Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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Praise the lowered; 53Chevy5 has seen the light!

Can you get retake that pic using a pretty young lady?

I tried photoshoping a new face in for you guys but I couldn't find one better looking

[QUOTE=53 Chevy5;563403]I know this is getting the cart in front of the horse but I need some help with know what rim back spacing and offset to look at for the rims on this thing. It has the mustang II ifs and the track width is the standard 56 1/2. I am looking at 16 in with 4.00 backspace and 12 mm offset or 17 with 4.07 backspace and 11 mm offset wheels but I am not confident on the back spacing and offset thing. The more measure and check, the more I am unsure. I will license this photo of me to use for a pinup in your garage if what you suggest works.[/QUOTE

Haha! Great pic!!
I don't really have a sense of your final ride height but I usually go on record for "bigger is better" to a point...LOL! Here's a link to a '53 with 18's & 20's that I think looks pretty cool. It doesn't list the offset but it doesn't list wheel width & tire size.
1953 Chevy Truck-The Third Act

Ya, my wife told me to stick my face in the head light hole, I didn't know that I was giving some provocative while I was posing , it is fun to look at though .That one may be a bit rim overkill for me. As for ride height, I guess I would say normal if there is such a thing. It will be a daily driver so some ride comfort and practicability is needed. Thanks for the link though, it is a nice guide of what direction to go.

[QUOTE=53 Chevy5;563439]Ya, my wife told me to stick my face in the head light hole, I didn't know that I was giving some provocative while I was posing , it is fun to look at though .That one may be a bit rim overkill for me. As for ride height, I guess I would say normal if there is such a thing. It will be a daily driver so some ride comfort and practicability is needed. Thanks for the link though, it is a nice guide of what direction to go.[/QUOTE

You can google 53 chevy pickup and see a wide variety of pics with various wheel/tire combinations.

I've googled my brains out looking at wheels on these pickups, but like you found, nobody has rim specs or size listed. I talked to my local tire guy and I'll have him help me out and order from him. He is too great of a guy not to give business to and his boy is just starting to take over now also, so I think I will help them out.

Did a little more messing with the seat brackets again tonight. I'm getting closer to what will work good but not quite there yet. I am at the top of my height range so I need to lower things about 3/4 inch to get things in the middle to adjust tilt and so.I will do that by getting rid of the stands on the bottom of the slide rails. The rails are off of the 2000 Chevy pickup seats I was originally going to use. At least I'll use part of them.

Is that your original seat frame?

Yes, it is the original frame. I will make some metal skirting for the sides to cover up the rails.Hopefully the astro van seat will look like it belongs there when it's all said and done.. In hindsight I would have just used the old seat and brackets but I burned that bridge a long long time ago. Maybe a nice foam seat is better than the old spring one anyway

Got a few more things done today but first was a little house keeping.

Did some more seat work today, I got the sliders to work with my new lever and made some metal skirting to cover above the slides. I wish I could move the rails back further but the way that the bottom of the cab is made it would be a major pita. At some point you have to say that.s just the way it is. I can cut about 1 1/2 inches off the front of the rails so that will help. I was so sick of taking the seat in and out that it just wasn't going to happen today. I need to do a little filler on the welds yet but again, another day.

We bolted the box and fenders together and figured out how all those supports went in. It really didn't go so bad. The thing that does drive me nuts is the running boards don't line up for crap. I don't know if the mounts on the running boards are that far off or the support brackets are bent that bad.The holes for the supports are about 3/4 inch off on some holes underneath. That was my signal to quit for the day.

Nice work on your seat. That stinks on the running boards. It's always something.

Not sure if it's the same as yours but, when I did my uncles 48 I found I had revered one of the mounts with the wrong side, after I swapped 'em , things went so much easier.