Rowdy 57

[Rowdyaf]

This will be my very first build thread, i have used forums for years researching and building rock crawlers but this is my first attempt at a street truck. A little about myself. My names Cory im 33 and have two boys 8 and 10 we live in the Pacific NW and i have a passion for trucks, the 55-59 chevy/gmc trucks have always been my favorite! A little about the 57 and plans.

box frame and brace
Turbo LQ4 completly rebuilt (shooting for 800hp @crank)
4l80e
Holley terminator x
coil overs all 4 corners
Camaro front clip
4 link rear
body work maybe

And a picture of the truck when i picked it up with my youngest goofin around

[Rowdyaf]

i bought the truck out of northern washington, drove almost 7 hours one way and paid 4500$ it already has a camaro clip grafted on and dropped in the back. i loved the stance and was really excited to bring it back to life. My goal is to get this running and driving this year. i wont to any of the body work till its running and driving other than fix damage going to leave it in all of its multiple colors while i work out the kinks. Because i have never done any body work i want to enjoy the truck while i slowly pick at it.

[Rowdyaf]

Now to start catch up. First thing i did was strip the truck down and start to get into the frame. it already had a 9" rear axle and camaro clip. i ordered new a arms with coils from Performance online, they where very helpful when i was having trouble figuring out exactly which front clip i had finding brakess was a pain.

First up frame repairs

[Rowdyaf]

Not sure why some photos are sideways, ill try to figure that out, anyways after I patched all the rust i started on the 9" rear axle, i wanted to 4 link it and shorten it so I could fit 14" wide rear tires.

[youngrodder]

Looks like you have great platform there.
welcome to the best truck forum around. You will soon discover that there is a great deal of knowledge and helpful people in this community..

Marc

[Rowdyaf]

After I welded on the 4 link brackets I had a local hotrod shop weld on the new bearing cup and re true the axle, didn't want to chance it myself.

[Rowdyaf]

Next up was tearing apart the donor 6.0 LQ4, i parted a truck and kept what i wanted, and a picture of my new little turbo. So far i have all the parts to finish the front and rear suspension, im working on plating the frame so i can run some tube work between the frame rails kind of like setting it up for autocross. Figure over build it now so I don't have to address it later.

[59chev]

Great Start! Looking forward to following your build.

[Rowdyaf]

Got the frame plating started tonight, I'm going to try and notch the rear of the frame and start the tube bracing this weekend.

QUESTION! Does anyone have a picture of a truck frame with a Camaro clip and a LS motor/4l60e would like a idea of how far back the trans sits. so I dont put tubing in I will have to cut out.

[Rowdyaf]

Finished the boxing this weekend and got the C Notch in, starting tube work now.

[Rowdyaf]

plating finished start of the tube work.

[Rowdyaf]

Got some more tube work finished. cant decide on the back half of tube if i should leave the 45/90 and go to c notch or just end it at the straight bar. have a little more bracing to add but the main structure is finished.

[6DoF]

yes! tube work! triangulate the world!

[Rowdyaf]

I also love tube work it can make the simplest things look so much cooler! Got a couple more tubes in hoping to have it all welded up today and tomorrow so i can repaint the frame and start bolting on suspension.

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Rowdyaf

I also love tube work it can make the simplest things look so much cooler! Got a couple more tubes in hoping to have it all welded up today and tomorrow so i can repaint the frame and start bolting on suspension.

Love it! I wish you were close and I could pay you for some tube things!

[Rowdyaf]

Small victory almost a rolling chassis again, waiting on one caliper for driver side they sent two of the same so one side bleeder screw was on the bottom. also waiting on pads then i will have a complete roller stopped by the machine shop to drop off pistons for balancing and he said about a month out, so i think ill start working on fuel tank and lines while i wait.

[washington blue]

Nice build, just wondering, how will the rear end do going over diagonal dips like driveways? I'd be curious to jack up one wheel to see what it does.

[Rowdyaf]

I jacked up each wheel when I finished cause I was worried about the same thing, if the links had enough clearance. It’s the performance online kit and I have it at it’s lowest setting which is a 6” drop. There is only about 4” of uptravel before bump stops and even with the axle sitting at bump I can clear a finger between link and frame

[MikeB]

Man, that's gonna be one flex-free frame! Did you do the tube-bending and notching yourself?

[Rowdyaf]

Yea I built the plates and did all the tube bending myself. Got the last of the brake parts this morning I was waiting on and got it to actually sit on all 4 tires. So now that it’s a roller time to mount a fuel cell still need to pick one and start running hard lines while I wait on machine shop. It’s a little nose heavy might have to get creative with the rear 4 link to lower it we will see when the body is back on.

[MikeB]

I've had the photo issue before where it looks OK until you copy it somewhere. I just flipped this for you.

[Rowdyaf]

Well unfortunately life gets in the way sometimes, my wife blew up her wrangler, so I spent most of the summer fixing that, ended up putting on a super charger while I had the motor out because I can't leave anything alone.
But I did get my motor back from the machine shop a couple months ago and now that the shop is clear again, I can start back on it.

[Rowdyaf]

So, the last couple weeks me and my youngest son have been slowly putting back together the motor.

[Rowdyaf]

still don't know what I'm doing wrong with the pictures when I look at them on image viewer, they are right side up not sure why they rotate on upload.
Anyways this weekend we got the long block finished, and tonight I got the 80lb injectors installed, soon I'll be loading the motor in the chassis with the transmission so I can build a trans cross member then start plumbing in fuel and brake lines.

[Rowdyaf]

More progress ill let the photos do the talking.