'57 Project Thread

[Decypher]

Here it is, the not so long awaited thread for my project. The story behind this pickup is this: My dad bought it from a guy in Southern California (not sure where exactly) when it was still a Cameo. The only reason he bought it was for the bed because he's doing a bone stock '57 cameo, he's getting close to having all of the paint and body work done, so I'll post a couple pics when it's there. He didn't know what to do with the rest of the truck, so he thought it would be a good project for me, thus handing me the keys. Revel in your jealousy now...

Okay now that we've got that out of the way, I took some bed parts that we had sitting around, cleaned them, painted them, and slapped them on. Also had to put a new left front fender on because my dad didn't have a good one. I am more than willing to give him the parts he needs off of my truck, cause lets face it, it's not every day you get the keys to a '57 chev handed to you, and I am very appreciative of that. I've also put a 19 gal aluminum CPP tank under the bed and put on a crappy pair of headers on that we had laying around.

I pulled it out of my tiny one car garage this weekend and ran it up and down the block to see how it was running. Going down hill is fine, but up hill is a struggle. It feels like it's starving for air or gas. I'm going to replace the fuel pump and see if that helps. Also, it idles fine, but get it above 1500 rpm and it starts popping and backfiring like one of the cylinders is missing. My neighbor seems to think it's one of my plug wires that was almost completely melted to the header was arcing to the header so we pulled the plug off, wrapped the wire around the spark plug and I started it up again. I was watching that plug as I reved it up it was still popping, but there was no spark between the wire and the header. So, still don't know what's making it do that, but I need to fix it. Any suggestions?

Pictures will follow when I get time.

[Decypher]

Pics of the exterior.

[Decypher]

Engine and underbody.

Pic 1. Engine - 283 Corvette

Pic 2. Monoleaf Springs

Pic 3. Aluminum fuel tank

Pic 4. Billet gas door, not permanent, it just gets me by.

[Decypher]

Interior.

[Igotachevyor2]

looks good

[Jebb1978]

That is a GREAT start! It is more solid than most of us started out. I love than un cut dash! Keep us up to date, that truck has mucho potential!

[Decypher]

Thanks Jebb, I agree. I'm very fortunate to start this project in as good of shape as it's in. It might hurt you for me to say that I'm still tossing around the idea of smoothing the dash. On the other hand, I could also use the current nobs on the dash to control the plethora of aftermarket parts I plan on putting in. Hmmm... you might be on to something.

[Jebb1978]

If you smooth that dash you should cut that middle part out and sell it. Lots of folks looking for them.

[texascowboy593]

Looking good. Keep us posted!

[Apache]

Looks like a really good truck to start on...really good. Good luck

[Decypher]

Originally Posted by texascowboy593

Looking good. Keep us posted!

Originally Posted by Apache

Looks like a really good truck to start on...really good. Good luck

Thanks guys. I have a four day weekend coming up so I'm going to try to find time to tear into the fuel pump and distributor to see if I can solve my uphill battle (literally) and stop the popping.

[CAL 58 GMC]

Nice truck to start your project with! I wish mine was that nice when I started, it would have saved me a lot of time and money! Keep use posted.

[Frizzle Fry]

Have you thought about throwing some Cameo bedsides on the stepper bed you have? It'll be worth more that way if it matters to you. Sweet truck either way!

[Decypher]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Have you thought about throwing some Cameo bedsides on the stepper bed you have? It'll be worth more that way if it matters to you. Sweet truck either way!

Actually, my dad bought it as a cameo, he took the bed off of it to use it on his project that he had going, an all original cameo. I'm not so much looking for resale value, I like the looks of the step sides better.