1952 Pickup Street Rod project

[csmeutah]

At long last I'm starting my own truck project; 1952 Pickup Street Rod using the Flatout engineering kit to mate a 1987 corvette suspension to the original truck frame. Lot's of photos to come.

[csmeutah]

Removed the cab, lift is incredibly helpful here


Used a plasma cutter and air hammer to extract the rivets and off to the sandblaster. the running board brackets were beat up and mostly broken so cleaned it all down to the frame with just the 3 crossmembers.



Back from the sandblaster, I used a 6 1/2 dewalt circular saw with a Freud blade to cut the slots for the front suspension cross piece. Nice and straight cuts with no cleanup although it was a little jumpy on the plunge cuts. Love the plasma but when I use it there is a real mess to cleanup. This is ready to weld. I use the 14" metal cutting blade in the chop saw but this was amazing for the smaller straight detail. Will definitely use gloves next time (and probably not hold the blade guard with my thumb...)

[joedoh]

clean work! I am in for updates

[slammed57]

Awesome, I'll be following

[csmeutah]

Love your build Slammed57, you've given me the courage to paint my frame white

[8man]

Welcome and very interested in the build.

I have an acquaintance here that put a 1956 Chevy truck on a complete Corvette frame, tons of fab work to mate those together. He even customed the dash using the Corvette dash, gauges and console.

[slammed57]

Originally Posted by csmeutah

Love your build Slammed57, you've given me the courage to paint my frame white

thanks bud. the white on my frame its just epoxy primer. it will be black soon just because the truck it self will be black

[oldman3]

Ready for more...Jim

[csmeutah]

Thanks for the comment oldman3, I've followed (and thoroughly enjoyed) your build for years and have been considering a convertible top for mine. Can I ask, the mating surface for the top of the windshield, did you fab that or find some parts for it?

Just as a side note, I've created a convertible in the past on a sports car and modified a frame to work but that frame had a gasket and mating plate to match. This would be all custom. TIA

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by csmeutah

Thanks for the comment oldman3, I've followed (and thoroughly enjoyed) your build for years and have been considering a convertible top for mine. Can I ask, the mating surface for the top of the windshield, did you fab that or find some parts for it?

It's part of the stock roof of truck above the windshield, and hand fabicated the fill in between the outside and inside of header. Hope this helps...Jim

[dsraven]

careful not to spray sparks all over the vintage honda (assumed) in that one pic.
I have been using the lennox metal max discs on a 4 1/2" angle grinder, they work well for thin metal. I use a zip disc for heavier stuff. less melting plastic that way, lol. gotta wear hearing protection for sure. edge of cut is a burr as well, not much worse than a zip disc though.

[csmeutah]

Originally Posted by dsraven

careful not to spray sparks all over the vintage honda (assumed) in that one pic.
I have been using the lennox metal max discs on a 4 1/2" angle grinder, they work well for thin metal. I use a zip disc for heavier stuff. less melting plastic that way, lol. gotta wear hearing protection for sure. edge of cut is a burr as well, not much worse than a zip disc though.

You have a good eye, yes those are two of five Honda Dreams, I will be covering with a welding blanket. Did you see the 1979 red Vespa on the other side? I'm working on that with my daughter.

[csmeutah]

So looking over the frame I discovered a number of stress cracks mostly around rivet holes that I am cleaning up. I'm convinced that I will need to box the frame at least between the axles and weld the riveted cross members.



I also welded up and resurfaced the cab mounting brackets since they were really rusted.


And just to be a perfectionist, I bought the largest crescent I could find, not for leverage but for the throat depth, to straighten the unruly waves in the frame. Made quick work of that; much faster & truer than the hammer and dolly I was using.

[dsraven]

when I boxed the original frame on my 57, before I did a frame swap, I simply went to a fab shop and had them shear me some 3/16 cold rolled to fit the width I needed then cut off some areas to fit the down taper etc. just be aware of how the plate will fit to the original frame and leave room for the weld bead. I cut the plate narrower than the frame width by about 3/16 top and bottom so there would be ample room for the bead. I used magnets to hold in place as I tacked it all together. remember when you weld them in to just weld a short piece at a time and then go to anther cold spot and do a bead kinda spreading the heat of welding out everywhere. don't go back and carry on with an old bead unless that spot is room temp again, like you would feel comfortable sticking your tongue on it (ok, yukk, but you get the point). otherwise all your work will be for nothing because the frame will not be straight anymore. you would be surprised how much heat stretch and contact rates can bend a frame. another thing I do is cut the mig wire before every weld start to ensure a nice chisel tip and easy start for the weld and also I grind back with a grinding disc on edge, about 1/4", on the end of the old bead that i am welding onto, this ensures a nice clean add on bead plus allows you to check your old bead for contamination porosity etc.

[dsraven]

you should also check your frame for straight, square and sag as well. especially since it has possibly had a hard life at some point, noted by the stress cracking at the rivets etc. it's pretty easy to do and should really be done anyway even if not boxing the frame.
do a corner to corner check ensuring to hold the tape measure the same on each side and also pulling it nice and tight each time. I used a bolt in a hole that is in the same spot on each side so the helper could hold the tape without eyeballing anything. since it isn't really an actual dimension you are trying for but rather a difference of dimension you are checking a piece of wire with a loop on each end could also be used if doing the job by yourself. just pull it hard enough to stretch out the loop in the end of the wire so you get accurate results.
for the straightness check you can place a piece of masking tape in the middle of each cross member and then mark it with a sharp pencil at the midpoint, side to side, of each part. then run a laser or string line from front to rear down the middle. all the pencil marks should line up.
for sag you can run a laser of string line from front to rear down each frame rail. space the string or laser off the frame with a small length of wood or some other equal sized block, then use another block the same size to check the space between the string or laser all the way from front to rear on each rail. it should be the same all the way except for the obvious tapered areas.
these links may be useful
https://www.trifive.com/55-59Assy.pdf

this one has a few pages missing here or there but these trucks are basically all the same with the exception of the 58-59 frame length being different ahead of the front springs and few other differences between those years and the earlier 55-57's
http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com...esto/index.htm

it's good to download a copy of the assembly manual for reference in case the link goes bad. same for info from the other site

keep posting pics, we all love pics and sometimes gets us off the couch and interested in our own project again. sometimes you just hit a wall, you know?

here is a bit of info on fishplating a frame as well. lots of theories on whether the ends of the fishplate should be welded all the way around or if the weld bead should go off the corner and continue on for a short length of weld at a different angle then the fish plate in order to stop a stress crack

https://forum.millerwelds.com/forum/...sh-plate-welds
https://forum.millerwelds.com/filedata/fetch?id=507884

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/...lating-a-frame

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=123624

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/...t-fish-plating

sorry man, I got on a roll when my coffee cup wasn't empty. haha. it's done now.
hope it helps somebody

[Rickysnickers]

dsraven, I have no idea where you have time to work on your stuff since you are so busy helping the rest of us, and for me be inspiring. Thank you. I wish I had as much knowledge and skills as you and several other people here.

[csmeutah]

thanks dsraven, lot's of good info. I did check the frame for square before I started and it was within 1/16" corner to corner so I think I'm good but yeah, probably got carried away with the welding in one spot, I will watch for that. Since the stress cracks are around rivets I plan to weld those up and then after I build a K frame for the tranny go back and re-evaluate the boxing. you said you used 3/16" on the box plates but I'm measuring closer to 1/8th on the original frame thickness?

[dsraven]

not sure on the half ton frame thickness but mine was a 3/4 ton when it started life. that's why I used the 3/16 to match. it was also a Canadian model so maybe a little thicker for temp variances or something. who knows.
there are a few ways to weld in the plates so thought I would chime in and also mention the heat warpage considerations.
I have found the course flap discs make short work of smoothing the edges of the welds on the boxing plates. just don't go crazy and grind the whole weld off except for a thin skin.

[dsraven]

rickysnickers,
thanks for the compliment, appreciated. I like to help out where I can. I've been there too, usually, at some point.

[csmeutah]

Got the cab and the rest of the parts back from the sandblaster, the shop is getting crowded, need to get them prepped and painted with epoxy



I'm also trying to decide on the trucks rake, I want it low and flat front to back (frame = level) but not sure how that will affect my ride for a daily driver. Any suggestions? I plan to run the same size tire all around

[Nick_R_23]

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one that uses a large crescent for metal work!

[csmeutah]

I was waylaid for a week when the pointy end of the frame jumped out and picked a fight with my right eye. The frame won. My daughter took her own duct tape out ( I taught her well) and made sure that the frame is now eye & covid safe.



I cut out the notches for the Rack & pinion/tie rods

[C4fivewindow]

Originally Posted by csmeutah

I was waylaid for a week when the pointy end of the frame jumped out and picked a fight with my right eye. The frame won. My daughter took her own duct tape out ( I taught her well) and made sure that the frame is now eye & covid safe.

Attachment 2027463

I cut out the notches for the Rack & pinion/tie rods

Attachment 2027464

I'm not sure if I'm missing something but it might be a good idea to add a little more structure to help out the front on your frame since it takes the weight of the entire front clip. On mine I was able to just make a hole through the center of the framerail although I havent decided yet if the fit is too tight or not.

[csmeutah]

Originally Posted by C4fivewindow

I'm not sure if I'm missing something but it might be a good idea to add a little more structure to help out the front on your frame since it takes the weight of the entire front clip. On mine I was able to just make a hole through the center of the framerail although I havent decided yet if the fit is too tight or not.

Good point, I may add a strip of steel below to help brace underneath. My plan is to build up the frame complete with driveline, get it aligned (a local shop specializes in custom rod builds) then strip it down, finish welding, paint, and reassemble.

[joedoh]

man those pointy frame ends have claimed almost every pair of my work shorts, they all have the same tear in the right leg.

nice work, nice your daughter made it work safe too. you need a "__ days since workplace accident" sign now.