Greetings All, 1st time to this forum, glad I found it. I've spent some time here reading and learning. Lots of interesting questions. Thought I would share the story of my truck. Was given to me for a graduation (84) present by my dad. Drove the truck until 91. During that time, I put in a 327 with auto trans, lefted in the stock rear end, just welded the axle so it couldn't rotate, dropped in a center section from a 55 or 56 (don't remember year exactly)chevy truck cause it was a factory limited slip with 3.90's. Best time in the 1/4 mile was 14.28 at 98 mph in the 1/4 mile. Didn't like to stop real good with drum brakes on all four corners, but I was young and invincible. In 91, decide that I would rebuild it from the ground up. Took everything apart, fenders, glass, wiring, everything. Then life caught up with me. I got married, had a couple of kids, now I had to be responsible, put the truck on the way back burner. Tried to work on when I had extra money. I was talked into putting the front end (cross member)from a 76 chevy (the 76 is only 1 inch wider, weld 1/2 plates to outside of frame and bolt it up to frame). I got as far as rolling the front end under my truck, welding 1/2 plate to my frame and then changed my mind (such a terrible thing to lose when your young). So thats as far as I got on the truck until now. To the youngsters out there, life gets a little easier as you get older. Kids are older, I have more free time and a little more money. Truck has straight axle with disc brakes and a rack and pinion steering (no limit engineering), motor is at machine shop, have all the parts I need to compete the truck, down to even buying a compete bumper to bumper bolt kit, every nut and bolt I need. Just cut the firewall out last night. I'm want alittle more smooth firewall. Besides, after years of being drilled, screwed, and abused, the firewall needed to be replaced. I will post pictures here as I can, if that's ok. The extra parts, all the pieces that I have put on and taking off, and put on and takin off. The advise, life does get easier as you get older! Thanks for the time!
[updated:LAST EDITED ON Jun-26-06 AT 08:04 AM (CST)] Good deal ! glad you saved it , sounds like it was almost close to being scrapped there . Life indeed gets in the way , including my son in my various old car / truck / moto projects kept us to-gether Yes , you can insert pictures in a message although I dunno how it's done . Keep us posted . -Nate
Bigmike, Glad to hear you are making progress again. Would love to know more about that steering rack, as I am trying to get back to my project as well. Straight axle with 4 wheel discs, but keeping the 261 6 cylinder. On my 50, I too wanted to clean up the firewall. I removed all the wiring, etc., and installed a semi polished, brushed aluminum panel on the original firewall. Worked out great to seal up all the holes, and looks good too. You can post pictures here. When you post, you will see just below the message box, the "attachment" line. In small letters, it says "click here to choose your file". Just click on it, choose the file type, and direct it where to find it to upload. Hope that helps....Mike Attachments: https://talk.classicparts.com/images/attachments/44a11eb405c0ad3c.jpg
RE: RARE Acessory ! Mike ; I see you have found one of the super rare factory yardsticks , oops ~ I mean " Hood props " (yeah that's it) . Back in the day the dealer as well as various parts houses used to give away yardsticks printed with dealer name and also had holes drilled in it ~ 12 holes , one for each valve as you were doing cylinder head work...... Look for these hard to find items in older FLAPS and at yard sales flea markets etc. Sadly I snapped my last one a few years ago and have been looking for another ever since..... -Nate
RE: RARE Acessory ! Are you serious about the yard stick with the holes? if you are, awesome! Mad dog and englishman! ________ Vapolution
RE: RARE Acessory ! Yes of course ~ I am always serious when it comes to old trucks (cars,motos etc.) . I like to have fun and be happy (hard to _not_ be happy with that big fat steering wheel in my hands and the babbit pounder humming away) but when it comes to up fixing the old bus , I don't mess around . If you have one , keep ahold of it ! they're _very_ delicate , esp. after the wood gets dried out . -Nate
Just an update... Firewall is coming along nicely, better than I thought. This is really the first welding I have ever done, some small things, but not like this. I have made a couple of mistakes, but was able to fix. I will post before and after pictures when I have firewall complete. Still trying to decide on color. More to come.... Mike
Just another update... Finished welding in patch panels in firewall. Didn't turn out to bad, after all this is really the first time I have welded something this big. Haven't been able to work on much, its been around 105 to 107 degrees so alittle to hot to be in a garage. I will finish firewall as soon as I can. Picked up the motor today (small block chevy V8)from the machine shop, I need to put it together. Soon it will all come together. More to come... Attachments: https://talk.classicparts.com/images/attachments/44c060e50488e219.jpghttps://talk.classicparts.com/images/attachments/44c060ff07dc0a15.jpg
and the saga continues... Just another update... Firewall is finished and it turned out better than I expected (first time welder and all). After welding, grinding and lots of sanding, I painted it with Rustoleum Satin Black and then covered it with 3M's "No Cleanup High Coverage Body Schutz" to give it alittle texture. To quote Brit "hey... it's my truck" so I can do it how ever I want. I also installed the rack and pinion steering. I was pretty amazed when I opened up the box of parts and found more pieces than I anticipated. It even came with a new steering shaft. The install was pretty straight forward. Here are a couple of pictures. To answer a couple of my own questions... Disc Brakes: I had asked in a different thread about disc brake install "I have a simple question, it is regarding upgrading to front disc brakes. Which way is the caliper mounted? is it before the axle or aft the axle? I was told it mounted before the axle, but when mounted before the axle, it does not look right to me, but when mounted aft the axle, the bracket hits the king pin locking bolt. Any help would be appreciated." The solution was simple, I turned the king pin locking bolt around so, it dosen't interfere with the brackets. Color: "Does anybody know what creme color was available on the grills? Does this creme color have a number, was it a special mix?". Thanks for the info I received, I decided to take my grill apart and paint the upper portion of each piece to match the tan color the truck is now. My dad painted the truck tan when he was driving it, so I'm going to keep it the same color. well that's it for now... I still have a ways to go, but I'm closer than I was.
steering rack BigMike, Looks good. The steering rack is the No Limit version correct? I like the thought of the rack and pinion for my lowered truck, to help with bump steer, but am running a 6 cylinder and may find it tough to install a pump. Any idea what the p/s rack originally came out of. I am wondering if there is a manual steering version of it. Also, was there special parts that came with the kit, such as mounting brackets etc.? Any clearance, or mounting problems with the rack that you ran into? Any help is appreciated. Thanks....Mike
Mike, I bought the p/s rack from No Limit. It came as a kit, which included the rack, mounting bracket, tie rods, steering arms, steering shaft and joint. I don't think I'll have any clearance problems, but I'll know as soon as I drop in the engine. I do not know what the rack came out of, If I ever need another one, I'll have to contact them. You should be able to run a p/s pump on your 6. If you can't find brackets, why not make them? Mike
Just a quick note, bumpsteer, its there to keep you AWAKE!!!! just as you get dopey, WOOAAH! why do you think so many people have bad accidents on the freeway these days? NO BUMPSTEER! Neil ________ Bondage lesbian
Hello All, Hard to believe it's been 4 years since I've posted anything about my truck. Life has a way of kicking your tail! Between work, kids, work and being there for the wife as she beats breast cancer, it's been a challenge! I know it's by no means a show stopper, but it is the way I like it. Since 06, I've lowered it 4 inches with a front axle from sid's dropped axles and blocks in the rear. It's got a seat out of a 90's chevy truck. A rear end out of a 89 firebird, a sbc 283, a rear gas tank out of a 74 suburban, a ididit tilt steering column, power steering box from a 76 chevy truck, and a ezwiring wire harness. I've got to have it driveable by the first of March. I'm taking the wife to Vegas for VLV 2011 in April and I want to make sure I have a few miles on it before I head out to Vegas. It's my wife's b-day the same weekend as VLV 2011 so it's kind of a road trip for her and I. I'll do the body work and paint later in the year. It's been sitting so long I just want to drive it! Here's some advise.... JUST DRIVE IT! Big Mike
Family Congratulations Mike - glad to hear you are making progress and getting it on the road -like you said - to DRIVE! Sounds like all you have been through with this truck, it is not only part of your family, but it is part of you. I am glad it was able to stick around and now you can enjoy it more.
Mike : Glad to see you're still with us , gladder yet SWMBO's doing O.K. ! . You're right , JUST DRIVE & ENJOY THE DAMNED THING ! .
Hello All, Just an update on where we sit today. But first I want to send a special Thank You to Ol' Chebby. Your "How to assemble a AD" was instramental in the assembly of my truck. When my son and I installed the glass, I studied your thread, and got it done. Thank You! SWMBO and I are driving the truck to Las Vegas on Thursday for the VLV 2011.
Any behind the front end R&P unit will work, the ones front mounted will steer backwards. A favorite because of it's compact nature is a VW unit. All those we have used have been manual but steer easy with normal size tires. How much travel is in the steering shaft slip joint? Was going to use just the main leaf on a front spring so I could raise and lower the axle through it's entire travel to check the length of slip joint needed. Not a thing wrong with the firewall approach and 3M Shutz is paintable.
I'm really not sure how much travel the slip joint has (and I assume your talking about the steering). It was the original slip joint that came with the rack and pinion steering I bought. I had to cut it down to try and make it fit with the sbc, but there was no way with where my headers are. You can see in one of the pics, the steering shaft goes towards the left front. With the rack and pinion, it went straight through #7 header tube. There is good movement in the slip joint. I don't think I'll have a problem with it. I do like the 3M Shutz. It was easy to apply and painted with no problem. I would recommend it to anyone. Coilover... arent't you the one that mentioned something about how to install a keyed lock on the drivers door some time back? My memory isn't what it used to be . BigMike
Hey Mike, I c in your pictures that u used a catch can with your original radiator.... does the fan help that out? (pukeing) What type of steering column and wheel did u use? Thanx !
