1958 Project

[Houston54]

Although I still have plenty of sheetmetal work to perform on the cab I decided to play with some fiberglass for a little while.

I was planning to do the typical stepside bed until I stumbled across a donor truck in the form of a 55 or 56 Cameo.

Although much of the bed trim and other cameo elements have been lost to time and scavengers there was enough of the bed left to make it interesting. The remains of the cab also provided some parts I was lacking and the chassis has a 12 bolt posi, TH400 and a 1970 350 which may be a 010/020 block. It will be after the holidays before I delve into those parts as I am focusing on rehabing the cameo bedsides first.

As the tailgate is missing I will need to come up with a solution which will probably be a reproduction skin on one of my extra gates. The latch mechanism though will need to be redesigned.

Here are some pics of the current efforts.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/23617983

The chassis and sheetmetal work can be found under other albums on that link.

[Fat Mike]

Can you give me a reference point where you cut the frame in relation to the front cab mounts? How many inches?

[Houston54]

I used the dimensions provided in the No Limit video I had purchased some years back. I do not recall the exact dimensions at this time and there are other dimensions you need to consider at the same time. Although the video does leave some details a bit grey it does a good job of instructing you how to do the subframe modification. My advice is to obtain that video. When I had a specific question regarding the install No Limt (Rob) was able to clarify for the most part.

There are other subframe install methods out there but this is the look I wanted for my truck. Whether the stance will be to my complete liking remains to be seen as the IRS may be set too high or it may be too low. That issue will not get answered until I get the cab, bed and drivetrain in place. I do not expect any problems but I want the truck low but not too low and the rake to be subtle. This truck is being built to drive not show so handling performance is important.

Some might say I should have used C4 front suspension with the rear C4 IRS but I had the F-body subframe in stock. The result will be just fine.

[Fat Mike]

Here goes the stupid questions. Why did you have to put your subframe at a 7 degree anti-dive? What exactly does this do for the frame? Does anti-dive means to lean back or forward with the subframe?

[bobinbc]

Mike, the subframe goes on level. The anti-dive is built into the upper A-arm mounts, not sure what the angle is on a Camaro. Could the 7 degrees that you heard about be on the upper a-arm mounts on a Mustang II kit?

edit: ok I was just looking at Houston 54's build site and now know what mike was referring to. The 7 degrees is designed into the Camaro a-arm mounts.

[Houston54]

I finally got the bed side repairs completed to the point where I could lay some epoxy primer on the panels and end caps over the weekend. The plan is to let the primer cure for a couple of weeks then cut with 180 and lay two more wet coats of epoxy down. After that they will sit in storage until it is time for final paint prep.

Now I can give some attention to the cab.

[Kabwe]

You are just lucky that's all. I've been looking for a cameo bed for years I would have even took a fleetside. You are just lucky and now I'm green with envy.lol

[Houston54]

After some delays I have started making progress on the 58 again. The first item on the list is to convert the small window cab to a big window. The BW cab I had was too far gone to use so I salvaged the rear panel and had the SW cab I had blasted.
There was an article I found on one of the classic truck websites on converting a SW to a BW and began using that approach. The process appears to be workable but I discovered it seems to trim away the additional bracing that BW cabs have in the B pillar.
After deciding I wanted to retain that bracing I changed the method of the surgery to replace a majority of the panel instead of just the window frame.
This past weekend I removed the donor BW panel and repaired some rot in the upper window channel and removed the remains of the SW panel from the cab.
I hope to finish prepping the donor panel this week and start the fit and trim process this coming weekend. The donor panel has been treated with GEM Rust killer since it was removed from the old cab. This stuff is great and inexpensive. I just need to remove it from the surfaces now so I can epoxy prime it. That will require some DA work and scrubbing.