this front-end stress.

I did a few other things as well, but I next addressed the hood to cowl fit on the driver side. In all other places I have a good line, but right here the hood stuck out from the cowl.




So I cut two slices into the hood and used a few magnets to hold it in place.







I then weld the slits together and ground the welds. Here is the what the end results are.