D^3 Dad's Down and Dirty 1955 Pickup, Nerd Rods C4 on the Cheep

[rat_rod_russell]

Just a quick FYI for some guys who've asked questions about the project, the goal is cheap not crap. So while we are reworking and saving things we would other wise tell someone to toss when the D3 is said and done I hope for it to be a 40-50k dollar truck for no where near that much in it and a project that most guys at home can look at and think "I can do that" for most of the project.

New photo gallery,
http://gallery.nerdrods.com/Projects/03_D3/02/

We picked up a NICE set of 2011 Mustang seats from a local guy who pulled them for race seats. These would have worked very well if they were not as thick in the back. If we were running the automatic we would have used these guys for sure but with the stick there just wasn't any room to work the pedals comfortably. I'm 6'2" with a 36" inseam so I'm the measuring stick for this stuff.




So I had this set of Corbeau racing seats that were to narrow for us fat boys (I'm 250 38 waist and Jim's 210 with a 34 waist so not that bad) and so Jim took the skin off and bent the bolsters out. We're also going to cut it down a bit and make it more shapely for the truck but the key thing is that this moved the driver back just under 6 inches and this will be Dad's new daily driver so it needs to be comfortable.




Aerodynamics and heat reduction mods!



We're blocking off the vents inside the truck and by opening this whole slot up along the dash the vent will now function as a heat exit for the truck giving a high rear location for the under hood to escape. This will stop air from going in the radiator and out under the truck where it will create lift. Next dad's also going to add a lip so that any water coming in will run off the sides instead of onto the motor.


And he's cutting an a smooth section of dash to clean the insides up a bit.


More soon,
-Russell

[rat_rod_russell]

My buddy Tyler did a cartoon rendering for Dad's truck, she's going to be so evil when she's done!



Later
-Russell @ Nerd Rods

[BigJoe]

hell yeah, now this is a build i can get behind, i love it.

[WSSix]

That's a cool rendering. I'd frame that and hang it on the wall.

[rat_rod_russell]

Originally Posted by WSSix

That's a cool rendering. I'd frame that and hang it on the wall.

I'm too lazy for that, how about I just make it dad's background on his laptop, that sounds about right for this project, don't want to blow the budget.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

If it was on Cars, guess it would be Mater's greaser cousin?

[rat_rod_russell]

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

If it was on Cars, guess it would be Mater's greaser cousin?

Dude, doing these year trucks for a living I now have 3 of my 10 customers calling their trucks Mater so no, just no. And probably his older brother being a single headlight 55-57 instead of the mater 58-59. I also don't remember how many factories there were building them either.

Later
-Russell @ Nerd Rods

[rixtrix1]

(Quote) We're blocking off the vents inside the truck and by opening this whole slot up along the dash the vent will now function as a heat exit for the truck giving a high rear location for the under hood to escape. This will stop air from going in the radiator and out under the truck where it will create lift. Next dad's also going to add a lip so that any water coming in will run off the sides instead of onto the motor.

Sounds okay, but there is a high pressure area in front of the windshield which will just force more air into the engine compartment, not allow it to come out, It would be better to louver the hood, or cut and weld some other kind of vents into the hood just behind the radiator if you don't want to worry about air under the body.

Otherwise, it's a great idea for a project vehicle. I really like the idea of showing the average joe he can do something that turns out really neat for a modest cost.

[rat_rod_russell]

Update time.

Easy viewing gallery link here.
http://gallery.nerdrods.com/Projects/03_D3/02/

I've been working on a timelapse of Dad's frame simply because I'm MIG welding it. We get a lot of people who think you can't MIG the frames simply because I don't. So this one get's the end if its assembly MIG'd. Here are a few stills from the timelapse process.

[rat_rod_russell]

Dad's got the clutch pedal worked out and mounted. Its all out getting powder coated







Suspension is all powder coated and getting ready to go together and the sheetmetal list is getting shorter. A customer got new doors and gave us his old ones so Jim has another door to cut pieces off of.






We also have a new toy in the shop that's probably going to end up on Dad's truck to make it a bit more fun. He turns 70 in November so I think he'll enjoy it.

Later
-Russell @ Nerd Rods