55 2nd Series - A daily driver.

[Some_Guy]

About two years ago I felt the need for a project and started looking at older trucks. My only criteria was that I be able to wrench on it in my small single stall garage in my rented northern Virginia townhouse, and it cost me less than $5k. I was spending most of my efforts looking for a 60's C10 but after going and seeing several hacked up, see through rust buckets I was feeling pretty discouraged. Its crazy what some people call "rust free" and "road worthy". All along I had been discussing my adventures with my brother who had also been traveling around Michigan (my home state) trying to find me a project. He tells me he has a friend who's finally ready to part with a truck he had wanted to buy for the last 15 years and he's going to take our father and go have a look at it. The next thing I know I have these potato quality pictures on my phone that I can't quit looking at:

It was over my budget a bit and just generally bad timing as I was getting married in a couple weeks, but after hearing how enamored my father and brother were with this truck I sold my wife's car (we were planning to do this as it was hardly ever driven and was just costing us a car payment) and told my brother to go pick it up. I had bought an old truck. Sight unseen.

The details known to me so far:

• 55 Chevrolet 3100
• It had been "restored" sometime in the early 70's
• A 283 under the hood origins unknown
• A newer 12 bolt truck rear end again origins unknown
• Power disc brake conversion installed already
• Appeared to have little rust and a few filler spots but generally clean
• Hasn't run or driven in 15 years...
• Came with some spare parts; distributor, instrument cluster, windshield, some other odds and ends.

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Looks like a real clean truck from the pics.
Kim

[Some_Guy]

After the wedding I got my first in person look at it. It was dirty, smelled like musty barn and cat piss, the doors didn't close, it needed new tires and many other things. I loved it though. I only had a few minutes to look at it that day as I had to head back to Virginia. Over the next week or two my brother and father decided they wanted to get it running as a wedding gift. They dropped in the distributor, a new fuel pump, and a fresh battery. My dad set the timing and dropped a fuel line into a one gallon gas can. According to them as soon as there was fuel in the carb it fired right up and ran great. My brother texted me a picture of him driving it down the road with a big dumb grin on his face.

I wasn't expecting to see it again anytime soon, but I found myself back in Michigan a week or so later to attend my grandfather's funeral. We had known it was only a matter of time so it wasn't a big shock. The silver lining was I got to drive the 55 with a big dumb grin of my own.

I also got the chance to snap a few more pictures. My brother had started to polish up the old paint and even though its a little rough it still has some shine to it.

[lynx5653]

looks like a nice one

[apache200]

Looks great! Whats your plans for it

[nvrdone]

Score !!! looks like a great rig and I can relate to the dumb ass grin. I get it every time I drive my '49

[Some_Guy]

In September (2013) I paid my brother fuel and tolls to haul the 55 to my front door. I did my best to pay him for his time with food, booze, and a couple nights out on the town. After some new rubber, re-pop tail lights, headlights, fluids, and a fresh tank of gas I decided it was ready to start venturing out on the road. My plans for it were to just enjoy it and drive it!

After a couple weeks of driving it to work and back one of the U-joints flew apart on me going about 45mph in traffic on my way home from work. I managed to get it into a nearby church parking lot and waited for my buddy/neighbor to pick me up on his way home. I took the driveshaft with me, picked up two new U-joints at the local Napa, and had the truck home by 8pm. No pictures of this one.

Not too long after it started missing in the middle of the throttle. It would idle fine. It would run if you held the throttle wide open. But it would sputter and near quit anywhere in between. I limped it home and spent some time diagnosing and decided the 4 barrel Rochester carburetor needed to be torn down and cleaned out. The secondary air doors were stuck shut and I think the primary jets were full of crud. I bought a rebuild kit from Mike's Carburetor Parts and rebuilt it. Here's a before shot, I didn't take an after...got too carried away and didn't want to slow down for a picture. The Rochester was cake to rebuild compared to the carbs on my Beemer.

The next day the wife and I took it out west for a cruise through Northern VA. It ran like a top. Along the way we stopped for a break and she snapped one of my favorite pictures of it.

[Some_Guy]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Welcome.
Looks like a real clean truck from the pics.
Kim

Originally Posted by lynx5653

looks like a nice one

Originally Posted by nvrdone

Score !!! looks like a great rig and I can relate to the dumb ass grin. I get it every time I drive my '49

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by apache200

Looks great! Whats your plans for it

Short term plans are to keep it on the road and enjoy it. It needs some work but at this point I'm too afraid that it would end up being one of those projects that never gets finished if I really tore into it. I've been sticking to fixing things that break and things that have been cobbled together over the years. Long term I'd like to go the C4 Corvette front and rear end route, put a modern drivetrain in it and clean up the body work. Its not an original truck and at this point I don't think it could ever be. I've been lurking on here checking out other projects and builds for some time now gathering ideas.

[franken]

My unpopular take on old junk is fix lube and drive. That is grease the stuff that can be, change fluids, fix the wobbly bits and have fun.
Old vehicles have character...

[Kim57]

It cleaned up real nice.
Kim

[Some_Guy]

Originally Posted by franken

My unpopular take on old junk is fix lube and drive. That is grease the stuff that can be, change fluids, fix the wobbly bits and have fun.
Old vehicles have character...

That's exactly what I've been doing with it. I drove it to work and around town every day I could. The only reason I wouldn't take it out was when they salted the roads. Things would come up every now and again. One day I noticed there was a big puddle of gear lube under each rear tire...time for new seals. The whole cab started shuddering when I'd let the clutch out...time for a new clutch. This was when I found out the 283 was out of a car with a Powerglide transmission. I couldn't figure out why the PO had epoxied the pilot bushing in after deforming it so it would fit tighter. After some research I learned that 283's paired with a Powerglide had a different crank and needed a special conversion bushing when paired with a standard transmission. I stumped three of the older guys at the local Napa with that one. I could only find them in a box of 5...so I have 4 left if anyone else needs one.

NOT

Other things I've had to fix are just small things. The vents were stuck closed, so after a couple near triple digit days sitting in traffic for 45 minutes that was remedied with some penetrating oil and a bit of my time. When it got cold out I discovered the blower motor wouldn't turn without help. Again all it needed some lubrication. The original heater switch was full of crud and the blower seemed to work even better after cleaning that up. The headlights went out on me one morning, so I bought a re-pop switch. After this the wife, dogs, and I enjoyed driving the old truck around NoVA most of 2014.

We had the opportunity to move back to Michigan in October. I worked out a deal to keep my same job and be able to work remotely, so just over a year later the 55 was back on my brother's trailer for the trip home.

[Kim57]

That's cool you're able to get so much enjoyment out of it.
Kim

[mikec4193]

Hi Some Guy

I love that family photo shot with the Mrs. and the pups and you driving....that is what these all trucks are made for....the kids (pups) even look like they are smiling too...

MikeC

[Advanced Design]

Love the truck and the story with it! Good for you in getting back towards home too.

[Some_Guy]

So this happened in January:


Little Flo combined with the 9-5 has consumed the vast majority of my time so far this year. Before I put the 55 up for the winter I had noticed some clunking when steering at low speeds. That and the very sloppy steering prompted me to tear apart the front end. Turns out the PO somehow really messed up the pitman arm and the drivers side steering arm. I think at one point they had the tapered holes machined, but both of them were tapered in the wrong direction. The drag link was barely held on by a couple threads. I'm lucky it didn't fall apart over the last couple years.

This combined with some excessive play in the steering prompted me to rebuild the steering box, find a new pitman arm, replace the drag link, replace the drivers side steering arm (thanks to Hellomrwilson from Stovebolt for shipping me one), replace the old tie rod ends with modern style ends, and replace the tie rod which turned out to be pretty bent.

I didn't really take any pictures, I kind of get carried away and don't stop to take pictures. Here's some of the steering box parts on the table. The wife loves it when I rebuild things in the kitchen.



After the rebuild and some random re-pop soft parts I got it back on the road today. Just need tags and insurance and I'm back in business for this summer.

[Advanced Design]

Congratulations! Enjoy the summer cruises.

[mikec4193]

Looks like it is time to get the ole car seat fitted for the little one to come out and ride along on all those summer cruises...kids will change your life forever...congrats on the new addition...

MikeC

[Kim57]

Cute kid.
Glad you made your truck safer.
Kim