1955 12 Valve NAPCO Clone

[Truck Guy99]

Did you have to modify the hood, inner or outer fenders, grille, bumper, or the headlights? How did you wire the brightness switch, headlights switch, and blinkers?
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[Luther Grimace]

I only cut the inner fender and the core support to fit the intercooler and the intercooler in it. I didn't touch anything else. All the electrical system is original 55 truck stuff. I just run main harness power wire to the starter to get power to the system. The truck didn't come with blinkers.

[6BT 56]

Looken good. Man I cant tell you how much i love your mirrors . I have the small crappy ones. Shake a lot and the drivers one all you can see is the spare mounted on the fender. Off topic but after seeing the pics of your chevelle I thought you should see the 69 chevelle in the alternate tinkerings section. He put the orriginal body over top of a cup car Chassie . Way too dam cool!!! Any thought on what your going to do for a air filter?

[Luther Grimace]

Originally Posted by 6BT 56

Looken good. Man I cant tell you how much i love your mirrors . I have the small crappy ones. Shake a lot and the drivers one all you can see is the spare mounted on the fender. Off topic but after seeing the pics of your chevelle I thought you should see the 69 chevelle in the alternate tinkerings section. He put the orriginal body over top of a cup car Chassie . Way too dam cool!!! Any thought on what your going to do for a air filter?

Thanks! I checked it out! That thing is awesome. Looks like something Smokey Yunick would build. On my air filter I am just going to run the original filter piping and filter and just run some angle iron braces to the inner fender. I really don't want to spend alot of money and time waiting for 90 degree elbows to come in. I know those big honking air filters are expensive too but I hope to get one soon.

[6BT 56]

I have my stock air stuff too. i keep thinking of using it but the duct looks like one of the arms of the robot from lost in space. i keep hearing " danger danger " makes me think I should do somthing else. but what? i'm running out of funds on this old girl too. I had all the $$ from all the napco stuff I took out and the 235. Im not over budget but there;s no extra. lol.
I just may have to use the lost in space setup for now untill i can build sumting more period correct looking . there is a ton of space in the fender behind the headdlight. I may just look ino sumtin back in there .

That chevelle sure is cool. I have a poster of smokey's 66 or 67 like yours in my old shop at my mom's. blk and gold. I love to read abt all the old cheating stufff smokey did in the day . I want to read his book some time .

[Truck Guy99]

When you wired the starter, did you make it work on the key or the starter pedal? If the floor starter, how did you make it work? Pics? Thanks in advance
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[6BT 56]

Hi Luther . Hows it been going ? Anything to report ?

[Luther Grimace]

Not much to report. I got the gauge cluster reinstalled in the truck and got my brake light switch mounted and wired up. I also got the mechanical oil pressure and temperature gauge hooked up too.

I didn't work on it any Saturday but late tonight I pulled it in and removed some leafs from the front pack. Ever since I shifted the engine back it raised the front end up. And the ride got stiff. I de arched a set of these 52s together a couple of years ago when I first got the truck. I removed 2 from the bottom on each side. It lowered it 1.75 inches on each side. It looks much better. I will post pictures tomorrow sometime. I started on cutting up the rear dodge harness to work with the chevy one. Does your truck have backup lights or turn signals?

I agree about the lost in space arm. That is funny! It looks just like it. I am just gonna run it because its free and I have it. All the turbo elbows I have bought take about a week to get here and I hope to drive it to a car show Friday night. I am still waiting on a part from dieselwrencher so hopefully it will show up tomorrow.

I have the same poster! Smokey was a hard core dude!
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[Luther Grimace]

Originally Posted by Truck Guy99

When you wired the starter, did you make it work on the key or the starter pedal? If the floor starter, how did you make it work? Pics? Thanks in advance
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I used the ignition switch because my truck was missing the foot starter when I got it from the junkyard. I would think it wouldn't be too hard to rig up?
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[Luther Grimace]

Here are some pictures of the truck after I removed the bottom 2 leaves. It looks so much better. The tire is centered perfectly in the wheel well for fitting these big 36s. The spring also has a flatter arch which is always better as far as ride is concerned I knocked it out in about an hour last night. You can see the puddles underneath the truck which is from the turbo leaking oil because of my wrong drain back pipe and the other is coming out of the injection pump. It is leaking out of the fuel pin housing. I will have to take it back off and buy another aluminum washer for it.





It lowered the truck about 1.75". Pretty awesome for one nights work. Ignore my shaky writing.

[Truck Guy99]

Sorry to be nosy, but how much money are you in it so far and what did you pay for the 55? What did you do with the old parts left from both trucks?
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[Luther Grimace]

Originally Posted by Truck Guy99

Sorry to be nosy, but how much money are you in it so far and what did you pay for the 55? What did you do with the old parts left from both trucks?
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I don't really want to say in case I sell this truck. I can say that it is a very good number that I am comfortable with. If I were to do it over again I could save myself some money by knowing what won't work like highsteer. I could have saved half of what my steering cost based on that. If I could give someone that was thinking about doing this advice it would be to start with a good donor truck. My truck was beat to pieces but it was the only diesel W250 I knew of at a reasonably low price. Most of the money I have spent has been on the engine. The transmission didn't cost much to fix but I enjoy doing this stuff myself as you can see by my pump rebuild. Cummins engines are VERY expensive to rebuild especailly comparing the cost of an old 350 small block. A 6BT rebuild kit without pistons costs 1000-1200 and pistons alone are close to that. I could have saved money by running the old knocking engine but now I have the confidence when someone asks me if it is a good truck I can say yes. I saved where I could and spent where it was most important to me which was steering safety. That stems from a bad experience I had with the Dodge pulling a trailer loaded with a 65 pickup truck and finding out the steering box bracket was broken thanks to the push/pull steering over 50 miles from home on mountain roads. I can say that the body swap itself cost little to no money because I reused all main components from the Dodge and sold what wasn't needed. I scrapped the cab and made some money where I could. The market for early Dodge parts are low. I still have the Chevy frame and I sold the seats. I'll get off my soap box now. Hope this helps!

[Dieselwrencher]

If anyone is looking for good 5.9 rebuild kits at a good price, here's one place to start..............

http://www.enterpriseengine.com/shop...e-rebuild-kit/

[Luther Grimace]

That is a really good price for all that. What brand are all those parts?
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[Dieselwrencher]

When I've gotten kits from them it was usually all cummins stuff. I've heard some of it now is Interstate McBee. But their parts are really nice too.

[Truck Guy99]

I kinda figured I'd get an answer like that. I was just asking because I wanted to do the same thing to a 55 as you saw in my dream post. I was just wanting a loose price range without the steering parts. Nice ride though man! How much of a price tag for it? Got a title?
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[Luther Grimace]

Originally Posted by Truck Guy99

I kinda figured I'd get an answer like that. I was just asking because I wanted to do the same thing to a 55 as you saw in my dream post. I was just wanting a loose price range without the steering parts. Nice ride though man! How much of a price tag for it? Got a title?
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If your truck that you have is in good shape just find a good donor. The body swap should cost little to nothing. Just get a good donor. I saw a non Intercooled D250 that my buddy had sell for $1000 because it had bad ball joints. The real investment is time. I will just have to let someone tug my ear good one day on price. I'm getting the tag swapped over sometime this week. We don't require titles in Alabama pre 74.

[Luther Grimace]

I was going to load my truck on the trailer last night and carry it to the DMV for vin verification since I am still working on wiring. Didn't get far.



I'd love to have a good car hauler one day. What do some of you guys have? To me a goosneck car hauler with a large quality winch would be great. I 'm tired of come-alonging stuff onto a trailer.

[XJAbuzer]

Cut off the rails and make some drive over fenders.

[Truck Guy99]

If your looking for a good car hauler, PJ trailers and trailmaster trailers are both very well built. I have used both and both have held up under LOTS of weight. You could buy some factory sized wheels and tires from the junk yard for "Travel Wheels". Other than that, the only thing I can think of is buzzing those rails off. What about the flat bed in the first pics?
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[Dieselwrencher]

I have a low deck triple axle gooseneck that is 22' deck. Trucks with super wide tires are a pain to get on it due to having to drive through the fenders. But I just put stock wheels on those when this happens. It also has a 8500lb winch on it. Sure comes in handy.

[6BT 56]

Hi Luther .

Here is what I use. I bought it new in The U.S for $3800 Worth every penny.

One of these loads is typical stuff, happens all the time. One of these loads is a bit on the heavy side and I would not do again !!!!

Can you guess which one ?

[Luther Grimace]

I'm gonna say the second picture! You've got some good looking dogs! Is one a German Shepard? We have one and she is a very loyal dog.
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[6BT 56]

Originally Posted by Luther Grimace

I'm gonna say the second picture! You've got some good looking dogs! Is one a German Shepard? We have one and she is a very loyal dog.
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Winner winner chiken dinner. Yep the second one . My boat trailer weighs 6000 empty and I move 15000 pound boats daily. Let me tell you that Skidder towed like a house with a anchor attached to it!

Yep the dogs are mine. The sheppard is like everyones best friend. Im going to be a mess when that dodg's time is up. The Border Collie is gone now but he was just a super dog as well. Smart as a wip. You could put that dog in the mudroom at nite all covered in mud . The next morning he looked like new and there was just a big circle of sand where he slept. That was always good for a laugh.

How you maken out on your truck ? Mine is movin and driven with some fine tuneing required when I can free up some time.

[Luther Grimace]

I love dogs. Every man needs a good dog. I have made some good progress on the truck. I have not been able to update with pictures or in general because work has been really busy and my laptop bit the dust. I have finished up most all of the wiring. I have all the gauges working except the ammeter and the speedometer. I have the cable but the NP205 that came in the dodge is electrical.

I have all the lights working except the parking lights which I just ordered yesterday since mine were rusted to pieces. I think I need to add in a turn signal setup. Do you guys have one?

I also got all my intercooler piping connected so it is a turbo diesel again. I had to rebuild the turbo cause it was shot. Blowing oil all over the place! I ended up having to buy a new diffuser, thrust collar, and oil slinger.

Now onto the good story. Last Friday I went to the DMV for vin verification and to get my tag. I rushed all that morning on my day off rebuilding the turbo and drove up there. Stood in line for 30 minutes thinking I was good to go. My bill of sale had a company name instead of an individual since I bought it from a scrap yard. So I had to drive back home, jump in the 65 and drive an hour away to the scrap yard to get a new bill of sale. Didn't make it back home in time to get back to the DMV but such is life. I got the tag now so I'm legal. Crazy to think the last time the truck was tagged was in 1975. I would like to out who the original owner was just to get some back history.

I hope to post pictures soon.
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