Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Pulled my Holley out today and it had a code of "List 1850-3", then the date code of "3261"

The internet is (sometimes) a wonderful thing and this told me it's a 600 cfm vacuum secondary, manual choke carb made in December, 1971 most likely.

Since I've been spending money like a drunken sailor (apologies to any drunken sailors on the board!) I decided to rebuild my existing carburetor since it seems to be sized right for my little 283... Well actually my brother-in-law will do the rebuilding since he's done it several times on the dual Holleys on his boat.

A trip to Pep Boys for a gallon of carburetor cleaner - is it even strong enough anymore?
And I found a couple guys at Blair's Speed Shop here in Pasadena working on an engine in the shop even though the shop was closed. For a few bucks more than Jegs (and no wait) I got a new kit from him and I'm dropping off the carb tonight.

I also decided to complete a little improvement I'd started months ago (EEK!). Stripping the coating on the lip of my old school knock-off Torq Thrusts so I can polish them. I bought a quart of epoxy paint stripper and it came off surprisingly faster than my previous (dangerous) try which was jacking up the truck while running in gear and using sandpaper!

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

>>> "...which was jacking up the truck while running in gear and using sandpaper!"

What could possibly go wrong? :)

Ask the B-I-L if he has any way to surface the front face of the main body. Many of these carbs have been gorilla'd on the bowl screws. This pulls the corners of the main body up, causing a deal where the screws tighten up but the gasket is not properly compressed around the PV chamber. This causes rich idle and transition problems that can't be tuned out normally. Hit the front face with a big sharp flat file to see the problem.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Funny, we were literally JUST talking about that very thing. (I JUST got home from his house where I dropped off the carb and we had dinner together) He was saying if it's a few thousandths bowed it can be "surfaced" with some 320 wet/dry sandpaper stuck to a piece of glass to be very flat. Sounds iffy to me but he claims he's done it successfully before. I guess it depends how much it's out of whack.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Dan, I used to work with a guy who did a lot of Holleys, he made a mill fixture that held two main bodies, did them two at a time. Thousands have been done. we used to tske off .010 by default, very few didn't clean up at .010. We did the front, back and bottom of the main bodies. It was a very successful deal, used it from the late 70's till now. We did this with brand new carbs, they typically had low spots around the PV chamber out of the box due to some issue with die casting of zinc or pot metal. The stuff shrinks more in cooling where it's thick, leading to the issue with the sunken PV chambers. I don't have a mill, I use a 16" mill b@stard file which I carefully protect to keep other tools from dulling the teeth.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

While I'm waiting on my carb and just blabbing here:

Does anyone think I HAVE TO remove my intake manifold to clean it with mag wheel etch type cleaner?

I was thinking to just mask my finned valve covers & distributer, plug the intake with a rag, and spritz, then wipe with wet old rags and dry.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Hey Dan, I thought of you when I saw the pictures of this today

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Profile

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Wow Tim, thanks! I especially like that profile picture because if I'm unable to use my Torq Thrusts with the IFS kit I bought, the likely back up will be original Rally's lime these or possibly with early dog dish hubcaps.

I've also considered keeping my truck in a light green; though likely not a metallic. I rally do like the look of this truck. The almond color roof sets it off nicely. That's a GMC grill on this truck, isn't it?

The green colors I've found that I like best so far are these:
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps56d618b7.jpg

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps223109e5.jpg
I like both colors on the hi boy. Not sure if I'd use the wheel color, the body color or both.
The VW color is called Iceland Green I'm told from 1954-55 so exactly era correct.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Nice color, and the truck is wearing a Chevrolet grill

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Dubie's what's with the signals? He closed them off and put I the small rectangular ones? I guess that threw me off. Still like the truck though.

Thanks on the colors. Not certain I'll use green but I'm leaning that way more and more.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Here's the green that sort of got me started on my trk after all these years (decades I guess. owned since 1983?

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Ha ha, tmoble, those photos are MY photos fom the Brothers meet out here year before last! I'm pretty sure Fabguy here knows the owner pretty well. That is a BEEOOOTIFUL truck too.

I'd thought of going into the sea foam/turquoise range and I REALLY like it but I worry I'd get tired of it faster than some other colors. I feel the same way about a yellow bordering on a school bus yellow. I truly like trucks in that color, especially '56 F100's but I think I'd tire of it too soon. It's all in my head I guess.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Wow, your photos? I had no idea, I saw them online somewhere and instantly wanted to do up my truck like that. Small world I guess. When I originally did the Camaro stub on my truck I rounded up a different frame and did the sub-frame on it. At that time I was still into red so while I had the clean frame on jackstands I painted it red. Now if I want to go some sort of green/turquoise I'm going to have to repaint the frame. Bummer. So then I thought to go to the Roman Red/India Ivory but really don't want red, so settled on some sort of clean white with red trim. But then saw your pics of that panel again and wanted to go back with that. Do you know what the name/year of that color is?

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Your right Dan, that is my friend Norman's panel. I can find out the color if you'd like. That panel has airbags, MII front suspension and a 235ci engine with dual carb setup. It is a lot better looking in person than in any pictures.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Thanks for chiming in Mike! Really nice to hear from you. Are you rolling your eyes over me being fickle and changing my mind from C4 to an MII setup? Guess I'm impulsive, oh well.

How goes YOUR panel project?

Yeah I totally agree that Norman's panel is just stunning in person. I LOVE, LOVE LOVE his upholstery. Whatever that stuff from the Mid Fifties cars is called - "brocade"? It reminds me of '57 Chevy cars. Great if you can post the exact color name. I'm sure plenty of guys would like to know.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

yeah, like me. to me that's a a real knock your eye out deal. I'd be interested in any detail on it. I've seen other seamist green, but they didn't look that good. I wonder if he used some tricks with the primer/underlay color.

Is that Nomad upholstery? Seems Norman has a real eye for what makes an outstanding combination.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Dan, I didn't know you were dumping the C4 deal for am MII. What's up with that? You're giving up a lot there in terms of driveabilty, handling, serviceability, brakes. There's boatloads of upgrade stuff available whether it's eye-candy or hard core handling.

Our trucks are much heavier and have a significantly higher center of gravity than the old MII. I never could get myself to feel good about stuffing a compact car front under there. That's why I ended up with a Gen2 Camaro front and C4 rear. I'm an old dirt track racer and have beaten the you-know-what out of those Camaro clips for decades. I have a lot of faith in their strength and the suspension geometry is known good.

Think about it this way: If you had to drive 1000 miles of non freeway roads and had a choice of a MII or a C4 Vette which car would you take?

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

I'd drive what I could afford!

But seriously, there never was a "deal" for a C4 IFS setup. I had told Fabguy I'd go with C4 components when he found a good Vette at a local wrecking yard for himself and noticed another in the yard he recommended I buy. Mike (Fabguy) even offered to help me install it. BUT, things changed. My daughter and daughter in law both got pregnant with their first children, I had expenses related to that - life got in the way.

I rethought whether I should spend the money right then (this was nearly a year ago) so I decided to hold off. Cut to now and a new-in-the-box Fatman Fabrications IFS kit popped up on CL and I acted on it.

I consider the argument that MII's are too light duty for our trucks to be a red herring. There are LOTS of 55-59's with these kits on the road doing fine. Ogre seems to be totally happy. Besides, the aftermarket kits share nothing with an actual Mustang II from the 70's except basic design approach. Different strokes, man!

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

To my knowledge, the aftermarket "M2" style kits are just that....a style like the old M2 set up and not the same old parts. They are also like the 64-92 Chevy trucks, just a tubular style am but same concept and similar geometry. Vette stuff is cool, but for me It would turn my truck into a car and hauling/pulling as much as I do it would get parked more than driven. It comes down to what system works well for each individual and thier budget. Im starting an Ls 5.3 build and leaving the straight axle. I like the feel and am comfortable with its farm truck limitations at higher speeds.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

I think "back in the day" - an annoying expression - maybe the late 70's and early 80's(?) guys ACTUALLY took Mustang II parts out of the junkyards and installed them on hot rods. There were a lot of MII's in the junkyards then. I'm fairly certain there aren't many anymore.

I'm guessing those parts works pretty damn good or an entire industry wouldn't have been built around the idea. But I DO see that those parts would not really have been heavy enough for a truck and particularly a truck that will be used as a truck. Fortunately, mine won't. The biggest thing it'll likely ever carry is a few flats of flowers or a 4x8 sheet of plywood from Home Depot.

I honestly feel very comfortable with an MII kit from a known longstanding aftermarket fabricator like Fatman's, Heidt's, etc.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Dan be sure to figure in the total cost from the wheels to the chassis on the MII kits on what it take to complete the install.

Then compare what the total cost is to what the NoLimit Wide Ride kit includes .

Besides that, One has to like the look of the too narrow, sucked in track the MII kit has .
To me it just looks wrong OR they were going for the funny car look .
That would make some sense if the theme of the truck was that of a full on drag truck.

Think of it this way The narrow track of the '59 Chevy compared to the wide track '59 Pontiac .

Chevy made the car body wider in '59 but kept using the '58 chassis verbatim for cost reasons. Pontiac on the other hand used the same basic chassis, But spent a few bucks more and widened the track to fill the body and get better handling .

There are wider control arms available for the MII and they also use the T-Bird R&P but as the say " for just a few $ more".

Keep shopping until you ether find what your looking for or go crazy trying to keep the cost in line.


Oh ya, BTW :bling: :bling: :)

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Glen,
There is no "shopping" anymore. The selection process is over.
I already bought the Fatman Fabrications MII kit. Over the last couple years I've looked at and researched the Wide Ride kit (too expensive for my budget), the Scott's kit (pricey AND too low for my taste, though beautiful) and the Flat Out kit. For varying reasons I didn't opt for these kits and I purchased the Fatman kit for $1800.

It's REAL clear that several of you think this is a mistake and though I appreciate your honesty I've made my decision and if it proves to be a mistake I'll realize it during or shortly after installation. I hope this doesn't come off as having an "attitude" about the various comments but I've simply made my purchase. I was excited that I'd done so; and if truth be told, it's kind of a downer that I'm getting so many judgements for it.

Having said that, I've seen plenty of MII installtions in TF trucks and never had a quarrel with how they looked. And if I end up being unhappy with it, I'm the only one that has to live with it.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Dan,
I've seen a lot of trucks and street rods with the Fatman MII style suspension installed in them, everyone that I've asked has been very satisfied with them. So I think you made a wise choice!

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Thanks very much JJ. Nice to hear something positive.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Hay Dan,

Congrats on your purchase . Now go put it in and enjoy the ride .

Keep us posted on the install and of course lots of photos too ppPlease . :)

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Well, I came home today excited to find that "Brown Santa" had been here and delivered my new-in-the-box Flaming River stainless steel steering column!

Excitement quickly turned to upset when I opened the end of the box and saw THIS:
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps199dd2f8.jpg

Pulling it out of the box and yes, it's brand new and all looked good except the head unit which had been damaged in shipment and flat spotted badly on one side:
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps5625c491.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps3efd76c8.jpg

I've PM'd the seller and hopefully he put some kind of insurance on the shipment or UPS will do something to make me whole for this damage. We'll see. Wish me luck, gentlemen!

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Thanks Glen. Yes there WILL be lots of photos - mostly for me so I can brag that I installed it myself!

I'm currently gathering all the necessary parts I can think of. I need special brackets to mount the power steering pump on Camel Hump heads with no accessory holes, PS pump itself, part(s) to reduce pressure for the Ford R&P rack, pulleys for PS and AC (future), engine mounts as I understand I will have to remount the engine. "Stuff" to flip the rear end, I'm sure there's more I haven't thought of yet. Everyone feel free to chip in reminders if you know.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

"PS pump itself, part(s) to reduce pressure for the Ford R&P rack"

Dan, I'm not sure that reducing the pressure is mandatory. I talked to Justin at Scott's and he said that they don't do it when they build a car. Also, Dave (DWCSR) said that he didn't think it is necessary when using a GM car pump. I haven't done anything to my pump and so far it woks fine and I don't feel that "twitchiness" that I have seen mentioned. If anything, my steering is stiffer than I would like so I wouldn't want to lower the pressure.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

for your P/S pump check this out. in fact for any aftermarket/cross-breed/mix'n'match bracket setups Alan Grove is the King. I've had his P/S bracket for short water pump small block on my truck since 1993 when I did the sub-frame. nice deal, well braced, short belt. He understands how to make stuff so it works.

http://www.alangrovecomponents.com/S...Short_Pump.htm

scroll down to # 400L. sorry, no individual page/link the way his site is set up.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Yeah, I guess I'm not sure its "mandatory" either but I have read numerous times over the years that either the steering would be too sensitive, a connection will leak, or kit manufacturers themselves say you should lower the pressure. Its a minor consideration i think both in terms of work and cost(?) I'll likely hook up the lines without addressing it and see how it goes.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Thanks, yeah I know about AlanGrove and also Bill's Hot Rods:

http://www.billshotrodcompany.com/

Since I have the early SBC heads without accessory holes I have to think ahead for brackets that will allow me to someday install an AC compressor as well as a PS pump and of course still run my alternator. So while im looking for brackets for THIS upgrade, I need to know what I'm gonna use for the other and buy pulleys for all of it as well. Any help with this appreciated but I'm definitely not going with a serpentine system due to cost.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

likely you'll keep the PS pump and Alt on the drivers side. mount the A/C compressor on the passenger side. the stock early compressor bracket for a short water pump setup mounts a Sanden type compressor amazingly well. on mine (unfinished) if I put the back of the Sanden mount ear up against the front of the stock bracket that bolts to the water pump bolts the pulley line up good. needs a spacer on the back, looks like the adjuster slide brackets will be easy too.

First pic shows the stock bracket, it's been altered a little to clear the header pipe. the two aluminum spacers make up for the thickness of the stock exhaust manifold, if you're running the stock manifolds you won't need the two spacers or to grind the clearance.

2nd pic shows the stock bracket lining up with front bracket that bolts to the water pump. The through bolt for the bottom/pivot of the Sanden will be just like this.

3rd pic shows how the Sanden pulleys line up with the stock 327 pulleys. More or less perfect.

These brackets and pulleys are not all that hard to find. need the 3 groove crank and 2 groove water pump. Easy money here compared to any other option without going to a long water pump and changing everything.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

this pic shows the where the spacers will be needed on the lower through bolt. the whole compressor is slid forward about 1/2" in the pics. A guy could also run separate front and rear bolts, no spacer at all on the front and only a small one in the back.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

does this mean I'm a thread killer? :)

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Murderer! Murderer! Lol

Nah, I've just been uber busy at work, with my elderly mom, two brand new infant granddaughters and an upcoming vacation.

Still have to gather a lot more parts, decide if I'm gonna buy an engine stand, rent a cherry picker, then schedule the steps - that last one is the result of 30+ years in heavy civil construction. If I don't plan it it'll stagnate and not get done quickly.

Oh & PS: I need to do a site search here for pulling the front bodywork clip. I remember reading somewhere it's upper & lower radiator hoses, headlight & other electrical attached to inner fenders then 8 bolts (I think). Then lift it without twisting & tweaking the whole thing.

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

two bolts at bottom rear of front fender are often rusted and hard to get out. They're oddball, 7/16 fine thread or something. two bolts each side of the radiator, 2 more top rear of fenders. 2 at bottom rear of inner fenders, there's a rubber bushing gizmo there. wire harness might unplug OK, mine did. hood bolts to firewall, not fenders, you can leave it on.

Why are you pulling the doghouse?

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

Thanks for the detailed response.

Ive gotta pull the engine to install the IFS crossmember. Engine will come with tranny (TH350) Seems it'd be a hassle to try to work around all the front body work. Besides, that'll let me clean up the engine, paint it properly and put new brass soft plugs in. It'll also expose the firewall so I can patch the brazillion holes in it and paint it.

All this stuff is, "While I'm In There" stuff which frankly has me worried because there's no end to it! Having the whole front of the frame bare and the steering column out will enable me to loosen the cab, jack it up up to replace the rubber isolators which in turn gives me access to the underside of the cab since the tranny will be out to "de-louse" it and paint it, etc etc. See? NO end to it!

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

PS: What's the purpose of this "rubber gizmo thing" you mentioned? Where is it? Photo?

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

lower rear of inner fender bolts to a little bracket the sticks out of the firewall, instead of just bolting it directly it has this little rubber bushing, no biggie. it's at the very top of this pic if the site doesn't cut it off. This pic also shows what a horrible mess it to mount a Camaro sub-frame. ;)

Re: Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window
 

other side showing the horrible mess of the steering column hookup.