Marvin (1953 3100)

[PurdueSD]

nice! Please keep us updated!
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[torchlight]

These pictures just from today. Before suspension components can be added, we needed to mock up the stance. Very happy with the result.









I don't want the runningboards to get too low. Definitely lower than stock, but not so much the tires have to be "tucked" up under the fenders. Slight rake. Really love this stance!!


One more showing the frame supporting the mock-up.



That's all for now! Repair work on the cab and rear suspension install to continue after Christmas. Will also be ordering an IFS from Scott's, can't wait to see it.

[oldman3]

Man that is some beautiful work on the sheet metal and the frame, very nice, can't wait for the next update...Jim

[98layinframe]

What shop is building this and where are they located? Looks like they do nice work! Interested to see some more updates!
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[Coach529]

Looks like a great project. Subscribed!!

[torchlight]

A few quick updates. Work on Marvin continues, nice and steady.



First, a couple pictures from a couple weeks back:

Doing some initial mockup to find the centerline with an old smallblock motor:


Also have to mockup the rear end for the same exercise. This is a new 9-inch Ford rear end housing from Moser that will be used for the truck:




Then fast forward to today - took a couple hours off of work this afternoon to drive up and see the progress:

Now we can mockup with the motor we will be actually using - the LS 5.3L crate motor was delivered recently. Transmission is also on the way now (a built 4L60E), but it has not arrived yet:


Also, you can see that Marvin now has a new rear suspension!


This is exciting, and I love what the shop did with the rear setup. They did an awesome job at listening to what I wanted for the truck. You can see it is setup as a 4-bar (but not parallel) with coilovers and using a wishbone-style (or y-bar) track locator. The bars and cross-members were built out of big, beefy chromoly tubing, and the bracketry was laser cut. Can't heap enough compliments on the tig welding all around. Coilovers and mounting hardware just for mockup purposes for now - some nicer stuff will go on later in the build. The whole thing is mostly just tacked to the frame for now - final welding in will happen a bit later. Here are some more pictures:








So, progress continues. More to do in the next few weeks. New IFS from Scott's Hot Rod's should arrive in a couple weeks. Once the transmission arrives, motor mounts and transmission crossmembers can be dialed in. And, sheetmetal work on the cab will be starting in earnest soon. Will post more updates after my next visit!

[oldman3]

Looking super, nice work...Jim

[Coach529]

Looks awesome!!

[BlueJeep]

Truck is looking good!

Can you share some info on the rear suspension? Looking at it, I can't understand how it would not bind...usually you see upper links or a wishbone, but not both. Seems like both "sets" of upper control arms would fight each other as the suspension tries to cycle. What am I missing? Does the wishbone telescope in and out?

[chev3600]

Those guys really do nice work. Any mods planned for the 5.3?
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[torchlight]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

Does the wishbone telescope in and out?

You're exactly correct! If you look closely at where the locator is attached to the pumpkin, you can see it is a rod and sleeve type of assembly instead of a solid piece. This allows free telescoping and pivoting movement at the pinion centerline, but side-to-side movement remains extremely limited. There will be a grease zerk in the sleeve so it can be lubed up from time to time.

Originally Posted by chev3600

Any mods planned for the 5.3?

Yes, a couple things. The 5.3L is a really solid motor, but the torque curve could be lower for my preference. So, going to use long tube headers. Also plan to use a carb intake and an EZ EFI system. This may sound dumb, but there are a couple reasons. One, this will bring the torque band down compared to the stock style intake. More importantly to me, the look under the hood - I want the benefits of an EFI system, but really prefer the looks of a carb intake and air cleaner under the hood. The ignition coils will also be hidden so standard style valve covers can be used. The appearance of the motor this way is important to me because it all affects the character of the truck once the project is complete.

Will also upgrade the valve springs and swap to a different cam better suited to low end torque. All these things will also bump the HP some, as well.

The lower end torque is important to me because the truck is never going to the drag strip or anything like that - will be used just cruising and having some fun with around town. So, we won't often see those really high RPMs. So, I want to bring the motor's torque curve lower where I will get more use out of it.

Now, one other idea I'm kicking around is, Wiseco sells a set of rods and pistons that allows you to keep the stock bore and install a longer 4-inch stroke crank. This would stroke the motor to a displacement of 359, and the longer stroke again is nice for lower/mid torque. Part of me thinks this could be a fun and fairly unique modification, but it also might be overkill. Will continue thinking/dreaming about that one!
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[Russell Ashley]

Very nice build you have going on. I was wondeing about the suspension binding also until I looked closer and concluded that that center point had to be a slip joint. Have you driven anything with a 5.3 engine? Just wondering because mine has plenty of bottom end even in a heavy Suburban. Of course, more power is always a good thing, LOL, but I would question if it's worth the extra money and trouble if you don't really need it. You would probably have traction problems with a stock 5.3 in an AD anyway.

[torchlight]

Yes, traction and 'too much' grunt is definitely also a concern. That is why I'll probably just start with the bolt on additions for now and save swapping internals for some later winter if I drive it and think I really want more. I certainly want the truck to be fun to drive, but also easy to drive.
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[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by torchlight

You're exactly correct! If you look closely at where the locator is attached to the pumpkin, you can see it is a rod and sleeve type of assembly instead of a solid piece. This allows free telescoping and pivoting movement at the pinion centerline, but side-to-side movement remains extremely limited. There will be a grease zerk in the sleeve so it can be lubed up from time to time.

That's pretty cool! What made you go this way vs. something smaller like a panhard or watts link? Just different?

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

That's pretty cool! What made you go this way vs. something smaller like a panhard or watts link? Just different?

Well, the particular shop working on the truck has a preference for this style, and after some research of my own I thought it looked like a nice design. There is the periodic maintenance to deal with (grease) but that's not really a big deal and you're absolutely right - I do like that this is a bit more of a unique touch for the project.
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[_Ogre]

nice build torchlight, that body looks like a good one to start with
many of us wish we could have dropped our trucks at a shop
these trucks to light to ever hook up right, but you can never have too much power

a little disappointed that you removed the fender mounted spare though

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome build!

[Bierkan]

I love that patina. It'll be a cool truck when done. Q: why remove the spare cut out? I don't think I've ever seen that on a short bed. Was it tossed away?

[torchlight]

I think it is time for another update. Work continues slowly but surely! These pictures are from two different trips:


Here's a look at the IFS from Scott's Hot Rods getting mocked in. I could not be happier with the quality of this IFS. Scott's makes an amazing IFS.



Delivery truck showed up that day with a couple fun parts. Here's the 4L65E transmission from Finish Line Transmissions:



And, a new tilt column from Ididit! Also got a new radiator from US Radiator, but it is just gonna sit in the box for now, so no picture yet.



A little bit later. The cab is back off the frame and is knee deep in all the metal repair it needs. Brake rotors are on, and motor & transmission mounts are installed. Pardon the small wheels and tires - they are just on for the sake of rolling the frame around the shop. Wheels are too small for the brake calipers to be mounted at the moment!



You can see the new transmission crossmember. Bolt-in instead of weld-in in case the transmission ever needs to be dropped without taking the motor out.



Again, I just love the way the Scott's IFS looks. We aren't going to put the coilovers on until later, no need to risk scratches now (they are polished).



Closeup of the motor mount. It is just tacked into place right now. The guys at the shop don't want to do any finish welding until right before paint, in case they need to move/adjust anything later. I think that's a good approach.



I love this detail they put in, making the shape of the motor mount support match the shape of the IFS crossmember. Pretty cool idea.



Another look at the transmission crossmember. You can see they tried to make the shape of this crossmember mimic the shape of the shock-mount crossmember from the rear suspension. I feel very blessed to be able to have these guys working on Marvin.



More pictures next time!

[Chevette]

Very nice, Torchlight. I really like the style. The parts look first class also.

[oldman3]

Very nice work....Jim

[torchlight]

Hi Folks,

Been awhile since my last update. Progress has been slow but steady. Will be picking up quite a bit over the next two months, though - would like to be ready for paint prep by the end of September. So much fun visiting the shop to see all the little changes. Here's the latest progress:



Sheet metal repair on the cab has been very time intensive, but these guys are artists and they are really getting this old cab put back together. Here's some work in progress:


Cab corners are looking mighty nice now:


A little bit later, and you can see the results of all the work that was done on the lower firewall:


Something a bit different here, outside of the shop. Took a ROAD TRIP with my Dad - went down to Texas first to pick up a pair of original running boards I found online. Mine couldn't be saved, and having original metal sounded nice. Then stopped by the lumber mill to pick up the wood for the bed. This is a shagbark hickory tree from our family farm that we had cut down last fall and had turned into lumber. It was finally done drying in the kiln and ready to take back to Minnesota:


We dropped the lumber off at Bruce Horkey's shop in southwestern Minnesota. Bruce is such a nice guy and I know he's going to do amazing work turning these into beautiful bed boards. I think the contrast in this hickory is going to look incredible:


Here are those Texas running boards. A little surface rust, but they are completely solid all the way through!


The sheetmetal repairs continue. You can see we filled in the battery box opening. A new battery box will be installed under the bench seat area. Even though this metal will be under carpet, the guys at the shop created beads in the filler piece to match the original metal on the driver's side. I love that attention to detail:







Continued...

[torchlight]

Here you can see the ididit steering column and new bench seat frame from Glide have been mocked up. A couple pictures showing how the seat back flips forward, but also the seat itself flips up! That's great, because I will be putting a new battery box accessible under the seat and also all the electronics boxes will be hidden under there (transmission computer, spark computer, fuel computer, and radio):








I had to hop behind the "wheel" so we could make sure the steering column and pedals would be in the proper location. Kinda fun to sit in the cab once again! Yes, I made "vroom vroom" noises:


You know how on the original trucks, there was a cutout hump in the dash under/between the two gauges - this actually wasn't for the steering column itself, but rather for the shift linkage from the three-on-the-tree transmission. Because of this, that hump in the dash isn't centered between the gauges - it is offset. Also, it isn't the right curve to match the new ididit column, so the guys at the shop did this neat modification to make it look like the new column was meant to be there from the factory:






Looks good, and with the new bracing under the dash, that steering column is SOLID:

[torchlight]

Really excited about this, the long-tube headers were completed recently. Decided to get them built from scratch for a custom fit. I'm thrilled with how they turned out:


You can see the tube for cylinder 1 bumps out a little bit - that's to give clearance for the steering linkage. All 4 tubes were bent up so they have the exact same length to the collector:


Even though we don't need clearance for a steering linkage on the passenger side, I wanted the headers to be symmetrical on both sides, so everything is mirrored:


Next time I visit, exhaust should be complete back to the rear of the truck. Going with 2.5" tubing and Porter mufflers:


Also, I took another road trip to buy a bed from a guy in Michigan. Again, mine was too far gone to save (cost-effectively, anyway), and I was hoping to keep original steel. Made the trip, got the bed - it is in pretty good shape, but still looks like it will take a lot of work to save. Probably going to go with reproduction parts at this point. Oh well, I tried! Anybody in MN need an old bed?


Also wanted to post these - unrelated, but so cool I had to share. The guys had this in the shop a couple weeks ago. A true barn find - an International "truck," I think the year is 1912? All original, and it fired right up after a tune-up. This is when some trucks were still more like tractors in a lot of ways. I thought it was great to see an ancestor to our own trucks that we love:

[Denee007]

I'm speechless~! Incredible! what is it? I love your shop and how clean you work!
dne'