Good job. Why was I smiling when you lit it up - because although I don't have any fillings, if I did, they would have all fallen out when I tried it - the wheel hop was so bad on my pickup. Yours looks like it has good manners. Great looking truck!
It was a blast @guthriesmith!! Once I made a few passes and didn't hear any weird noises I figured it was time to pour the coal to it! Looking back at the video it looks like maybe both tires grab when I shift to second so hopefully the differential ain't too worn out. Thanks @WhitewallWill! I bet after all that bushing work your doing on your truck now the wheel hop will be gone next time you take it out.
Thanks @57 Fargo and @60Pioneer! I threw the front bumper on this morning, bolted on my FirePower plate and drove it to work.
I also run across another cool Chrysler advertisement. I've always really enjoyed collecting 40's and 50's Mopar advertisements, shop posters and things like that especially if has anything to do with the early hemi. Here's a few more things I've run across over the years.
Man my neighbors would hate me if I was to ever come across that huge sign in the advertisement above , lol. Really cool stuff and a fantastic job on the truck to say the least.
Haha that would be trick to have set up in the yard wouldn't it! I recently got a couple of other Master Tech awards. I also forgot one of the cooler FirePower related things I found before. A brand new set of Autolites. I was looking at the truck earlier trying to figure out why the right tire is still rubbing the fender even with no wheel spacers. I'm going to pull the wheels off tomorrow and compare the backspacing again against the wheels that were on there before. I am pretty sure they are close to the same but it never rubbed like that before. If they are the same backspacing I guess that hemi might have lowered it enough to make it interfere now. May have to do something with the front suspension if that's what it turns out to be.
Figured out what my tire rubbing problem was today. Turns out it was a mistake on my part from not paying attention. As many times as I've had the wheels off since I got it I never realized they were running two different sized tires for the front and back. There's two 235/75 and two 215/75 tires. I just happened to get the driver's side right but had them switched on the passenger side. I switched them around, cut the steering fully in both direction and the tires cleared on both sides. At least it was an easy fix! I'll probably still run around on these tires for a while but ever since I saw the Diamond Back Auburn Deluxe tires here I've been very interested in a set. I was wondering today how it would look with a staggered set. They offer them in 10.00-15 so maybe 15X6 wheels in the front and 15X10 in the back.
Been following along and really like that truck! I'm close to reassembling my 56, same cab and fenders I think. Mine has the battery under the driver side floor. One of your shows the battery located on the drivers side near the front. I'd like to move mine up there. Do you have a pic that shows that area clearly? I may try modifying my inner splash shield to resemble your factory setup.
I looked back through my pictures @KenC and I don't have a great picture of the battery tray. Here's a cropped picture of that area. It runs from the inner fender and ties in with the core support. I'll take some better pictures tomorrow and put them up.
Thanks for the pic.. When I get my inner fender bolted in place Maybe I can cut/bend/notch weld a recess for the battery using your pics a a guide.
Here's some better pictures @KenC. I didn't even realize about it being 3/31 until I saw @Speed Gems hemi thread about it earlier. I figured I'd use that date on my radiator tag. I went riding around for a little bit today after getting the wheels on right. No rubbing on any turns and now both tires spin when I get down on it. Guess it helps when both tires are the same diameter...
I'm glad I didn't drive it around much like that too @slayer . For that reason and also before I modified something up front for the bigger tire. Something I'll definitely keep in mind to check from now on.
Thanks for the battery location pics. That's a great help. I have some stainless sheet that will get folded into some semblance of that, and here's hoping that there is room with my stock 56 inner fender to do it without lots of cutting. Those parts are in storage right now. But the cab got set on the newly painted frame yesterday. Still looking for one half of one mount though. Got no idea where that thing rolled off to!
What a great truck. Looks great runnin down the road. Best of all when you pop the hood you see what everyone hopes to see in a cool old classic Mopar truck, a Hemi!
Sorry to disappoint you, the 56 cab is the same as the 58 cab (mid 55 to 60 have the same cabs) but the front fenders on your 56 are very different then the front fenders on the 58. Putting your battery under the hood will put the battery under the fender edge. I think you can do that, but you will be doing serious modification to your inner fender. I'm posting a pic of my 54 Dodge pickup, the cab on the 54 is different (see around the windshield), but the front sheet metal stayed the same through the end of the 56 production. I had my battery under the hood, but that truck was clipped and had custom made inner fenders. The 57 front sheet metal (see 57 Fargo's Avtar) was a one year only deal, and the 58-60 shared the same sheet metal. Gene
Thanks @bchctybob! I've had a lot of fun driving it all around the last couple of days. @KenC glad to here your '56 is coming along. I really like that body style too. I've got a '55 that was my dad's that has the earlier cab like Gene's '54. When we got it someone had put a 327 in it but the plan was always to put a 354 in it. It's been so long since we took it all apart that I don't remember now where the battery was at. Probably still under the floor. @stubbsrodandcustom has a super slick '56 with a 318 in it that you can see pictures of on his profile. I'm not sure where he's running his battery at.
What size are the front and rear and are the whitewalls smaller on the front (like maybe 2.5" vs 3")? thanks
Thanks @Stogy! @Bruce A Lyke the front tires are 215/75R15 with 2.5" white walls and the rear tires are 235/75R15 with 3" white walls.
I had mentioned earlier my friend had a '58 Sweptside. Had is the key word as it sold at the PIR swap meet this month. BTW, it had quad headlights. Dave
Come on, man... just when a fella starts to think that there's no way this thing can get any cooler, you go and do something else that is completely badass. Keep on doin' that Voodoo, my friend!
That has to be the most beautifully painted and detailed engine I have ever seen. Glad it runs great.
The Jalopy Journal
