You know, looking at it closer it does't look to be '59 Buick but stock 55 Buick caps that came with the 2 bar flipper with a bullet put in the center with 2 exta flippers added.
I've always liked this truck and thought it would be a good candidate for a recreation. I'll be watching this one for sure. Good luck with the build.
CC, I was thinking the same thing. I went into my garage to do some measuring, I have both caps hanging in my rafters. I measued the spinners on both the 56 Lancer cap (9inches) and the 57-58 Lancer cap(10 inches) against how much space is on the 55 Buick cap which is 8 inches. I don't think its either Lancer cap. I am still thinking its a 55 Buick spinner cap with a bullet and 2 extra spinners added. I went ahead and edited the 55 Buick spinner cap and added 2 extra spinners. If you put a bullet in the middle, I think you have it.
I was thinking like the ones on Bob K's Chev. I'm not a Lancer hubcap expert. Are they the same as the first pic you posted?
Yep, the first pic is th 55-56 Dodge Lancer caps. The spinners measure 9 inches tip to tip which would be an inch too long for the 55-56 Buick caps. Which they could trim an inch or so off each end. If you look at Bob K's caps they are the Lancer spinner, you can see how tall the center of the spinner is, almost two inches, which look a little too tall for the Buick caps. The stock 55 Buick spinner is not quite an inch tall. All in all, its very difficult to tell from the magazine cover. Your guess is just as good as mine and it very well could be the Lancer center caps. I am just trying to go by the proportions in the magazine and to me I am guessing its the Buick spinners with extra blades added.
Got the Red's headers and Porter mufflers installed. Quieter than I expected, but has a nice low rumble sound. Didn't route tailpipes thru rear bumper yet because I don't have the Buick portholes to mount on the bumper. Still looking for a pair of '55 Buick portholes. The white cross marks where the exhaust hole will be.
I've started working on lowering the truck. Here's stock profile. Here's after installing Posie super slide springs front and rear. They're supposed to give 3" drop over stock springs, assuming stock springs haven't relaxed. It dropped 1-7/8" in the rear and 2-1/2" in the front. I guess old stock springs had relaxed after 60 years.
I think I need to go lower in front and rear to match original truck. Here's a shot trying to match the camera angle for comparison: Compare to: Hard to tell without whitewalls. I can drop another 1" or 2" in the rear using extended hanger and or flipping the front mount. Looks like I need the full 2". What do you think? On the front, I can only go lower by using a dropped axel with the dropped springs. I think a 3" axel drop will be too much. Need to think about this some more. The original article said dropped front axel was used.
I also starting looking at the headlight modifications. Here's the stock headlight profile: And here's the 55 olds trim ring: And from front on: The 55 olds ring fits perfectly around the bottom and the sides. I'll need to fill in on the top of course. I want to look at a 55 f100 grill first before I cut up this 53 grill. The 55 headlights might be slightly lower down with a squatter turn signal.
Need some help on the wheels and wheel covers... The '55 Buick hubcaps I have don't really fit very well on the 15" wheels that are on the truck now. They don't snap in; the wheel bead where the wheel cover catches must be slightly smaller than the original Buick wheel. If I really force it, it might go in, but I'm afraid I might damage the wheel cover. So what wheels do you think where used on the original Axcell truck that fit the Buick wheel cover? They're 15" obviously, and I'm assuming the original 5 x 5-1/2 bolt pattern was used. Thanks for any help.
Nice build the extended hangers will help. I used a 57 axle along with the reveresed eyes. A 57 axle wil give about an extra inch of drop.
Sfeldma, The wheel are your truck look like a 70's Ford truck wheel, popular because they came in wider widths. The mid fifties trucks had a wheel the was just about an exactly copy of the 40-48 Ford Car wheel except that it came in 15" as opposed to the 16" that came on the car. I think they came in 5" and 5.5" widths. I picked up a set of chrome ones for my 55. Those buick caps will work on the stock 53-55 ford truck wheels. You can buy them aftermarket as well. Usually about 60-80 bucks a piece. Here's a pair on Ebay for cheap http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-For...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr
Hmmm... I'm surprised the caps don't fit the wheels you have, as I don't believe the bead diameter on the wheel hoops is different, even between the various years and manufacturers' 15" wheels. Is it possible that the caps are hitting the hub-face of the current wheel? Buicks and Caddys typically had a deeper offset to allow their deeper caps... BTW, I love seeing this project come together... subscribed!
Oh yeah, and a 3" drop axle and hanger flip in the rear should be just about perfect. Perhaps wait for those springs to settle a little bit and then finalize your suspension plans...
You took the words out of my mouth. I ran a set of '56 Buick caps (virtually identical) on my '50 Coronet coupe, and I had to remove the center medallion to clear the dust cover on the front hub. This might also make the hubcap bullets a necessary modification on the original. By the way, I have some '55 portholes buried somewhere. I'll see if I can dig 'em up. BRT
I flipped the front hanger on the rear springs which brought the rear down another 1". I'm putting different front springs (and longer draglink) on from mid-fifty that move the axel forward 1-1/4" to center the wheel. Without centering, it looks nose heavy after the drop. Once I have the axle where I want it, I can figure out shock ride height measurement and what drop i'll need on the axle. I think there is a set of early 60's f100 wheels at the local salvage yard, so I'll check if the hubcap fits those better. I'll also check to see if the cap is hitting the hub-face. I've swapping out the rear end gears for a 3.54:1 set. That should get the RPMs down a little bit at highway speed. Thanks for the help guys.
I found some, thank for checking though. Last piece of the puzzle was those. I think I have all the parts I need now from donor cars. These Buick port holes are unbelievable heavy. 6 (or 8) of them must weigh close to 20 lbs. They're going to work perfect for routing the exhaust pipes thru the rear bumper.
What did you do for a master cylinder for your discs? I have been debating discs for a while but the master cylinder debate has always got me.
I'm using stock (rebuilt) master cylinder. Seems to work ok. I used a 2psi residual valve in both lines for front brakes and a 10psi residual valve for rear drum brakes. I also have a proportioning value in the rear, but I haven't played around adjusting the proportion front to back. I think Speedway has a good diagram showing typical disc/drum setup, which you can find on some of their brake parts.
I got my 3" dropped axel from Sids, extended hangers for the rear, and a rebuilt Dana 44 rear axel with 3.54:1 gears to install this weekend. Hopefully this will be the last of the suspension mods and I can prep for stage 2: truck explosion (dismantel). Everything is coming apart for cleaning and finishing. The frame/suspension is going one place for blast/paint, the body is going another for stripping, and I'm tearing into the motor to freshen up, pretty up. But I'm getting ahead of myself... Let's see if I can get the right stance with 3" drop and extended hangers...I think it's going to be real close to original truck.
Need some help on tire size. I'm thinking either 205/75R15 or 225/75R15 Diamond Back II with a 3", 3-1/4", or 3-3/8" white wall size. I want a radial tire that's about 27" tall and as upright as possible to mimic the bias-ply tire sidewall look. The Diamond Back II 75 series seems to be the best option.
I'm also looking at wheel color and RAL 3018 (strawberry) or 3027 (raspberry) seems like a close match. What do you think? http://www.ralcolor.com/
Have you installed the drop axle and extended hanger yet? I am curious to see your ride height I am trying to figure out my drop.
I got the extended hangers and new rear axel in last weekend. The 3.54:1 gears are much better for drivability than the stock 3.91:1. The dropped axel is going in this weekend. I'll take pictures of final ride height when dropped axel is in.
Cool thanks. Where did you get the 3.54 gear had no idea you could still get gears. I think I am just going to do a t5 in my 53.
It's a Dana 44 rear end, so there are plenty of aftermarket rebuilt parts avail. If you're going to use a T5, then your stock rear end gearing should work just fine because the T5 5th gear is overdrive. My setup is flathead v8 backed by c4 auto, with 1:1 final from the c4, so the higher geared rear end helped. Note I also intended to use a T5 behind the stock '53 flathead v8, and even purchased an adapter from speedway, but ended up scrapping that idea because the 5/8" thick adapter held the T5 too far back so the T5 candle stick input shaft would barely reach the pilot bearing, and the clutch disk only partially caught the splines on the input shaft when engaged. Everything was better spaced without the adapter, but then the bell housing would need to be modified to accept the T5 bolt pattern, a task which was beyond my skills at the time (cast iron welding). So if you have the stock '53 bellhousing, you'll run into the same issues trying to bolt the T5 on.
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