49 chevy 5 window, resto mod - on air w/patina

[49-5window]

Hi folks,

I am new to the American iron scene, but not new to building cars. I wanted one of these AD trucks for a while and had recently finished building a VW bus and was looking for another project.



I decide to create this thread to post progress and ask questions about things that are new to me. Thanks in advance.

After finding a REALLY clean and dry truck from North Dakota in Nov of 2019, i went and looked at it in person and bought it.

As i bought it (Nov 2019):


Delivered:


The (1957 Canadian Pontiac 261 with 848 high comp head):


1974 Nova 10 bolt 8.5" rear end (3.08 for cruising):


started to take it apart:


Pulled the body off:


bought a Turbo 350 (TH350) Auto Trans,
ordered the langdon trans adapter kit (Great kit! Bought the starter locally because of international shipping costs and those starters are dirt cheap),
installed a Mustang II IFS and brake upgrade. it was a generic kit and was pretty tricky to install (get the geometry correct)



installed a Mustang2 IFS and rust paint-matched it, also fabbing up engine mounts for the inline 6:



trimming the inner fenders to clear the IFS and engine mount supports





installed dual 8" MC and smaller trans cooler (i live in Canada):

[mongocanfly]

Looks like a good solid start..!!..

[NorCalGal]

Looking forward to following your build

[6DoF]

oh a roll, get after it!

is that a Westy? that would be really good fun, looks awesome.

[youngrodder]

Looks like a great start so far....

Marc

[57FleetsideC4]

Great looking project with perfect patina. Great progress so far. Steve

[49-5window]

modified the battery tray to hold a big-old 12v and fabbed up a hold-down bracket

[49-5window]

set the engine angle at 2.5 degrees down

fabricated the rear trans hanger. i used the stock one and modified it quite a bit. trimmed off the bottom so it didn't hang down. Goal to have lowest point = running boards

pulled the bed off. i was surprised how fast this went. took like 6 minutes!




unbolted the stock rear suspension / drive line and rolled it out of the way

[49-5window]

figured out the driveshaft. needed to sort out a combo ujoint. not really an easy way to do that other than measure and hunt rock auto.

this driveshaft had those stupid plastic inserts, so getting the OG ones out was a PITA.

all done combo ujoint to fit the Nova rear end:


polished up the nose shaft w/1000 then 2000 grit wet dry

[edgeleycanuck]

Thanks for making the effort to show us your build.
Great to see an inline 6 build. Looking forward to the progress.
Actually I'm addicted to following all the AD builds, better
Than any t.v. shows!