1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

G'day!

I have been reading a lot of build threads on here and slowing gaining information and ideas for my own truck build. Thought id start a build thread of my own.

Its an 1957 Chevy that would have been sent here (to Australia) as a flat pack. It was assembled by Holden and sold new here. Factory right hand drive.
I believe in the US it would have been a Viking 4400, the Aussie built ones where badged as a "1500", not as cool as the name Viking unfortunately.

Here it is the day I bought it.

https://i.ibb.co/TrgLX9q/235235986-3...25250885-n.jpg

Getting unloaded off the semi.

https://i.ibb.co/rG9CkM6/20200514-174112.jpg

Even though it isnt an overly expensive or sort after car, I was pretty proud to have it :)

https://i.ibb.co/gDYHRTb/20200517-122723.jpg

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

You should be proud, it looks like it's in nice shape. And I would think not many left of those in Australia. Good luck with whatever your plans are.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I like it:metal:

I am subbed for the build.:chevy:








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Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Nice!!

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

The first step was to tear down the original truck.

https://i.ibb.co/HV5jcTR/20210605-133743-resized-1.jpg

There is some small amounts of rust in the roof rain gutters but overall this truck is really solid.

https://i.ibb.co/rG3wcvX/20210614-134458-resized.jpg

I bought an aussie RHD C30 off a friend of mine and tore that down too!
https://i.ibb.co/xGHxPVD/20210614-125553-resized.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/c8Kbx2s/20210626-122047-resized-2.jpg

First impressions when dummying up the 57 cab onto the c30 chassis was that it was just wasnt going to gel with my fear of heights!
Unfortunately with the dip in the chassis it meant the cab was just sitting way too high and even though I do plan on using airbags id like to get it as low as possible now as I really dont want to Z notch it.

https://i.ibb.co/ccZZWhd/20210718-111159-resized.jpg

So I got cutting with the death wheel.
https://i.ibb.co/F8nbJrN/20210728-173523-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BZsVcZ4/20210729-181404-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vXzkwrW/20210729-181416-resized.jpg

This is where I am up to now, making new cab mounts :)

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Ah! The plans!
The plan is a C30 chassis swap. air ride suspension, 22" Alcoas and as for an engine I'm not completely decided yet :dohh:.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

So i made some cab mounts. Basic as my fab skills are very basic.

https://i.ibb.co/0X0tzHx/20210808-143059-resized.jpg

after test fitting the cab and being happy with how it was sitting i burnt em all on with the MIG. I really struggled with the vertical up welding. :dohh: But the cab will be coming off a few more times so i will grind off the poo and try do a better job at a later date. I was too existed to have the cab bolted to the c30 chassis.

https://i.ibb.co/gwQVDVt/20210822-142059.jpg

I want this to be low so I was happy to see that with the cab mounted the sills were hanging lower than the chassis.

https://i.ibb.co/6n20X8m/20210822-155615.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5X34gmb/20210822-155644.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f8x8qgQ/20210822-103154.jpg


I also ordered some slam SS7 airbags and have a set of drop spindles here to install.

My question to you fine folk is;

I think I want to run rack and pinion steering. So should I bite the bullet and order a porter built drop member? do they work with factory control arms?

Or am i better off just getting a rack and pinion kit from unisteer or something? I was doing some reading on here and saw people had issues with the unisteer when running an LS motor which I may well end up doing also.

Thanks guys :)

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Great update! MIG uphill is a challenge for sure... I think you just leave the welds and if someone says something negative you just punch em in the teeth.

If you have Porterbuilt in the budget, I'm certain you will be more excited to have it. Nothing like a high end chassis part to get ya motivated!

You could pop over to the 73-87 forum and see what they're doing for it, they might be the group to ask.

Also I love how colorful your shop is.. blue floor, green toolbox, Nightmare before Xmas artwork... truck looks right at home!

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I like the Shop Also:metal:

I am a Grinder not a Welder:lol::lol::lol:

So too me ;)Those are some good welds.

I always add bolts to stuff like that:chevy:

I have been trained in the over-do-it situation.

That is some great Fabrication work:metal::metal:






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Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Thank you for the kind words gents.

I have been working on the truck as much as I can.

Jumping into the front suspension.
I took it all apart. wire wheeled and did a half-arse job sand blasting the upper and lower arms before painting them satin black. Installed new upper and lower ball joints. Some 7" slam bags and 3" drop spindles.

I somehow ended up with 2 left sided upper bag plates so had to cut, re bend and weld them up before installing.

https://i.ibb.co/z4Fnk76/20210919-133621-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/K5z6Gqt/20210919-154423-resized.jpg

I managed to break my vice trying to use it as a press too. OOOPS!

https://i.ibb.co/mzfVL3c/20210919-123101-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Zdts1QY/20210919-123623-resized.jpg

I put the old hubs and wheels on as I was really keen to see how low it would be.

https://i.ibb.co/9qQmNf7/20210919-154356-resized.jpg

Unfortunately not low enough.
So now im thinking of my next moves.im 130mm off the deck and I know the wheel/tyre combo i plan on running will get me 40mm lower. Ive now just seen guys have reversed the cups and set them down into the LCA to drop the bag mount alil more, might get me another 50mm?

I wanted to avoid doing a Z notch.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Looking good.
Vices just are not made like they used too be;)

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Nice score and you are doing some awesome work. I do have a question for you. I did a job in Australia for a couple of weeks and met alot of car guys. They said that every mod had to have an engineer sign off on it. Do you have to go through that or was it just Western Australia? They also were talking about having to go through the car club for drive time. It was some crazy stuff that they were explaining.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Yeah. Every mod has to be engineered.

Also worth noting that different engineers interpret the rules and regulations differently. What some engineers will pass, others wont, and vice versa.

Ideally youre ment to consult an engineer before starting the build as not many people want to touch it after its already built. I have not spoken to any enginneers,

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

If you buy them Breakfast ;)

Does that help??:lol::lol::lol:

:chevy::chevy::chevy:

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Probably not as much as a few pints.

One thing that got me about Oz was the amount of serious street machines running around. I am talking cammed out super charger cars yet they have the engineering laws. Here we can pretty much act as our own engineer and don't really see the level of HP that they are putting down. Maybe it had to do with how close the track was but every weekend was like going to the nationals here.

I worked with a guy over there who had the limo that the queen rode in when she visited New Zealand. Can't remember the year but it was a 20s or 30s deal. His dad got it from a museum that had a fire. I saw alot of pics of their restoration efforts. Sorry I don't mean to hijack the thread since I was just curious of the laws he was dealing with. Back to the build.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I dont think so. Not just any engineer can sign it off either, have to be "VASS" certified.
Im no an expert on the engineering process so I dont want to spread to much miss information but I doubt any of those guys would risk their bread winner for breakfast. :lol:

Yeah we have some cool cars for sure. And of course our whole aussie muscle car scene.

That Limo sounds cool!
Im a Cadillac fan so always loved this one, also used for the queen.

https://d39a3h63xew422.cloudfront.ne...-2000x1500.jpg

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I took these out of the hotel room one day right after work. The front had some nicer rides but I didn't get pics of them. If I remember right it was on a Thursday.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Cool project and great progress. That is definitely quite the shop you have too. Also an unusual screen name. I'll look forward to more posts on your progress.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

So Following on from how I had seen others set the lower bag cup into the LCA I thought I would do the same.

https://i.ibb.co/M9pvyD5/20211009-122027-resized-1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/LS8KbS9/20211009-152024-resized-1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YQ3sHg2/20211016-102513-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/944Yt80/20211016-140100-resized.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/S6JjTTK/20211016-140248-resized.jpg

I think the photos give a pretty good explanation as to what I did.

LCA re installed with the bag bolted in

https://i.ibb.co/6Y3k3wM/20211016-145046-resized.jpg

Because the factory spring mounts are set backwards from the center of the LCA and I was now mounting the air bag in the center of the LCA, it meant that the upper bag mounting holes no longer lined up.
So i cut out a section of the upper bag plate with the holes in it. but off center by 20mm. so that when I flipped the piece it would move the holes over by 40mm

https://i.ibb.co/Dw8wDMD/20211018-161142-resized.jpg

Seemed I had achieved my goal of lowering the car, however the wheel/tyres where now interfering with the cab

https://i.ibb.co/GR6MB7T/20211127-142214.jpg

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Some laser accurate markings where applied to indicate areas necessary of surgery.

https://i.ibb.co/MccHN9m/20211203-171852.jpg

incision made, and fat removed.

https://i.ibb.co/Y72FQp1/20211204-163440.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/SKwV36t/20211204-165147.jpg

And the happy patient.

https://i.ibb.co/sRbvrQc/20211204-165217.jpg

The wheels are 22x8.5 alcoa style. Drilled for 8 stud with phantom 10 stud nuts to run the semi hub covers. No need for adaptors.
I bought a cheap set of 22" wheels of facebook market place just for the tyres as I didnt want to spend 1k on rubber which would most likely be expired by the time this hits the road.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Those are some Big wheels and Tires:ito:

They will almost touch the hood;)

Looking good.:chevy:

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

Even with the cheap wheels it looks bad ass. You may want to set the clip back on to see where the wheel sits in the opening before you make any more cuts... you might need to scoot something.

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I should have specified. I bought a cheap set of wheels just to scalp the tyres. Those wheels in the pics are the ones i will run. And they cost me more than the original price of truck.

I have set the clip on to check wheel in fender opening. Looks good to me.
I do agree that the wheels look very set back without the clip on, worried me, but i have measured and measured and it all seems to add up.

https://i.ibb.co/wQ0xQjV/20211210-091830.jpg

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

I can See It;)

Great Plan:ito::chevy::chevy::chevy:

Re: 1957 Chevy farm truck from Australia
 

great googley moogley! ogre likes this build :D

https://i.ibb.co/sRbvrQc/20211204-165217.jpg