1953 Chevy 3100 3 Window Project

djwhy60

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Had some issues with turn signals a while back...some asked for pics of the project. Well here she is. I am laid off from the oil field and my brother in law needed a private mechanic to work on this and a few other toys he owns. I am about half way done with this one. It has a 307 (read boat anchor!) installed. Trying to get him to put a 383 stroker in it. Almost to that point.....LOL.

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Who did the body work? Really straight! Good job. I had a 63 model almost the same color. Mine was so rusted out I gave up.
 
Actually no body work done..yet. There are no dents/dings in the whole thing...but usual rot in cab corners needs to be done..and driver floor is a half assed patch job.
 
Wow, definitely worth the effort, solid bodies of that era are hard to find. I am not a body man, floor pans look like one of the hardest jobs to me, if I can't bolt it on, I hire a shop.
 
I am a sheet metal guy by trade....except on airplanes! With the available parts and pieces out there it isn't too bad.
 
It helps to do it for a living. I am everything else but body work. It is hard to find a good body and paint shop now a days. At least in my area.
 
Great looking old truck. Hopefully he goes for the engine swap. The 307 isn't that much faster than the stovebolt that was in it. :D
 
I love working on that generation of Chevy pickup, my fave is the '52 half-ton. I use to build them and sell them back in the seventies to the local riff-raff on the East Side of San Jose. I use to use the 235 engine block and a 194 cylinder head and split the exhaust manifold and use a 2-barrel Holley off a Chrysler products slant six. Then a rear diff from a '55 1/2-ton (370 rear gears) and a 3-speed tranny (Saginaw) from an early fifties Chevy sedan. Nothing sounds wilder than a Chevy six with dual exhaust and a wild cam and the speed you get is about the same as a smog-dog 350. Without paying for as much fuel.....around 18MPG !

With a V-8, there is just too much weight in the front end of that truck. The money you have to spend on the front suspension and the front breaks is incredible. With a six, it handles better in the corners at a higher speed as long as you replace all the ball joints and use Monroe gas shocks. With a V-8 all you get is a cruiser.....
 
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Very nice looking truck - - - more pics, please! I used to own a 1950 3100 (half-ton) that had the rounded corner windows and it was entirely stock. Three on the tree, floor starter pedal, 6V battery under the hatch on the floor, no seat belts, vacuum hose windshield wipers, 216 c.i. straight six.
 
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