Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

Great Start! Looking forward to following your build.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

plating finished start of the tube work.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

yes! tube work! triangulate the world!

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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

Re: Rowdy 57
 

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.

Re: Rowdy 57
 

More progress ill let the photos do the talking.