54' HeadHunter Build

[54'HeadHunter]

Mornin';
...I introduced myself yesterday, and had some guys wanting pixs of the build. It started in Nov., so there's some ground to cover between then and now. The truck is a 54' Chevy. I purchased it in 1988. A week after I bought it the motor crapped out, and I was to relocate to Washington State. No time to get it running, so it went in storage. Basically it's been there ever since.We pulled it out in Nov. The doors to the shed, hadn't been opened in 14 years. So, I had to take them off the hinges. When the light hit the truck for the first time in years everyone "crapped" themselves. No one could believe that it had been locked up for so long. My buddy "Frank",offered to go ahead and buy it, right then and there.

...we had to drag it out and load it on Frank's trailer. The bed was in pieces, so we loaded it into the bed of "Mike's" truck. The S-10 had been sitting under a tree for the last year. I had to charge the battery, and fill a tire with air. But, it started right up. I drove it to the garage to join the 54'.

...we started strippin' both trucks. Thanks goodness Mike's wife "Kim", was sooo understanding. Lil' did she know, that her front yard was going to kinda look like a "Chop Shop" for the next few months. Here's the 54' being lifted off it's frame.

"...how low can you go?" Now it's sitting on the driveway.

...here's the S-10 chassis after the body was removed. Just getting a quick cleaning.

...the 57' Chevy Truck in the background belongs to Frank. Frank is the "body" guy. "Mike" did the structure fabrication. There's plenty of that comin' up.

 

[Tripper]

Kool!!!

Headhunter,
Wow... I'm glad that kool Chev pu is finally seein' the light of day again! Thanks for posting some fotos for u're RRR buds & can't wait to follow u're progress. I had a '48 & a '52 & belong to the "Wish I'd never sold those" club!!! Congrats!

BoB

 

[Gastrick]

Nice. I'd like to see the rest too. Looks like your well equipped to pull a body.

 

[54'HeadHunter]

Mornin';
....alright, I failed to mention a very important part of the build. OK, it might be the most important part. Measure, measure and measure again. Then write all the measurements in a notebook (not on a beer box, just because it's handy). After you measure and write all that data down, then you can strip the bodies.
After the two trucks were stripped (...don't throw anything away yet), we lowered the 54' cab on the S-10 chassis.

...now start measuring and adjusting the body postion. You can never have enough scrap wood when you start this stage. Take your time, measure, and plan your body mounts carefully, then start to "cut".

...even after this step, Don't Throw Anything Away....NOTHIN' You see why in the next installment.

 

[54'HeadHunter]

Mornin';
...well next we had to fabricate the new body mounts. Nothing too fancy, 3 inch square tubing. Take into consideration, the width of the frame and the total height the cab will be mounted off the frame. We could have really "Lowered" the body in this stage, but chose not to go to crazy because of clearance issues.

...we reused the S-10 mounting Biscuits & washers. We bought new Grade 8 hardware. We cut the old body frame mount and used it to top off the new body mounts.

...the lower washers were cut off square to fit inside the 3 inch square tubing of the body mount. We made sure that the center hole of the washer was a little off center to one corner. This allowed us alot of adjustment when mounting the cab. By rotating this now square washer the hole was able to move around, allowing us to get the bolt perfectly perpendicular. This kept the mounting bolts from canting off to one side, and sitting crooked.

All said and done once welded in place we were able to reuse the original front two cab bolt holes. We only had to drill the two new rear holes (and they old holes were pretty close)

....now more measuring.

 

[50Ford]

Looks good! Any updates?