My 57 build (lots of pictures)

[57ToyBox]

I'm luvin this !!!
Nice work

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by nickp51chevy

Your moving along pretty quick . From the looks of things you'll have it finished this year!

That would be nice.

[Roadkill58]

When you have some time read this article on TPI.

http://chevythunder.com/

If you have money to spare:

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...p?N=115+328385

I'm not advertising just offering options.

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by Roadkill58

When you have some time read this article on TPI.

http://chevythunder.com/

If you have money to spare:

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...p?N=115+328385

I'm not advertising just offering options.

Thanks for the links Roadkill58. The chevythunder link does have good information but doesn't actually come out and say if one year is any better to use than another. I've located a 85 Corvette that I am looking at picking up fairly cheap to get the complete engine, trans and suspension from. I know that's the first year for the TPI but should I hold out for a later model maybe a Gen III? I really like that injection unit Summit has but that Vette I can get is less than that by over a grand. Sure wish I had unlimited funds.

[Roadkill58]

Dennis57,

What you have should be fine, as long as the ECU is the same year, as the rest of the TPI stuff. The ECU from a 350 is programmed different than a 305 so you should be ok.
Any radical changes such as cam, throttle body size and you may need to have the ECU programmed for those changes.

I wish I could afford that setup from Summit!

With the corvette parts you will end up with a very nice truck.

[dennis57]

A minor victory for me today. I got the driver's floor in and made a patch to fill in the area around the steering column. I think the fit came out fairly good.

Question, the two raised areas in the lower trans hump. Should I shave them also or just plug em?

On to the door jam.

[57ToyBox]

Originally Posted by dennis57

Question, the two raised areas in the lower trans hump. Should I shave them also or just plug em

Are you able to mock the cab on to the chassis with the drive train on the frame too?

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Are you able to mock the cab on to the chassis with the drive train on the frame too?

No, unfortunately I don't have enough stuff yet. I'm kind of thinking about going ahead and shaving them off just to make it smooth.

I got the left lower door hinge, hinge close out and the step tacked in place this afternoon.

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by bensimmons_05

I'd like to see a picture of your lifting device in action. I might wanna make one like it.

Originally Posted by Diesel

I second that. I'd like to see that in action too

Here is the rig. I moved the cab around today and used it again without modifying it. I had my wife stabilize the cab and it worked ok.

[dennis57]

I got some accomplished to day before my fuggin welder blew up. It goes to the welder doctor on Monday.

Most of the welding is completed so I started grinding down the welds. I think it is coming out nice.




I found a screw up and I'm not sure if I should do anything about it or not. I didn't cut the return flanges off of the left step I replaced. Right now I'm thinking about just seam sealing it and leaving it.

[Kabwe]

Looking good, keep it up and you will be done in no time.

[JML55]

Really nice work, your lifting set up is good too.

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by JML55

Really nice work, your lifting set up is good too.

Thanks JML55. I need to rethink the lift so I can lift the cab and move it without help. If there's someone around to help it doesn't do too bad.

[GRIMSS]

Looks great, need you here to do that to my panel.

[dennis57]

Originally Posted by GRIMSS

Looks great, need you here to do that to my panel.

Put me to work I'm unemployed...

[57ToyBox]

Originally Posted by GRIMSS

Looks great, need you here to do that to my panel.

We'll have to share him
I want him to fixing my steps and floor on my panel too.

Steps look great Dennis

[dennis57]

Well, the welder is broke and I didn’t feel like grinding so I bolted on the driver’s door to see if it still fit. It doesn’t look too bad I think the gaps will adjust out after I rebuild the hinges. I also had to stick the fender on just for fun. I love the looks of these trucks.

[Kim57]

Looks good.
These trucks are notorious for having terrible gaps from the factory. It takes a lot of work to get them all even.
Kim

[bensimmons_05]

Awesome progress!!! Thanks a bunch for the picture of your lifter. I hope my patch panels turn out half as good as yours!

[Daniel U]

Let me know if yo have any ?'s about the TPI. Some say the older (Mass Air Flow)MAF is better, others are fans of the newer SD(Speed Density) style. The older ones employ a 9th cold start injector that can go bad. It's easy to unplug it and burn a newer style PROM to make it run without it in cold start conditions. Let me know what ?'s yo have. I learned a bunch on www.thirdgen.org and have bought a few books as well. Dunno if you can learn by reading or if you're a hands on guy like me. I need to do something over and over for it to make sense.

[Daniel U]

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tpi/

[dennis57]

Thanks for the info Daniel it will be helpful when I get further along.

Well with my welder out I finished grinding on the firewall and removed all of the lacquer primer I had put on earlier. So it's ready to start working it straight. I started cleaning up inside and found some more rust I need to fix.


More rust.


I should get the welder back tomorrow, the fan blew up. While I was waiting I gave into the wife's request to refinish the kitchen counter tops. lol no work on the truck this weekend or next week.

Before pictures

[dennis57]

Almost ready to go back to work on the truck. I just need to install the new sink tomorrow and seal the grout. Not really truck tech but I'll get back to it. Oh yeah, I got cookies

[Bigblue29]

Very nice work. Did you bake the cookies too?

[ChuckDriver]

Dennis,

Can you do me and a few others a big favor. My cab is actually a 58 and the PO put a 57 clip on it. That's why I bought it, cause I love the look of the 57.

Anyway, there is some discussion about the difference in the hood hindge bolt hole locations in the firewall of the 55-57 and 58-59.

Could you place a straight edge across the ledge of the firewall and measure from the bottom of it to the top and bottom hindge holes?

Bensimmons_05 is also working on a 58 with a 57 clip and has started a thread looking for this info.

Thanks, and get back to work on the truck!!