Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[Kim57]

Originally Posted by dug224

Kim: By the way, thanks for blazing the trail on the LS install. I am sure I will be asking for help once I find one. Mine should not be that big of a deal in light of the fact that they put LS's in the T.B. frame already. Steering interference may be a challenger. Been looking for a 6.0l but they are kind of expensive. Will probably stick with the 5.3l cast iron block to keep it under budget. Aiming for a 2008 or newer with low miles.

Thanks.
Bam and Tri5nerd had there LS's before I did and was a big part of the reason I went that way.
Mine came out of a T.B. so one should bolt right into your frame.
Kim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Thanks.
Bam and Tri5nerd had there LS's before I did and was a big part of the reason I went that way.
Mine came out of a T.B. so one should bolt right into your frame.
Kim

I have been watching Bam and Tri5nerd for quite some time. The talent is immense.

[Kim57]

Those wheels look nice.
I can see where the rear needs to go back but the front looks pretty good.
Kim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Those wheels look nice.
I can see where the rear needs to go back but the front looks pretty good.
Kim

I agree...the front is starting to look ok to me. May ease it up 0.5" to 1.0" and take a look at it. Need some input on sidewall height from you and anyone else who is willing to comment. Should I keep the same or go bigger on the sidewall? If bigger, how much? I will mock up some additional sidewall heights this weekend.

[Kim57]

I personally like a little more side wall especially on trucks.
Kim

[55Cameo]

I agree with Kim that the front looks pretty good and centered, but the back def just needs to move back a lil more

As for tires, depends your stance but the front looks good with a 235/45/18, the back could use more sidwall. Maybe a 255/45/18 or 245/50/18. Fill up the wheel well a lil more

[dug224]

Had a fresh pair of 255 55 18's so I slid them under the body. Looks like a NASCAR version. Pretty appealing to my eye but think I am headed wards smalls in the front and these bigs in the back. Have another set of four 18's available to me but I don't know the size. Headed out this morning to pick them up.

[Kim57]

Looks good.
Kim

[dug224]

Kim..thanks. Made some more progress.

I had a single 245-45-18 and a single 245-40-18 laying around so I tried them. May have it. Now that the 255-55-18 is in back, it is pretty clear the 245-45-18 was way too small for the rear. I appreciate the input on the earlier thread. The 245-40 was too small (not shown) on the front but the 245-45 looks just about right. Will look for a 245-50 to try on the front before the final decision. For the wheels in this study, I used the center cutout from the fake wheels I made earlier. It helps give to see the wall height better. The front tire is sitting on 1.5" of wood spacers to get the tire up into the wheel well. The back is sitting on 0.75" spacers. Once on flat ground, it will have slightly less rake.

Located some already bagged free sand from a friend I can use to load the suspension. I will be able see how much bed depth I end up with. You may remember, the rear suspension upper spring supports are pretty high and won't be coming down since they are an integral part of the setup. The underside of the bed will only be able to go down only so far until it hits it. To make it worse, the factory kicked it up in one spot to clear the exhaust pipe which makes it a even that much more challenging. Since I intend us the existing exhaust, the kick up stays.....for now....

By the way, the thing sitting below the cab is a lift my Dad made 30 years ago using a trash compactor. I used it to drop the transfer case out from under the truck and to level of the cab. Pretty handy even after all these years. He put a frame with casters around the bottom and welded a 1/2" socket drive to the threaded shaft. You can easlily run it up and down using a pneumatic wrench. Wish I had one more.

[oldcouple]

I kinda like the invisible wheels, maybe you could get them made out of Lexan?

[_Ogre]

i hear lexan wheels are hard to keep clean

i too am a fan of big black side walls on trucks

[sgtusmc]

Can you please give me some specs on the invisible wheels? Can they be clear coated?

[dug224]

Originally Posted by sgtusmc

Can you please give me some specs on the invisible wheels? Can they be clear coated?

Had the wife pick them up at WalMart. They come already clearcoated so this particular set is very easy to keep clean. Seriously, I believe I saw West Coast Customs make a set out of something clear. Seems like it was Lexan and the put them on an Audi. Could be wrong...all the car shows tend to run together.. Will stick with the visible wheels that fit my daily driver theme. I have been staring at the truck on and off all day while insulating my garage door. I like what I see so I may just commit to the 245-45's up front... All you guys in the North insulate to keep the heat in....we insulate to keep it out down south. This was the final phase of my air conditioning of the garage. Should be pretty easy to keep cool since three sides of the garage are 10 feet underground.

[dug224]

Invisible wheels are now gone. Finally decided on the tires and had them mounted. Borrowed a trailer load of already bagged sand from a buddy and proceeded to load the frame per my calcs. Initially, I had a 3.5" spacer between the the cab and the frame on all four corners. Once the frame was loaded, I ended up adjusting the front of the cab up 1.5" and the rear of the cab up 0.75" for the current and hopefully the final stance. Goal here is to utililze all of the factory geometry and not buy additional lowering hardware.

Note that the hood is now in place. The only concern now is whether or not the top of the stock LS on stock Trailblazer V-8 motor mounts will hit the cross bracing. I have about 15" to 16" from the cross bracing down to the top of the in-line 6 motor mounts. If I used the old carb'd 305 I have in the garage, I will need up to 19" of clearance. LS, I hope, is much shorter. I notice some guys remove the cross bracing. This may be an option. If not, looks like there is room to lower the entire drivetrain. I will start searching for LS dimensions since I don't own one yet.

The front wheel location is correct to my eye. After studying the back, I decided not to stretch the frame but to tighten the gap between the bed and the cab. The current photos are as the truck would look if we pull it off. May cheat the front wheel back 0.25" in the wheel opening to help.

[dug224]

...a few more shots back in the garage.

[Kim57]

Looking good. That's a heck of a lot of sand to move.
Kim

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Looking good. That's a heck of a lot of sand to move.
Kim

And the majority is under the hood! Ran out of surfaces to put it on and had to add a bunch of lumber to keep it from falling through. Not looking forward to returning it.....

[_Ogre]

too bad you can't weld the bed to the cab like the ford uni-cab trucks

[dug224]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

too bad you can't weld the bed to the cab like the ford uni-cab trucks

That looks great. Making it a unibody was considered and is not entirely off of the table. After much discussion with my buddy Jim, I decided "today's" approach will be to modify the flat edge that faces the back of the cab on the leading edge of the bed. Will cut it and fold it back against the bed side and reweld the cuts. Decided to cut it and fold back a section at a time to keep from wrecking the vertical curve of the bed side. May be able to gain 0.5" or so. I have to make sure the bed does not the cab when the frame is twisted. Should not be nearly the problem it would have been with the unboxed '59 frame since the Envoy frame is fully boxed and very stiff.

[Kabwe]

Looking good. Keep those pics coming.

[_Ogre]

if you think the frame is rigid enough i'd take the front panel off and see how the bed fits
maybe a uni-cab is in your future. it would look sweet

extend the bed spear into the cab behind the door?
there's a lime green truck on the hamb where the owner extended the bed spear into the door
didn't attach the bed, just extended the bed spear. looked pretty nice.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

if you think the frame is rigid enough i'd take the front panel off and see how the bed fits
maybe a uni-cab is in your future. it would look sweet

extend the bed spear into the cab behind the door?
there's a lime green truck on the hamb where the owner extended the bed spear into the door
didn't attach the bed, just extended the bed spear. looked pretty nice.

Now that I think about it, the back of the cab is a ton straighter than the front of the bed so the effort I would spend taking care of that I could dedicate to connecting the bed to the cab. In addition, my cab corners would no longer require replacing. Once I button up the side of the cab with the bed, the corner is no longer visible and I could descretely patch it. Extending the spear into the door is a really great idea. Don't get my fabrication skills mixed up with yours or Kawbe's. Need crawl before I run. There is a '58/'59 coming to one of our local U-Pull-Its. May buy some parts to practice on. In fact, using the leading edge of the bed including the bullet for a bridge panel may be the ticket. In that case, the spear would end just behind the door. Thanks for the input!

[dug224]

Quick update. My friend Brad offered to loan me an LS engine and transmission while he searches for a low mile version for me. Picked them up last night. This one has 121,000 miles and is out of a 2005 Truck. I need to learn about intake heights on these LS engines. This one seems really tall and may interfere. Should be able to drop this combo in the truck this weekend to determine if the hood will close over it in the stock mounting location. If it doesn't, I may have to raise the body and ultimately add lower suspension parts to get the stance right. I will drop by the dealer to see if they have some Trailblazer V-8 motor mounts for the 5.3 I can try out.

[dug224]

Learned that to use a 5.3 out of a truck, I will need to change the oil pan to a front sump style. As can be seen in the second photo, the oil pan hits the cross member/steering rack. Based on the "car-part.com", there are plenty of the front sump 5.3's available. Will change direction and go after one with the the correct pan. Also, maybe due to lack of demand, they appear to be slightly cheaper than the normal and more common 5.3's. The front sump aluminum block 5.3's come in the '04 or newer Envoy, Trailblazer, Ranier (Buick) and Ascender (Isuzu). There are eight of them within 100 miles of me at this time. Most are low mileage. I am still optimistic I will be able to use factory motor mounts and drop the engine right in. It also looks like I will be lowering the suspension an inch or two based on the fact that the body will have to be raised to get the engine under the hood and the trans under the firewall/floor.

...also learned that you can't stuff the engine in with the exhaust manifolds still on. Those shock towers are really tall. Ended up sliding the body way back on the frame and dropping the unit in vertically.

[DeeGee]

I think you should revisit the wheel choice and do something like this...way cool!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJPTSaARlvs