squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I don't know...one of these days. Still up in the air about the cam, there's some wear on at least one lobe, and I've had enough trouble with big block cams that I'm really tempted to spend some $$$ and put a hydraulic roller RV cam in it.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

do it right so you don't have to re-do it.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

That's good advice right there. Although the rest of the truck....not so much....

Anyways, I got a bit more done. The wiring is coming along nicely, I even got a headlight and parking light working. And I fixed the glove box door, and a few other little things. Then I got brave and did the hard work...put the bed on. By myself. A good work out.

[milner351]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Sweet!

Tell me again your goal for this rig when you're done with it?

regardless - I hate you in the best possible way for all your rust free old metal.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Kind of a replacement for that 87 suburban we had for a couple years, I just gave it to my son, he's 200 miles away in Phoenix with it. I really liked the 3/4 ton thing it had going, although it was a tad underpowered (small block). I am thinking seriously about finding a decent older cabover slide in camper for it, and I want the truck to be able to drive ok with that, and tow something behind as well. Kind of a mini-RV...and when it doesn't have the camper installed, it will be a heavy duty pickup to haul crap around locally, make dump runs, etc.

I confirmed today why I want a big block in it. I hauled 4400 lbs of scrap to Tucson with my wife's 2008 silverado, which is a plain jane V6 half ton. The little engine just has to work too hard to get a load moving.

Mostly I like playing with old trucks. I've been having fun getting things working...

[Monk]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I love this project

Stab a 348 in it

[JOES66FURY]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

the bed looks pretty damn good on there....with a slide in and a trailer you will have a perfect tow rig for your LSR car...

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

ya think?

and Monk...348 cubes just ain't enough. Besides, I have the 454 already.

[Monk]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

ya think?

and Monk...348 cubes just ain't enough. Besides, I have the 454 already.

Yeah........that 454 will be much easier
to build

You using the existing wiring?

[JOES66FURY]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I had a feeling thats where you were going with the slide in....had to point it out so everyone can be in tune.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I put some 50 year old wires from another truck in it to get it going. The wiring that was in it must have been installed by a carpenter....scary.

I'm trying to keep the bucks in this thing as low as possible. It's a neat extra challenge.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Jim, the bed looks great on there!!!

Nice work and killer truck!

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

thanks!

I can't really bolt the bed down with the wood the way it is, so I'll probably see what I can get some cheap 1x lumber for and redo it. Nothing fancy...although I'll try to replicate the original dimensions of the wood as best I can. The biggest headache will probably be the bolts. And cleaning up the strips.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

Slide in campers and high cross winds equal white knuckle terror....for anyone around you on the highway.

If you find one near the era of the truck, that would cool.

[squirrel]

Re: squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

I think they didn't really become popular till the early 70s. I know what you mean about the wind thing...sway bars are probably a good idea.