Here it is, just like we promised. This second installment of Mike's LS swap picks up right where we left off last month with the location and mounting of the fuse panel and fuel pump relay and onward through the balance of this informative engine swap.

Fitting sheetmetal is one of my least favorite things to do on any vehicle. Do it wrong and the ugly mess of bad bodylines turns people away from what otherwise might be a really nice truck. I've been to plenty of shows where doors, fenders, and the hood fitment are perfect. When I say perfect, you can take a ruler and measure all the gaps and it would match from top to bottom and left to right. But for the sake of my sanity I will try to point out some things that help me get a better fit.

As an editorial staff member, part of our job is to travel to events and find cool trucks to photograph. Sometimes we have the luxury driving our own vehicles, but a lot of times we fly to the events. This usually means I'm stuck with a rental car that is no bigger than something a group of clowns would drive. On occasion we are lucky enough to rent cars that have things like navigation and high-end sound systems, but what struck me as really cool was that some of them come with a touch-start ignition. While touch-start is nothing new in the today's latest car market, it is however, relatively innovative in the hot rod market.

LS to TH350 Street Smart System

01. Holley Performance Products Billet Fuel Rails for LS Engines

Q. I’ve been a subscriber to CLASSIC TRUCKS for six years, after my mother-in-law bought me a subscription for Christmas. I have a 1954 Chevy 3100 that I have grafted a C4 Corvette suspension onto, with a 5.7 TPI/700-R4 combo, and I’m ready to start on the body restoration. The cab has typical rust in the toeboards, forward body mounts, inner and outer cowl, down into the lower door hinge area, and the floorboard is good to about 10 inches in front of the bench seat. The cab will be sandblasted, so I can verify what metal is good. The chassis can be used to support the cab, since I know it is square, and it’s been boxed and has custom crossmembers installed, or I can place it on a plywood dolly that I have constructed so I can sit in a chair and work these areas without crouching.

Tech Center

Tech Center

Tech Center

Tech Center

If you have been following along with the ’59 Chevy Apache build then you know I am going to have a street-driven truck that can also be used on the autocross course. So with that said, I wanted to install a set of quality seats that would not only look cool, but keep me secure.

Well, I made it back out into the garage again this past weekend. Hopefully it’s a sign that work on the ’57 Chevy project has restarted in earnest. As you may recall, the last time I got out there I installed my new ignition system (a new PerTronix distributor, coil, and plug wires). This past weekend I focused on the fuel system.

Have you ever wanted to get rid of those pesky chains? How about those stake pockets that are somewhat painful to look at? If you said yes, then you are just like me. Removing the chains on the tailgate not only cleans up the visuals; they take away the fear of scratching the bed after the truck is painted. Do you need stake pockets? Unless you’re planning on hauling a bunch of stuff around then you really don’t need them on a hot rod truck.

01. Trans-Dapt PerfectMatch Parts

Q. I am in the process of restoring a 1948 Dodge panel truck. The driver side door skin has damage along the hinge side. The damage starts just below the top hinge and continues to the bottom of the door. The area was previously repaired with lead before I purchased the vehicle. The lead was cracking and had low spots, so I decided to remove the lead to see what was underneath. I found a gouge that started out about ¼-inch deep x 1-inch wide and tapered to a V as it continued to the bottom of the door. It is in an area of the door that prohibits hammer work from the inside of the door, so I began heating and using pry bars on the inside to raise the gouged area.

Whether it’s working in the professional rod building world or as a hobbyist, to stay employed and/or successful at completing personal projects, you need to be capable in as many skills as you can. Fabrication and welding skills are at the top of the list, but there are a heck of a lot of others that’ll need to be mastered as well.

Dressing up a classic pickup engine has come a long way from the days of a rattle can and some chrome-plated tin. Today aftermarket companies are pushing the envelope developing a myriad of cool CNC-machined gingerbread for our beloved trucks – and some of ’em, like March Performance Pulley’s serpentine drive systems actually perform needed tasks above and beyond just looking good.

When you go to purchase a truck the last thing you want to think about is tearing it apart. Fixing major damage can mean the difference between keeping the truck or passing it on to the next sucker who wants a project.

Geez, it’s been way too long since I’ve made it out into the garage to work on my ’57 Chevy pickup, but I finally got my butt out there yesterday. It’d been so long that honestly I wasn’t quite sure where the heck I’d left off. After blowing the dust off the old girl I looked around and found a couple of boxes of parts in the cab and figured that I’d get into the swing of things again by opening ’em up and installing whatever was inside – I figured anything I did was at least a step in the right direction.

So you think you have what it takes to build your own custom frame? You’ve got a welder, some handtools, a couple of metal-cutting devices, and tons motivation. This is not a task that a novice welder should take on, but rather someone with intermediate to expert fabrication skills. Nor would I suggest that you try this by yourself because it is a very large project.

01. Old School With a Shine

Q. I bought a 1949 Chevy panel truck to use as a shop truck for my custom touring motorcycle seat/cruiser clothing company. I acquired the truck mostly finished on a 1998 Explorer chassis. As you likely know, the ’47-53 Chevy 3100 series trucks have five vertical grille bars that peak forward. My top two are fine, the middle bar is slightly dented, fourth down has more dents and the bottom bar is pushed in almost flat.

Right Click here to Download the PDF version of the 2012 Classic Trucks Holiday Gift Guide

Fluid Film

When I set out to build my truck I really didn’t know how or what it would take to accomplish my goals. I started off by drafting a plan not on paper, but in my head, so that things would somehow magically start putting themselves together. Well you and I both know that does not happen, but what I did realize was if I didn’t start somewhere I wouldn’t start at all. Try and fail, but never fail to try is a quote I like to stand by when doing anything in life. I guess my point is how do you know you can or can’t do it until you try?