Beer belly / steering wheel room needed in 59

[Foot Stomper]

Hey guys, I'm looking for room for my (6 pack in hiding) beer belly on my 59. I'd like to stay with stock seat, column and steering wheel and am looking for some ideas other than weight loss programs. There's no question that losing a few pounds would solve the problem, but realistically speaking, that's not likely going to happen.

The gas tank is going under bed. Can I move the seat back and still be able to reach the pedals? 5'10" and 30" inseam may be a challenge.

Would a thinner back on the seat be as effective?

Perhaps a smaller steering wheel that would still look great. Maybe a 55 to 57 wheel that isn't dished? My concern with this option is that the wheel would be too low in my lap? Has anyone done this?

The pictures show seat position in relation to tank and steering wheel the last time I drove the truck.

[_Ogre]

moving the tank out of the cab doesn't really give you any more room as the seat goes back to the back of the cab any way
hotrod magazine had a good article on reducing the size of the stock steering wheel
the structure is steel rod covered in bakelite
they cut the wheel diameter down, rewelded the structure and used eastwoods steering wheel restoration epoxy to reshape the wheel

i'd like to try in it my 58 truk, currently i have the astro van column and steering wheel
i would like to find a stock steering wheel and reduce the diameter down
granted i have mustII ifs with power steering, might not work with stock king pins and steering

[_Ogre]

the next thread down showed what orrieg did with a 48 steering wheel in his 58 truck
the flat wheel may give you the belly space you need
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=713418

[gabe2000]

i would add power steering and tilt steering wheel. that's easier then losing weight. I am trying lose weight and its hell. My best bet is stablizing my weight so I won't gain weight. true but sad story.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

the next thread down showed what orrieg did with a 48 steering wheel in his 58 truck
the flat wheel may give you the belly space you need
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=713418

Also note in the pic the tilt is set below the axis of the shaft, when set higher your probalby gain a lot more. Next time I can access the cab I will tilt it up and take a photo.

[Foot Stomper]

Thanks guys. OrrieG has a "Lincoln " column with a seat out of a ?. Great looking setup but I'm going to keep my stock seat and column... maybe a different wheel might help?

Gabe, good idea about power steering. .. could put a much smaller wheel on then. I've put on 2 pounds a year over the past 35 years... damn! I too wish I could just maintain a weight.

[mr48chev]

Smaller wheel is the simplest way. A tilt helps a lot in that respect too.

I'm the same height and have the same if not slightly shorter inseam and weight 280 and don't have a problem in these trucks as far as room behind the wheel goes.

[Foot Stomper]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Smaller wheel is the simplest way. A tilt helps a lot in that respect too.

I'm the same height and have the same if not slightly shorter inseam and weight 280 and don't have a problem in these trucks as far as room behind the wheel goes.

Well then you've nailed my weight!
So what are you using for a steering wheel? Are you running tilt?

[Mac the Yankee]

Might be able to try a '55-56 steering wheel?

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Foot Stomper

Thanks guys. OrrieG has a "Lincoln " column with a seat out of a ?. Great looking setup but I'm going to keep my stock seat and column... maybe a different wheel might help?

Gabe, good idea about power steering. .. could put a much smaller wheel on then. I've put on 2 pounds a year over the past 35 years... damn! I too wish I could just maintain a weight.

Mine is out of a 1982 Eldorado. Tilt telescope and two inches shorter than ones in rear wheel drive Caddys. That way the piece sticking out of the firewall is two inches shorter and minimizes interference with exhaust, etc.

[Coupeguy2001]

If you get the steering wheel too close to the dash, it may pinch your fingers.
Try using a column saver in reverse.
Instead of using the column, try using the box and replacing the column with a tilt.
It might be the easiest way to lose that belly fat besides pushing your truck to the gas station after intentionally running out of gas.

[58GMCSB]

Tilt column, smaller diameter steering wheel

[MARTINSR]

Ok, I wouldn't say anything but a few comments about weight loss made me do so.

Let me just say that I am a guy who never had to think about his weight, it still surprised friends when they saw that I lost weight, like "WHY?" was the biggest question asked. But I learned a few things, I learned how disappointing it must be for people to look at the scale after working so hard to see nothing has changed. But I also learned that it DOES change and it's worth it to do it!

About two and a half years ago I got a physical and was told by the doctor I was a "boarder line diabetic!" my glucose number was up there getting close and I was 20 lbs overweight.

Diabetic! I was NOT going to go there. I had many family members who were diabetics and I was NOT going to go there!

I went to a dietitian the doctor sent me to who gave me an eating plan to eliminate the bad stuff and increase the good stuff. I thought I ate well, I had veggies every day, I thought I ate well, I wasn't even close!

We know nothing about what we eat, let me put it that way. We get sucked in by marketing, we don't know crap about what we eat, which is largely crap! I didn't "go on a diet" that day, I changed my diet! "Going on a diet" means you will be going off that diet, right? Well I am not going back to what I was, this life is too precious, I love my family too much, I love this life too much.

I started doing a little home work, we aren't talking a bunch of work, it doesn't take much, just a little looking on labels, just a little not believing marketing and looking at the actual nutritional value. I started making a quick little chart like the photo I have here, that simple, so I could mark down when I eat a helping of each of the food groups. I found out real quick doing this I was not eating as good as I thought! The first thing I ate in the morning I would make up this chart and put it in my pocket. I stopped, I mean stopped eating sugar, we are talking I would have a half of a cookie and savor it, not just stuff it in my mouth but enjoy it. There was then no need to get any more.

I also started walking, around the block, around two blocks, down the main street, every other day, just walked out my front door after dinner. I just did what I felt like, around the block, timing it, a lousy 8 minutes, really? I knew I needed 20-30 minutes as the doctor told me. I started out with that 8 minutes then after a week or so it was raised to the point where walking two to 5 miles is nothing! I do this every other night, just walk out my front door for an hour or so, I don't think a thing of it, it's amazing how I will walk a few miles to a store and grab a veggie to snack on as I walk back. It's amazing how easy it is!

It took me a few months to loose that 20 lbs and it took me 16 months to drop my glucose number to good! SIXTEEN MONTHS so don't expect stuff over night. But every time I took the test (ever 3 months) it got lower and lower so I knew I could do it. I had people tell me (overweight people) that "if you are diabetic you are diabetic, nothing will change that" BS, I did it, and know many others who have!

Don't believe the marketing crap, start reading the labels and you will find things like that little pastry with fruit in it you think is "Ok" has as much sugar as a friggin Snickers bar! Or that tuna sandwich at the restaurant has 1000 grams more fat and 1000 more mg sodium than the bacon cheeseburger your friend is eating! Which doesn't mean you get a bacon cheese burger, but something really healthy.

And don't think I don't eat all the "good stuff", I am a foodie, I LOVE food and live in an area with the best food from all over the earth. I eat Mexican, Indian, Afghani, Thai, Chinese, and on and on, I LOVE food. I eat all the right stuff 90% of the time and have the other stuff to enjoy when I "dine", I don't eat crap to fill my stomach. When I am working and just "eating" I am eating the best I can for me, then I enjoy stuff too when I dine, there is a big difference. And the change can be amazing, I no longer even want stuff I use to eat. I have plain greek yogurt with whole grains and blue berries in it. This isn't "vanilla" yogurt but plain, you get the flavor from the berries, you don't need a bunch of sugar that the vanilla has.

I am sorry, I could go on and on with this because I LOVE this life and I have found that we have a lot more control over our bodies than people think.

Now damn it, hop in your truck and take it for a drive to the store for some veggies.

Brian

[Foot Stomper]

Thanks for the diet tips MartinSR but I have been blessed with my mother's genes... simple fact! My sister is proof also.

I went for a "cruise" and a "drag race" (with motor noises) today to see if a 55 wheel would afford more room... thoughts?

My wife still goes into hysterics seeing these pictures! LMAO!

[Foot Stomper]

• What about a tilt column with a floor shifter?
• What if I went to a four speed?
• Would I have synchros into low?
• Would low be considered 'granny gear"
• Would final ratio be 1:1?
• What's the pitfall?

[MARTINSR]

An interesting quote of Dr Laura's, "There were no fat people in the concentration camps."


Brian

[Foot Stomper]

Brian, your sense of diet and gene's is lacking the knowledge that you believe everyone is built the same and that our choices are the only differences. Please accept what I tell you as truth. There is more to someone's health aside from what they put in their mouth. I've friends who are diabetic that are slim and trim, I've friends that have high cholesterol that are slim and trim, I've friends that have high blood pressure that are slim and trim, I've friends that think body image is everything, I've friends that can walk anyone into the ground that are heavy, I've friends that think that body weight is a choice as easy as diet... no disrespect intended but you must be the body type that can easily change weight. Good for you, but there are many others that are not blessed with that ability. Dr Laura never had any weight challenges so what does she know about that except that it's so easy to tell someone else how to lose weight?!?! Her "concentration camp" example of body weight is absolutely disgusting and is completely disrespectful.

Getting thread back on course....Moving on... anyone buy an Ididit column for a 58/59 they liked? disliked? which one should I consider.

[MARTINSR]

I hear you, sorry I went off track.

Brian

[Foot Stomper]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

I hear you, sorry I went off track.

Brian

Cheers!

[Coupeguy2001]

Back to the subject at hand

If you used a muncie, you would get synchro in first.
If you used a 70 chevy truck 3 speed, you would get full synchro. ( i have one for $200)
if you used a granny 4 speed, you do not get first gear synchro, but you would usually start out in second anyway. So you might as well use a 3 speed as far as that is concerned.
I use a Doug Nash 4+3, and have 7 forward speeds, kind of like a gear splitter for 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
It has over drive, so I can cruise 75 at 1850 RPM.

My 57 is a stick shift with a tilt column. It is a 30 inch column with a 2 inch column drop, and I use the original steering wheel.
On my set up, I maximized the wheel position for me by sliding the column up till it was comfortable with the steering wheel attached. When it was juuuuust right, I locked it in, and at the firewall, I raised the column hole 2 inches till it was at the point where the foot board starts at the firewall. then measured the shaft using two u joints, and cut the shaft to fit.

Have your wife measure from the wheel to the dash, where it is comfortable to u,and from the center of the wheel to the floor of the cab.
you will figure out the column position from that measurement.

I think you have to decide, for the trans,
What do you want to do?
Cruise, or win races? Get great gas mileage, or be the first one off the line?

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Foot Stomper

Well then you've nailed my weight!
So what are you using for a steering wheel? Are you running tilt?

Had stock wheel and a couple of buckets out of who knows what in my 57 Panel. In my 48 stock steering and a mid 70's truck wheel that is way too frigging high to be comfortable. That was more due to the concept that I was going to blow it apart and do it right but I was so broke church mice brought me care packages the last few years I had it on the road. My wife wrecked or tore up cars on a regular basis in those days and quite often the 48 was our family vehicle for all occasions. She hasn't had a wreck in 3 years which is somewhat of a record for her. I got rear ended Thursday and my Geo Prizm Gsi got totaled in the process though.

[Foot Stomper]

Originally Posted by Coupeguy2001

Back to the subject at hand

If you used a muncie, you would get synchro in first.
If you used a 70 chevy truck 3 speed, you would get full synchro. ( i have one for $200)
if you used a granny 4 speed, you do not get first gear synchro, but you would usually start out in second anyway. So you might as well use a 3 speed as far as that is concerned.
I use a Doug Nash 4+3, and have 7 forward speeds, kind of like a gear splitter for 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
It has over drive, so I can cruise 75 at 1850 RPM.

My 57 is a stick shift with a tilt column. It is a 30 inch column with a 2 inch column drop, and I use the original steering wheel.
On my set up, I maximized the wheel position for me by sliding the column up till it was comfortable with the steering wheel attached. When it was juuuuust right, I locked it in, and at the firewall, I raised the column hole 2 inches till it was at the point where the foot board starts at the firewall. then measured the shaft using two u joints, and cut the shaft to fit.

Have your wife measure from the wheel to the dash, where it is comfortable to u,and from the center of the wheel to the floor of the cab.
you will figure out the column position from that measurement.

I think you have to decide, for the trans,
What do you want to do?
Cruise, or win races? Get great gas mileage, or be the first one off the line?

Great information CoupeGuy. Thank you.
Tranny information clears that up! Perfect!

The column position is something I didn't even consider so am going to take a real close look at my truck and what you described.

What tilt column did you find with a 30" length?

[mongocanfly]

Not trying to drag it back up but I have to kinda agree with footstomper on the genetic weight problems...my whole family on my dads side has the same issues..same round body type..my poor sister is as wide as she is tall..so are all my cousins...except for the 2 that have had the stomach surgery..some things can't be helped..I've tried for years to loose weight with no results...I know I don't eat as "healthy" as I could so there is that but I'm active most of the time..walk at least 3 miles a day..not saying it can't happen but there is a time investment that has to go into exercising and gym time that I can't spare..

[coupe33]

foot stomper seeing your drag race and cruise pics just made my day!! thier might be hope for me yet. best of luck with your steering wheel situation

[_Ogre]

if you have a stock column now, you can't install a tilt column with out some serious work