First ever rat build... '37 chev pickup - KillBillet.com "The Rat Rod Forum Dedicated to fun, low budget, traditional, rusty, patina Rat Rods, Rat Rod Cars, Rat Rod Trucks, Rat Rod Bikes and Old School Hot Rods built with junk yard parts."

ambitious1 · #1 07-13-2010, 09:42 PM

As promised in my intro (not a lot of response there?!) I am starting a build thread for my 1937 chevy pickup. I bought this (and an '85 GMC swb) from a buddy for $1700. And that is how the story starts. I've always wanted to build a rat "someday" and now I actually get to. My goal is to keep it under $3000 and fab as much of it as possible myself. So, onto the progress...... Again, here it is the day I brought it home and mocked it up in my barn/shop.

After about a week of lurking around this site and jumping into the work (with ZERO experience of this sort).

And now, after scoring on some wheels & tires and a little bit of frame hacking.

I have more pics of the actual progress also if anyone wants them, I'm more than happy to share what I've done. I am just trying to speed up to date as to where I am today.

ambitious1 · #2 07-13-2010, 10:12 PM

So, I have no experience with V8's, custom frame work, or body work. BUT! I do have experience with, welding, geometry, math, fabrication, and a small amount of troubleshooting/field engineering of sorts. So, that all being said, this project WILL get finished and should be interesting for me to overcome.
One of my goals for this is to NOT just buy a bunch of stuff and throw it on my rig. I will when I have to, but not as a first option. I have ordered a leaf spring, shackle kit, and spring pivots. I plan on using the axle that I have and fabbing up brackets that will convert it to single leaf from parallels. We'll see. Maybe some one can help me ID the axle that I have, I don't even know if it is OE for the truck.

There are #'s on it too. If needed I'll provide 'em. I plan on using the drums on all 4 corners untill something better comes along (for cheap).
I'm not going to run any fenders (have a GOOD front passenger side one available), and am planning on the bed being no longer than 5' at this stage of the game. I've already bought 2 airbags for the rear, and plan on building ALL of my radius rods/4 link setup myself (for the front AND the rear). I'll have to buy heim joints and clevices, so if anyone can lead me to a good place to buy this stuff relatively cheap that'd be cool! I've got a pretty good idea of how to build the back half of the frame and will buying steel for that in the next week or so I think.
The '85 hadn't been licensed since '05, so I was doubtful. It has a 350 and i was told a TH400 but am not 100% on the tranny. I made sure it wasn't seized with my breaker bar, hooked up a hot battery, a little gas in the carb, and!!! It fired! Didn't run for long, or very well, but it DID run (with good oil pressure, and no horrible sounds), so now I'm hopeful. Next I'm gonna pull all the plugs and check compression to see what I'm working with. My goal on the powerplant is.... Carb/manifold, cam, headers, valve covers, gear drive, and air cleaner. Simple, straight foreward and nothing special.
So, this is a little insight as to what I'd like to do with this. Feedback, suggestions, and ideas/questions are all helpful to me.
Thanks, Spencer

deerchooper · #3 07-14-2010, 02:11 AM

i cant help you with the axle. the truck does look good thou.

IronRat · #4 07-14-2010, 09:24 AM

I have a '37 and a '38 Chev pickups. It looks to be the stock axle. I would like to see more of the build progress from the beginning to where it is now.

CORPO · #5 07-14-2010, 05:54 PM

Thats quite a chop there man..looks mean.. how much did you take out? are you planning on running the hinged windshield frame too? that will make the window 2" smaller or are you just going to put glass in the opening?

good luck with your build. ill be watching

ambitious1 · #6 07-14-2010, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CORPO

Thats quite a chop there man..looks mean.. how much did you take out? are you planning on running the hinged windshield frame too? that will make the window 2" smaller or are you just going to put glass in the opening?

good luck with your build. ill be watching

Thanks, It does look mean!! I took 3.5" out of the rear window, and 5" everywhere else. I actually had to take about 1/4" more from the windshield pillars because i didn't measure the 5" vertically the first time, I followed the angle of the pillars. When I went to put the front half of the roof back on the gutters wouldn't line up right, so, I took more untill they did. I'd like to run the hinged windshield but I didn't get the hinges or mechanism with the truck, I did get the glass and frame though. So I guess I just don't know yet. I may just buy some goggles to start with!

ambitious1 · #7 07-14-2010, 07:22 PM

]Here I'll post a couple of the cab with the layout lines. I used sharpie so it's kinda hard to see..

ambitious1 · #8 07-14-2010, 07:24 PM

I did all my cutting with a 4 1/2" grinder and cutoff wheel....

Oh ya, also, I did NOT Use any bracing. That is something I will do differently next time. It all worked out good and everything lines up just as it should, But It would have probly been easier if I braced it.

Okay, Kinda gotta FF to where I'm clamping the rear window in for tacking. Again I took 3 1/2" out of the rear window.

ambitious1 · #9 07-14-2010, 07:25 PM

After putting the rear window in and getting ready to tack in the rear roof section.

I started from the outside and worked my way to the middle, jumping back and forth every few welds to chase any imperfections to the middle (symmetry man, symmetry!)

I did have to make 1 relief cut in the very middle of the back of the cab about 6-8" long other than that..... perfect....
I guess I didn't get many pics of setting the front roof section. I did it with some short chunks of light guage angle c-clamped to the rear-section upper door frame area, and then sliding the front section onto them, clamping it, and adlusting as necessary. Also I made relief cuts above the windshield to line up the windshield pillars (thanks to 70_fastback for this, and most of the info on my chop).

This is how I "shaped" the cab as a result of not bracing it. I just put the doors in, wrapped it with a couple ratchet straps, and made sure all the lines were evenly spaced, and the doors would still be loose enough to open.

ambitious1 · #10 07-14-2010, 07:27 PM

This is how I did the door frames. I cut the upper window frame in half at the same spot I cut the roofline. Then I welded each piece in individually (front/rear). Then, I took another piece of the small angle, clamped the frmes square to each other, and started tacking in the filler section. To make the filler section, I started by cutting the skin off the 5" chunk i cut out of the rear of the door. Then I welded it in.

Then, I cut the "frame" out of the 5" chunk I took out of the front of the door, because it's the same shape of the top door frame, and welded it in, then folded the skin over it. It looks like it came from the factory that way...... kinda!

That is about all of the body work I've done up to date, and all I really plan on doing, except for maybe adding a few more tacks here and there, and smoothing some of 'em out a little bit. I'll post up some frame pics after I do a little more work to it. Thanks, Spencer