Project 55 on 77 frame...

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Originally Posted by Pop's C-10

nice work sofar

thank you... still have TONS of work left to do though... but will be nice in the end.

[Kim57]

Wow, that's a ton of work. I love seeing guys do this kind of stuff.
Keep the pics coming.
Kim

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more pics in a few minutes...

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some of the trimming to get it to sit level... please note that i ended up not even using the 77 firewall or floor... which you will see pics of that shortly...

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then after alot of thinking and looking and measuring, i did what i didn't want to do, i removed the steering, wiring, brake and gas pedal, and laid the brake booster over and strapped it to the engine...

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then got the cab sitting up on blocks that way i could roll the frame forward to unbolt and get rid of the 77 firewall and floor...

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all that hard work cutting and trimming down the 77 firewall and floor... to end up not using it kinda sucks, 3-4 days of waisted time - lol... but i think it will turn out much better this way by building my own floor/firewall, rather than splicing/molding the 77 and 55 into each other...

floor gone!...

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while i had good access to climb into the cab and had good access to behind the dash, i spent some time removing all of the switches and controls, alot easier to do now then when the frame was rolled back..

everything removed from dash...

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then after getting the frame rolled back under it, i cut out two rectangles from the back wall indentions, so when dropped i can weld them back in for a factory look... no pics of that though, after cutting those out i cut the rest out to drop it down...

cutting out back wall...

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then cut out the slots/channels for the frame to fit through...

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cut more length to the channels and then dropped the body down... still some trimming to do, it will be dropped 1-2" lower than this.

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and this is basically where i am at right now, in about an hour i'll be heading out to my shop to do some more work on it, today i plan on getting the center of the floor cut out to let it drop where i want to without it hitting the trans, and hopefully get the front clip mocked up so i can center the wheels in the wheelwells, then i can get the body squared up with ALOT of measuring and then start making body mounts... then eventually i can start on the floor and firewall work... a ton of work, doing it 100% by myself and not trying to spend anything on it unless it's a must... most of the patch panels i will make myself... or cut them out of one of the other five 55 chevy trucks we have... some i may have to buy if i can't make them. already checked price on a new windshield installed, the guy will come to me and install it for $150 and that includes the glass too...

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my basic plan for this truck is bodydropped on factory 77 chassis, so it should ride nice, eventually plan on bagging it to lay body, i've had plenty of bagged and juiced rides over the years, not sure what wheels i will be using, i have a set of 22's, but to use them i would definatey have to bag the front so i could lift the front to turn, or may use a set of 15" chrome gold wires i have, or may use skinny stockers up front, or whatever i can find that will fit and look right on it... my dad has 5 acres of vehicles at his place, so i have tons of rims to choose from and any/all parts i'd ever need to finish off the truck... which is nice to have access too, especially when i can get anything i need for free - lol...

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also, this is a longbed 77 and longbed 55... i will be cutting out a section of the frame to shorten it, as well as cutting down the longbed making it a shortbed... but i won't do that until all floorwork is done and getting it driveable again... but in the end it will be a 55 shortbed stepside, the 55 bed i will be using has a steel floor in it, may cut that out to put a wood floor in it, not sure yet.

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a couple more pics... not much to show other than some bent up fenders LOL, the pass side isn't bad and i can use it, but not sure on the drivers fender, at the back it is bent outwards and up front it is bent inwards... later tonight i'm going to hang the hood hinges and get the hood bolted on, then hang the pass fender as best as i can and tack weld it in place, then try to same for the drivers fender...

after getting the pass fender sitting about where it needs to be, i seen that i need to move the cab forward a little bit to get the wheels centered in the wheelwells, which is no biggie at the moment...

so far all i have gotten done today is locating 8 bolts for the hood hinges, and two bolts for the fenders, lol... not much more as of yet, but will have more done later tonight.

here are a few pics from earlier today...

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and the track width isn't too bad, even with these wide 15x9 rally wheels up front! so i'm thinking a 6" rally up front would look good on it, with a skinny tire.

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not really much progress to post at all, except i got the hood hinges on and the '57 hood bolted up and the passengers fender sitting about where it needs to be... the drivers side fender will be a pain to do, it is twisted both ways, i'll have to do some bending and tweaking on it to get it to halfway fit right, LOL... i still need to move the body forward at least an inch to center the wheels, and also drop the body down around 2 more inches...

still not sure if i am goiong to use this 57 hood or one of the 55 hoods we have...

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and... i will have to cut off the frame horns to allow room for the core support, i will more than likely cut off the frame horns/core support mounts from the OG frame and graft them into this frame... which i will probably do this weekend, as well as get the doors and hinges home to hang and see how they fit... i will pick the best two doors off of one of the other five 55's we have to make things easier - lol... and i will take a look at the other fenders to see if any of them are any better than the twisted one i have here...

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also, getting 4 bags and a four link tomorrow or friday, another craigslist trade, trading a chrome toyota bumper used on mazda mini trucks, for the bags and link setup... decent trade... i have plenty of fittings and airline from past projects and i will make my own brackets and tabs with my plasma... bagging this will be done after i get the bodydrop, floor and the firewall solid though...

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got the four link today... trade changed since the bags were used and pretty beat up, so i only made a deal on the four link... and i may be getting rid of my last two mazda trucks to the guy though, trade them both for a ps3 for my son - LOL...

i also brought home one of my 55 doors too..

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more progress... not much though, haven't been able to work on it much this past week...

i brought home the pass door and cleaned it up, removed glass that was broke and removed the old weatherstripping, good thing is that the window rolls up and down really well and the quarter glass moves good too, also the door latch works properly... here are pics before and after breaking the glass out, as well as sitting the door on the truck to get a look at the gaps, the door is just sitting on there... lines up pretty well.

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i had hung the hood, fender and door so that i could get the wheel centered in the wheel well, take a look at the pics and tell me if it looks centered or not? looks good to me, but does it look right to everyone else? lol...

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then i got the center section of the floor cut out... it was hitting the trans, so had to remove... i will more than likely reuse this piece when i start putting the floor back together...

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then i took the back half of the 77 chevy cab and cut out the body mounts, going to use them for the front 55 cab mounts...

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then trimmed them down and made a cardboard template to get the notch right, then nothced it to fit where the og 55 mount used to be... then test fit it and welded it in place... these pics are of the pass side mount...