55 chevy truck build and intro

[lotussutol]

well not much to show progress wise on the truck or house.

I have been debating on going with a four link and air bag setup on the truck.

pros - I can drop the rear down and raise it up. It should hook up better. It might ride better.

cons - It is money that I can spend somewhere else. It is not a race truck so I do not care if it hooks up better. It is a truck so if it rides like a truck that is fine.

I started sanding and cleaning up the inside of the cab. I took the doors off and back window out.

I sanded on the bottom of the inside and de-rusted it with osphos and put some black on it just to get rid of the bare metal and make it look a little nicer.





I started stripping/sanding on the dash. I should finish that up wed night and hopefully I will cut out the middle of the dash for the replacement smooth dash face from brothers.





I still have to sand the top of the inside and get rid of some stickers that are bonded to the cab.



I have to take the door brackets out and get some rebuild kits for them (9.99) from brothers.

I need to make a card board template to make a sorta thick aluminum firewall cover insert. It will smooth out part of the firewall and will give me a thicker/stronger mounting surface for the brake pedal/booster stuff.



Also, I am debating using steel wheels on the truck or using these. I have some 15x8 for the rear but I need to find some 4.5 or 5" for the front.



The torque thrust looking ones are just way too wide for the back. I believe they are 15x12.

[bfink]

trucks looking good ,im running those slotted mags on my 55 , 15x10s in the back and currently 14x7 on front but im looking for some 15x4 or 5's for the front too. seems like those wheels used to be everywhere ! now they are getting kinda hard to find in cool sizes

[lotussutol]

what a mess I am making. Stripping off all the old paint is not fun and the more I strip the worse it looks inside the cab. haha. oh well I have most of the black and white coats off that HAVE to come off. Friday morning I start sanding...

Here is something that was really neat to find! Above the driver side door as the paint fell off this is what I found.

was there something above shop or is it shop delux or ??? whatever it was it made my day to find that underneath the paint.

anyway...here are pics of the mess I am making.

at least the stickers are gone now


center chunk of my dash is cut out in preperation of the smoothed out dash.


what a mess

[tiggerstoy]

it's amazing how a lot of work, never "looks" like any progress...keep up the good work, glad to see it's still coming along, P.S that dash is gona look killer....more pics!....max.

[lotussutol]

It is coming along slowly...the first coat of primer is on in the upper part of the cab.

[lotussutol]

just a quick update on what has been slowing me down on the truck too...

what was supposed to have been swap out a fiberglass shower insert with a tile shower...




has turned into me gutting two bathrooms with low ceilings and a closet and turning it into a huge bathroom with vaulted ceilings.





what a nightmare...it will be cool when it is done though.

here is the junk that was removed. whoever built it used 1" plywood for everything which is a pain to remove!


sunday i get to sand more on the cab of my truck...

[Igotachevyor2]

looks like fun

[chevyrestoguy]

It looks like you've got your hands full with the house and the truck! I know what that's like. I have been doing a remodel and working on the '55 at the same time. As much as I love the truck, the house has priority. It seems like if you own an older home, the remodeling is never finished. I enjoy that stuff, though. I like the idea you have for the bathroom, so keep posting pictures.

By the way, the picture showing the writing: I believe that it signifies that the truck was painted on November, 20th, 1958 with DuLux paint (a DuPont enamel). They've had that product for decades. I could be wrong, but the spelling of DuLux gives it away.

I admire your ability to keep making progress on the truck. The wife's got the weekend off, so I'm stuck doing family stuff. Stuff like: going to the mall. Help me..............................................

[lotussutol]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

It looks like you've got your hands full with the house and the truck! I know what that's like. I have been doing a remodel and working on the '55 at the same time. As much as I love the truck, the house has priority. It seems like if you own an older home, the remodeling is never finished. I enjoy that stuff, though. I like the idea you have for the bathroom, so keep posting pictures.

By the way, the picture showing the writing: I believe that it signifies that the truck was painted on November, 20th, 1958 with DuLux paint (a DuPont enamel). They've had that product for decades. I could be wrong, but the spelling of DuLux gives it away.

I admire your ability to keep making progress on the truck. The wife's got the weekend off, so I'm stuck doing family stuff. Stuff like: going to the mall. Help me..............................................

yeah I had never heard of the dulux paint till I started reading about it after doing a google search on it. pretty neat.

The house takes priority but being that it is a 1940s house it is never ending. I work on it till I am burned out then take a break on it.

Last night I DJ'd a class of 87's 20 year reunion so I am getting a LATE start on the truck...well I am off to sand.

[b.sharp]

Hey man,

I'm glad to see you finally cut my dash piece out. Ha Ha!! Now can we talk about shipping it to me? The progress looks great. I've been struggling with transmissions and tranfer cases, trying to get them mounted. I would like to get those patches from you now that you have that one cut out. I can't remember if I pm'ed you my adrress or not. Please let me know.

Thanks again,

Bryan

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like you have apretty sweet project going..