Projects New Shop Truck

Last I checked all the parts are available to rebuild that trans. Why not sell it cheap or give it to someone who can make it usable? Is it really that bad?

 

how many cores is that radiator? is that the stock one for a 6 cylinder? or is it the stock for the 283? I got an upgraded radiator for mine because I had the 2 core 6 cylinder radiator... you may want to consider something like that, but I know you are trying to keep it as stock as possible.

Maybe an electric fan to help everything out? Have you looked into maybe making sure that the heat isn't recirculating throughout the engine compartment to the front of the radiator and back through again? I had that problem on my 40 plymouth. I fab'ed a sheetmetal plate that bolts in to the front so the radiator is only sucking cool, clean air from the front of the grill. Just a thought

 

Thanks I appreciate that....I love my truck!!!!!

 

love your truck, and great thread you have going.
i have a few questions for you.
what front axle are you running, 3 or 4 inch drop ?
who makes the front mono leafs and what is the drop on them ?
i see you did not flip the rear and are running the leaf on top of the rear, so what drop are the rear leafs ?
how much clearance do you have with no C notch on the frame ?
last, what size tires are you running, front and rear ?

i want to lower my truck more and am running a 3 inch front axle from Sid and love the way yours is setting.
i too have my leafs on top of the rear axle and dont want to flip and C notch unless i have to.

keep up the great work and keep the updates and pics coming..
thanks for your help.

leonard

 

Hey awesome job on the truck! I really liked the hand prints on the back of the cab. That was perty damn cool. Have fun with the truck.

 

Hey Leonard,

OK. So here's what's in my Truck

2.5" Drop Axle from Mor-Drop in Oakland

Mono leafs front and back from Brother's Trucks in the LA area.
The fronts are good for 3" drop and the rears are good for about 5" due to the reversed eyes.
My Rear End, '56 chevy passenger car, sits under the springs like a stock rear end.

I have about 3" of clearance on the front and back before metal hits metal. I had to shave my front snubbers and I have yet to install new snubbers in the back. It's on the punch list right now.

Tires:
Fronts 670-15 on a 15x6 rim
Rear 890-15 on a 15x7 rim

Hopefully that helps????

Let me know if you have anymore questions?

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

Well turns out its not running that hot after all. The key is to actually have a gauge that tells the temp vs. something that says H and C! I only know what the little IR Heat gun is telling me but I do trust those things pretty well. The engine is hovering right around 180 to 190 degrees after it comes up to temp. Which is perfect with the 180 thermostat that is currently in the truck. This does put the needle way over to the Hot side on the stock gauge so it looks grim at first view. But I think its OK. The whole situation could be much improved with a better fan and or a shroud as the little 4 blade stocker doesn't move too much air. I think I'm going to add a puke tank and just roll with it for now.

Next thing on my list however is quieting down the doors.... Sounds like a bucket of bolts going down the freeway!!!! Drive'n me NUTS.....

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

Awesome thread,and the stance of your truck is right on.I'm diggin that its your daily driver an the whole family doin the build together,your wife helping you bleed brakes that brings back alot of memories of late nites in the shop with my wife helping GOOD TIMES thanks for inviting us along!!

 

This is an inspiring build brother!!! Nice job and nice story.

 

I replaced both door gaskets and the window felts on my pickup. When I was trying to buy the rubber gaskets and felts, everyone was out of stock - the excuse was the the factories were re-tooling.

The kit that I finally found was pretty hard to install... maybe the re-tooled kits will be better. (I got the kit from Golden State.)

Huge difference in noise level, though!

- Joe

 

Robert,

Thanks for posting your complete suspension specs. good to know exactly what you did to get your stance!

Joe (and Rob),

I vaguely recall some discussion a long time ago on the 67-72chevytruck.com forum about a certain rubber manufacturer being better than all the rest when it comes to door seal weatherstripping. They were saying one is OEM quality and fit while everything else is pretty much universal and near crap. It may pay off to do a search over there. I'm only guessing, but something in the hole in my head where there was once a brain says "steele"?

 

I forgot to repost the notes about the caster wedges and flipping the drag link. I feel these are the key items in making the truck drive so nice. Rather than re listing it, I would just scroll back thru the posts and have a look. I think I covered it pretty good while putting it together.

Until Next Time,

Robert M.

 

thanks for the detailed info robert.
dropped mono's are on my wish list as soon as i get the cash. yours is the first truck i seen this low and didnt C notch the frame. i was wanting to get away from that also, and now i have proof.
take care.

leonard

 

Does Mor-Drop have a website? I did a quick google search and came up empty...

 

Leonard,

Anytime.... Glad to be of help. My advice or should I say my warning.... The ride is a little rough.... I might mess around with shocks at some point but she bounces me around a little for sure.

Mor-Drop is officially out of business. They are in the process of closing down right now and I think they only have some random Model A stuff and what not. I doubt there is any Chevy truck axles lying around. Long Time family BIZ that's no more...

 

ive been following this thread and looking forward to updates ! getting me motivated to get out in the garage and work on my 55 . one question , im also using a M-20 and the stock bench seat , what kind of shifter are you using ? does it work ok with the stock seat ? the muncie i got currently has a hurst comp plus shifter but the shift arm is for a camaro (way too short)
Fink

 

cool... shocks might help you out for sure. i took out 4 of the original 7 in the back and believe it or not i can stand in the bed and jump up and down and it barely moves. i have some gas shocks i believe i got them here from brothers
http://www.brotherstrucks.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RGS5559

for anyone interested in a dropped front axle, Sid at www.droppedaxles.com is a great guy to do business with, and he has whatever you need for any style car/truck.

leonard

 

Leonard,

Good to know the Brothers shocks are good to go. I'll be in the market for new shocks front and rear really soon. Thanks!

 

terd, and everyone else, i messed up. i searched my reocrds and found out i got my shocks here at performanceonline.com
http://www.performanceonline.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=18681&cat=763&page=1

probably the same product with a brothers sticker on them, but wanted to correct myself. its been about 2 years and i slipped up thinking i got them from brothers.
good luck, and i also have these shocks on the front too.

leonard

 

Fink,

I have the Hurst Comp Plus on this truck. It's the regular version vs. the Camaro Unit. The stick needed to be bent forward just a touch so it barely touches the seat when it's in gear. The Camaro unit sits differently on the trans and has the stick mounting point more towards the center of the car if I'm not mistaken. Here's a side profile of the stick vs. the seat:



It's currently in Reverse right here. And it looks like I need to vacuum as well as finish up installing the shifter boot!!!

Hope this helps!

 

thanks, looks good , i love the rubber floor mat , im planning on doing that in my truck .

 

Man I gotta say this is an awesome thread! The hand thing man, well its just plain rad.I plan on giving mine to my boy as well and you have inspired me.On your rattling door issue check the bottom tracks where the glass rides down at the bottom of the door on the latch side.The welds may be broken allowing it to rattle like crazy!It was one of those deals where I was driving like an idiot trying to look down inside the door as I went down a shitty road to find the damn noise!!!!Just something to look for.
Tony

 

As far as weather seals for the door Terd is right, the company Steele makes a great door seal but most times the kit made for your truck ends up being too thick and the doors are a bitch to close! In a thread at :

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=215079&page=21

He ended up using a universal kit from them, I tried the kit made for my truck and they are too thick, making the doors a mother to close, I am going to change them out to these like he did:

 

Congratulations Robert! I loved this thread from day one and knew you could do it. The truck looks great man!

 

So tonight I felt it was time to deal with the God damn oil seepage from the valve covers.... Totally ran outta time in the final thrash to make proper baffles for these cal-Customs and just like clock work that good ole Chevy Pumped 658,456 gallons of oil right up to the top. Out thru the breather and onto the exhaust Manifold... Smell of fresh burning oil come right into the cab and promptly pisses me off...

So time for a little fab work. I went quick tonight so I only have pics of the finished product. Simple but effective. Carved these up from some 16ga or so Brass and put them in with self tapping screws and little lock washers.



You can see the little lip I formed on the upper side using my little sheet metal break. I wanted to make sure I was dong all I could to hamper the oil from getting on top of this plate.



Finally in place and done:



Buttoned her up and went for a Bonsai run tonight.... No more oil leaks.... Done....

Onto the next thing.

Cheers,

Robert M.

 

Nice one. Enjoy!

 

That truck turned out beautiful! You did a great job! I enjoyed the build, thanks for sharing.

 

Hey Robert, kool truck, very jelous. You've basically done in no time on your truck what has so far taken me 3 years on my 40!! What is that 'cast iron' paint that you use, i like that colour.

 

Tony,

I will have a look down in the doors this next week..... Thanks for the tip!!!!

I did start to figure out the latches yesterday and it made a ton of difference on the Passenger side. Turns out the door hinges seem to be fine! No Slop. But the doors need to be adjusted up a touch and in on the bottom. Then the striker plate will be in the zone to tweak in for final adjustments. The window rattle isn't too bad but the loose door rattle is what's killing me now. Ah the little things....

Love it!

 

Grease the heck out of the latches, it helps, too.