My 54 3100 pickup build

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

And the rear shot

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Under floor bracing, will be mounting seat belts to the RHS at the rear, (LS1 conversion engineering requirement)

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Trim and bend up some sheet, and run the tipping die over the edge.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Bell housing hump done.

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Time to cut up some plate, to make the brake and clutch levers, decided for a drilled sword theme. Will match the shift lever later on,

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Both done, bend the brake arm around the column, weld on some early camaro pads. And make up some bush tubes.

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Mounted to the modified pontiac column support.

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Time for some chassis mods now, going to raise the rear rail humps, and use the top and bottom of the original rail to keep it looking more factory. . Cut two plates the same, angle cut the ends to spread out the stress. Cut the top rail on the forward side of the hump. and shape to the new plates, tack in place, cut the bottom rail at the rear side of the hump, weld in place, both rails require extending at the cut points. Fab up some thicker plate to weld inside the rails, overlapping the new joins.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Looking good so far

[4DSEVEN]

Originally Posted by SPEEDYS GARAGE

Mounted to the modified pontiac column support.

Nice work!

[e015475]

Have you fitted the cab to the chassis yet? Does the T56 fit under the flat floor-pans you've made? (nice looking work, BTW)

Putting a LS motor in my '49 but fitting a T5 till I can afford a TKO or T56, and it looks like you'll get there way before me.

Watching with interest how the T56 fits - hopefully I can learn something that will help me plan.

What do you plan to do for shifter location? Moving it forward?

Thanks for posting -

Phil

[e015475]

Very interested in your seatbelt installation.

It seems like anything goes here in the states - here in Arizona there's no inspection required to put my truck back on the road with several times the horsepower it had when new.

In Australia, however, my understanding is that a state-approved engineer has to review and approve significant vehicle changes before allowed back on the road. I've even seen documents suggesting "best practice" for different types of modifications.

Is there anything related to 'best practice' for seat belts in Australia? Any photos that show your approach to meeting requirements would be appreciated.

I've always thought defensive driving and a mature attitude with old cars/trucks on the street was the best way to prevent accidents. But some knowledge about the best way to install safety equipment wouldn't hurt either.

Thanks and regards,

[FarmerSid]

Beautiful work you've done. Awesome details.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Originally Posted by SPEEDYS GARAGE

Looking good so far

Thank you.
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[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Originally Posted by e015475

Have you fitted the cab to the chassis yet? Does the T56 fit under the flat floor-pans you've made? (nice looking work, BTW)

Putting a LS motor in my '49 but fitting a T5 till I can afford a TKO or T56, and it looks like you'll get there way before me.

Watching with interest how the T56 fits - hopefully I can learn something that will help me plan.

What do you plan to do for shifter location? Moving it forward?

Thanks for posting -

Phil

Hi Phil, yes cab has been fitted, but not the trans and motor, that should be in the next few weeks. My brother built a 52 for a guy and its slammed on air ride still has flat floor. I measured up and the math says it is ok. But I have left the space in the floor in case I am wrong. There was so many things to do before engine and trans mounting.
@e015475
The rules here vary from state to state, in cars they now have a formula for cubic inch to vehicle weight to limit the size of your motor, and blower. But as trucks are commercial, there is no restriction. In my state, if you are fitting an LS you must have colapsable column, padded dash pad. Seat belts, and cats on the exhaust. I could do a manifold change and some mods to make the motor look older, and it would slide
Through. As for the belts, Going to make a mini roll bar that wraps around the rear of the seats and anchors at 4 points through the floor. And the new chassis cab mounts, and the RHS. All the retractable and belt mounts will be on the frame.
@FarmerSid
Thank you.
T56 shifter location mods coming up.
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[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Ok, so while its fresh in my mind. Here is the upgrade details, to the Shifter location on my T56 6 speed Tremec
As it was quite detailed in its process I will share a link to my blog on the install. http://tremec-mid-shift-conversion.blogspot.com.au
Not selling or promoting any product or service, just posting to help others with the same need. Also some of my custom bike build blogs can be found in that profile. Great viewing.
SO, I searched and found this Short shift kit online. It was not a job for the non mechanic.
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[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

As many of you will know, the 6 speed tremec comes in a couple of different remote shifter ports. These are slightly different length extensions to the rear of the trans, two examples are late Camaro and Pontiac. Same trans with different shifter arm locations, between the seats.
My requirement was for a floor shift, with a short throw, so I can have a long arm.
Here is the stock T56 from our 2004 Holden Monaro SS (Your Pontiac)
The transformation requires the removal of the remote assembly.
Opening the inspection port half way down the trans, where the gate selector and ball detent are located.
Cutting the hardened steel selector rod running through the trans in 2 pieces.
You need to grind the hardening off in 4 spots to allow the drill to penitrate. Insert the new shift selector and socket onto the rod.
Fit the shifter unit, make and fit a block off plate to the old remote mounting cavity. And your done, took me 6 hours

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Here it is ready to go.
The only real issue I had was the tip of the new detent shift gate follower touched the trench in the gate pattern, had to shave a micron or 10 off the tip untill it no longer touched.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Intermission?
I know its off topic. But Just in case your getting bored with all this tech hurting your brain,
Here is a CUSTOM INDIAN motorcycle I built 5 years ago. 600 hours work.
Enjoy.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Back on with the real stuff. Right?
Here is my Vintage Air unit. Had to modify the firewall cavity to allow this to mount mid point under the dash. Some may already know that there is 2 small box sections running down the inside of the firewall at a small angle away from each other. I designed the mounting bracket to lock in and on those 2 braces.
The bracket bolts to a couple of welded nuts on the firewall braces, wraps over the AC unit, missing the air outlets, and fastens to the other side of the AC unit, where another arm swings up under the dash to attach to the extra mount I fitted to the wiper conversion support.
The whole thing clips in place and then the 3 bolts go in.

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Here I did a little steel work to the factory Radio hole, a perfect spot for the Vintage Air control unit.
Radio will be a hidden unit with LCD display remote

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The Dash required a little shuffle around. And in order to delete the ashtray I had to buy a dash cut from a damaged cab. Carefully blend in the left side ribs into the ashtray space while aligning up to the top overhang and gauge cluster.
But the tricky part was blending the glove box surround into the space where the intrument used to be.

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Some tricky sheet metal, fine TIG welding and loud cursing went on here

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Next section to share with you all is the chassis work, A friend had a large table I could borrow to get things set up right, here is the main rails mounted ready to start work on

[SPEEDYS GARAGE]

Firstly I needed to cut out some boxing plates for the front half and rear humps. My plan is to run electrics and fuel lines inside the rails, and want the powder coating to get into all the crevices. So I splashed out on a hole punch set, and some dimple dies from Pacific Customs. Great value.