Ooh, this is gonna be cool. With Chevy using parallel leafs up front and needing frame ahead of the axle to support them, it should be easier to use the Colorado frame's IFS, and still keep the proportions from looking odd.
Ooh, this is gonna be cool. With Chevy using parallel leafs up front and needing frame ahead of the axle to support them, it should be easier to use the Colorado frame's IFS, and still keep the proportions from looking odd.
Pillars are cleaned up and tacked into the body now, with weld instead of wood!
Had to make this upper door frame panel since I only had one side.
Just tacked for now until I can box these panels in after setting the door gaps.
Next step rockers. Probably square tubing for that. But first let's see how it compares to the donor car.
I think it's going to work out well. Wheelbase looks right and engine will have to set back.
Speaking of engine, here's my pieced-together sub-$300 turbo kit, all of it used parts. Holset HE351 off a Cummins 5.9, random intercoolers, 80lb Siemens Deka injectors, and a AEM wideband.
Health check on the donor car. Overall just getting acquainted with the Atlas and taking measurements too.
Compression check on the motor looks good. 150+-5 psi across all 4 cylinders.
Spark plugs look pretty worn out. A couple of them were over .060" gap. Stock is around .042". AC Delco brand plugs with Delphi coil packs. Wonder if original or just serviced with dealer parts. 263k miles on the clock.
Also got the body all squared up and stiffened with some cross bars. Doors are also tacked on for now. I think the next step is to build a perimeter frame for the floor and attach it to the pillars.
Floor will be tricky because the frame will need to be channeled quite a bit into the body. The Colorado frame is surprisingly beefy at about 5.5" x 2.5" at it's thickest section. I am planning to modify (chop up) the frame to match the body channel in the floor, or build my own frame with 2x4 tubing. Hoping to avoid the latter for budget reasons.
Also thinking ahead to incorporating a NHRA roll bar. I may not need it, but hopefully I'm fast enough. And I have a good opportunity for the roll bar to be the main structure of the body, tucking close and welding directly to the B pillars. The base plates of the roll bar will also serve as frame attachment points. At least 3 for each side. Got some ideas to noodle on.
At least you don't have to cut a bunch of metal out of the body to channel it!
Loving it already. Excited to see it come together 
The 6 lug wheels on the truck jump out at me in those photos- any clever sources for wide steelies for those? There are also a lot of cool 80s/90s aluminum options if it's the same pattern as the japanese stuff.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Looks like those are the bog-standard 6 x 5.5 (6 x 139.7mm) bolt pattern.
@maschinenbau-
Smoothies all the way up to 20x11- Wheelsmith
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Correct, it is the same 6x5.5" as Nissan/Toyota pickup, GMT400 HD/4x4, and GMT800 1500. Colorado center bore is 100.5mm. The GM full-size OEM wheels have a smaller center bore, but seems like all the aftermarket off-road wheels have a larger bore, and all the japanese stuff should fit right up. All that said, tons of good cheap 15 x Wide options on FBMP from what I'm seeing.
Cool- maybe you can even score some big beadlocks for the drags from the offroad crowd.
Mitsubishi can be added to the list of 6 lug wheel donors.
Also now subscribed for mashinenbau shenanigans.
This is a great start. AND it's causing trouble here; I've started looking at Colorados and Canyons on Copart, Craigs and FBM because of you. The wheelbase of the single and extended cab chassis match up well with just about every sedan/coupe body from the 30's through the early to mid 40's. So if you want to do a rebody, these chassis are an easy button. And a problem. Thanks man...
In reply to rdcyclist :
If it helps I found these...
My regular cab frame will probably need some modification where it necks down to the front suspension. It stays too wide and parallel as the frame goes from rear to front, and my body is too narrow in this area. The rear is a great match though and I like how narrow the front is where it will be exposed. Engine mounts and trans crossmember will also be pushed back while I'm chopping up the frame.
I have some 15x8.5 alloy wheels and some 14" steelies in that bolt pattern in case either is of interest to you.
In reply to maschinenbau :
The wheelbase on the extended cab Colorado is only 5" shorter than the wheelbase on my FULL-SIZED Dodge...
That's kinda nuts.
Recon1342 said:In reply to maschinenbau :
The wheelbase on the extended cab Colorado is only 5" shorter than the wheelbase on my FULL-SIZED Dodge...
That's kinda nuts.
The wheelbase on my 2018 Colorado is a little more than 2" longer than that one.
It's a fine truck but I'm probably not going to keep it. It's too damn big
This body might be crustier then the 360 was when I started. But man this is gonna be cool.
In reply to Recon1342 :
My crewcab LB Canyon's wheelbase is 140.5".........and it's called mid-size.
Calvin Nelson just put out a video about...the 5 cylinder Atlas.
In reply to Appleseed :
Dang, now I'm jealous of my missing 5th cylinder! Luckily it should bolt right up if I find a good motor.
Big progress this long holiday weekend on the floor. The floor is absolutely key for this build, mostly because it is entirely missing. It will serve as the dimensional foundation for everything else. It sets the channel depth, which I guess is roughly 4", and it ties the door frames together with that key 4th side out of 4 sides.
I started by bending up some sheetmetal into a L shaped rockers, lowering the body down until it was sitting on 1" tubing (I love the lift!), and tacking the rocker panels to the A and B pillars. I making up all these terms. I'm sure real Chevy restorers call them something else.
Then I got my 3-point hydraulic tube pincher to gently shape some 1" round tubing into a curve that matches what I think the body shape should be. This tubing matches the round trim shape of the rest of the body.
This tubing will be the lowest point of the body. The frame may hang about 2" below this level, which I think will be cool looking.
Then I tacked the rockers to the tubing. Now the door frames should be kinda rigid, so I cut the tacks on the doors. I had welded them to the body to help it retain door gaps.
Doors open smoothly! Sweet! Now uh...what next? Some bracing was moved around to make room for the transmission and driveshaft tunnel. I would like a slightly more solid body first before doing frame stuff, so it's time for patches.
Might as well start with the worst one from the video above.
I like that. I even used some 1" tubing to complete the rim shape of the fender. Inner fender itself will need more work, but I just wanted this front corner for now.
First time using the shrinker. I rolled the edge of the sheet over some round tubing, then shrank that edge until it looked like a fender.
Started on the front corners too.
I really enjoy this part. I think once the full length of the rocker areas are patched, it will be time to look at that frame.
You make that look easy. Damn fine work!
That looks amazing. Loving this build!
Love the step by step transformation.
More? Please?
Looking fantastic so far and your structure is gonna be way stronger than probably even the best remaining OEM '34 sheet metal.
Did you use the tube bender as a sort of roller to get that gradual curve, or did you just do half a dozen bends along the length and get them all even enough to look continuous?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:Did you use the tube bender as a sort of roller to get that gradual curve, or did you just do half a dozen bends along the length and get them all even enough to look continuous?
The latter. I kinda hate that style of tube bender. It wants to kink everything I've put in it. I have a buddy with a real tube bender I can borrow for the planned NHRA compliant roll bar, which will be partially integrated into the body after the chop.
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