help with 66

[andyh1956]

greetings from afghanistan. i read here a lot but i'm new to posting. when i get home in oct i will be ready to work on the 66 again & i need help with two things. 1st- i see lots of you have later model front ends under your trucks. do the later front ends cause the tires to scrub from the track width being too wide. i plan on a 235 / 70 tire on a stock 8" rally wheel. i have a 72 & a 82 front assy to pick from. 2nd- how many of you are running a 4spd car trans, muncie, t10 or a saginaw? i have a t10 w/2.46 1st gear & a saginaw out of a vega gt w/ 3.11 1st. i see hurst makes a shifter that works with car trans in trucks so i like that. i don't have a rear axle yet so when i build it i need to set ratio to fit the trans i use. i also didn't want the front end wider than the rear. was planning on the t10/283/3.42 rear axle. if this is anything close to what some of yall are running it would really help me to know how you like the setup, shifter to bench seat clearence etc. this will be the grand kids truck to drive to school in a few years so i thought it would be a good place to use the 283 & t10, and i want to do it right cause i don't want to have to lick this calf over again. he shouldn't need to stretch out on the highway yet-that could come later. thanks for helping, seems like a great bunch of guys on the 60-66 section.
andy

[DPowers]

Welcome to the board.
Thank you for your service- it can never be said enough.
Alot of good info and peoplr here to help you out.

[markeb01]

Welcome Andy, and thanks for protecting us. Having served my tour several decades ago I can easily remember how far away October must seem. Just keep your head down and your stripes up and you’ll be home before you know it.

There’s no scrubbing issue with the wider front end, so long as the front end is aligned correctly. I swapped a 1975 crossmember into my 1960, and never noticed it was wider until I read about it many years later on this forum. I believe it’s only ¾” per side so it’s not really noticeable. Not like when guys were putting Pacer front ends in their street rods several years ago (stuck out past the fenders and looked goofy). The narrower rear axle issue can be resolved by using a later 5 lug rear axle which is wider than the 66, or simply running wider wheels on the rear, or wheels with a deeper offset.

Between the 72 & the 82 I would pick the 82 since it already has disc brakes, and I believe it has a shorter spindle pin (doesn’t stick out as far). This matters if you ever want to run Corvette style rally wheel with police style caps. The earlier spindle pin is longer and the flatter caps won’t clear without modification to the dust cover.

I’m running a Super T10 in mine. It has a 2.64 low gear with 4.10’s in the rear. It almost never sees a freeway so the gearing works fine for my needs but isn’t practical for a long distance cruiser. Of the choices you have, I’d pick the T10 with the 2.46 low gear. It’s very strong and reasonably easy to rebuild at home. I’m not a transmission expert but the Saginaw boxes were never considered very strong back in the day, although the 3.11 low would accelerate like a bullet and could tolerate a higher rear end for cruising mileage if that was important. If this is planned for a high school driver I’d want stronger to minimize breakage and repairs.

The Hurst shifter head and linkage is the same for passenger car applications, the only difference with the truck shifter is it has a really long bolt on shifter arm. If you plan on running a bench seat, I’d recommend the Hurst 55-57 Chevy passenger car bench seat shifter instead of the truck model. It has a C shaped handle which easily clears the bench seat, and in my opinion looks better. Good luck, hang in there, and stay in touch.

And for some light reading in your spare time, here's a very comprehensive thread on front suspension and brake upgrades:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=367260

[Blue666]

Andy, Thanks for your service to our country. I'm in Afghanistan also (Bagram). Let me know if you have time to smoke a cigar & talk trucks.

Thanks,

Blue666

[Shaky]

I like the drivetrain combo - that should be fun and cruise on the highway pretty good. Can't help with the front end stuff.

Thank you for serving. I'm home making sure the Black Hawks come off the line right. Stay safe.

[Shaky]

Double tap.

[andyh1956]

thanks guys. i drove a 283 / 2.20 muncie / 3.55 como in a '57 chevy in high school. it was a little slow on take off due to high 1st gear but it ran down the road just fine, i think the combo i have now will work fine for grand son. by the way i am NOT active military, i am a navistar fsr for the maxxpro mrap. right now my team & i are installing l-rod armor on the bae rg31 mrap- it is designed to keep the penetrator of a rpg 7 from arming on impact so it duds out before it reaches the armor. we call it "bird cage" armor. my 4th year over here, in oct im done- too old for this life. they blow stuff up over here!
great bunch of guys here, but hey- were truck people, right? take care.
andy

[lakeroadster]

Originally Posted by andyh1956

2nd- How many of you are running a 4 speed car trans, muncie, t10 or a saginaw? I have a t10 w/2.46 1st gear & a saginaw out of a Vega GT w/ 3.11 1st. I see Hurst makes a shifter that works with car trans in trucks so i like that.

Originally Posted by markeb01

If you plan on running a bench seat, I’d recommend the Hurst 55-57 Chevy passenger car bench seat shifter instead of the truck model. It has a C shaped handle which easily clears the bench seat, and in my opinion looks better.

Andy,

Thanks for helping those guys standing @ the fence and watching out for us. I am honored to have you as a member of our forum.

I have a '65 vintage Muncie M-21 car tranny behind the 350 in my '65 SWB SS. I installed the Hurst 55-57 passenger car shifter, #530-391-3780, that Mark talked about in his post. In my truck the shifter stick didn't clear the bench seat, the shifter stick wasn't tall enough. That's because on trucks the transmission isn't tucked up inside the transmission tunnel like a passenger car.

I looked into notching the bench seat upholstery, like a few of the old muscle cars had back in the 60's, but I ended up buying bucket seats. (More details in my build thread, see link below).

As far as rear end ratio you might want to figure out what diameter tires you will be running on the rear first. If you run a tall, large diameter, tire it drastically effects what ratio you should use.

There are (2) things to consider:

1.0 Launch Ratio, which effects how much you slip the clutch in first gear. Here is a calculator to help with that: http://www.5speedtransmissions.com/startlineratio.html

and

2.0 Highway rpm's when in high gear. http://www.csgnetwork.com/multirpmcalc.html

On my truck the M-20 trans has a 2.20 first gear, the rear gear is a 3.37 and I am running 33 inch tall rear tires. Overall this combination is a good daily driver compromise: it isn't a screamer off the line but pulls reasonably low rpm's at 70 mph highway speeds. I think the 3:11 1st gear you have in the saginaw would be great, if that trans. can hold up to the weight of launching your truck, which is likely not going to be the case in the long term. But as you know that depends on how much HP the grandkids push through it, how much traction thr truck has to apply that HP and how often they like to push the envelope.


I hope this helps.

Keep in touch, stay safe and thanks for your service in helping our military guys to stay safe.

[andyh1956]

ok check this out. hurst part # 3910002 shifter / part # 3734734 install kit. made for muncie / t10 installed in chevy pickups. the shifter stick looks like the mastershift series that is made for the 3 spd pickup trans. the kit has an adapter that bolts to the extension housing that picks the shifter up above the mounting holes so it sits higher. gonna email hurst & ask particulars- keep ya posted!
andy

[andyh1956]

ok john using your charts this is what i come up with. with my rear tire size with 3.42 it's 2766 @65 mph. the slr is 8.4- that text says thats a little fast with a 35" roll out in 1st. it wants something in the 9-10-11 range. now what i can compare to is my old 57- 3.55 gears almost 3000 rpm @ 65 mph w 26" tire. slr factors to 7.8. i drove that combo all over & it never strained but it did require a little slipping the clutch when taking off. i think that truck should be a little lighter than the old 57. so all things considered i think you are right when you say that's a workable combo. i luv the information age! back when i was a kid there was NO place to get info like this except hanging around shops & asking stupid questions. seems to get info i always had to go work for those guys to learn something. also in those days info was protected! lots of street racing so $ was at stake! thanks!
andy

[lakeroadster]

Glad I could help! Yeah, it's scary how easy and fast it is to find information now. At this point the first place I go is the internet.

And to think I still remember when "Pong" was all the rage and our rotary dial phone was on a "party line". Christ, am I old or what.

It's all good untill Skynet links up and they (the computers) become self-aware and take over the planet...

[ruffrida2005]

Andy thanks for doing what you do. I've done 3 years in Iraq. Army. Been in many RG31's and 33's. I like the limo though.

Welcome over to this side of the site. No problem with running the later years front. The rear is a little wider from late 70-87. but witht he right BS wheel you will be fine.

What all are the plans for the truck and do you have pics?

[andyh1956]

thanks paul. no picks now. truck is completly disassembled except for cab assy. been a long ride collecting parts for this truck- yall know how that is. i bought a whole truck just to get the cab from. we were gonna 4wd this truck originaly for my son but i bought a blazer one day & poof! he took it & ran with that so 66 will be grand sons high school ride. oh yeah got grand DAUGHTER be here in may so gotta be lookin for her too. got a 60 tuxedo park cj5 that was pink from the factory but she may not grow up to be a jeeper. ill put project thread together when i get home. have not ruled out 4wd- sure like the looks of a baby blue stepside w/ 8" ralleys & 31-10.50s on it. later!
andy

[ruffrida2005]

If you wanna go 4x4 check out the guy oklahoma something in the build threads. He's got a sweet 66 I believe it is.

[ruffrida2005]

Here you go found the thread for ya. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=340792

[andyh1956]

thanks paul- just got done reading it all- way more radical than we are gonna do. as far as using a completly different frame goes before this project went into hibernation we had installed rear leaf springs under a 72 frame. since then i have come up with a little rusty swb early-70s dodge slant six / np 435 / divorced 205- no power anything! older 44 front w/ locking hubs. with the divorced tranny the 283 / t10 combo might work out perfect- if tranny not too long. just kickin stuff around in my head- little to do here sometimes- oh yeah at 0730 in the morning we are going out side the wire & shoot a barrett! [ i have about 100rnds of ammo squirreled away!] thanks guys!
andy

[Shaky]

Ah yes - .50 caliber goodness...

[andyh1956]

just want to say thanks for the help- i have read every thread offered & have lots of ideas now so your effort is not wasted. i will say that before i remembered this site i had all but forgotten the old 66, as the cab is under a tarp up at the barn, and i had contemplated buying a little ford fairlane CAR for ty [horrors!] ok so back to reality- no cars! thanks!
andy