My project 55 begins

[B17CRX]

Originally Posted by CAL 58 GMC

Great job so far! How much lower are you now that you have the dropped axle installed?

PS, Congratulations on the new born!!!

Thank you! Its a 3 inch drop axle and I went ahead and pulled two leafs out of the spring pack as well so It should be around 4.5" lower when its on the ground.

-Joel

[B17CRX]

Got some new shoes for my 55! I wanted to run Corvette ralley wheels on my truck with some BFG radial T/A's for a bit of a retro look. I got lucky and found a guy locally selling two 15x8's and my buddy picked me up some 15x7's for my birthday. I got a smoking deal on the powdercoating from I-90 Express Finishing in Redmond, WA. They turned out great and it was a one stop shop they took care of the sand blasting as well. The trucks nowhere close to done but I wanted to see how it was gonna sit so I put the fronts on. 245/60-15 for the rear and 225/60-15 for the front. I think it turned out great. Now I just need to decide what style of center caps to go with...






-Joel

[Daniel U]

Very nice! I plan on a very similar set up with either chrome or a color matched like yours. I like the GM center cap.

[B17CRX]

Yesterday I got to play with my truck some more. I bought the truck with a 12 bolt already under it so the plan has been to keep it and just clean it up. First though I decided to pull apart the leaf springs and take out 3 leaves on each side as well as install my 2" drop shackles to bring it down some.




-Joel

[B17CRX]

I spent some time with a wire brush and a metal scraper, it cleaned up pretty good. Shot it with some black and then topped it with a new chrome differential cover. The brake tube never had a bracket and was just hanging there so I bent up an aluminum bracket to clean it up a bit.






Now I just need to pick up some new u-bolts and I'll have a rolling chassis again, just now cleaner and more down to earth...

-Joel

[ChuckDriver]

Joel, that's a very nice build you have there! Just one thing, have you checked the bolt pattern on the rearend? Love the look of the wheels!!!!

[B17CRX]

Thank you chuckdriver, I really liked the way the wheels turned out.

As for the rear end, its a 5x5 bolt pattern and the 15x8's I found are 5x5 so it worked out well. The front is the standard 5x4.75 but I don't think anybody would notice the difference, and once the center caps are on I know nobody will be able to tell. The fronts are 15x7's so I wouldn't be able to do a front to rear rotation anyway.

-Joel

[B17CRX]

The u-bolts I ordered up finally arrived so I was able to put the rear end back up under the frame. Bolted up my new wheels and tires and now after I don't know how long my truck is a roller once again!




Also I found a stock seat from a local guy and it was in pretty good shape, so I picked that up. I havn't disassembled it yet but its solid.


The only thing thats missing is the mounting brackets and sliders. Anyone have some 55-59 bench seat sliders/mounts that they want to sell??

-Joel

[B17CRX]

I regularly torture myself by cruizing craig's list and looking at cool truck parts I don't have money for or cool projects that need homes, and I ran aross a guy selling a pair of pretty clean looking doors for a good price. They were only a 2 hour drive away so I called the guy up to see if he still had them. Sure enough he did and he mentioned he also had some decent fenders. When I got there I was happy to see the doors were solid (someone had previously repaired the bottoms) and the fenders were sand blasted and also solid. After shooting the breeze and checking out his '57 short step project for a bit he asks if I need a tailgate also. He pulls a really clean original gate out from behind a cabinet and included it in the deal. So I got two rear fenders, two doors and a tailgate all for less than one new door shell. They'll need some work of course but they are 100 times better than what was on my truck!

[bensimmons_05]

Originally Posted by B17CRX

Thank you chuckdriver, I really liked the way the wheels turned out.

As for the rear end, its a 5x5 bolt pattern and the 15x8's I found are 5x5 so it worked out well. The front is the standard 5x4.75 but I don't think anybody would notice the difference, and once the center caps are on I know nobody will be able to tell. The fronts are 15x7's so I wouldn't be able to do a front to rear rotation anyway.

-Joel

Im using the same combo... it actually looks like we have the same kinda rear. LOOKIN GOOOOOD!

[B17CRX]

Now I know why almost everyone has years invested in their projects. Its not the truck itself, but everything else! Our bathroom was in desprate need of a re-do and since we only have one in our house and two kids it just wasn't gonna happen easily. As luck would have it My wife decided to take the kids to visit here grandmother in Arkansas and that gave me four days with an empty house and time to re-model. New tile foors, paint, vanity/sink, and light fixture.
before

after

Now that the major "honey-do" is checked off the list I have earned some truck time. I decided that I wanted to finish the chassis before I start metal work on the cab, I just want to have someting "done" so it feels like I am getting somewhere with my truck plus then I won't be tempted to keep changing ideas. Every time I walk past my nice little 327 on the engine stand the 5.3L I saw on CL keeps popping into my head but with twin turbos and I think "why not?" But no, I have to stick to my original plans and get her done so I can drive it! So I installed my new master cylinder with proportioning valve since I have discs up front now.

And then I realized that I made a bone-headed mistake, months ago I had bought a nice stainless brake line kit didn't really think much about it just thought it would make my life easier to have all the lines pre-bent and ready to go. Except for the fact I now need separate front and rear lines to run a disc/drum settup. Doh! After some thought I ended up re-bending a couple of the pre-bent lines and buying a couple more sections of bulk line and some fitting adapters from NAPA. It came out ok, but I could have saved myself a lot of $$ by just bending up all the lines myself. Live and learn.
-Joel

[joeys66pickup]

i have the same problem....my 396 would look so much better with an S400 attached to my headers.But then again so would a 6.0 but with two smaller sized ones i just cant make my mind up arghh

great build by the way!!

[lyrikz]

You bleed it yet???

[OrrieG]

Make sure you pump it on a regular basis. I put in a new MC on mine two years ago and had to replace it because the front seal started leaking and would not seal back up.

[B17CRX]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

You bleed it yet???

Arrgg, nope! I was looking at it and was getting a bad feeling that the transmission x-member was gonna be really close and maybe I should measure first bleed second. Well sure enough the x-member is right in the way of one of the lines so I am gonna wait until I get my transmission done and then I'll install the engine/trans combo and finish mount the x-member and then re-bend the last line around the x-member. Hopefully the transmission will be done soon!

Anybody have some recomendations on torque converters? I have no idea what stall speed, brand, etc... to buy. It'll be samiched between a 327 and a th350.

-Joel

[B17CRX]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

Make sure you pump it on a regular basis. I put in a new MC on mine two years ago and had to replace it because the front seal started leaking and would not seal back up.

You mean more than just regular driving? Or do you mean while the chassis sits and waits for the body to be done, periodically work the brake pedal a bit? I've never heard this warning before.

-Joel

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by B17CRX

You mean more than just regular driving? Or do you mean while the chassis sits and waits for the body to be done, periodically work the brake pedal a bit? I've never heard this warning before.

-Joel

Either have i. Probably is just a sign of a bad MC. As for torque converters, with that engine and trans, just get a stock torque converter setup... Unless later you plan for a nasty cam and what not.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by B17CRX

You mean more than just regular driving? Or do you mean while the chassis sits and waits for the body to be done, periodically work the brake pedal a bit? I've never heard this warning before.

-Joel

Would nick do my seat??? I just saw your seat. Nothing fancy... Can you find out how much and when type thing??

[dobajara]

I assume by your signature that you drive a 1.7L powered CRX, correct?

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by B17CRX

You mean more than just regular driving? Or do you mean while the chassis sits and waits for the body to be done, periodically work the brake pedal a bit? I've never heard this warning before.

-Joel

While it is sitting waiting for everything else to be done. Could be that I just got the one that was a little out of round, got a piece of crud stuck in the seal or ???

[OrrieG]

On torque converters, old hot rodder trick is to use a Buick one, they have a little higher stall speed than Chevy. Makes for smoother take off for the old fart tanks...

[nickp51chevy]

You have a nice lookin' project. If you ever need a hand let me know, I'm just up in Arlington.

[Cyrus]

Just run a stock converter on the trans. With no power booster on there, you can run as nasty of a cam as you want and won't hurt a thing. The higher stall-speed converters are usually reserved for lighter vehicles, so you'll be fine with stock.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by Cyrus

Just run a stock converter on the trans. With no power booster on there, you can run as nasty of a cam as you want and won't hurt a thing. The higher stall-speed converters are usually reserved for lighter vehicles, so you'll be fine with stock.

Why does it say on a bunch of different cams what type of stall you need to run on your converter?? My truck wouldnt idle without the stall i have. At least thats what the cam manufacturer, my machinist, and pretty much any other motorhead i have talked to.

[Cyrus]

I'm assuming (my mistake if I'm wrong) that he has a "mild" 327. If it had a huge cam, or was super hi-po, I figured he would've said something about it.

If your cam specifies a certain stall speed, I would use that. I wouldn't bother asking my machinist or my other motorhead friends about it. Good luck with your truck.
Joel, you've got a great truck going! Keep up the excellent work!!!