55.2-59 1958 Saab story

[gottattooz]

Well, I'm at it again. I picked up a solid 1958 short wheel base Chevy Panel truck. It's just a roller with 1979 4x4 axles front and rear with the steering column and brake booster setup from the same truck. It also came with a 2004 Chevy suburban 2500 as a donor. The suburban is a 6.0l, 4l80e, push button 4wd, 14 bolt rear with 4:10 gears. With the wheelbase difference, there was a lot of cutting and welding to be done to fit the panel truck body on the chassis. Plus i don't want a lifted truck. So MadKidd and I worked out a trade. He got the suburban and i got his 2006 Saab 97x. It's the same wheel base, 6.0l LQ4, beefedup 4l70e trans and a 3:73 gear.

Just likes my last build http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=768482 , the plan is to cut out the fire wall and floor pans and set the panel truck body on the Saab floor pan, retaining all the creature comforts and driveability of a late model with the classic bodystyle on the outside.

-Josh

[lunatic1968]

Sounds like a cool project, Ill subscribe.

I dont know anything about Saabs, it has a 6.0L ? Ill definitely check out your other build. Ive got similar plans for my 65 suburban.

Love the Cherokee too, I have a chief with a Duramax .

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by lunatic1968

Sounds like a cool project, Ill subscribe.

I dont know anything about Saabs, it has a 6.0L ? Ill definitely check out your other build. Ive got similar plans for my 65 suburban.

Love the Cherokee too, I have a chief with a Duramax .

The Saab came with an aluminum 5.3l.

Nice Jeep!

[gottattooz]

I ordered some 1958 Chevy impala front turn signal bezels so i could change up the grille. I have a few ideas, but they all hinged on if the turn signal bezels would work or not. It turns out they're perfect for what i had in mind. Since the Saab has factory fog lights, I'll run fog lights in the bezels with amber halos to function as turn signals.

I know I'm holding the one in the picture upside down, but they don't really "belong" on the truck anyways, so we'll see how i feel when it comes time to make a decision

The last 2 pictures are of the lights i used on my Jeep project.

-Josh

[6DoF]

interested to see what ya do with this grill

[gottattooz]

No real progress, but i did pick up a 1950 Buick front bumper with tooth grille to hopefully use with the impala turn signals. Dad and i tried to hold it in place with a floor Jack, but the brackets hit the steering gear box before it got close to being in place.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

Today i removed the bumper brackets and used a ratchet strap to hold the bumper in place. Up high looks awesome and fills in the grille nicely, but blocks the turn signals i plan to use. Down low is technically where the bumper should be, but there's a huge gap. We'll see.

-Josh

[Rusti]

Looks grate. Very impressive apparence.

[gottattooz]

So I'm finally starting on this project. First thing was to remove the old frame. I staged the wheels to get an idea of the direction I want to go with it.

-Josh

[G&R's57GMC]

Kool project !

Like the Buick bumper grill. Paint looks good love the color .

I see where the state has made the Georgia slant a problem for you .

Have fun with your build .

[gottattooz]

Madkidd, don't look!!!

I got up early and gutted the Saab. As I get things out of the way, I can get better measurements. It's looking like the body will hang 12 inches lower than the floor pan. I should be able to retain the step pocket that extend to the bottom of the door. I'm in the process of removing the wooden floor in the panel truck. I want to be able to see through the floor and make the necessary braces to the existing Saab floor pan and then figure out how to proceed from there.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I dropped the rear wooden floor in one piece. I left the crossmember that the wood floor attaches to and cut out the floor pan about halfway up the fire wall. I'll trim away as needed once I get the Saab skinny enough to slip the panel truck body over.

-Josh

[G&R's57GMC]

Gee … this project feels like something from AMT , JoHan , Revel , MPC

Big kids toys

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by G&R's57GMC

Gee … this project feels like something from AMT , JoHan , Revel , MPC

Big kids toys

It's funny you say that. My dad made the exact same reference when he saw my progress. He said "it's like you took 2 model car kits and you're mixing and matching different parts from opposing boxes."

-Josh

[G&R's57GMC]

Yep there seems to be a lot of that going on .

A friend of mine had a ‘49 Mercury with a ‘90 Buick front wheel drive chassis slipped under it completely even the interior . Outside custom Merc inside new Buick .

[gottattooz]

More cutting. I got the Saab down to the bare essentials and wheeled it under the panel truck to take some measurements. I was hoping to keep the Saab floor pan under the wood floor in the back, but it wasn't in the cards. I pulled it back out and cut off the floor just behind where the fuse panel mounts. I'll end up cutting the wood floor right about where the front cross member will go. Also I won't be able to keep the entry steps. The dash board kinda dictates where everything will need and, unfortunately the body won't hang down like I'd hoped. We'll see what happens when I get that far.

-Josh

[dsraven]

when I did mine at that point (57 gmc on 04 envoy) I trimmed the envoy floor to allow steps. I also used part of the firewall but if doing it again i would use more of the firewall. it has the mount for the brake booster which is also the mount for the pedals so I ended up welding some areas to accept the stock pedal adapter plate.
I placed my cab down over the frame and floor pan with the firewalls lined up and the floor sitting on its original mounts and bolted up. then i used some threaded rod attached to the cab as a way to adjust and fine tune the cab to frame dimensions. I lowered the cab until the body was about the same height as the lower edge of the frame. that way you won't get a surprise one day on a speed bump. the step vertical flanges were shortened accordingly. the problem I now have is the stock envoy seat attached to the floor is a little low for the dash height. i could have shimmed the body off the frame, like a 4x4 lift kit would do, but it is a little late now. maybe I will shim the seats instead. it could go up about an inch and half. you decide on yours because it is your truck, but I thought I would mention that point before it gets too late for you too. using the stock envoy floor and seat arrangement means the seat will be further away from the dash so your should then becomes closer to the rear of the door opening. I suggest to do some tacks when you get it like you like it and then install the seat and see how you like it. the floor pan is rust coated so ensure to grind that off in the areas where you will weld, those fumes really aint good for you. the weld thru primer is good to have kicking around as it is a fairly good rust inhibitor to spray over the welds and it dries fast
pics show envoy suspension at stock ride height. I pinned the suspension prior to removing the body so I would know where it is supposed to sit. the springs can be adjusted afterwards if the body moves a bunch up or down when the suspension pins are removed.the envoy/trailblazer/saab came with air ride as an option on the rear so I could do that with stock air bags and remove the coils since all the frames have the sockets for the bags to mount into. the fronts are a strut so there are lowering struts available if needed up front.
keep posting progress pics, it's interesting stuff. also, keep doing your body dimensional checks to ensure the doors will still fit when done. things get tweaked easily and you don't notice. i cross braced mine but there was a time when the floor, roof, firewall and rear of the cab were missing.I extended my cab so a seat would fit.
you may have noticed the floor hump is not in the middle but offset to the passengers side.

[dsraven]

here is a link to a trailblazer/envoy/saab frame swap on a 52 burb. it might be worth a read for some ideas.

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=348244

[gottattooz]

More drilling out spot welds and making the Saab as skinny as possible. I removed the 58 dash in one piece.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

And the tedious task of lower the body, mark what needs to be cut away, lift the body, pull the Saab out, cut and repeat. The wheels are so big, the arms on the lift want to hit the tires, so I have to remove the rear wheels and let the jack all the way down to get the step wells to clear the dash. But I think I'm making great progress and I'm liking what I'm seeing.

-Josh

[G&R's57GMC]

I have an SSR , it's built on the same chassis as yours .

Being a convertible it has a lot of cowl shake .
Their is a company called http://simple-engineering.com that has a lot of fixes for the SSR . Some may apply to your build , like Chassis stiffening plate under the engine and a double tube cross member .
I'm also a member at http://www.ssrfanatic.com

Here's my SSR

[dsraven]

I took the dash out of mine because it is a bit wider than the stock cab interior.
it's too bad you have to work around that hoist, haha. looking good, keep posting, maybe I will find time to work on mine soon too.

[gottattooz]

More and more trimming. I removed the interior and cut off the inner rockers to make room for the step wells. I also cut away as much of the "a" pillar to get the dash where is going to be.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

And that's as far down as she'll go. It looks like I'm going to have to remove the dash and cut into the firewall to get everything trimmed away enough to lower the body another 6 inches or so.

-Josh

[Blue GMC]

Great project will definitely follow along!! On a side note always was a Saab 9 series convertible fan never found one in decent shape