55 gmc longbed stepside project

[spousta]

box frame update











its just tac'd in with my 110 welder till i get my big lincoln 220 up and running smoothly. i know i could of done a better job with fitment of the metal for boxing but, when you work 12 hour shifts and never have a day off, tiredness plays a big role. i have to step back a moment to think straight sometimes. today had cut a couple extra pieces of metal because i notched the wrong side of my angle steel. so go easy on the bad fitment, thats why we created grinders... to fix ugly.

ill splice everything in smoothly when I'm finished welding everything in, and there still is more to box. going to Sacramento for work this week and moving when i get back to a bigger place. hopefully i can get this ready for powder coat by the end of July.

[Kim57]

Looking good. That's the great thing about metal, you can always fix it with a little welding and grinding.
Kim

[Tri5Nerd]

Try to do small section at a time, you can warp the metal even at that thickness, and you don't want that with your frame.

Tri5

[oldman3]

Just caught your build today, everything looks good, keep posting the pics.....Jim

[drivea55]

The boxing looks really good,

I chose to not box under the cab to keep it the way it was originally for flex purposes.

not sure if it needs it but eh... we shall see...

keep up the progress and the pics!

brian

[spousta]

yeah i thought about skipping areas with the boxing but with my air bag setup i really did not want any flex in between any frame rail. plus when i get it all boxed and welded the frame will look a million times better. that is the main reason i boxed my frame - it looks safer, regardless whether it is or not. also since the truck is a long bed i am debating about putting a dump bed on it, it really would be for show purposes but when at a show and the dump hydraulic is up on it, i can show off the work i did on the frame and the independent rear suspension.

[BC Toy chest]

Looks gr8 keep the photos coming.

[spousta]

so its august 1st and i and been slammed at work so i did not make my dead line on getting the frame finished for powder coating. I'm going to try to order the parts to fix my lincoln welder today. and hopefully start welding this weekend, clean up frame on next week end, and have it sent out by the 14-20th.

[spousta]

ok its been almost 2 months, but now i got a little time to get my project back on track. so i spent all saturday welding and all sunday grinding. and heres where im at.









so time to go out to powder coat, hard part is finding the time.

[oldman3]

Glad to see you back at it....Jim

[Kim57]

Looking good.
Kim

[Rods57]

Hey looks great, is that a 55 - 59 cab in the background?

[spousta]

Its the same 55 GMC cab from the first set of pictures, which I felt was pretty good condition till I took a better look at it, I'm a little scared of the body repair because I wanted to build the whole truck by myself. I might have to bring my employees in to help on body work, but am going to take a wack at it personally first till I screw up bad enough to call in favors. I gotta say though I like the GMC dash better than chevys (I'll get killed for saying that) but it has that simplicity functionality, where the Chevy v dash looks like every other Chevy dash for that era, hard to read and more for looks than function. Again there is no flow with that dash and the 2nd series body, it clashes to me. GMC body is better!!!

[OKGMC4]

Originally Posted by spousta

Its the same 55 GMC cab from the first set of pictures, which I felt was pretty good condition till I took a better look at it, I'm a little scared of the body repair because I wanted to build the whole truck by myself. I might have to bring my employees in to help on body work, but am going to take a wack at it personally first till I screw up bad enough to call in favors. I gotta say though I like the GMC dash better than chevys (I'll get killed for saying that) but it has that simplicity functionality, where the Chevy v dash looks like every other Chevy dash for that era, hard to read and more for looks than function. Again there is no flow with that dash and the 2nd series body, it clashes to me. GMC body is better!!!

Amen, finally someone who likes the GMC stuff. I've modified the crap out of my 56 but it should still be a GMC and not mistaken for a chevy. I've even seen a few "chevy" trucks at shows that had GMC dashes in them, but in the last 3 years I have yet to see another 55-57 GMC truck in person.

[Rods57]

Originally Posted by OKGMC4

Amen, finally someone who likes the GMC stuff. I've modified the crap out of my 56 but it should still be a GMC and not mistaken for a chevy. I've even seen a few "chevy" trucks at shows that had GMC dashes in them, but in the last 3 years I have yet to see another 55-57 GMC truck in person.

Oh you guy hate me then, mine is a 55 GMC that i put a Chevy dash in. In my defense the dash wash trashed and i had a cherry 59 dash already...

[spousta]

Won't hate you I'll just cry for your poor cab that had a identity crisis, "you had steak at home but went out for a burger"

[Rods57]

HA HA HA thanks. I did just find a GMC in a field not 1/2 mile from my house, have not talked to the owner yet but its really cherry from the street.

[OKGMC4]

I just found one about a mile from mine. It can be seen from the road (in the back) but up front there's fencing and signs about every 10 feet with things like " no trespassing" and "armed guard on duty". Kind of afraid to even stop when the message is that clear...

If you had good parts sitting there I can't blame you for using them. I've gotten crap for the C4 suspension and EFI engine but I had that stuff before I even had the truck. I actually had one guy tell me that if it's not stock it's crap. I don't mind modified at all but I do think the GMC is too rare to convert to a chevy if it can be helped. I saw several 55-57 chevys and even saw two Mercury trucks and 3 studebaker trucks at the Pigeon Forge Grand Run last month but not one 55-57 GMC. If mine had been done it would have been the only one there out of thousands of cars.

[spousta]

Lol armed gaurds Still love money. The person who said if it's not stock its crap is someone who has no imagination or engineering background. Look at Lamborghini, he use to put tractor clutches in Ferraris cause stock was crap. Just as crappy as straight sixes and I beam fronts if you plan on going over 45.

[spousta]

ok so i was fooling around with my fuel cell last week. and i did not like it, it just had that clashing feeling. so i orderd a 69 mustang fuel tank... in stainless!



i look around the boards and everyone has a 65-67 mustang, some people have the 69 20 gallon version like the one i bought. they really did not have many photos on the install they just talk bout cutting frame to make it fit. and show a finished photo. so heres basically what you have to do to make the 69 20 gallon tank fit... dont mind my blurry bad photo lol.







i cut both sides of frame 3/4 a inch each side





and pow there it goes that ease : )

much better looking then a boxy fuel cell... it got me thinking about my frame so instead of sending out to powder coat, i am going to fully assemble my frame then pull it back apart to powder coat. there is so much modification to the frame that i have to make sure everything is in sync before powdercoating. so i probally wont have it out for coating till january.

[Kim57]

Nice and clean install on the tank.
Kim

[spousta]

im not happy with it because ill have to modify my bed a little to accept the large tank. so in a couple days more modification and ill mount it properly. i have a basic design graphed out, i just need to order some metal from IMS and ill have it done in no time.

[Rude Dude]

I mounted my gas tank on bottom inside edge of frame, only because I put on top of frame it would interfer with cross braces for the wood support. I cut my frame like yours and realized it wouldn't work yikes!

[spousta]

i could make it work just didnt want to. so heres more info for those doing a 69 tank in there truck.

i measured out the tank edge and drew it on the frame with a paint pen and cut away... i also figured i wanted 2" down so i measured that also and cut. i also am going threw the bottom to keep a nice clean top look. it is smarter to go threw the top but i always like to be diffrent.







a little bit of welding and grinding and pow...





and now we stick the tank in remember my frame jig is upside down right now so your looking at bottom of car.













i still need to go get more metal to box everything in, that is open right now, to keep the strength in the back so i can put my frame jig back on. other then that its done.

[spousta]

got my metal today, so heres what i got follow the pictures if any questoins please ask.