1957 Chevy 3600 Mild Custom Build

[Rods57]

Looking good...

[Russell Ashley]

Any shade of metallic red, or most any metallic color for that matter, is not the paint that you want to use on your first paint job attempt, but looks like you have found that out. Paint is not cheap now so that adds to the aggravation of having to buy more paint and remove the old that you just spent money on. I'm sympathizing with you because I've been there. Light colors seem to be the easiest for us amateurs. Be sure all of your material is same brand and follow directions exactly, as DS said above. Good luck and post pics as you go.

[RobinHood]

Been pretty busy on getting all the metal and body work done on my bed to try to get some paint on it soon. I did get some paint on the firewall redone and the dash as well. I made a gauge panel out of some 16 gauge mild steel to mount my gauges in. I ended up buying an electric speedometer from Speedway as it seemed like the only way out other than going GPS. I drilled the gauge holes using a Milwaukee hole dozer and a drill press, worked pretty well. I think it came out pretty good.

[RobinHood]

It doesn't seem to me that anyone ever really looks at this little page here for my truck, so I havent really been keeping it up to date, just been working on the truck to get it done. As of now, all I have left is to sew the headliner, kick panels, do the front bumper, and finish up and tidy the last of the wiring. Ive got it running pretty good, not that hard to do so with a simple SBC 350. I will update more and add more pics when I get it back out on the road and maybe write up more about what Ive done.

[gigamanx]

Plenty of us lurking for an update truck looks good and the white looks like it laid down nicer for ya. What's next on the list?

[joedoh]

woop woop, nice looking truck!

[duramax55]

nice job on everything looks realy good. To bar that red didnt work for you but Whit is easy to keep clean dosent show dust. overall very nice build. I like your hood setup and gaps all look very even

[Purcell69]

Very impressive work!

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Been following along since you started

[59chev]

Looking good! Stance is great.

Check my thread if you want some ideas for bumper mounts. I just finished mine with the camaro clip.

What did you end up doing to get it to sit like that? Any more pics of your step notch? That's next on my to-do list.

Thanks.

[Kevin_C]

Well done Robinhood. im going a similar direction as you. Can you post up some some more pics? I'm toying with the idea of a white or ivory.

[RobinHood]

Hey guys thanks for checking it out. I was able to pull it out and take some more pics so here are some more. The paint looks way better in the pictures than it does in person, there were many little flaws and imperfections that I'm not happy with. It seemed like I just kept getting a ton of trash in the spray job even after repeatedly filtering and recleaning the gun and adding new filters on the air line. In some areas, I got some pretty bad runs as well. I was able to sand alot of it out, but they remain and I'm not going to repaint again right now.

[RobinHood]

Here are some pics of the bed and the bed floor I made for the truck. I fabbed a steel frame out of 1.25" square tubing and used some pine boards for the bed floor. It is very strong and even though I dont intend to put anything in the bed it is a lot stronger than stock. I have cutouts for the rear wheels in the besides and the bed floor. The floor is raised up about 7 inches off of the frame to make room for the step notch. The fuel tank is also in the rear section of the frame. The bed came out pretty good imo.

[RobinHood]

I made my flip hood setup using ideas from people on this forum, credit goes heavily to Kim57 for the basic design mechanics. The setup works great. Its smooth and closes easily every time. I got to keep the stock hood latch setup as well. I used an H shaped bar with 4 heim joints and 2 rollers on tracks to make it work. I had to have the flip hood to meet my goal of a smooth firewall. Engine is a mostly stock 350. Its got a speedway sbc radiator that I still need an overflow and fan shroud for. I used a booster and master from an 82 c10. Prop valve is from the stock camaro front subframe. Front discs, rear drums.

[RobinHood]

I wanted a pretty simple interior and I wasn't super motivated to do a bunch of fancy stuff. I carpeted the whole floor all the way to the top of the firewall. I made a center console for the shifter, stereo, and switch panel using mdf and bondo. It also hides a lot of the wires. The fuse box is mounted on an MDF panel above the passenger side toeboards high on the inside firewall. I also have the reciever and control board and relays for the door popper setup on that board. I upholstered the console and used a Hurst style shifter boot. I refubished the stock bench seat with new burlap, foam, and seat covers that I sewed myself out of some black and white marine vinyl. Ive never even so much as thought about using a sewing machine and I didnt practice at all, so for this being my first time sewing ever I think they came out great. It was really pretty easy. I made some pleats for fun, I will use them on the headliner. I am still waiting for speakers to put in the kick panels so they Will have custom moulded panels made for them and upholstered once I get speakers. All in all, for my experience level as a first timer came out decent.

[Kevin_C]

I think the color combination works really well. You really have moved along on this project. I've had mine up on jacks for months but have been procrastinating cutting the frame to make it a short bed. The smooth dash looks great, mines partially smoothed but still got the glove box which I hear is useless once you add AC.

[Kim57]

Truck looks really good.
Kim

[RobinHood]

Little update on this truck for anyone interested.
It took me about 6 months to get insurance on it for me to be able to drive it. As a 21 year old in California, it seemed like it would be impossible to get insured to drive it in any capacity. I went through about 18 insurance companies and finally was able to get coverage for a surprisingly very low rate. I have been driving the truck for about 3 months and it has been great. There are definitely a lot of things I would change now that I have it on the road, unfortunately that will have to wait until I get my own space to tear it apart and work on it again.

I kept having insane cooling problems and finally realized that my radiator just had about no flow whatsoever. I found a very nice Ron Davis radiator setup with 2 15" Spal electric fans for only $70. It barely fits within the width of the inner fenders but i was able to get it installed and wired it up to a double relay switch. I had a thermostat sensor wired to it at the start, but it seemed spotty at best and i didnt want to risk blowing the heads off so i have it currently wired to a manual switch in the cab. With the fans off almost all the time i am driving, the temp stays right at 180* per the thermostat in the intake. If i pull up to a stoplight, i flip the fans on and the setup will drop the temp to the bottom of the gauge if i leave them on. Slight hassle to work the switch, but i would rather have a cool engine.

I did install 2 seatbelts on the bench seat because i found it was impossible to take any sort of corner pretty quick without sliding across the seat. It handles surprisingly well with the camaro suspension. I drilled holes in the back of the cab floor and anchored them with the included hardware.

I definitely see alot of things i will change on the truck in the future, but it has been great being able to drive it and get tons of looks from older guys who cant believe that it is my truck.

I have seen quite a few other trucks, and I realized that while my truck isnt nearly as nice, i started with a truck that had so much rust that nobody else wouldve taken it on as a project. Either way, i know that it is solid now and definitely will rebuild it again in the future.