My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside

[drivea55]

Cool!

Its always nice to spend money on the truck.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Maximus]

Well I had a couple hours during the weekend that I was able to dedicate to the truck, so I took the opportunity to install my new Hotchkis front lowering springs for my "Firebird".
I'd be lying if I didn't say I was extatic with the result. Not only with the drop but the handling, I also bought new bushings and installed the 1 1/4" sway bar. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!
The original springs were horribly tired, the entire truck swayed in turns. Now, almost ZERO body roll between the new stiff springs and sway bar additions. I can honestly say it turns/handles like the '78 Formula Firebird that the subframe originated from.
simply awesome.

the overall drop after the springs was almost exactly 1.5", making the truck ALMOST dead level, making me very happy. Here are a few pics

BEFORE SPRINGS:


AFTER SPRINGS:


Install photos:









Before measurement:

After measurement:

[drivea55]

Very nice dude!

that made a heck of a difference!!!!!!!!!!!

[drivea55]

oh BTW,

You jinxed me!... joking of course.

After our chat about springs or drop spindles, I noticed rub marks on the inner front rims.

I had to indeed trim the lower control arm. GM made these way too big anyways...

thanks for the heads up!

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by drivea55

oh BTW,

You jinxed me!... joking of course.

After our chat about springs or drop spindles, I noticed rub marks on the inner front rims.

I had to indeed trim the lower control arm. GM made these way too big anyways...

thanks for the heads up!

Ahh man that sucks! Sorry to hear about the interference! at lest you caught on to it before a serious problem came up!

[drivea55]

I thank you for that!

you bringing it up helped me figure out what was going on.

funny 16" rims too... ah well all is good.

back to your build!

lookin good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kim57]

Looks real nice.
Kim

[Maximus]

Got my very own box with a heart on it today!!!!
and to sound a little less girly, it was labeled Hooker.
Headers that is.

I hate spending money, but not as much as I like getting new parts!!

My cracked exhaust manifold/MAJOR exhaust leak on the drivers side will no longer be an issue of mine after the weekend if all goes well. The headers are just the solution, as the long tubes will set me up an easy strait shot to install the rest of the exhaust. I might not get the mufflers on this weekend, but sure hope to get the manifolds off and these bad boys on!

Took a photo of how crammed the poor inner-exhaust ports are on these pontiac heads...

[Kim57]

Very nice.
Kim

[drivea55]

Woo Hoo!

new parts!!!

[oldcouple]

Save the side of that box for your wall art.

[Maximus]

well, today was a case of taking three steps forward, and one step backwards...
after removing the starter, clutch linkage and oil filter assembly off my pontiac engine, I forced the headers into position and started the tedious task of bolting the headers on. after slowly getting each bolt in, I put the starter back in, only to find my clutch linkage is going to interfear with the long tube header. I will spend a few days thinking about how I will build a new bracket to connect the clutch fork to the pedal fulcrum, it shouldnt be very difficult its just frustrating because it was all woring fine before the interfearance by the headers...

I am also waiting for my oil filter housing gasket, yay for my odd-ball pontiac having speacial order parts hah... $2 gasket... but its gonna take 3 days to show up...

anyways, here are some bad quality photos of the headers in position.

[Kim57]

Looks like a tight fit.
Good luck on getting it all to work.
Kim

[Maximus]

man, it was a bear getting the headers up into position...
and thanks! ill take all the luck I can get haha...

[Maximus]

Haven't had a ton of time in the last few weeks to work on the truck, but did manage to get my clutch issue resolved. After installing headers, my clutch fork pivot rod went forward, and strait into my header. Instead of hacking up my OEM parts, i ordered repop rods to modify.
After chopping off the end of the rod, I had a friend weld it back together rotated 90 degrees and at a camber similar to the original, and then shortened the second rod so that it would compensate for the angle pivot rod now facing the rear of the truck instead of the front of the truck.

When all was said and done, it clears the headers! I dont have an installed photo because it was dark, but here are the modified brackets to make my clutch work again...

[Kim57]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Nice job.
Kim

[Maximus]

To anyone who cares, here is a photo of the clutch linkage installed. Works great, simple and effective!
Only other thing i did this weekend is tweek the timing and carb adjustments, now I am waiting on exhaust parts to get this thing quiet enough to drive again hah...

A Side note!! Anyone using the original style clutch linkage, and buys a reproduction elbow that bolts to the fork, the tabs that hold the rod on the elbow are not tall enough to keep the rod on, I had to weld bumps on the tabs to make them taller, and it works perfect. My original elbow never had this problem, but I didnt want to hack up the original part just in case, so i bought the Repo part and found it needed a little work... You can see in the photos of the elbow that there are welds on each bump.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Maximus

Well I had a couple hours during the weekend that I was able to dedicate to the truck, so I took the opportunity to install my new Hotchkis front lowering springs for my "Firebird".
I'd be lying if I didn't say I was extatic with the result. Not only with the drop but the handling, I also bought new bushings and installed the 1 1/4" sway bar. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!
The original springs were horribly tired, the entire truck swayed in turns. Now, almost ZERO body roll between the new stiff springs and sway bar additions. I can honestly say it turns/handles like the '78 Formula Firebird that the subframe originated from.
simply awesome.

the overall drop after the springs was almost exactly 1.5", making the truck ALMOST dead level, making me very happy. Here are a few pics

BEFORE SPRINGS:


AFTER SPRINGS:


Install photos:









Before measurement:

After measurement:

I really like what I see. This will be a great help. Thanks...

[Maximus]

So... I haven't made a ton of progress lately, been waiting on parts and been busy with life... along with bad weather.
A break in the weather allowed me to sandblast and put some rust converting primers on my heater housing/motor probably just going to paint the parts satin black and if my heater is done getting recored by friday I might be able to put the heater together this weekend. Someone welded the original holes for the heater up on my firewall so ill have to redrill.
Anyone know what size spacers are used on the inside studs for the heater mounting?
Also, I know a rubber band is used for the blower-to-heater box, is the same used for the cowl-to-blower?


Blower still works!














I blasted and primered the box too but for some reason don't have photos. Ill get some up when I paint everything...

[Kim57]

Looks good.
Kim

[lowdownstar]

You did a really nice paint job!





Ray

[Maximus]

Thanks! The paint in the previous heater photos were primers, today I finally had a sunny afternoon and was able to put a few coats of rattle can paint/clear coat on the heater parts. At first I started with a low gloss, but the interior of my truck was much too glossy for it, and it stood out very bad so I re-shot the parts in gloss and then clear coated them.
Because it was only a dollar more per can, i went total overkill and used 500 degree engine paint...
The heater core leaked alot in a past life causing alot of rust on the box, which is primarily why I chose to put 5 layers of paint and a clear coat on the box. No more rust...

Photos of the painted pieces... will probably upload some more after I get my core and assemble the box

[Maximus]

Not alot of progress, no photos to show, just bolted my mufflers on this weekend and drove the truck around, sounds 1000% better without the exhaust leak, and with the engine timing better set (was WAY too retarded last time i drove it) being able to rev over 3000rpm without the engine sounding like it was going to explode was great!
older flowmaster mufflers off a friends old mustang sound mean behind the 400 pontiac! (I think they are the standard 40-series)

As soon as I get my heater core from the radiator shop though I'll get some photos of the box assembled.

[Maximus]

Work is continuing to overpower my time, however I was able to install my new stereo. I went with the Retrosound Apache radio and am happy with it. It won't be easy to navigate through all my folders of music on my usb drive but it fits the stock opening and plays either SD cards or USB Thumb drives so thats all i need. I don't have speakers installed yet but when I figure out what I am doing with those ill post some photos

[_Ogre]

my stereo has an usb plug up front
the thought of a 2'' thumb drive sticking out scared me
until i found these short ones... newegg.com
skipping cd/dvd are a thing of my past
no folders, just 16gb of random rock and roll