Greg's 50 Build

[Root2812]

About a year ago I started a thread on my truck with all of the intentions of staying 100% original. I was in grad school and my truck stayed home. Alot happens when you read this forum for a year and dream so I'm starting fresh with a new plan.

So in 1989 my dad brought home a 1950 Chevy. Here is a picture of me sitting on the bumper with my sister, my dad, and my dog.


My grand pa loved the truck so my dad gave it to him. Even though he loved it nothing happened with the truck. Over the last 23 years no one has done much of anything with the truck but it kept being sold back and forth in the family. Now its my turn to own it and its not going anywhere.

The 50 hasn't been driven in 23 years but I am determined to change that. But before I get started on what I have done let me tell you what I want to do.

I really want to be able to drive this truck and enjoy it. Thats my only reason for swapping out the original drive train but while I'm swapping I might as well make it cool. My idea is to run a 5.3 vortec with an automatic. I don't like bagged trucks so I think I'll go with a basic Muctang II and a 4 link in the rear. For paint I still want a really classic look that just oozes class. I am about 90% decided on creme and brown. I went looking for a pic of one and found one. Picture this truck with the same wheels but a side mounted spare tire and not bagged.

[Root2812]

So lets talk about whats real.

Today is the first day I have really gotten to work on my truck. I have a goal of driving it on Memorial day in honor of my grandpa. After 23 years of not being driven it will be a big moment.

This is how my truck looked this afternoon.




My floor is the only realy rotten part but I already bought new floors.

Before I could start on my build I had to run and get my new parts truck. And I am really lucky my dad owns a tow service and I have free use of this nice flat bed.


My parts truck is a 53 shortbox. I only bought it for the fenders and the frame. I am going to build that frame and drive my truck. For only $400 I got a good deal and now I have the side mounted spare that I really wanted! The actual mount is missing but I have the dimpled fender.

Side note about the parts truck... It was wierd. It has a 6 lug rear and a 5 lug front but it still has the straight axle.... How?

And the parts truck has 2 bucket seats out of an early 60's Impala SS that I will use for the time being. It also had a console out of the same car with the SS badging so I can sell that on Ebay and recoup some of my money.

[Root2812]

So finally today I got started on my truck! I am so excited for this! The first thing I did was to really evaluate the truck. In doing so I found some interesting clues. I knew my truck came from Montana and I suspected it was some kind of governemt work truck based on the roof mount for a orange light. Underneith the truck was caked with tar and concrete. It was old enough I got alot of it off but it makes me think that it could have been a DOT truck working on road construction in the 50's... Ofcourse its just speculation. Still fun.

I then cleaned out the cab since it was full of parts. I bled the brakes, cleaned out the fuel tank, and put on some tires that held air.

While in grad school I was away and I took what I could to work on. That was dash parts. Here is what I started with.


and here is what I finished with.



The primer was just so no rust would transfer to my newly restored guages.

[Root2812]

I knew the truck ran when fuel was poured into the carbs and now that the fuel tank was cleaned out I was ready to turn the key... Still no go..

It would run until the carb bowl was empty. It wasn't getting fuel. My dad figured out the sediment bowl was filled with crud so he cleaned it out. Of course the gasket was no good so the sediment bowl won't seal so we had to stop for the day. I will hunt for something to make a temporary seal tomorrow.

Tomorrow it will also get new radiator hoses.



I'm so close to waking the beast from its 23 year long slumber! I am stoked!

Thanks for checking out my project and thanks in advance for all the advice you will give.

[_Ogre]

Very nice truck root. Amazing how the plan changes over the year. Still not to late to keep it stock. They're just no fun stock.
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[Atommik]

Hey,

I'll take you up on that speaker grill offer! Also, how's the glass in the 53 parts truck? I need all the glass in my 51.

Good to see the build started!!

Tom

[n_elsod]

And I could use the hood. We 3 need to meet up and BS about these trucks.

[Root2812]

Atommik, When you go to the next show let me know and if I am going I'll bring the speaker grill. I'll have to look at the glass. I didn't pay much attention. I know the back glass is good because I am keeping that for me and atleast one side of the windshield and one door glass was bad. The wing windows are good, that much I know since I opened them to strap the doors shut.

N elsod, Yeah we need to meet up for sure! and my 53 has 2 good hoods with it.

[Root2812]

Well today was a bit disapointing. I got the truck ready to take out on the road. I got all the lights working and the sediment bowl issue fixed. I backed it out of the garage and had no brakes. I just filled and bled the brakes yesterday so I expected them to work. I put the truck back on the hoist and saw fluid pouring from the left front wheel.Turns out I need a wheel cylender. So no brakes means no drive this weekend.

I still got alot done so I'm still happy about that.

Atommik, I looked more closely. It looks like all the glass is bad.

[Atommik]

I could still use a door glass as long as it's in one piece. (Both of mine were smashed.) I could use it for a template to get new glass cut locally instead of ordering it and paying shipping. I also need one of the "tracks" off the bottom of the glass. Maybe when you've picked it clean of what you need, I could come by and have a look at whats left...I'd appreciate it.

Tom

[Atommik]

Too bad about the brakes!! It may be a good idea to check all those wheel cylinders. All that time passing is tough on those seals!!




Tom

[Root2812]

Hey guys,

What an exciting day. I was riding the bus home from work and decided to browse craigslist on my phone. Next thing know I'm makeing a call and got one hell of a score.

I got this visor for only $90. The guy said his dad took it off his truck 32 years ago and its been in the garage since. ANd it looks like it. Its mint. The deal was $90 and I have to bring my truck by one day so he can reminise about his father.




Best part is.. Look at the trim condition..




And here is a pic of the damage. I tiny tiny pin dent. See by my shadows head.


So its only missing the mounting screws.


And one of the bolts with the barrel nut.


So beides screws/bolts do I need any rubber to put between the bracket and the cab so they don't rub?

Guys I am so stoked about this deal! I can hardly contain myself. I plan on getting this installed this weekend.

[Root2812]

Well the truck continues to fight me every step of the way. Today is the first time in a month I have been able to work on it and I spent all day on it. I put new radiator hoses and coolent in, changed the oil, put tires on, fixed the breaks, and cleaned it all up. I drove it next door to the gas station (maybe 100 ft roung trip) and put in 5 gallons of premium fuel. Then it died. Every time I got it running it ran until I put it in gear and it would die under load. The last time it stalled I decided to push it back up to the building, as soon as I got it rolling I jumped in and when I pushed the brake pedal I blew a brake line. So now I will try again in August, thats the next time I can get up here to work on it.

[Root2812]

I was able to get in a few more hours of work this weekend. I found the split brake line. It was the line that goes across the cross member under the transmission. Lucky for me my dad had one piece of brake line laying around that was just long enough. After getting the truck to run, and now having brakes, I took it out. I went 15 miles and it was fun. After the drive I had a flat tire and found that I need to rebuild my carb but other than that it went well. The stearing is also way too loose so I need to figure that out, just way too much play in the wheel.

Then I laid my carpet, well a $7 remenant rug from Menards but its a nice temporary carpet. Really I just didn't want my dog's paws getting cut on the rusty floor. We also test fit the visor! It was cool looking.

Without further ado, Pics!

My truck with the visor sitting in place.


My wife climbed in to check out the progress and the pets came too.


Happy dog number 1 (Aka Flynn)


Happy dog #2 (Aka Duggy)


And lastly, the first pic in this thread is from 1989 and it was both the day the truck came into my family and the last time any one drove it. This pic is just like it but today, the day it drove again. (My sister is missing though)

[Stephanie]

Such great progress so far and I am loving the remake photo of the one taken in 1989! Can't wait to see more progress

[whammer33024]

good to see some people somewhat local to me. i'm in clear lake, iowa. not sure if you guys know where that is but its about 120 miles south of the cities. i will be watching with interest!

[Root2812]

I know where Clear Lake, IA is. Straight down I35 right? Do you have a project thread on here some place?

We have a few guys around the twin cities that frequent the 47-59 section and a few more from near by areas like you. Thanks for posting.

[whammer33024]

yup, right on i35 about 20 miles south of the iowa/minnesota border. i didn't even realize you were from minnesota when i started reading your thread, then noticed your license plates and recognized them, haha.

no, no project yet. trying to put the funds together to get a solid builder. just trying to learn as much as i can and make a few contacts along the way.

looks like you have yourself a really nice truck to start with. surprised theres not more rust than that being a minnesota truck

[Root2812]

Yeah the rust isn't too bad. It's got the typical rotten floors and cab corners but everything else is good. Even the doors are solid and that's hard to find up here. I think what helped it was that while it's been stored for the last few decades it hasn't been in tall grass, it's just been behind the garage.
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[Root2812]

A tiny bit of progress was made today. I pulled the bed off my parts truck so I can swap it onto my truck later. Then I finally dug through all the crap laying in that parts truck. It looks like ebay and craigs list will be my friend. I even found the radio delete plate and people seem to always be looking for those.

The exciting part was the big move. I needed to get that parts truck out of the parking lot at my dads repair shop so I had to drag it to my father in law's place, 120 miles away. All I have is a 4 cyl ranger with a 5 speed and a 2 wheel car hauler trailer. To my surprise the ranger still got 24 mpg and I ran at 55 mph the whole way without ever useing 5th gear and I hardly felt the trailer. Don't worry about my ranger I only ran it at about 2700 RPM to maintain that 55 mph. I was pretty impressed with the little truck. I normally get 30mpg with it but 24 isn't bad considering the load. When I got the parts truck unloaded I snapped this pic that I thought seemed kinda artsy.



Now I won't get to touch my project until August.. Damn I need to find a house so I can keep my project with me. But even slow progress is progress.

Lastly, in another thread I was talking about the 64 impala SS seats in my truck so I snagged a few pics of those while I was picking up the parts truck. They look nice but I'll be replacing them with a stock seat soon.

[Root2812]

Well this weekend I made progress but it was mostly distructive progress. I started by going to an old vehicle salvage yard and scoreing a spare tire mount for the side of my bed. Got it for only $20.


After that I stripped my parts truck down to find what I could sell to try and get a few bucks to buy parts with. It turns out the drivers front fender was in rough shape but the passenger one was pretty nice and the hood and inner fenders were solid. It was wierd that the cab was completely rotten but the bed and right front fender was solid and strait. Either way, Its all going on craigs list so I can get what I need to get my truck on the road.

Its been slow going with the truck stored elsewhere but now the wife and I are finally looking to buy a place and it has a 3 stall garage so maybe I can bring my truck home soon. Until then its just going to be weekend work. Not this weekend but next is going to be carb rebuild weekend.

[Root2812]

Well atlast something happened. I was able to get up north and work on my truck. I started by finally rebuilding my carb.



There isn't a whole lot to report on the process but it looked good all cleaned up and installed.


I even cleaned up the air cleaner


Then I installed my new speedo cable and headed out on to the road. The drive went well. According to my GPS the speedo is only off 2-3 mph at all times and we had it running 60mph. 60 is pretty good for all stock everything. I wasn't over reving it, its just a bit faster because the tires I had to use are quite a bit taller than the stockers. All in all it was a good weekend. Here is a picture of my wife with the truck when we got back from the cruise.


Sadly, after this picture I found that my rear main seal is leaking. I'm not too upset, these kinds of things happen.

Oh and I HATE those Impala seats. I neet to find an original seat. With the gas tank in the cab the Impala seats are too thick and I'm smashed against the steering wheel and pedals.

[mknittle]

Looks like fun.Did the dog go too?

[Root2812]

The dog hasn't gotten to ride yet. He was at home and I drove the truck from my dad's repair shop to the house. I'll take him after I get that oil leak figured out.

[Atommik]

Glad to see you had a litte truck time!! Still trying to track down that phone #. Should have it soon.