Marvin (1953 3100)

[MIKESAD50]

Looking good, what battery is that you are using?

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by MIKESAD50

Looking good, what battery is that you are using?

Its an Odyssey PC680MJT. Small battery, definitely not one for winter-time use, and definitely not for running the radio without the alternator spinning! But, it should be great for summer-time cruising and will have more than enough oomph to turn over the LS motor. Plus, its a sealed AGM battery, so no problem to install it on its side in the interior of the cab.

[hotrodelrod]

Looking forward to see how you mount the seat and still keep everything accessible. Great idea!

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by hotrodelrod

Looking forward to see how you mount the seat and still keep everything accessible. Great idea!

I can answer that! Bench seat frame from Glide Engineering - the one they make for this truck has a seat that flips up and forward, for access to underneath. Will definitely show pics again once it is upholstered, but here is an old pic that gives the idea:

[hotrodelrod]

Cant wait to see it and will be checking out that frame for my project. Thanks for the ideas you've shared!

[torchlight]

Hey folks, another quick update here with a few more pictures. Stopped by the shops this morning to see the progress, answer some questions, and work out a few plans for next steps. It has been super fun to witness so much progress that you can really "see" as of lately. As always, the guys working on Marvin are doing amazing work!


Here you can see that fabrication is complete for the panel that goes in the center dash opening. This houses the radio controls, a/c & heater controls, and a voltage gauge. The voltage gauge is there because I'm replacing the voltage/amp gauge in the stock gauge cluster with a small tach needle, but I still wanted to be able to monitor charging status. This compartment will be hidden behind a stock style glovebox door, so none of this will be visible except when I'm fiddling with the controls.



Great to see all sorts of little details getting worked out. Here's an Ididit shift linkage kit installed with a custom bracket on the firewall. Very solid.



And here you can see the linkage that was fabbed up to connect the stock accelerator pedal with the throttle body. Also you can see a little work on the fuel and vacuum lines.



Inside the cab with that throttle pedal. Keeping the stock look pedals, all "through-the-floor."



Around back, the exhaust was reinstalled, this time with the addition of an h-pipe. The exhaust went back in to help with planning for mounting of the gas tank and fuel lines.



Kinda hard to tell what's going on in this picture, but this is behind the dash, camera pointed through one of the stock gauge openings. This is the electric wiper motor and linkage kit from Newport Engineering installed and tested to run great! Nice kit.



Also, got the painted wheels back with the Michelin tires on them. 255/65r16 for the back and 215/65r16 for the front. The wheel color is the same as what went on the engine. This color will also be used on the faces of the gauges inside the cab, as well as the tailgate lettering.



Going to run the wheels with trim rings and 1941-46 truck hubcaps. Even though they aren't perfectly true to original, I prefer these older hubcaps to the ones that came stock in 1953. I think they look very sharp!



Hope to have more to share soon!

[ChuckDriver]

Amazing work!

[Hampshire]

I've got the same color 16" wheels with those hubcaps, rings, & almost the same tires (235s on front - same on back). They look and work great & get lots of comments...

[MIKESAD50]

looking very nice! Like this build.

[Advanced Design]

I agree, impressive work. I especially like the center opening panel for the radio, hvac and voltage gauge. Everything looks very good!

[torchlight]

Howdy, another update here today. Lots happening, for sure! Right to the pictures:


Some front end parts went on for mockup purposes. Radiator support, inner fender. You can see the Vintage Air condenser mounted in front of the radiator and the A/C and heater hoses getting run.



View directly from the front. Most of the hoses and wiring are being run on the "outside" side of the engine bay sheetmetal so that the engine bay stays as clean as possible. Do you see the larger hole in the center of the "skirt" piece in front the radiator? I learned that was there so that you could stick a rod through the front grill and manually crank the engine over if you had to for some reason. A hold-over from when engines were commonly started that way. Cool little piece of trivia that I didn't know about our trucks!



Here you can see the lines that were ran for the transmission cooler. You can also see the pretty tight clearance between the radiator fan and the water pump pulley! Glad everything fits.



They aren't 100% in place yet, but here's the routing of the A/C and heater lines out of the engine bay, through the inner fender wheel well, and on into the cab. There are rubber grommets for the hoses up inside the lower cowl area. You can also see where the A/C drier is hidden. A coolant overflow tank will sit next to it in this area, but it hasn't been installed yet.



This picture shows the new hard fuel lines that were made for the throttle body, as well as the transmission dipstick that has been installed. The fuel lines transition to rubber hose underneath the cab before going back to hard line as they run along the frame rail. The section of rubber hose gives vibration separation between the engine and frame. Both the oil and transmission dipstick tubes will be cut down so they aren't sticking out nearly as much as they currently are.



Top-down photo here showing the A/C and heater lines coming right off the compressor and water pump and going straight into the inner fender opening. The ultimate effect is that you barely see them at all!



Kinda hard to tell what this is, but this is a photo of up underneath the passenger side of the dash, showing where the A/C and heater hoses come into the cab through the lower cowl area. There's a plate that will go over the opening to cover it all up.



Looking down through the floor of the cab, you can see the fuel lines coming under the floor and just starting to transition to rubber hose as they make a turn towards the passenger frame rail.



This shows the fuel lines (supply and return) coming back along the frame rail to near where the rear-mounted tank will be located.



Faces for the rebuilt stock gauges have been painted the same trim color as the engine, transmission, and wheels. These will go back now so the gauge markings can be added and the gauges re-assembled. I did notice that the two round center pieces were painted the wrong color - they need to be the red body color, so they'll have to go back for a quick re-paint.



And here are some of the CON2R steering wheel parts that have been painted in the red body color. There were some other parts in addition to these, but they were already packed for shipping back to CON2R so the steering wheel can be assembled. This is my first time seeing the body color painted on anything other than a sample card, and I have to say I think it looks stunning! The picture doesn't do it justice.



That's all for this week - hope to have more to share next week or the week after. Probably only 2-3 more weeks before Marvin goes back to the paint shop for final prep and paint, which has me pretty excited!

[99 to Life]

nice progress, colors look great.

[Root2812]

Was your alternator already black or did they paint it? the paint on it looks nice and smooth.

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by Root2812

Was your alternator already black or did they paint it? the paint on it looks nice and smooth.

There have been a couple different alternators on the truck during the build, bit this final one is from Powermaster, and it came from the manufacturer with the black finish already added. I agree, it looks good!

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Looking back at your AC, where did you mount your dryer?
Good choice on hiding your AC hoses under the inner fender

Take a look at that same pic that shows the hoses going through the inner fender - the A/C drier is also located under there, towards the front of the truck. Lots of space in these wheel wells for all sorts of stuff!

[solidaxel]

Looking back at your AC, where did you mount your dryer?
Good choice on hiding your AC hoses under the inner fender

[solidaxel]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Looking back at your AC, where did you mount your dryer?
Good choice on hiding your AC hoses under the inner fender

................... Hiding in plain sight !!!

[Advanced Design]

Great ideas on the hose routing. Thanks for the detail pictures.

[Russell Ashley]

This truck is sweet, I have followed it from the start. It's going to Pop with that paint. I can't wait to see it finished.

[crestronwizard]

Thanks for the update. We are finally moving on ours and your pics help. Great work!

[torchlight]

Hey folks, another quick update here. Marvin is scheduled to head back to the paint shop tomorrow. The cab will get final prep for paint and get some color soon (finally!). Lots of small little details getting addressed before he changes locations. At this point, most of the engineering, fabrication, or just plain old figuring sh*t out is complete. Very excited for the next few weeks. Here are some pictures showing progress since last time.


Little by little, things keep getting added to the engine bay. Will show some details in the next couple pictures. It looks great, but definitely has more going on in there than I had originally imagined. Should still turn out looking pretty clean.



Couple things to note here. Had the intake re-done - the Edelbrock logo was ground off, as well as the mounting tabs for their MSD spark box that comes with it (that Marvin isn't using). Also smoothed the surface a bit before fresh paint. I think the results are pretty sharp - looks good, especially with the air cleaner sitting on top. You can also see the final coil wiring, upper radiator hose fitted, and the LS steam-vent tubing is mostly complete.



Here's a better shot of the upper radiator hose that was fitted, and you can just barely see the short little nubbin that makes up the lower radiator hose. The water outlet/thermostat housing actually had to be trimmed down a couple inches to get it to fit properly. There's only about an inch of space between the thermostat housing outlet and the lower radiator outlet. Tight fit! The steam-vent tubing will be plumbed into an in-line fitting that will be installed halfway up the upper radiator hose. (using this part here http://jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_Cooling_LSI-tee.html)



Around back, you can (kinda) see that tubing has been plumbed from the rear of each valve cover up into the underside of the air cleaner for PCV purposes. The actual PCV valve was installed in the valley cover and is plumbed into the base of the throttle body.



Spark plug wiring turned out a little differently than I had originally been thinking. The pictures you often see of LS engines that are running headers will show wires coming off of each coil and running directly down to each spark plug, in between the header pipes. Couldn't get that to work here, so longer wires were made up and routed around and under the headers, similar to early 70s Corvettes. In fact, a wire routing bracket for one of those Corvettes was used here at the front of the head to get the wires where they needed to go.



Passenger side. Lighting isn't great, but I think you can see that with the valve cover's cover on, and the inner fender installed, this method of spark plug wiring works well and makes the wires almost disappear visually. Not a perfect comparison to the driver's side, though, because the wires on this side are routed towards the back of the engine. You may also be able to see that the oil and transmission dipsticks have been cut down, painted black, and are now nicely inconspicuous compared to previous pictures. I think I'll get the steel tubing on top of the engine painted all black, as well.

[torchlight]

Inside the cab, just a couple more small details. Had to figure out something for the parking brake mechanism. I didn't want to re-use the big clunky stock pedal mechanism. But I also didn't want a more modern pull-handle to be so easily visble - thought it might "stick out" visually. There wasn't enough space to mount it between the seat and the driver's door. This location works very well I think - mounted sideways in the seat riser under the driver's side of the bench seat. Cables pass through the floor under the seat to go back to the rear brakes.



Close-up view of the mechanism and mounting. This is a pretty standard aftermarket 'street rod hardware' type parking brake handle.



View from the front. The seat riser itself will be painted the deep red body color, and the parking brake handle will be painted to match. With the upholstered seat installed, you might not even notice that the handle is there unless you knew it was there, which is definitely the goal!



Was able to use the stock brackets on the frame for routing and supporting the parking brake cables. These brackets are so cool, I think - just had to keep them on the truck.



I really hemmed and hawed over speaker placement. Unfortunately, the rear-cab-corner speaker brackets I got from another forum member won't quite work for this build. I found out that the seat would not recline fully with them installed. I'm 6'4", so I'm going to need all the recline I can get in this cab. I know a lot of folks are pretty opposed to cutting cab sheet metal in order to mount speakers, and I definitely wrestled with that myself. Kinda limited for options though, especially because I didn't want to use free-standing kickpanel "pods" for the front speakers. So, the tweeter speakers will get mounted in the stock sheetmetal location shown here, while the 5.25" midrange speakers will get mounted up under the dash, pointed down and slightly forward. Small subwoofer will go behind the seat in a box.



These recessed cups were fabricated to house the tweeters. The inside of the cup is lined with some acoustic foam, and the cups are mounted with a gasket for seal against vibration and outside air/elements.



Here's the driver's side tweeter installed. The recessed nature of the cup will allow these small speakers to go mostly unnoticed, I hope, once the dark brown carpet is installed in this area.



And that's all for today. When it gets down to things like speaker mounting, its almost enough to allow myself to imagine driving Marvin again. Lots more to do before that, though, so I'd better keep my daydreaming in check. More updates soon!

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by torchlight

Unfortunately, the rear-cab-corner speaker brackets I got from another forum member won't quite work for this build.

I'm curious how far they stuck out to interfere with your seat. I was contemplating getting those. I have seen his sale thread.

Your truck is looking too good now. It's putting mine to shame. I'll be looking for it at the shows next year (assuming they don't get it wrapped up in time for this year).

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by Root2812

I'm curious how far they stuck out to interfere with your seat. I was contemplating getting those. I have seen his sale thread.

Your truck is looking too good now. It's putting mine to shame. I'll be looking for it at the shows next year (assuming they don't get it wrapped up in time for this year).

You know, the interference with the speaker brackets was not too bad - I probably only lost the last inch of recline with them installed. Maybe more though once the seat frame has upholstery on it. I think the main issue was that my seat frame is about as wide as can possibly fit in the cab, so it was making contact with the brackets. A slightly narrower seat frame would clear and recline all the way no problem. While there's been talk that Marvin could be ready before the Back to the 50s show the weekend of June 20, I've also got a baby girl due June 15 so spending the weekend at the show this year may be a tall order! Any chance you'll have your truck in the Gopher State show in April? That's always a fun show to visit at the end of a long winter.

Originally Posted by crestronwizard

What length is your steering column?

You know, I actually don't know the specific measured length of the column. Its a retrofit column from Ididit that they make specifically for the 47-53 trucks. Part # 1130651010.

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by torchlight

You know, the interference with the speaker brackets was not too bad - I probably only lost the last inch of recline with them installed. Maybe more though once the seat frame has upholstery on it. I think the main issue was that my seat frame is about as wide as can possibly fit in the cab, so it was making contact with the brackets. A slightly narrower seat frame would clear and recline all the way no problem. While there's been talk that Marvin could be ready before the Back to the 50s show the weekend of June 20, I've also got a baby girl due June 15 so spending the weekend at the show this year may be a tall order! Any chance you'll have your truck in the Gopher State show in April? That's always a fun show to visit at the end of a long winter.

Congratulations on the baby. I just had a little girl too. She is almost 7 months and slowed my progress down on my truck but she is worth it. Is this your first kid? I hope to go to the gopher state show but there is no way my truck will be there. I am currently building the motor. so far all I have done is the suspension. Its a slow process.

[sqweaka]

can i ask how easy it is to operate the e brake when its positioned like this.. as you are pulling it forward instead of up to work it?
looking for ideas for my e brake

ian