Well got a little more done to the pickup. Mounted the door just to find out it fit absolutely awful. I Made a cut down the side and bottom of the door and pulled it together and welded it shut. Fixed one problem but then the panel gap was way off. So I made two cuts down the side of the cab and moved it out a quarter inch to make the panel gap a little better. After that I went on to delete the air vents. I don't like the way they looked and felt like it was just another place for dust to get in. Got those welded shut and ground down. Then extended the kick panel to cover the whole area. I plan on covering the kick panel in a vinyl fabric. Summer is already flying by and I can already tell there just isn't enough time.
Not mopar...But my first restore
- Thread starter woody_3
- Start date
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Getting a little done here and there. First two pictures are a piece for the windshield channel. I don't have a deep throat stretcher/shrinker, so I had to make it in three pieces and weld it together. Took way to long. Man I need a tig welder. Then I closed up the vent louvers. I figured since there were not vents I might as well get rid of the old school louvers too. Thats all for now.
Got the bumper mounted. Had to fab up some brackets to go on the new front end. Then had to take an inch out of the bumper itself. I tucked it in tighter to the pickup and it was just a touch too long. Got all that done and its kinda starting to look like I am making progress.
toplscuda
Well-Known Member
It is starting to look like a truck again. One thing to think about while you are doing all the fab work is to do some smoothing around the top lip of the cab over the windshield. That part is the biggest bug catcher i have ever seen and a real pain in the butt to clean up every time I take the '58 out.
Got a 65 mustang fuel tank and with a little trimming it fits pretty damn good. I had to move the rear cross member farther back and add some angle iron to support the tank. Happy fourth of July to all, and thank you to those who have served this great country.
In order for the bed to clear the gas tank I had to raise it about two inches. Fabbed up some brackets. Threw the bed together and slapped it all on.... If only it were that easy. Took a while but got it all done.
Boy does life get busy but anyways I have managed to get a little bit here and there done. Doesn't look like much in the pictures but man was it an accomplishment. I finally got the windshield channel all fixed up. It only took me three times of cutting it out and redoing it to get the windshield to finally fit 
. Now that that is done I feel much better about the progress on this project. Got the hood to fit how I want it to and Got the steering column all fixed up as well. Took a little welding to mate the pickup column to the camaro power steering. Other than that not a whole lot has gone on other than scrounging for parts. Picked up a rear end out of a z28. And was lucky enough to be given a parts pickup. Got the 350 pulled outta it in the process of getting all the pedals and linkage too. That's about all for now. Hopefully more to come with Christmas break right around the corner.
. Now that that is done I feel much better about the progress on this project. Got the hood to fit how I want it to and Got the steering column all fixed up as well. Took a little welding to mate the pickup column to the camaro power steering. Other than that not a whole lot has gone on other than scrounging for parts. Picked up a rear end out of a z28. And was lucky enough to be given a parts pickup. Got the 350 pulled outta it in the process of getting all the pedals and linkage too. That's about all for now. Hopefully more to come with Christmas break right around the corner.
Moving right along 
Thats awesome! Hug your dad now and then. 
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Awesome job.
Have a question though, instead of using the camaro steering shaft and mating it to the 57 truck column. Why not use some borgeson U joints, with a heim joint support bearing, or as an alternative, grab a lower steering shaft out of a box body 80s jeep cherokee. It has U joints at either end, and is splined to fit into the GM saginaw steering box. See pic below. Lower shaft in pic is the jeep one.
I grabbed a jeep steering shaft for $20 out of my local junky and installed it in my 1994 chevy pickup, it was damn near a bolt in for that application. Easiest junkyard find and removal. 2 bolts and its out. This is a real popular mod with GM G body monte SS , buick GN guys, and GM T400 pickup guys from 1988 up to 1994. 1995 to 1998 there is a 3rd joint inside the truck that doesnt allow for this mod.
I was wondering why you didnt put in a modern column with a tilt wheel? I helped a buddy of mine years ago install a tilt column in his 1963 dodge town panel truck. He still wanted the key in the dash so we gutted a mid 70s GM tilt column that would work for his application, and only left the guts in it for a horn, hazard flashers, tilt wheel and turn signal.
We took the column apart, then we removed all the pieces for the locking column ignition switch, then ground off the nub sticking out for the lock cylinder. We cleaned the grease out of the hole from the lock cylinder. Made it super clean, and filed the hole slightly concave. Temporarily Stuck some aluminum tape across the old filed down ignition hole from the back side, and packed it solid with JB weld. Then ground it smooth primed and painted. Viola smoothed out tilt column and a key in the dash like he wanted.
I was also wondering if you eventually intend to make the transmission crossmember as a removable part. Its easy to install an engine and trans on an open frame, however if the trans develops problems later on down the road, it might be easier to have that crossmember made to be removable to drop the trans out of the bottom.
I used to cuss late 60s mid 70s 4 speed corvettes for this. the 4 speed cars of that era have a welded in trans support. If changing a clutch, you had to disconnect the driveshaft, remove the shifter and linkages, and shove the 4 speed box back as far as it would go in the car, then take the bellhousing out to do the clutch. Automatic vettes of the same years had a removable crossmember to take the trans out.
Just a couple more ideas for you to chew on. I like the look and stance of it though. Going to be a real nice truck when done. I see your fab skills have steadily improved with each project you have tackled. You ought to be very proud of what you have accomplished with it so far.
Have a question though, instead of using the camaro steering shaft and mating it to the 57 truck column. Why not use some borgeson U joints, with a heim joint support bearing, or as an alternative, grab a lower steering shaft out of a box body 80s jeep cherokee. It has U joints at either end, and is splined to fit into the GM saginaw steering box. See pic below. Lower shaft in pic is the jeep one.
I grabbed a jeep steering shaft for $20 out of my local junky and installed it in my 1994 chevy pickup, it was damn near a bolt in for that application. Easiest junkyard find and removal. 2 bolts and its out. This is a real popular mod with GM G body monte SS , buick GN guys, and GM T400 pickup guys from 1988 up to 1994. 1995 to 1998 there is a 3rd joint inside the truck that doesnt allow for this mod.
I was wondering why you didnt put in a modern column with a tilt wheel? I helped a buddy of mine years ago install a tilt column in his 1963 dodge town panel truck. He still wanted the key in the dash so we gutted a mid 70s GM tilt column that would work for his application, and only left the guts in it for a horn, hazard flashers, tilt wheel and turn signal.
We took the column apart, then we removed all the pieces for the locking column ignition switch, then ground off the nub sticking out for the lock cylinder. We cleaned the grease out of the hole from the lock cylinder. Made it super clean, and filed the hole slightly concave. Temporarily Stuck some aluminum tape across the old filed down ignition hole from the back side, and packed it solid with JB weld. Then ground it smooth primed and painted. Viola smoothed out tilt column and a key in the dash like he wanted.
I was also wondering if you eventually intend to make the transmission crossmember as a removable part. Its easy to install an engine and trans on an open frame, however if the trans develops problems later on down the road, it might be easier to have that crossmember made to be removable to drop the trans out of the bottom.
I used to cuss late 60s mid 70s 4 speed corvettes for this. the 4 speed cars of that era have a welded in trans support. If changing a clutch, you had to disconnect the driveshaft, remove the shifter and linkages, and shove the 4 speed box back as far as it would go in the car, then take the bellhousing out to do the clutch. Automatic vettes of the same years had a removable crossmember to take the trans out.
Just a couple more ideas for you to chew on. I like the look and stance of it though. Going to be a real nice truck when done. I see your fab skills have steadily improved with each project you have tackled. You ought to be very proud of what you have accomplished with it so far.
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Are you going to go with a vintage air type heat, A/C system?
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I guess I never thought about using a different steering shaft. I just made due with what I had. As far as a tilt column I fought myself long and hard on that. What it came down to was where I want to go with the pickup. I want it to feel like an old pickup. With that in mind I thought it would be cool to keep the old column with the great big steering wheel. May not be as handy, but really gives it that nostalgic feeling that I am looking for. I want the interior to be simple just as it use to be. My plan is to also have a completely hidden sound system to keep on the same track. As far as the transmission column I hate to admit but I wasn't smart enough to think of that. but I guess we are learning every day. Maybe one day I will change that but for now i'll leave it how it is. I LOVE the advice tho! It's always nice to get extra ideas and opinions bouncing around. As far as heating and ac I am planning on using a similar unit to the vintage air just summits version. Lot cheaper, but its just a heater. Going to leave the ac off for now until I am not on a collage kid budget. Its awful hard to build a pickup while trying to pay for collage and start my adult life. Its coming along but its about to hit a major pause, as I got a job for the summer that's 7 hours from home. Won't be coming back on the weekends to work all summer this year
but I guess we are learning every day. Maybe one day I will change that but for now i'll leave it how it is. I LOVE the advice tho! It's always nice to get extra ideas and opinions bouncing around. As far as heating and ac I am planning on using a similar unit to the vintage air just summits version. Lot cheaper, but its just a heater. Going to leave the ac off for now until I am not on a collage kid budget. Its awful hard to build a pickup while trying to pay for collage and start my adult life. Its coming along but its about to hit a major pause, as I got a job for the summer that's 7 hours from home. Won't be coming back on the weekends to work all summer this year
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Glad my suggestions were able to possibly help you.
Not sure how folks are doing this, but i have seen the big ole factory pickup truck wheels put on tilt columns. Not sure if the splines are the same, or if they are different. If theres some sort of adaptor needed.
No need to hurry on the project. Taking time, and taking breaks on it, helps you to brainstorm other ideas to help you with your project. My 67 cuda is taken me 10 years so far. I have researched many ways to do each mod on the car, and went with the best of each.
This is where the internet is your friend. Its easier to do stuff like this when you are looking at many ideas, and ways of doing the same thing. Pick which ideas suit you. The jeep shaft idea i got off a GMT400 webring for my silverado. Then hooked my brother up w his monte ss.
The reason we went tilt in my buddies 63 town panel was that we used a SWB 79 dodge truck D150 frame. In order to make the shaft angle mate w the 79 dodge steering box which was front steer, the 63 frame was rear steer, it would have put the stock column on the seat. So tilt column was needed to tip column up and clear the seat.
Not sure how folks are doing this, but i have seen the big ole factory pickup truck wheels put on tilt columns. Not sure if the splines are the same, or if they are different. If theres some sort of adaptor needed.
No need to hurry on the project. Taking time, and taking breaks on it, helps you to brainstorm other ideas to help you with your project. My 67 cuda is taken me 10 years so far. I have researched many ways to do each mod on the car, and went with the best of each.
This is where the internet is your friend. Its easier to do stuff like this when you are looking at many ideas, and ways of doing the same thing. Pick which ideas suit you. The jeep shaft idea i got off a GMT400 webring for my silverado. Then hooked my brother up w his monte ss.
The reason we went tilt in my buddies 63 town panel was that we used a SWB 79 dodge truck D150 frame. In order to make the shaft angle mate w the 79 dodge steering box which was front steer, the 63 frame was rear steer, it would have put the stock column on the seat. So tilt column was needed to tip column up and clear the seat.
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dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Wow that has came a really long way great job!!
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Looking great. You need to wrap that denim quilt front seat in plastic to protect it in storage. That thing is cool
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