55.2-59 Duramax Task Force Panel

[dsraven]

will you use the factory rubber body mounts from the donor? i suggest to use the same mounts front to rear so that frame flex will affect the body the same over the length of the frame. the body parts from the firewall forward don't have a lot of connection to the main body, like a newer vehicle does, so beware of that and ensure things are gonna be ok with some frame flex if you plan any off road adventures that may involve twisting the frame that way.
looking at the room ahead of the fan it looks tight. will you plan on an electric fan? on mine I fabbed up my own rad support to allow the use of the original envoy rad and a/c condensor. its not really that tought to build. i used square tubing for a perimeter.

[FinnDiesel]

Thanks for the feedback DSRaven!
I threw the 2001 seat in and it seems to sit pretty close to the stock location.
I think its ok. I have to remember this is a 1 ton 3800 on a 2500HD chassis. Very equal for their day. i placed the 55 dash in which will be fabbed up in metal to contain the modern gauges, vents, airbag, glovebox etc.
The body can't really be lowered further without seriously affecting the heater air intake electric flapper on the far right.

[FinnDiesel]

Regarding body mounts, I never gave the back end much thought. I assumed to just install as 1955, body rigid to crossmembers then rigid to frame. The original cab mounts had only 1/4" metal spacers - see pic.
I have re-thought it and will build a separate bolt-on body frame mounted to 4 gmt800 Suburban rear body mounts. That should help with NVH.

[FinnDiesel]

I welded up body mounts on the ‘01 HD frame similar to stock and mounted the new 2” square tube body subframe and installed Suburban 2500 Energy Suspension bushings.
The square tube subframe is bolted to the stock task force body mount points around the perimeter with the factory caged nuts. The weight of the body bears on the square tube subframe which in turn bears on the body mounts to the frame.

[FinnDiesel]

The plywood floor is 3/4” birch plywood. It took 2 sheets of 4’x10’. The seam is positioned so the metal runner strips will cover. An 8” hole was cut and a flush gasketed threaded hatch installed to access the fuel pump if ever needed in the future.

[FinnDiesel]

When fitting up the task force door step well to the ’01 floor, it was cut to the minimum width required to allow the door to close. The ’01 seat mounting bolts remained. The step works well.

[FinnDiesel]

The ’01 heater requires a fresh air intake from the cowl. The task force cowl takes air into the cab a different way from the ’01. Had to cut the cowl open and created a new plenum, blocked the ends and added drains on each side.

[FinnDiesel]

The fuel filler for the ’01 tank is on the left side vs the task force right side location. I welded in an ’03 Suburban fuel door.
Still debating the text . . . easy to sand off !

[FinnDiesel]

At the front, I fabricated up a 1” tube frame to mount the '01 rad, intercooler, ac condenser in the (almost) stock locations. It took a few attempts.
I copied the ’01 front aluminum rad cradle in steel, with body mounts to the frame, so it could be welded to the 1” square tube frame. All the stock ’01 sensors were installed in the correct locations on the new cradle.

I trial fitted a dual electric fan to allow the rad etc to be located closer to the motor, but they really are not that much thinner and reasoned to keep the stock clutch fan for reliability as everything was able to move rearward about 2”. A reasonable space was left between the rad and the clutch fan.

[FinnDiesel]

more photos

[FinnDiesel]

It isn't fully apparent at the beginning, but the '55 fenders have a lot of space under them. I trial mounted the the air intake box, overflow container, 2 batteries, windshield washer reservoir and fuse panel.

It all fits under the fenders with the important parts accessible . I was initially going to move the batteries to the rear fearing they wouldn’t fit but decided to keep everything stock for reliability as they fit perfectly under the fenders.

[FinnDiesel]

oops, forgot photos

[FinnDiesel]

more photos

[FinnDiesel]

The Duramax intercooler is so large, it would not fit behind the stock grille location for sure.
I figured a body mod would be easier (and much cheaper) than a custom remote intercooler set-up and as well, keeping the short direct ducting, so the grille surround was cut out and moved forward 2-1/2” and welded.
It looks ok and in fact is hard to distinguish as to what’s different.
The change would probably be unnoticeable with the larger ’57 style grille which would wrap around the outside lip.
I also incorporated the inside hood release from the ’01.

[6DoF]

i sure hope you plan to put a TON of miles on this thing! you've gotten it set up for em

[FinnDiesel]

Yes, I intend to DD it. Love it. Running it around our property until the windshield arrives.

[FinnDiesel]

The lights were a bit tricky, as I wanted to retain the ’01 light wiring and bulbs, connectors etc for reliability.
I used a hole saw to drill out the middle of the stock task force front indicators to graft in the ‘01 indicator twist-in bulb housings and modern 3157 bulbs. Go J-B weld.
It all fits with the stock mounting bolts to the body.
For the headlights, I bought new headlight units with the replaceable H4 bulbs and installed LED bulbs. I found a wiring conversion harness which converts the ’01 dual 9005/9006 hi/low beam wiring to the hi/low beam single H4 bulb. Really simple plug and play mods to convert from 4 light set up to 2 light setup. They are super bright.
The rear tail lights with the single small bulb were again cored out to accept the 2 separate brake and turn signal bulbs. It works and looks great!

[FinnDiesel]

The dash.
I initially wanted to keep the ’58 dash, but wanted all the Duramax electronics to remain.
At the moment, I decided to fit the ’01 dash and drive it for a bit to see if I like the combination of old and newer. It certainly is a shock to see such a modern dash in the ol' girl.
The fitout was a bit complex but not overly hard. Both outer vents have to be moved due to cutting the dash about 2-1/2” off each side. I am in the process now . . .the outer right side vent fits in a space beside the ‘01 glovebox which required the glovebox door to be shortened.
New 2-3/4” flexible plastic vent tube will connect it all. The left outer vent fits where the light switch was, which was moved to the center lower cover under the ashtray after soldering extra length to the wires. These trucks all had auto lights anyways, so the location is fine.
More to come.

[FinnDiesel]

Wipers.
I am currently working on this . . . I gutted the original 1958 vacuum wiper motor to salvage the pivot mechanism in order to retain the wiper linkage arms in their original location to operate the original wipers.
The plan is modifying the ’01 wiper motor mount and linkage (originally located in the outside cowl) in order to connect to the ’58 pivot point. It will be moved to a new location under the dash. There is a great big hole for it to fit.
Then to create a new removable ‘50’s style metal dash cap to cover. Will have to learn some metal forming skills.
More to come.

[6DoF]

can you connect a '55 retrofit electric wiper setup to the new wiring?

on the other hand ... real delay wipers would be nice vs just hi/lo

[FinnDiesel]

thought about it, researched the crikey out-of-it, and decided against it as I actually want to drive it year round. I feel the slow and slower speeds won't accomplish this.
It is on my list next week . . .

[dsraven]

So you will mount the newer wiper motor to the outside of the firewall and make it operate the old wiper pivot box somehow?
Post up some pics of that, sounds interesting. I have the same plan for my wipers using an exterior mounted motor to operate the original arms under the dash. Haven't gotten that far yet as my project gets put on hold ALOT!. haha.

[FinnDiesel]

Update on Wipers:
I tried placement of the '01 wiper assembly in multiple places including the engine bay but the angle to the pivot would not work from there as iy would too low. I chose to place it inside.
The original ’58 vacuum pivot housing was not able to used, instead I welded the actual ’58 pivoting arm connector to the ’01 driver side wiper shaft retaining nut so it is adjustable for windshield sweep.
Then mounted the stock ’01 wiper motor assembly , linkage and support bracket to the inside of the dash. It works amazing, and able to keep the stock ’01 switch stalk and all wiper functions. So happy with it.
Even better, it all fits under the stock ’58 dash pad – to which I need to fab an extension to meet the ’01 dash face.

[FinnDiesel]

Door Locks:
I wanted the ’01 door lock mechanisms and factory remote fob capability. Had to fab some pivot brackets to allow use of the ’58 exterior door handles which push instead of pull. The problem was converting the inward push of the thumb button to straight down for the latch module within the limited space inside the back end of the door behind the door window rear vertical track. By chance, the ’01 lock module is vertically U-shaped, perfect to fit around the window track. The ’58 interior door latch handle and flat metal linkage stays stock except for the end drilled to accept the modern thick wire linkage and connectors.
They work great. The doors close real smooth and soft now. The 2 doors took approx. 3 days to figure out and complete. My fall-back after chopping up the doors, was to purchase the Altman claw latches. At this point I am leaving the rear door as factory manual lock only.
The factory fob works perfect, one push driver door, 2nd push passenger door lock opens.
A problem with the ’58 door key, is that the key only deactivates the thumb push. Its function does not extend beyond that – meaning that when the power door locks are locked, you still cannot open the door with the key. You can lock the door via the key though, even with the power lock unlocked. I assume the optional power locking mechanism on the Altman works the same.

[FinnDiesel]

Dash top
I purchased the cheapest planishing tool from amazon.ca to (try and) build my dash top. The quality of the dies are very subpar and they do not provide matching male/female dies. The only hammer end provided is flat. The different arced anvil dies provide the curves. I‘ve been watching Karl on Japhands making metal forming look easy – let me tell you, it’s not. He sure has a lot of patience. I constructed the metal-forming wallow from a douglas fir buck. That actually works well.
I attempted a number of times using the planishing hammer and ended up with a number of unusable messes. I went back to the tried and tested ¼” steel rod bird-cage frame and bent up multiple short pieces of sheet metal to weld up. That worked well , but a lot of work to clean-up to make smooth. The result though is great. This dash top is able to be unbolted now for access.

I ordered the windshield mid-July and I finally just arrived it in October. Nuts. That’s this weekends job. Then it’s drive time.