Has anyone tried this...newbie has a ?

[spaz109]

Hey folks, I am in my mid 20's and am trying to get my dad started on his '56. I have came up with a scheme to hopefully surprise his and give him a kick in the pants to get started. What I want to do is buy my friends 89 1/2 ton regular cab stepside 2x4 and take the cab, fenders, and hood off and swap them for the '56's cab fenders and hood. I have roughly measured and it looks like it will work dimensionally. The '56 has been sitting on the back burner for over ten years now. The 89 pu has a tbi 350 w/700r4. A lowering kit would be ultra cheap, and it already has latemodel seats and a centerconsole in it...even a tilt steering column. My pops also likes the looks of the trucks with the 80's 90's stepsides on them (doesn't seem to be too popular around this site) and, as stated, it will already be fited to the frame. It also goes without saying that the fuel tank will still be on the frame and plumbed w/ the bed.

So, does anyone see why this would or would not work. I want to stay away from altering parts on the '56 incase my dad wants to put it on a production frame later.

I want to get him driving it to motivate him to work on it I think it would make quite the surprise.

Many thanks ahead of time.

[Igotachevyor2]

welcome to the board. im sure that you will get plenty of useful info here before long. i have seen a few builds like this and it can work but the cab mounts and a few other parts have to be fabricated. i have never done this but maybe some one will chime in soon with a good answer.

[spaz109]

I figured if a guy was careful I could seperate the cab mounts from the 89 frame and reposition them to work for the '56

[spaz109]

The only thing that I think will be tricky is the brake system...I'm not familiar with these trucks is the stock location for the brake booster on the firewall or is it under the cab on the frame??? I really don't want to go hanging the power brake booster off the '56's firewall if they aren't designed to go there.

[CAL 58 GMC]

Welcome! Check out tigerstory's build, he's doing somthing close to waht your thinking about doing.http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=262874

[tiggerstoy]

there are aftermarket master brake assembles with pedal that you can mod to the 89 frame with some modifacitions, the stock steering column will work, but you will need to add some joints, you will need to cut the front frame to fit the lenght of the 56 on the 89 , and fit the rad...i think i would use the cab mounts frome a 55 frame, and weld them on to the 89 frame for the cab, you will have to make some for the front clip.....hope this helps...max.

[spaz109]

I may have hit a snag...unless I read my tape wrong (and I could of because it was cold today!) the 56 frame looks like its 34" wide??? If someone could double check this for me, the truck is a couple hours away and this was the only measurement I didn't take a picture of . The 89 frame measures 43" wide. Can the 56 cab tuck a 43" frame??? If it could I could probably box the inside of the 89 frame where the cab mounts need to be and mount them inboard.

Oh...and thanks Max

[dwcsr]

the 56 is 34 inches wide front to back.

[spaz109]

So...I wasn't shivering to death when I read my tape measure. Now the question is can I get the 56 cab over the 43" wide 89 rails???

[1-ton of fun]

maybe, but you would need to cut into the rocker steps

[chris71]

i dont think you will have to cut the steps, there is plenty of room between the inside of the step and the frame on a stock 56, however by going with a 9" wider frame your original 56 mounting points on the cab will not line up at all. i think with that wide of a frame you will have to cut some of the supports underneath the cab and the possibly the back of the cab itself down by the cab corners. dont forgt you will have to hack up the inner fenders as well to make them work. not to rain on your parade but it seems alot easire to just slap a camaro/nova/firbird subframe under the front, this way you dont have to worry about cab mounts, frame widths, modifying the cab, brake boosters, etc. you could still get the 89 and use it for seats console column, engine trans, maybe rear? and bed? there are all kinds of things that you may not think off too, unless you just do it, maybe the stock 89 engine is mounted too far back so when you mount the 56 cab, you have clearnce issueswith the firewall,next thing you are cutting out the 89 motor mounts and moving them forward. see what i mean. not trying to discourage or upset anyone here, oh yeah, maybe the centerline of the front and rear wheels of the 89 may not line up right with the wheels openings on a stock 56 body, next thing you are cutting the spring perches and moving them. its funny, i am 24, my 55 is pretty much done, and my father has a 59 cab and frame that he wants to build someday, been sitting around for years, we are kinda in the same boat. he wants to slap a hiedts or fatman front ifs crossmember under the stock frame. whatever you do goodluck and keep us posted

[spaz109]

I measured and it looks like the wheel centerlines will be perfect...but I never thought of where the engine sits??? See, this is why I started the post

[tiggerstoy]

Originally Posted by spaz109

I measured and it looks like the wheel centerlines will be perfect...but I never thought of where the engine sits??? See, this is why I started the post

when i fabed up my 55 onto the 77 frame, the first thing i did is set the 55 front fenders to ware they were senterd to the weels, then i put the cab on, if you look at my pics you can see that the fenders are in the proper place, it's a litle bit more work, but worth it in the end....hope this helps....max.

[tiggerstoy]

i think the measurements between the sreps are 54" or 56...but that should be more than enough to fit on the 89.....max.

[1-ton of fun]

sorry, i was thinking about frame width, forgetting the added width from the cab mounts

[spaz109]

Thanks again Max.

[tiggerstoy]

your verry welcome, hope it helped, p.s. pics?

[spaz109]

I realize...

But I still haven't started yet...remember this will be a suprise for my dad so I don't want to post a bunch of pics incase he stumbles across this site. Max, I will PM you a link to a thread I did on another project so you can get a feel for how "in depth" my write ups tend to be.

many thanks to all