My 1975 Project FrankenTruck

[NeoJuice]

1975 Project FrankenTruck

Hello everyone I'm starting this build thread to post the progress of my build. I've been a member on this forum for a while but mostly on my last build in the 1947 - 1959 message board.

Back in the end of May I picked up this project 1975 FrankenTruck down in Southern Alberta Canada near Strathmore. Its been sitting in the garage since the end of May and has only been tinkered on a little bit (busy summer). Now that I've gathered some parts it's time for the work to commence and get this project started.

Its got SBC 350 and I believe a TH400 trans. The truck idles smooth and drives but has no brakes if any because the pedal goes to the floor. The main goal for this season is to get the truck moveable under it's own power and the suspension done. Then I can work on the interior over the winter and drive it come spring.

Its needs the complete interior done, some wiring re-done and a full suspension rebuild. Some think this might be over kill but I want everything to be new. I'll be starting by lowering the rear then leveling it up to the front of the truck. The parts I've gathered so far as follows.

-Rear flip kit
-Shock extenders
-Front Wheel Seals
-Front Shocks
-Front Brake Hoses
-Rear Brake Hose
-Front Calipers
-Adjusting Sleeves
-Front Outer Bearings
-Front Inner Bearings
-Outer Tie Rod Ends
-Front Rotors
-ACDELCO Master Cylinder
-Rear Shocks
-Idler Arm
-Pitman Arm
-Inner Tie Rod Ends
-Front Break Pads
-Brake Booster
-Dorman Upper Control Arms
-PV2 Proportioning Valve

Needed Parts:
-New drums(or have them turned)
-New brake shoes
-New Wheel Cylinders
-New Lower control arm bushings
-New Lower Ball Joints
-MaxTrac Front 2"-3" drop springs
-MaxTrac Front 2.5" drop spindles

This isn't no show truck or a complete restoration. It a 20 footer looker cruiser I call it on a budget lol.

[NeoJuice]

More pictures

[NeoJuice]

More Pictures

[JohnIL]

Good looking truck. You have a great specimen to start a project.

I like your "new everything" approach. I'm a firm believer that brakes, steering, and suspension wear parts should be as new as possible. Some might say that you're just throwing parts at it, but I think it makes a lot of sense to start with fresh, known good, parts, especially with safety systems. Anything original left on the truck is 50 years old. That's the same age as me and I can tell you from experience, 50 year old parts are worn out!

A 5" drop is a little low for my taste, but I like where you're headed. Lowering the center of gravity will make it handle much better. Add some anti-sway bars and get those brakes sorted out. Then, drive the wheels off it!

Have fun with your project and update here as you go. I'm eager to see your progress.

John

[NeoJuice]

John,

Thanks for getting back to me. For the drop, I’m thinking around 4.5"–5" up front using 2" springs with 2.5" drop spindles (the springs should settle a bit). I’m planning to start with the rear since it currently has heavy-duty springs with about eight leaf's. I’ll remove three leaf's and install the flip kit, which should give me roughly a 6" drop in the rear, then I’ll adjust the front to level it out. I definitely don’t want it to have that “Carolina squat” look.

I also want to avoid rubbing issues up front because I’m going to run the 15x8 rally wheels with Cooper Cobra tires. From what I’ve read, the 3" drop spindles tend to cause a lot of rubbing problems, so I’d rather stay away from that setup.

Jarid

[JohnIL]

We all like something different in our trucks, and we're all correct. My son has a '77 C10 that sits like a K10. He has tall street tires. He likes the extra height. On the other hand, my 65 C10 is lowered a couple of inches and it handles like it's on rails. Total opposites. To each his own. I'm not a fan of the slammed truck look, but I can certainly appreciate the improved handling of a lowered suspension. I'm with you 100% on the Carolina squat. Tail dragging is for lead-sled mercs, not for pickups. That look should be avoided at all costs! With all of that said, I really do like the looks of the 5/7 static drop square bodies that Harrison's Rod and Customs builds. They level the truck with the drop, then they raise the rear back up a couple of inches with larger rear wheels and tires. The trucks end up with a perfect hot rod rake.

Originally Posted by NeoJuice

John,

Thanks for getting back to me. For the drop, I’m thinking around 4.5"–5" up front using 2" springs with 2.5" drop spindles (the springs should settle a bit). I’m planning to start with the rear since it currently has heavy-duty springs with about eight leaf's. I’ll remove three leaf's and install the flip kit, which should give me roughly a 6" drop in the rear, then I’ll adjust the front to level it out. I definitely don’t want it to have that “Carolina squat” look.

I also want to avoid rubbing issues up front because I’m going to run the 15x8 rally wheels with Cooper Cobra tires. From what I’ve read, the 3" drop spindles tend to cause a lot of rubbing problems, so I’d rather stay away from that setup.

Jarid

[NeoJuice]

Had a little time over the weekend to work on the truck. The main point was to finally get the truck up on jack stands. I got the rear tires pulled off to take a look at the brakes. I'll need 2" shoes, new drums and a couple hardware kits.

One issue I noticed in the pictures is that I’ll need to cut the exhaust back, since it will hit the rear diff once I install the flip kit. I’ll have the exhaust shop redo it later with a proper over the axle bend. Right now, you can see they laid a large piece of steel across the frame on both sides, bolted it down, and used U-bolts with another piece to create a makeshift hanger. Since that piece of steel is really the only thing holding the exhaust in place, my plan is to slide it forward toward the front of the truck and cut the pipes off before the rear differential. I need something to hold the exhaust up for now.

What a mickey mouse job!

[dagnabbitt]

You've got a lot of leafs back there. Is/was that truck a heavy half?

I had a very similar plan to yours when I lowered my 81, ended up with closer to a 5/7 drop. I love it.

Very very few people who lower their trucks feel like they have lowered theirs too much. And with all those new suspension components it'll be a nice handling ride.

[NeoJuice]

dagnabbitt all I know is it's a Silverado with the HD package according to the SPI. So it has the 1.25" rotors up front and the HD springs in the rear. Since it has 8 leaf's I'm going to remove 3.

[Shark_13]

Great looking truck, nice start to a project!

[NeoJuice]

Picked up all my rear brake parts that finally came in on Saturday.

-New AC Delco Brake drums X2
-2" Drum Brake Shoes
-Brake hardware Kit
-Self adjuster repair kit X2 (left/right)
-Wheel Cylinders X2

Hope to get some time this week/weekend to get the rear brakes done. Then I can work on getting the flip kit in.

[NeoJuice]

Had a little time on the weekend to work on the truck. Decided to start on the rear passenger side brakes. In the first pic is the before disassembly. Picture two is after removing the shoes and cleaning everything up with a wire brush. Went to removed the wheel cylinder and snapped the brake line right off. As a pre-curser to this I've been soaking everything down with penetrating oil for days ahead of time. Lets just say the fitting spun fine but the line did not lol. That's what you get with 50 year old brake lines.

Next thing I did was grab a pair of vice grips and crimped the rubber line just on top of the diff to stop the fluid from coming out. That really didn't seem to stop it so I grabbed a zip lock some paper towel and some zip ties. It seems to have stopped for now.

On to picture five is the new wheel cylinder installed with freshly cleaned and greased brake shoes links and the last is a picture of the rear wheel cylinder. I didn't finish the shoe install because by this time the garage was sweltering hot (faces south) so it was time to call it a day.

I have two six foot pieces of copper-nickel brake line left from my 52 build. I just need to find my fittings and my crimper to make up some new rear lines. I have a new rear brake hose going on as well so I'm wasnt worried about crimping the line with vice grips. I hope replacing that rear hose doesn't cause me any grief as well (crosses fingers).

[NeoJuice]

One more picture.

[NeoJuice]

Had a little time on the weekend to work on the truck. I got the drivers side brake line off without snapping the line like on the passenger side. I was going to make the replacement lines myself with some left over copper-nickel brake line and 3/8-24 ends. I did a rough measurement and took a look on the NAPA site and I needed roughly 25-30" lines and low and behold they were only $6.79/each for the 30" lines. I cant even build the lines for that price when you look at the cost of the brake line (I had), the fittings (I have somewhere) and having to purchase spring armor it wasn't worth the time or cost for $6.79/each.

Next project will be getting the passenger side brake line off. Install the new rear brake hose. Bend up the new lines and get them mounted and connected to the wheel cylinders. Next will be to install the new brake shoes and new drums.

One thing I am worried about is when I go to install the flip kit is that the HD springs might be to thick and not have much flex to them. What I mean by that is you if look at the pictures of the rear leaf's, they don't seem to have any arch to them. There pretty flat. I'll have to remove the bump stops and I think that rear diff is going to be almost touching the frame. I plan on removing the bottom two leaf's but there is still not much arch to the leaf so I think I'm going to end up putting in a c-notch to make more clearance.

I know on the drivers side the bottom leaf is cracked from what I can see but it will be removed anyway. I'm just wondering if they should be replaced or find a good used 1/2 ton set to replace them with. I'm including a picture from the Dorman site or pickup something similar from RockAuto. Look at the arch in those springs. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[NeoJuice]

One more picture.

[SCOTI]

I had the HD leaf packs under my old '74. There's a night & day difference in how yours appear vs what mine were. The flatter arch & the obvious gaps between the various leafs = time to replace. The Dorman stuff should work just fine.

[NeoJuice]

Looks like I'm on the hunt for some leaf springs. Thanks for the tip SCOTI.

[NeoJuice]

As I was thinking about it afterwards as to why they look like they have no arch to them. I have the jack stands under the axel to hold the back of the truck up in the rear. So the leaf's would appear to be less arched as if it was sitting on the ground. But as you mentioned SCOTI they are 50 years old and they do have gaps so they will still need to be replaced.

[NeoJuice]

Took a ride out to a guys place not to far from me on Saturday afternoon. Picked up my new/old wood grain bezel and dash trim. I'll be replacing the 'Sierra Classic' emblem with the Silverado emblem. Considering how old the pieces are in pretty good shape and to find one that doesn't have the stereo hacked apart is amazing lol. Probably put in a retro sound stereo at some point.

Over the busy weekend, I found a little time to bend up my rear driver’s side brake line, and I think it turned out pretty well. I ended up returning the two 30" lines I bought and went with 40" instead, since I didn’t measure correctly at first. I just grabbed a tape measure, went from the axle to the diff, and eyeballed 30"—which is about right in a straight line, but once you factor in the bends, it ends up being longer. When I had the line out, I measured it properly with a soft measuring tape and got about 36–37", so the 40" line was the best fit.

[dagnabbitt]

Nice pieces, those are hard to find in that condition.

[NeoJuice]

Minus the one I bought and the dash piece he still had a couple left. These are the pictures he initially sent me.

[NeoJuice]

Had a little time on Saturday to work on the truck. I started out with trying to remove the passenger side rear brake line. In the days coming up to removal I was soaking everything down with penetrating oil at least once a day. Well the removal of the line from the diff didn't go so well and that fitting rounded right off. So I said f*ck it and ended up cutting it off. Didn't really matter anyway because I have a new replacement line. I'll make a new hardline and get that bent up this week.

Now onto the mainline. I had to unwire a little bit of the spring armor to get my flare nut wrench on. Well let me just say that didn't go as I thought it would, damm thing is now rounded off. So now what I need to do is cut the line off and see if I can re-flare the end. Problem is I believe the line is 1/4" line and the fitting should be a 7/16-24 but my flaring tool I have when I did my 52 is only for 3/16' line.

This is the one I had for the 52 when I did the brake lines and it worked great.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-on...16-tubing.html

So now I'll have to either rent or buy another flaring tool for the 1/4" line, the fittings should be easy enough to find. Then I also got the drivers side shoes on, skinned my pinky finger, got a brake shoe return spring in the forehead and now the spring is no where to be found lol. I'll have to pickup a brake shoe return spring kit to replace the missing spring.

[NeoJuice]

Picked up a new drum brake hardware kit (Raybestos H7018) because of the missing spring I still cant find lol. No one had the return spring kit (Raybestos H324).

Sourced the 1/4' double flaring tool off Amazon so that's on it's way.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08W8D3J2K?...sin_title&th=1

Sourced the inverted flare nuts I'll need for the rear hardline to the rubber line.
https://greggdistributors.ca/hose-an...0?srcid=search

Had a little time on Saturday and I got the passenger side brake line bent up. I was able to get the passenger side brakes shoes on.

Next on the agenda is getting the new rear brake lines installed. Cutting and re-flaring the rear hardline and installing the rubber line to the diff. I'm still on the search for some rear leaf spring but my posts online are coming up empty. I don't really want to shell out $400/side for new rear leaf springs.

Anyway just a small update.

[NeoJuice]

Had a little time on the weekend to work on the truck. Jacked up the truck from the cross member and positioned my crip blocks under the frame. Had to do a little modification to each crib block do to the frame being different on each side (e-brake bracket on the drivers side and some bolts on the passenger side) but over all turned out pretty good and rock solid safe. I also put one of the front tires under the cross member for extra safety.

Starting out on the passenger side things don't look to bad. Tons of old grease on the zerk fittings, mud and every bushing is shot. I'm not to worried because everything will be replaced with new parts.

Can someone tell me about he shock bolt? Never seen anything like that before. It must be removed from the inside.

[NeoJuice]

Onto the drivers side it's more of the same. But at least the previous owner didn't lie when he said it had new brakes on it. The pads appear to be newer but they will also be replaced with all the new parts. Once I get everything torn apart I'll paint the frame and clean things up before re-assembly. Still haven't got to the rear brake lines yet but I did receive my 1/4" flaring tool.