55 TF Stretched Cab/Fleetside/LSx/Trailblazer Frame

[ricott]

Yesterday afternoon I pulled the sheet metal and ground out the tack welds where the front and back sections of the frame slip together. I used a come along to pull the frame sections in another 1 and 1/2 inches. It really went quickly. After checking all the measurements to verify the frame was square (same process as I did the first time), I tacked it up, checked everything, then began welding each frame rail a little at a time. I was working on cutting out the rear cab supports and other items, so I did not lose any time while I let the welds cool. Here is the top of the frame where it slips together, you can see the taper.



I plan to "fish plate" the sides of the frame in the joint area - it probably is overkill, but it is an added precaution. I then re-installed the cab last night. This afternoon, I came home a little early to work on the rear cab mounts. After mocking them up with everything in place, I tacked them up and removed the cab. You can see how much I had to move the rear supports back.



Here is the cab and frame.



I don't have more than two to three hours to have the frame completed. I had planned to push the frame aside, move the cab to the middle of the garage, and begin welding it up. Now I am seriously considering mounting the engine and tranny and doing the exhaust/fuel system next. It would be sweet to here the engine make some noise again (even if it is just on bare rails). We will see this weekend. As always, there is more to come.

Ricky

Time spent on Tuesday/Wednesday: 6.5 hours
Total time: 111.0

[dsraven]

looks good. I wish I was doing the same instead of building this high mount brake light. too many complex bends in a small piece.
anyway, don't forget when you fish plate that the ends of the fishplate don't get welded closed. you probably already know that though.
keep up the good work, I will try to get my build thread going. soon. seems like there is not enough time in the day.

[Kim57]

Nice work.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

Looking good, you are making great progress!

[II_Slow]

All right, reading a few of these build threads has got me motivated again. My daughter's softball has kept me off of the project lately (she's played in 5 other states and all over Texas since July), but it's starting to wind down. Taking off next Thursday and Friday to get back on it. Got to finish mine by Power Tour 2016!!! Cummins powered 55 on a modified '99 Ram 2500 frame

[cameo]

First thing...WOW!!

Man you have some major talent, and foresight!!

Just a note on changing rear tires. 55-57 cars had major fender lip, other cars too. The big difference from back then to now, is everyone uses a floor jack to lift the car or truck.
I was going to suggest using an air bag or air shock that would be empty normally, and fill to extend the springs to allow for some gap between the axel and bed, but what about just using a good old bumper style jack to lift up the back end? Or if you are worried about scratching the bumper, or if there isn't one to scratch, lift the frame from behind the axle.

If I wasn't this far away, I'd ask what you wanted for your spare frame. I am still searching for one.

Great build, Love the truck, and I love your Hour Meter!

Thanks for all your info

[ricott]

Originally Posted by dsraven

looks good. I wish I was doing the same instead of building this high mount brake light. too many complex bends in a small piece.
anyway, don't forget when you fish plate that the ends of the fishplate don't get welded closed. you probably already know that though.
keep up the good work, I will try to get my build thread going. soon. seems like there is not enough time in the day.

Thanks for that mental jog. I remember from working in a welding shop as a teenager that the old welder did it just like you described. As it turns out, my frame overlap is slightly more than GM had originally , so I am drilling the plug welding holes on the sides of the frame rail like the General did it. Hopefully I will get to that next weekend.

Originally Posted by II_Slow

All right, reading a few of these build threads has got me motivated again. My daughter's softball has kept me off of the project lately (she's played in 5 other states and all over Texas since July), but it's starting to wind down. Taking off next Thursday and Friday to get back on it. Got to finish mine by Power Tour 2016!!! Cummins powered 55 on a modified '99 Ram 2500 frame

I have been following your build, can't wait to see more.

Originally Posted by cameo

First thing...WOW!!

Man you have some major talent, and foresight!!

Just a note on changing rear tires. 55-57 cars had major fender lip, other cars too. The big difference from back then to now, is everyone uses a floor jack to lift the car or truck.
I was going to suggest using an air bag or air shock that would be empty normally, and fill to extend the springs to allow for some gap between the axel and bed, but what about just using a good old bumper style jack to lift up the back end? Or if you are worried about scratching the bumper, or if there isn't one to scratch, lift the frame from behind the axle.

If I wasn't this far away, I'd ask what you wanted for your spare frame. I am still searching for one.

Great build, Love the truck, and I love your Hour Meter!

Thanks for all your info

I agree with you on jacking the frame up. Instead of using a bumper jack, I plan to use a bottle jack like the newer GM trucks use. I will weld a small receiver on the frame so the jack will "stay put". This should work - we will see next spring!

Kim and Chuckdriver, thanks for your comments also - and if you have a suggestion or see something I need to consider, I always appreciate your thoughts.

NOW FOR A small UPDATE:

I wanted to mock up the gas tank next, so I headed out to pick up a long wheelbase trailblazer tank (28 gallons). My tank was long gone when I purchased the frame (which was to include the gas tank), so the yard operator and I looked around for a tank, but all of his were short wheelbase (22.5 gallons). After some measuring, it appeared that a short tank would fit in - I would just have to add in a front tank mount to do so. He had a short wheelbase frame on the rack they were stripping, so we pulled the parts needed.

First thing I did was to see if the tank would actually fit - It did:



Here is the front mount before I stripped it from the old frame:



Here it is mostly stripped:



Here it is tacked in:



Like I said, it was a small update!

While at the salvage yard I did manage to find 1989 short wheelbase chevy truck bed and a set of brake/clutch petals in an early 90s S-10. I paid for these parts and hope to pull them Thanksgiving week. I am walking out the door (Sunday AM) and headed to Dallas to work for the next three weeks. My son Eric left me the GTO for this week's drive, and it is a beautiful day, so I am ready to get started. I will be coming home on Friday nights, and going on Sundays, so there will not be much updating until the week of Thanksgiving. As always there is more to come.

Ricky

Time on Saturday: 5 hours

Total time: 116

[lv2tri2]

I know it makes no difference, but if the car pictured in early posts was the dash donner, it's a 60. The dash was the same in both years.

[ricott]

Originally Posted by lv2tri2

I know it makes no difference, but if the car pictured in early posts was the dash donner, it's a 60. The dash was the same in both years.

Thanks for the heads up - that is something I needed to know when I finally order parts for the dash, and I thought it was a 59. As it turns out, I'm going to use that dash in another project (if I live long enough!!!). I said in earlier posts that I've always loved how the 1963-1967 Corvette Dash looked, so I bit the bullet last week (before I hit the road) and purchased a 1965 corvette dash assembly for my truck. When I get back to Memphis this weekend it should be there, and I will post pictures.
Ricky

[ChuckDriver]

Saw this one at the Goodguy's show in Charlotte a couple of weekends back. Looked very nice!

[ricott]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Saw this one at the Goodguy's show in Charlotte a couple of weekends back. Looked very nice!

I saw that truck at Goodguys in Columbus in July - it was what convinced me to do what I really wanted to do. Talked to one of the Builders of the truck at length, he said the corvette dash was actually 2 inches narrower (I think) than the truck dash (I need to check my notes in Memphis). They split the dash in the middle and widened it to make it work. I’ve been looking since July and was able to get a decent deal on a complete dash from a corvette recently. I’m looking forward to working on the cab part of this build starting around Thanksgiving. Right now I'm stuck in Dallas dreaming.

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome, look forward to seeing it come together!

[Advanced Design]

Ricott- I really appreciate the ideas you have and the creativity of your build...not to mention your skills. The Corvette dash will be very cool...looking forward to updates when you return home.

[ricott]

Thanks Advanced Design for your comments. I'm really enjoying this because I've wanted one of these trucks for years, and have dreamed about how I would "make it my own". Like your Suburban project, I've had other projects on hold for way to many years while we did other things and lived life. I love your shop, and look forward to seeing your progress posted. I wish I were closer – I would love to learn to use those great looking metal working tools.

Ricky

[tune_1]

Putting a 63-67 dash in the pickup is an interesting thought. Be sure and post the process as it will be fun to follow along. Especially as you update the instruments.

Dwight

[ricott]

Got back in town last night and headed over to Fed EX to pick up my corvette dash today. The jobs around the house kept me form even looking at my truck, but maybe tomorrow. In any event, here is a picture of the dash, as well as the lower hinge pockets that came in from LMC while I was gone.





I'm not headed to Dallas until Monday night, so I hope to finish the Welding on the frame tomorrow. On a side note the GTO got almost 28 MPG on the road to/from Dallas this week - My truck will have the same engine/tranny combo, and I doubt is is any less aerodynamic that the GTO - so it should be a gas sipping ride! As always, more to come.

Ricky

[Kim57]

That dash is going to look real sweet in there.
Kim

[Bomp]

Dash looks great but honestly I hope you don't get as good of mileage as the GTO.
You are building one Cool@zz truck and I hope you drive the wheels off that thing!

[ChuckDriver]

Gonna be sweet! Looking forward to seeing it come together!!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by ricott

Thanks Advanced Design for your comments. I'm really enjoying this because I've wanted one of these trucks for years, and have dreamed about how I would "make it my own". Like your Suburban project, I've had other projects on hold for way to many years while we did other things and lived life. I love your shop, and look forward to seeing your progress posted. I wish I were closer – I would love to learn to use those great looking metal working tools.

Ricky

Thanks Ricky - You should come to MetalMeet next October in Oblong....only 5 1/2 hours away and we have folks from all over the USA. This year participants from Canada and Australia attended too.

Apologies for the hi-jack...now back to your awesome build.

[ricott]

Originally Posted by Kim57

That dash is going to look real sweet in there.
Kim

Thanks Kim, I always welcome the comments, and glad to see you are making progress on the bodywork. I admire your patience – and you will have a beautiful truck to show for it when finished.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Dash looks great but honestly I hope you don't get as good of mileage as the GTO.
You are building one Cool@zz truck and I hope you drive the wheels off that thing!

Greg: Thanks for your comments. I am dying to get this thing running enough to drive it around the block (which, unfortunately, is a ways off!)

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Gonna be sweet! Looking forward to seeing it come together!!

JJ Thanks for your comments, and for positing a picture of that dash. I have it in my "GoodGuys-Columbus" stack, but it motivates me every time I see it. I love your new parts and look forward to seeing your frame updates.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Thanks Ricky - You should come to MetalMeet next October in Oblong....only 5 1/2 hours away and we have folks from all over the USA. This year participants from Canada and Australia attended too.

Apologies for the hi-jack...now back to your awesome build.

AD – Thanks for the invitation. I will PM you for information about MetalMeet. It really is something I would like to do.

NOW THE UPDATE:

I'm glad to be in town with this week off. I have 4 days I will be able to work on the truck, and today was day one. As I said earlier, I really want to hear this thing make some noise, so I want to get the engine/transmission bolted into place so I can start hustling up needed parts to get it going. My engine is an LQ9 (a high output 6.0 LS series engine) that came out of a 2006 Cadillac Escalade. I bought this engine several years ago, and it had just under 40,000 miles when I pulled it out. Since I needed to change the oilpan, I decided to clean the engine and paint it before installing it in the rails. It took slightly over 8 hours to clean it up tape it off, and paint it with Eastwood Engine Paint.





Here it is shined up and painted.



I will swap the pan on the engine in the morning, then I will be working to get the engine on the rails. As always, more to come.

Ricky

Time spent : 8 hours

Total time: 124

[Kim57]

The engine came out nice.
Kim

[Bomp]

You're making better progress then me. Totally dig the motor.

[ricott]

Didn't make quite as much progress today, but it was a good day. After changing the oilpan out, I installed the flywheel and the pilot shaft bearing and my son and I bolted the engine to the frame.



The clutch/pressure plate came in, but the pressure plate bolts (ARP) did not come in. Since I wanted to find out if everything would clear, I bolted the T56 to the engine and then began measuring to modify the rear cross member to get the angle right for the driveline. The UP angle on the pinion yoke was 4 degrees. I then blocked the tranny up until my angle finder gave me 4 degrees DOWN angle on the tranny output shaft. I will fabricate a spacer to make up the difference between the Tranny mount and the rear cross member.



We put the cab back on to verify everything fit, and I was glad I did. The Gas tank would not clear, so I will have to use the 28 gallon one to work. Here it is all bolted up.



I hope to get back to the engine on Saturday. As always, there is more to come.
Ricky
Time spent : 7 hours

Total time: 131

[Kim57]

You're making nice progress on it.
Wish I had kept track of the hours on mine like you are.
Kim