Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[dug224]

Got the front clip back on with all bolts in place. Practiced repairing sheetmetal by MIG welding the fatigue breaks in the driver side sheet metal that covers the core support. Photo does not do it justice. The cracks were everywhere. When I bolted it back on, new cracks appeared. I will go ahead and weld a new tab next time the welder is on since the sheetmetal is worn so thin. Still have to design the core support mounts and get them in place. Will cut the cab floor after the core support so I can get the transmission back where it belongs and the driveshaft in place.

Real pleased with the gaps especially after shimming the fenders at the door. Got it all adjusted including the hood hinges and photographed before I put the hinge springs back on. Once I put the springs back on, it became evident pretty quickly that they are worn out. The hood now sticks up above the cowl about 1". Will replace with new soon.

To protect my shinny new wheels, I picked up some canvas wheel covers from Harbor Freight for $8.99 (pkg of 4). Comes with integral wire that keeps it clamped to the tire. Figured they would come in handy during painting as well.

[Kim57]

Looks like you're making good progress.
Kim

[dug224]

Got the front clip lined up. There were a lot of variables to consider. I had to "unshim" the top of the passenger fender at the cab to get the passenger side to line up. Had to slightly sand the body line and paint it (see gold paint) so I could see the body ridge and line it up with the string. Will weld supports in place this weekend and move to cutting out the floor to clear the transmission.

Multiple shots of the driver side core support mount. Heated and bent one of the mounting tabs to line up with the structural piece on the core support. I will need to add some material to the fender liner for bracing since I have cut out so much for the suspension and core support mount.

One shot thru the headlight hole so you can see the general clearance of suspension and wheel.

[dug224]

two more shots....

[Kim57]

Looks like you're making good progress.
Kim

[Kabwe]

Your frame swap is coming out very nice, very nice. Great job buddy.

[dug224]

Got the core support mounts tacked in place. Proceeded to roll it outside to cut the floor for the transmission. The aluminum driveshaft is about 3" short. Will see about getting it lengthened next week.

[dug224]

Having some problems "stretching" the transmission to reach the factory crossmember. Trying to figure out what is wrong. I have the factory 5.3l V8 with AT mounted on a factory 4.8l I-6 frame. In the event someone can help, I post the following photos. I shot a tech question to the folks at TraiVoy.com to see if the experts can shed some light.

My have to build an adaptor plate but hate to get into all that work if it is something simple to make right...dug224

[Wheelie]

You may have the wromg tailhousing length wise or that thing uses a weird mount. I would personallyy make my own and move on. Looks real good so far!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Wheelie

You may have the wromg tailhousing length wise or that thing uses a weird mount. I would personallyy make my own and move on. Looks real good so far!

Wheelie: Good point. I editted my question to the Trailblazer Envoy experts to include this. The trans mount is pretty tall. About 1 inch more room required to get it in place that I currently have it set up. If the fix ain't easy and cheap, I will fab a mount. Thx...dug224

[OrrieG]

If the trans and crossmember are at the final heights it looks like a piece of plate will work.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

If the trans and crossmember are at the final heights it looks like a piece of plate will work.

OrrieG: If the pionion angles remain ok, I may be able to run a plate off of the bottom of the crossmember. The trans mount is pretty tall so this has a pretty good chance of working. dug

[OrrieG]

Can you use a shorter mount, like a body mount donut and put the plate on the top? You don't need a lot of thickness, just enough to cushion and allow a little movement. I assume the ears with holes are the tranny mount location?

[Kim57]

If it was an inline 6 it was probably a little longer than the v-8.
Obviously I have no idea what the 4.8 is.
Kim

[dug224]

OrrieG and Ricott: With mount attached to bottom of trans, all of the holes in the cross member line up with the bolts on the bottom of the mount if I could just move the trans to the rear. I took the crossmember off last night and turned it 180 degrees to see if I could get it further from the mount to give me some room. Factory leading edge of crossmember has a curve which makes putting a plate a little too close. The back edge is straight. Did not work. Crossmember holes to frame would no longer line up. I will do some detailed measurements this weekend and see if I can manage some sort of solution. I really want to use the mount since it is factory and cost me a few bucks. Maybe I cut out the top metal on the crossmember and weld it in closer to the front of the vehicle.

Also working on pinion angle. Invested a bit of time in trying to understand. Right now, the rearend yolk is 3.5 degrees off of vertical pointing up. The transmission is just the opposite at 3.5 degree pointing down. Based on ricott's comment, I will revisit this weekend. As an old mechanical Engineer I used to work with would say when something perplexed him..."...I don't understand everything I know about this...". Any good lessons on pinion angles would be appreciated.

I am not longer compressed air challenged. Picked up a slightly used Kobalt 80 gallon 3 cylinder unit last night. Will wire it up this weekend. It has 4.8 running horsepower stated on the tank. The nameplate on the motor says something like "SPL". Special??? No hp stated. Amp meter says it is drawing 17 Amps. Headed towards a #10 wire and will use and existing 30 amp spare I have in the panel unless one of you electrical experts (Ogre) stops me.

[ricott]

Looking at your pictures in Post 121 I think I see the problem. Looking at the second picture in your post #121, it looks like the indent on the crossmenmber for the exhaust pipe is on the driver's side. I was not looking at this when I looked at my wife's envoy last night, but I do know the rest of the exhaust system runs down the passenger side. I think you may have bolted the passenger side of the crossmenber to the driver's side of the frame. By switching sides, it shoud push the crossmember forward, which would get the bolt holes for the rear mount under the tranny.

The height of the tranny above the crossmember looks like the setup in my wife's v8 Envoy (about 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the crossmember). Since the pinion angle and the tranny angle cancel each other out, (based on your readings of tranny 3.5 down/pinion 3.5 up) I think you are good, you just need to get the crossmember under the tranny so it will all bolt up.

I can verify how my wife's Envoy crossmember bolts in tonight if you need it.

[OrrieG]

If you google "drive line angles" more than enough information comes up. Having the tranny centerline and pinion angle parallel looking from the side with some offset is the best case, universal joints need a little angle to work correctly. They can vary a little, problems occur as the angles increase and rpm goes up.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

If you google "drive line angles" more than enough information comes up. Having the tranny centerline and pinion angle parallel looking from the side with some offset is the best case, universal joints need a little angle to work correctly. They can vary a little, problems occur as the angles increase and rpm goes up.

Seems I was getting too much information on the topic and it got a bit confusing. I Googled your suggestion and the following link made it simple enough for me to understand. Thanks...dug

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/md/html..._harmonics.php

[dug224]

Sorted out the pinion angle and was able to get the crossmember modified and in place. Took a section of the old '59 frame and created the pocket and shelf for the factory mount to sit on. It is located on the front side of the factory 6 cylinder crossmember. The '59 frame section I used was not quite wide enough so I had to add about 7/8" to it so the mount would fit down inside. Got the transmission located and bolted the plate to the bottom of the mount. Had to use some nailpolish on the bottom of the transmission mount bolts to transfer their locations to the plate so it could be drilled. Installed the crossmember tacked the plate to the pocket. Welding upside down is not fun so I took it out and welded it up on the bench. Ran out of gas for the MIG so I will have to come back to weld the top.

The body is so low I had to cut the floor an additional 9" toward the rear of the cab and 6" wide to avoid the transmission and 5" diameter aluminum driveshaft. Planning on a hump out of a late model vehicle and center console to cover the floor cuts.

[dug224]

Additional photos to give you a feel for the floor cut and the relative location of the top of the transmission to the top of the floor. It is clear sailing for the driveshaft all the way back to the rearend once you get past the floor cut. If you look at the 4th photo where the floor cut meets the old floor hump radius, you can better see how far off center the engine/transmission is from the body. Will have the driveshaft lengthened next.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by ricott

Looking at your pictures in Post 121 I think I see the problem. Looking at the second picture in your post #121, it looks like the indent on the crossmenmber for the exhaust pipe is on the driver's side. I was not looking at this when I looked at my wife's envoy last night, but I do know the rest of the exhaust system runs down the passenger side. I think you may have bolted the passenger side of the crossmenber to the driver's side of the frame. By switching sides, it shoud push the crossmember forward, which would get the bolt holes for the rear mount under the tranny.

The height of the tranny above the crossmember looks like the setup in my wife's v8 Envoy (about 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the crossmember). Since the pinion angle and the tranny angle cancel each other out, (based on your readings of tranny 3.5 down/pinion 3.5 up) I think you are good, you just need to get the crossmember under the tranny so it will all bolt up.

I can verify how my wife's Envoy crossmember bolts in tonight if you need it.

I hope you are right. I was working with the crossmember the way I got it so maybe the guy who yanked the eng/trans may have put it in backwards. I just took a quick look. My exhaust is, in fact, on the passenger and if the indention is for the exhaust, it definitely needs to be rotated 180 degrees. The thing that puzzles me is that I did rotate it the other night and the holes for the crossmember to frame bolts (apparently) did not line up. I was more focused on trying to get the leading edge of the crossmember away from the mount bolts so I could fab a plate. May have been tired of being on my back. The trans mount holes favor one side of the vehicle so there is definitely only one way to mount it. I will under the truck tonight investigating. Thanks!

[Kim57]

Nice job on the cross member.
Kim

[dug224]

Found a rollover Buick Ranier (Trailblazer Platform) at my buddies wrecking yard that was headed to the crusher. He cut the roof off and cut it behind the front seats and let me take it home to see if the trans hump would work. My plan was to cut the hump (including the portion of the floor that the seats mount to) and the firewall (or partial firewall) and work it into the cab. I wanted to use the center console, e-brake and seats as well.

Here is what did not work:
1. The seat is WAY too high. Threw the driver's seat in the cab and my head was nearly touching the roof. Will need a seat that is about 8" above the cab floor for me to see out of the windshield. I would like a real simple seat with no electrically driven adjustments. Will start looking at small import car seats. The mockup of the steering column felt pretty good. Sitting on some low profile plastic crates, I am looking out of the windshield about about 3/5's the way from the bottom and can see the gauges nicely. Hate this did not work because the seats have integral seatbelts. Even when the seats were on the floor, the top of the back of the seat was a bit too high in the large rear window. By the way, the leather on the seats was still perfect after being in the weather for a couple of years except for some oil stains and the rusted out seat pan.
2. The distance from the seat to the firewall is several inches longer in the Ranier.
3. The hump is not particularily appealing asthetically. If I can't use the seats, it defeats the purpose of having this oddly shaped hump.

What may work:
1. Pedal assembly. The drive by wire gas pedal mounts to the side of the pedal assembly so the brake and gas pedal are a complete unit. With a little modification, this should work.
2. Steering column. Was concerned about the bulky look of the plastic behind the steering wheel as well as the distance of the back of the plastic to the dash. May have to fab a small filler piece to clean it up and hide the cast portion of the steering column case. Overall, it looks pretty good. There are 4 mounting points for the column so the bracket will be pretty easy to make. Will have to adapt an old steering wheel to the new. The cruise, turn signal and windshield washer controls are in one wand which is really nice. Will allow me to simplify the dash. With the new old steering wheel, the wheel mounted AC and radio controls will be deleted.
3. Emergency brake. The recepticle for the e-brake in the floor has all the mounting points for my frame mounted e-brake cables. I will cut it out of the floor and find a spot for it. Nice unit.
4. Trans. shift. Nice unit. Got the cable with it hat fits my transmission. Also has four mounting points so install should be fairly eash.

[ricott]

Well I sure hate to here the problems with the seats. You may want to check the mechanical seats out of an S-10 pickup or the electric ones out of a Blazer or third generation Camaro. All are substantially lower than the TB seats. I purchased a 2003 Trailblazer EXT that was a rollover. Got the complete frame and the cab body like you did (windshield posts and right behind the back seat). I had hoped to incorporate the bulk of the firewall and the floor pan into my truck to use as many of the Trailblazer parts as possible, so it is good to see the column and brake systems may work. The seats looked like the ones you have, and the carpet was in great shape, so I thought I was all set (uggh). I will be bringing the cab of the 55 and the TB frame home after the holidays. I plan to start a slow build thread then (the 58 vette will be the primary focus until finished). Have a great Christmas, and I look forward to seeing your progress in the new year.

Ricky

[dug224]

Originally Posted by ricott

Well I sure hate to here the problems with the seats. You may want to check the mechanical seats out of an S-10 pickup or the electric ones out of a Blazer or third generation Camaro. All are substantially lower than the TB seats. I purchased a 2003 Trailblazer EXT that was a rollover. Got the complete frame and the cab body like you did (windshield posts and right behind the back seat). I had hoped to incorporate the bulk of the firewall and the floor pan into my truck to use as many of the Trailblazer parts as possible, so it is good to see the column and brake systems may work. The seats looked like the ones you have, and the carpet was in great shape, so I thought I was all set (uggh). I will be bringing the cab of the 55 and the TB frame home after the holidays. I plan to start a slow build thread then (the 58 vette will be the primary focus until finished). Have a great Christmas, and I look forward to seeing your progress in the new year.

Ricky

Not saying it is impossible. If I get a chance, I will take a picture of me sitting on the seat in the cab so you can have a feel for it. You will have to at least lower the floor and/or seats somehow. I have plenty of room to lower the floor before it hits the frame but felt like it was getting a bit out of hand. I sat in a friends '54 the other day that had the exact TB seats. I will revisit him to take a closer look. They did not seem to high to me in that vehicle at the time. His truck is so perfect that I may have be awe struck and distracted. I will shoot some photos of his as well. Merry Christmas...off to Colorado tomorrow to visit 2/3's of my kids.... Dug