56 Cameo build

[tbrown5079]

I took the truck back to the guy ( wizard actually - seriously) who installed the front end and he made it right with a little tweaking. He had origionally put pads on top of the mounts in case the bolt would ever break or come out and that was part of the problem. He also cut out and made room in the crossmember and put the air conditioner compressor on the bottom where it belonged. Good clearance everywhere! The only other issue is the exhaust manifolds touch the frame rails so I am looking for a set of Camaro or Firebird LS exhaust manifolds. They tuck in closer.
Time to start reassembly in primer until I can drive it, Then disassemble and paint. Lots of hurdles to jump but I have done way more on my own than I thought possible and am very satisfied with the results so far. Glad you guys enjoy seeing the progress.

[Houston54]

I see a lot in your project that I will need to tackle on my 58 project. I was considering removing the entire rear panel for my big window conversion but am having a hard time locating the spot welds on the inside of the B pillar on both my donor and the new cab. I have wire wheeled the surface which normally makes the welds visible but this has not worked in this case.

There is an old article from Custom Classic Trucks showing another method of transplanting a big window panel into a small window cab.
http://www.customclassictrucks.com/t...uck/index.html

Unless I can locate the welds this will be the method I will be using.

Look forward to seeing more pictures of your cameo.

[OrrieG]

the factory assembly manual shows the welds, underlying bracing, hidden welds, and how the pieces were put together. good investment if you are going in that deep!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Houston54]

I already have it and while it does show the weld points it does not help in finding the actual weld to drill out.

[tbrown5079]

Houston54 I can't help you too much, but you do realize you have to change the whole interstructure for the big window. I had another guy do that, then we put the new back panel on. The top inside piece was a chore, because of the double curviture. It was pretty rusted but he made it work. You can see on the picture that its going to need smoothing. Rather than deal with replacing the bottom corners and other issues with the sheetmetal we thought it would be easier to just replace the whole panel. Good luck!

[rainydayforme]

I'm Loving this thread,,, PLEASE, PLEASE, as much detail as possible on the bed sides.. Where are you putting the fuel neck?? In the bed or fabing it into the bed side?? Very motivating build!!

[tbrown5079]

Thanks for the encouragement rainydayforme. We removed all the trim from the bedsides and glued the front pieces on. I did get a new tailgate cover. The old one was almost too bad to fix. I'm going to put a fuel door in the bed rather than on the side. keep it simple.
Put the seats in last night, took pictures I will be posting. Talked to Ididit yesterday to order the column. Moving forward.
tbrown

[tbrown5079]

Here's the seat install. Seats from a 2007 Escalade. Measured for the column and ordered it from IDIDIT.
tbrown

[Fat Mike]

Man this is a really cool build.

[ratty 46]

I bet that if you made a few sets of those seat tracks you'd have no issue selling them ... there are soooooooo many third row gm seats out on the 4 sale market that it makes your head spin.

How bout just a drawing & measurements??

Thanks & nice build project.

Ratty 46

[tbrown5079]

For Tri5Nerd, here are the pictures of what I have done so far on the door latches. The handles are from a late 80"s early 90's Pontiac. The curve of the door is very similar. Just cut the sheetmetal to fit and weld in. The swivels in the door obviosly go below the lowered window. The piece hanging on it is for the lock which I haven't finished yet. You can't use a cable setup because you are pushing down on the rod to open. The inside door handle still works, you just have to add an inch or so to the length.
I know its rough but it works and I will improve on it before I am done.
tbrown

[tbrown5079]

For Ratty 46, I just had 2 pieces of 1/8 th steel cut 25" square, laid it on the inverted seat, marked the slots, cut them on the plasma cutter at work, then welded 1/2 " bolts to fit the seat locks. Not real difficult.
tbrown

[ratty 46]

Thank you ... well thought out & very functional. Same goes for the outside door handles.

Ratty 46

[Tri5Nerd]

Thanks for the pictures, now I have an idea how I'm going to do mine.

Tri5

[youngrodder]

Are those seats out the 2nd or 3rd row from the 2007 Escalade???
looks good

Thanks
Marc

[tbrown5079]

Third row

[tbrown5079]

Happy new year to all! It was a great holiday season with family and friends.
Now time for getting serious with the build.
I had the new IDIDIT column in place, The brake assembly from CCP installed, The camaro radiator, fan and shroud in place and ready for the Master to tweak it all.
You can see by the pictures what has been done except for the Vintage Air install. We are configuring the hoses and deciding on the best routes.
We are using the e-brake assembly under the dash so we are getting cables to make that work.
Have the tank installed but need to put the intank pump and lines in.
Still need exhaust, driveshaft, air intake, and wiring.
Any suggestions on a simple air intake and filter would be appreciated.

[Desert.Chevy]

Cool build! Can I see another picture of the whole truck.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Kim57]

Nice build.
Don't know how I missed it before.
Kim

[tbrown5079]

Starting on the wiring. Put throttle controller on firewall (will be behind the battery). Have the harness on the engine, fuse box under dash and trying to make sense and route the wires in an organized manner.
Any tips or words of encouragement would be appreciated.

[_Ogre]

nice work on those door handles, had i not shaved mine i would have tried something like that



as for the simple air cleaner set up, does it get any simpler than this?
this might work for you.

[tbrown5079]

Thanks for the kind words. That is a little different application for the air cleaner, how did you mate it to the MAF sensor? Does that all come in one unit?
tbrown

[_Ogre]

my setup won't work with a maf sensor, i have an mefi4 controller that uses a ait (air inlet temp sensor)

[tbrown5079]

Got the fuel pump, fuel filler, and fuel sender unit in and the tank installed. Rear brake lines and rear shocks done. Set the pinion angle and measured for the driveshaft (53"). Then we can get the exhaust installed. Need to mount the filter/regulator and run fuel lines. Got an ignition switch to mount in the dash so that will be most of the basic wiring figured out except for the instrument panel. Still waiting on a couple of fittings to finish up the a/c condensor and drier install.

Decided to weld 2 4" elbows together and put air cleaner above the engine. Will have pictures later if we can make it work!
tbrown

[Kim57]

Nice clean install on the tank.
Kim