1954 Chevrolet Build With My Dad

[Old54Jones]

Hello!!! Thanks for checking in on my project! I started working on this with my dad in 2012 and wanted to have a place where I could have the trucks progress catalogued. I have always looked up to my dad and the amount of knowledge he has about everything in life it seems, so I was excited about the day when he showed me a newspaper clipping for a 1954 chevy truck for sale for $1000 obo. He said if I would want to work on a project I could use the old 1984 suburban we had to make a cool modern powered vehicle with the look of an old truck! I was excited to learn about working on old cars and spend time with my dad so I went to buy the truck off a guy who was moving out of state. He had tons and tons of parts for the truck and I was able to buy it all for $750!
Here is a picture of the truck when we first got it settled into our shop and also of the suburban about a month into me stripping it down to the frame.

[mongocanfly]

Welcome Jones..its great that you and pops have a project together..looks like a decent truck to build.. a word of caution though is that donor burb may be a little on the wide side for the ol ad..full size trucks and ad trucks don't match up very well in width..that's why most frame swaps involve a s10.but it can and has been done.2cents..

[dug224]

Got a good start. I'm signed up and along for the ride. Good luck!

[Old54Jones]

Thanks for the response!!! I definitely ran into some problems with the width and length. I Am fixing to post some more pictures tonight of some of the hurdles we had to overcome using the suburban frame! Have you done a frame swap similar to this or with an S10 before?

[mongocanfly]

Yes mine currently is sitting on a 67 frame..the tires stick out about flush with the fenders..not a good look..I havnt done the s10 swap but its been done many many times on this forum..

[Old54Jones]

After a couple of months I was able to remove all of the suburban parts down to the frame. I sold off the doors, hood, old 235 engine and 54 frame. We then set the cab and started thinking about how we were going to address the longer and wider frame issues. The problems we were seeing included the steering wheel linkage and gap between the bed and cab when the rear fenders were centered over the wheels.
Our original plan was to just lengthen the bed to account for the gap.
Here are pictures taken during this stage:

[Old54Jones]

We bought a 350 crate engine and had a local guy rebuild the 700r4 transmission that came out of the suburban. Bolted up the headers, edelbrock intake, and holley carburetor. Each part we worked on, my dad explained how everything worked. It was a cool process learning how to set the distributor and learn about the timing and all that. I still remember how excited me and my dad were after hearing the engine turn over the first time too. The engine roared to life with those open headers and we went back up to the house excited with our ears ringing and smelling of rich burning exhaust.

The first time we put the truck into drive, the transmission blew out. DANG!
so much for spending the money for a rebuild... but! it worked out because I was able to find a 350 turbo transmission for sale that came with a cool old school looking shifter and I learned about torque converters.

[Old54Jones]

All throughout this project I worked on the body of the truck. Pulling dents, cutting out rust, welding, bondo-ing, and sanding and sanding and sanding. I quickly gained an appreciation for people who have nice paint jobs on their vehicles because all I did was sand, fill, and paint with thick primer and there are still a ton of dents and places that need work. I just accepted that it was a truck, the dents give it character, and that I could always go back and work on perfecting the body lines later.
The main issues were
1: A huge rust spot on the drivers side rear cab corner. I had to cut out a huge chunk and weld in a plate.

2: A huge dent above the passenger seat right on the corner of the cab. I used filler and shaped the corner with fiberglass.

Also, I learned that no bolt on either of these vehicles wanted to come off without a fight. So I busted my knuckles and smashed my hands countless times!

[Old54Jones]

We decided to shorten the wheelbase rather than lengthen the bed. After a ton of measuring, we rolled the rear end forward then cut the remaining length off the back. I had to drill several new bolt holes for the leaf spring mounts and gas tank. Dad had a friend that makes drive shafts, so we purchased one of custom length.

[Old54Jones]

Now that the length was set, I worked on the exhaust. I went with magnaflows and used some exhaust tips I had laying around from my old truck I drove in highschool.

Here is a youtube video of my truck after everything was finished!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EY3yijF-04

[Old54Jones]

The next few highlights were:
1. Buying some new cragar wheels and tires.
2. Strengthening the firewall with diamond plated aluminum.
3. Installing a steering U-joint
4. Testing out some black paint

At this point the bed has still just been propped up in the back and I was planning on finding a way to mount it to maintain the stance we created in the front.

[Old54Jones]

Here are some more pictures of the truck before I painted it all one color.

[Old54Jones]

Dad had been storing some leather cadillac seats in his shop for a few years and he told me I could use them instead of buying a replacement bench seat. We used the angle grinder and brush wheel to clean up the inside so we could place some brackets to mount the seats. I am not sure on how to turn these pictures upright so if anyone has any pointers on how to do that Ill change them!

In the pictures though you can see some of the rusted through spots on the floor. We used sheet metal from the suburban to fill in these spots and reinforce the firewall. I also had to trim the middle plate so the transmission would not hit and there was plenty of room for the new shifter. We also built a small battery box and bolted it to the frame under the battery cover from the old truck.

[Old54Jones]

Bought a spray gun and some black implement paint!

[joedoh]

great project and great ingenuity!

[Old54Jones]

Thanks joedoh! The main focus of this project is to learn, spend time with friends and family, and get this truck on the road again. Once I have it driveable and have more time outside of school I plan on going back through everything and fine tuning it. This truck has made me appreciate how impressive the builds of other members on this site are!

[Advanced Design]

Very resourceful build! Tagging along for rest.

[Old54Jones]

Thank you so much! I have a couple of big exams coming up this next week, but after that I should be able to post the remainder of my photos to bring this thread to the trucks current state.

[Old54Jones]

My next focus was getting the windshield installed and figuring out the wiring for lights. I bought some 12V LED lights to replace the old 6V lights. I wish I had done a better job writing down which wires went where for the wiring harness, but I was able to figure it out and got the lights working! When the blinkers finally blinked on the correct side and the hi beams turned up correctly I was super pumped. I have a picture of me smoking one of the wires trying to figure things out haha.

The windshield install took way longer than it needed to. I recommend buying the more expensive option when replacing it because the gasket I bought from JEGS absolutely would not work! We tried and failed several times so we took the truck to a glass installer in town. He tried for two days and said it was the first windshield he has been unable to get in place and he had been in business for 20 years. They did get my back glass in though no problem! After buying a new gasket it went into place the first attempt.

[Gregski]

loving this

[8man]

Jones, nice work. You and your Dad are not just building a truck, but memories galore! Keep it up.

I am doing a 48 for my wife with a 54 sitting beside it waiting. Both are going on S10 frames. This is my first time doing one of these on a donor frame from something else and it takes some thought. I've been stumped several times, but the folks on this board are great and will help when and how they can.

BTW, where in Texas?

[MiraclePieCo]

Hurry up, I'm waiting for the next installment!