56 Chevy (RIP)

[Snake72]

Hello Everyone, I thought I would get my '56 project up to date with pictures and plans. I have another thread on my '72 C10 titled "grandpa's 72 restoration" that I finished last summer and have been enjoying as much as I can. That truck was restored to factory specs, with a few tweaks. It is a beautiful truck and drives fantastic, took 8 years and a lot of money. This '56 will be going down a different path.

Quick history on the '56. This truck was bought by my great grandpa, brand new in 56. Was used as an Iowa farm truck until the blue '72 from above was bought new by my grandpa to replace it. The '56 was parked in a dirt floor machine shed on the farm for 20+ years until my dad decided to get it running and driving again about 1995. The truck has always been named "RIP" as in Rip Van Winkle for that reason, it slept for 20 years and woke up. He got the 235 running and driving well, used as a truck until about 2004 when it was again parked after he bought a new truck. I took over care taker duties last year, trailered the truck to my shop and cleaned up, got it running again. The plan was to do a "rolling restoration" and enjoy it as I worked on it. It was quickly discovered that the truck was in far worse shape than expected. Completely unsafe. I made the decision to blow the truck apart and rebuild the structure of the cab, suspension, brakes etc just to be safe for my kids and I to drive in. After looking into costs to rebuild the 235, 3 speed, drum brakes and terrible leaf spring suspension, I am going a different route.

Plan: 5.3 that I already have, must stay manual transmission, possibly muncie 4 speed, AR5 or T56, undecided. C4 corvette suspension front and rear with crossmembers from Flat Out. The truck is factory black original paint that actually cleans up very well, so this will be a patina build. I will repair all rust holes, hinge pockets, floor, fenders, cab etc and do my best to blend in and match the OG paint and patina.

Here are pics to catch up to the current state...this site has been in incredible resource for me so hopefully these pics will help others in the same boat.

[Snake72]

Rust belt damage, doors barely hanging on.

[Snake72]

cab work phase 1, passenger side

[Snake72]

Door hinge pocket, floor board, A pillar and steps.

[Snake72]

Passenger fender, have to do the rear lower wing yet. Trying to somewhat blend in and match the patina, basically rustoleum rusty metal primer (red oxide color) and black Ace brand rust stop spray paint. Flick some water on the primer, spray black over that, scratch it, scuff it, etc. Kinda fun!

[Snake72]

This was the most challenging repair, the multiple contours of the front fender, its not perfect, but better than rust holes and paint bubbles. Also the turn signal mounting surface was completely gone, welded in a new plate and will drill out holes for new turn signal assembly when I get it.

[Snake72]

Last set of pictures, the passenger door bottom. I just made my own patch panel on this one as well. The lower hinge mount was cracked so I welded that up too.

[dsraven]

wow, looks likeyou have done a lot of qorkin a short time. what amount of time has it been since you started? I suggest to fit the doors soon before you get too far ahead because after having the hinge pillars rebuilt they usually need some help. also, the cause of the floor and hinge pillar rust is likely due to a plugged cowl vent drain, so you might wanna look into that if you haven't already.
great work, nice to have the before, during and after pics. my current build is a 57 that was worse off that that so I know what you've been dealing with.
keep fixing and posting, it keeps us current on your buuuild and also helps some of us get up off the couch and back into the shop.

[dsraven]

curious, how was the lowerhinge mount bracket inside your door? it's another source of headaches from old age and truck arthritis, haha

[youngrodder]

Very cool project and back story. I love the aged black patina paint. Looks like you are well on your way with rust repair.

Marc

[raggedjim]

I love the 55(second)-57 trucks! Remind me of my grandfather.

Good luck, Rg

[Snake72]

dsraven, the passenger side door hinge bracket is solid, the drivers side is completely gone. So the driver side will get a whole new door bottom panel, hinge bracket and probably lower outer skin. I did test fit the passenger door into the opening while fitting the hinge pockets. What a pain. I started tearing the truck apart early December, so progress is doing pretty well.

Here are a few pics of a quick rub down with Meguiar's #7 before tear down, paint depth and clarity was surprisingly good.

As soon as the rusty dusty body work is completed, I'll move to frame work. The frame is already cleaned, stripped and a few crossmembers removed. Still need to source the C4 suspension and a transmission.

[dsraven]

did you have a factory assembly manual? it is a free download from trifive site. it is a real asset especially when doing frame work etc. dimensional drawings of the frame and body. I have it downloaded and referred to it several times when doing my frame swap or replacing the floor and firewall of my cab.

[dsraven]

with all the work you put in you may have been better served with a total floor replacement (yeah right. have you seen the prices?) but it's good to see ypu hav some bracing in the door openings before welding in the panels. I always tell guys who are starting a can repair to install and adjustthe doors to fit the opening of the cab, no fensers attached, and then weld in some barcing across that opening before taking the door off. also include a side to side brace above the floor when the cab is still sitting of the frame or at least measure the cab mount holes and adjust as required so when the floor is repaired the cab will still bolt onto the frame again. I had to learn some of that stuff the hard way but have been around the block enough to have picked up some hints along the way.

[dsraven]

just read my last post, I need an editor. haha.
fat fingered a bunch of stuff but, spelling aside, you get the drift.
cool project, nice to see a truck that stayed in the family. my dad had a 59, I remember driving around in it for years as a little kid (we were a family of 4, even went on a holiday with a home made canopy shell on the back), then we upgraded to a 64 pontiac strato chief 2 dr. wow, that car was huge inside. i remember thinking we had hit it big.
keep posting up those pics, we all really like watching forward progress. if you have questions don't hesitate to ask. lots of knowledgable guys here. looks like you have your job cut out for you and it's gonna be an uphill battle but you will persevere and come out of it with a cool truck and it will have been kept in the family. nice.

[6DoF]

dang, that really is some nasty rust for as nice as that paint is.

[Snake72]

6Dof, I agree! Makes a lot more work repairing this level of rust vs just buffing out some old paint and rolling.

dsraven, I did a whole floor replacement on my '72, which had very similar rust patterns with the A, B pillars, floors, etc. They are awesome replacement pieces! However when I did that truck, I had access to a rotisserie, which I don't have now. It could have been done, but besides the toe board area, the floors of the '56 are solid. I know the replacement floors come with cab braces, inner cab corners, etc already installed, but I just went the piece by piece route on this one. Prior to cab removal and bracing the door openings, I did measure door openings, mounting holes, square...I also learned that that hard way with the '72.

Tomorrow i'll be installing the driver side inner / outer cab corners as well as B pillar. More pics to come.

[dsraven]

just in case you haven't been around a resto on a task force truck before, the doors get fitted to the cab without the fenders on. then the fenders get fit to that. there are shims under the rad support and the rear cab mounts in order to get things level with the frame etc. I suggest to replace those rubber mounts when you assemble the truck as the old ones are usually pounded out. the cab sits on the front frame mounts with metal to metal contact and that area can be shimmed as required, there is a dimension for the frame to floor in the assembly manual, and the driver's side front mounting bolt is used as a pivot point to get the cab square with the frame so the hood lines up proper. the rear upper fender mounts, at the cowl, are shimmed to get the fender body line correct with the door. these trucks were built as work trucks so as long as the doors closed and latched that was good enough. not a lot of effort or concern was placed on gaps etc. the rad support to fender mounts get shimmed for side to side clearance so the hood will fit down between them well and the hood also has rubber bumpers on the sides so it doesn't take the paint off. the hood also has the X brace under it which helps adjust the width of the hood at the front and also helps keep it from being floppy and twisting. the door hinges were sometimes bent to make the door fit so if you can get away with rebushing and pinning them that is a great idea to keep the door fitting better. I have had a couple of these units and a great fitting door from one truck sometimes is waaay outta whack for fitting a different cab. I currently have 6 doors and one cab but only 2 of those doors fit the cab sorta decent. not great, just decent.same with the front fenders. lots of guys add or subtract metal to the edges of the panels to get a tight gap but bear in mind that the body flexes so too close a gap means body parts touch sometimes. when doing your frame and suspension remember that the cross member under the rear of the engine is important to keep or replace with something else in that area because frame flexing in that area makes the cab mounts move and that messes with the cab metal and can cause lots of problems wit metal fatigue and cracking. try to keep the frame supported in that area if possible.
and always post pics, we love to see the progress. ask questions if you have them. you will get lots of answers and you can filter through them to get your information.

[Snake72]

Unexpected delay, went to install the driver side inner / out cab corners and B pillar yesterday, upon cutting out old corners I found that the rear cab mount was basically paper mache and the L brace inside the cab/over the rear mount was a goner as well. So I spent the afternoon fabricating a new cab mount and repairing the cancer. After LOTS of measurements and test fitting, this thing is solid. Cab corners this weekend.

[Snake72]

Much better!

[6DoF]

yup! that's not going anywhere

[daveshilling]

Diving right into the fun stuff!! That's fantastic paint, and black is pretty rare

[Snake72]

Finished the driver side cab corner this weekend, a little filler over the weld seam and my high end "matched patina" rattle can. This will probably get stripped off when I finish the cab for epoxy and SPI single stage back. Also ran the buffer with a wool pad and meguiars #7 over the back of the cab and passenger side cab corner, that original paint cleans so well!

[6DoF]

that came out mooooney

[youngrodder]

Your fast with that metal/rust repair...Well done!!

Marc