Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

I have built several old trucks over the years, both for myself and for customers, but I have been without an old truck, in running condition, for about three years. When I sold my last one I thought I would build another truck right away,but that didn't happen till now! This winter I am not taking on any customer restoration work and want to build this truck for myself! I started on the chassis in spring, camaro subframe in front, built my own rear section of frame,but got busy with other things over the summer. Now that winter is back,had our first snow this morning, I should be able to spend more time in the shop. Plans are to keep it simple, 350, automatic,etc. I have collected most of the parts for this build over the last few years, mostly by trading either labor or other parts, so this should be a fairly inexpensive build. I have never posted ant of my builds before but I enjoy seeing others projects, so I hope some of you will enjoy my build too. This is how the truck sits as of right now.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

sounds a lot like mine. I just picked up a bed from one guy, and a cab and front end from another. I have a spare 2nd gen Firebird sub frame I was going to use and build rear rails for, and I have a spare 350, though mine's a Pontiac

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Spent the afternoon cleaning mouse dropping, etc, out of the cab. Cab has some rust issues but not too bad. Hope to be able to spend some time on truck this week

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

This is what I started with this morning. I know these pics are not that exciting,but I'm hoping that by posting pics from the start of my build, I will stay motivated and have pics to look back on. In my previous builds I never took enough pics during the build and was always sorry at the end

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

This is where my day ended. Got steering column and firewall insulation out, a few shovels of dirt and debris, and most of the old wiring. Also cut out seat riser as I will not use stock seat. Found cab to be about what I expected. Will need new floor pieces, rear cab corners, and some work at lower cowl area. Not much progress, but progress non the less!

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

You have to stop and build one for yourself once in awhile. That's what I'm doing with my '48.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Love your build Alaska gasser! My last truck was also an extended cab. This one I'm keeping simple, with a few custom touches.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

low A D

o yeah !!!!!!!!!

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

That is sweet!!

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

This is my engine/ transmission donor. Truck looks pretty tired, but the previous owner put in a new GM crate engine and GM rebuilt transmission about a year before he parked it. My sons had a lot of fun driving this truck in the field behind our house, they learned some things about driving that are not covered in a normal drivers training course! Now the power train will live on in my 51.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Many years ago I built this dolly as a temporary way to roll a cab around. I built it out of scrap I had laying around at the time, thinking it would be a one time use dolly. I found it was very handy and have used it many times over the years for moving cabs, boxes, engines, and even used it to move my lathe and iron worker into place. I add welded brackets as needed for the current use. When I'm done using the dolly, it comes apart quickly for storage. Just thought this might give somebody a useful idea.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Gues I can only attach one pic at a time? Here is dolly ready to use, it adjust to any width.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Here it is taken apart for storage

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Not sure how to move the picture also...
On your extended cab, did you keep your drip rails, or just weld in a bar for the raised look? It's hard to tell from the picture. I'm trying to decide which route I'm going to go.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

I removed the drip rails and welded a 1/4 inch rod along the edge of the roof and moulded it in. Unfortunately I have very few pictures of the extended cab truck because the computer on which the pics were stored crashed.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

That is what I was thinking of doing. Did you find the water ran inside too much without the actual drip rail? That is my concern.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

can't wait to see this unfold. My first truck build was a 51' so I got a super soft spot for that year. This site is by far the best compilation of AD truck builds on the web.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

No problems with water running in. By welding the rod around the top of door it is easy to get a nice, even gap too

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Thanks, I am getting my parts together and doing a little work on truck each day. Hope to get some serious work happening soon, stay tuned

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

So, about two years after my last post, I'm back to working on my truck! I often wondered what happens to people who start a build and then disappear. I now know life can throw you a curve ball and everything can change in a heartbeat. Right about the time I made my last post, my wife started to feel sick. Long story short, she kept getting sicker, after many trips to doctors we found out she had cancer. Within six months she passed away! So needless to say, my project was put on hold for a while. We did everything together, we were married for 32 years, almost to the day. I figured its about time to get back on my truck project, I find shop time to be good therapy! So the last few weeks I've started to figure out where I was at and got back on the build. I have been working on fixing rust on the cowl area and made some new floor pieces. I know you can buy new floors but I decided to make my own

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

welcome back, so sorry for your loss. words can't really describe it I'm sure. You've been married longer than i'v been alive. its a strange world and universe which I go nuts trying to figure out its meaning. Sometimes the simple things are the answer. I just told myself today actually. "you don't make your own life, life makes you". In a nutshell, life creates the day or the action and we create a reaction.

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Spent a few hours on my truck today , got one cab corner installed. I know this has been shown many times before but here are some pics. The corners were in decent shape, no rust holes, but metal was getting thin and the corner had been damaged at some point so I replaced it. The inner panel had some rot so I made a patch and welded it in so the outer corner had a solid lip to mount to. This is the patch for the inner corner

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

This is the inner panel all patched up with a coat of paint

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

Outer corner installed. I butt weld all my patches and try to get the metal as close to straight as I can. This corner of the cab had some old body damage that was repaired very poorly so it will need some straightening before I apply the filler. Not a lot of progress but I'm trying to do something on the truck every day!

Re: Got it one piece at a time... 51 chev
 

nice patch, love seeing patch work, never gets old to me.