Customs Morticia the 1956 Dodge Pickup

Cool for sure man, If I would have had the 230 in it, I would have ran it for a while. Those motors when tuned right you cant feel run...I have owned one and was highly impressed by it. Yeah its easier without fenders but still working on these ole split hoods is actually quite nice I have found, I can do it almost all without removing the hood if I wanted to. The transitions over time I have rebuilt this gal a few times, mostly were aesthetic changes but a few mechanical due to wear and function. Get her running driving and get some miles and enjoyment, then if something hits your fancy, then break it down, fix or change, then repeat.... I ran around stock height for a long time, looked almost gasser at first.

None the less, dig yours, 51 is my guess ????? Dont forget to give a little rust treatment to the spots on the fenders where they are prone to rust. I had a 53 for a while, was a good truck, and I loved the cross steer. The C series steering box leaves alot to be desired unless your stock motor with bias plys. The B series didn't care if it was 8" wide tires up front, turned like a dream.

 

Makes me want to pick up the one in the for sale section. I have too many builds already.

 

They really are known for their dependability. I'm impressed that the truck sat in a field for 20+ years and it runs pretty good. .... It has some valve issues not seating properly. I really think it just needs a nice long drive on the highway ..... It starts almost immediately when cold with the choke on. Then it is a race to open the choke & it just sits there and idles fine with plenty of power while it warms up. One small tick in the engine, I think it is a sticky lifter. ... over 25 psi oil pressure at idle when warmed up, 40 psi at a fast idle. The transmission seems fine, same with rear end .... No noises or leaks. The engine rear main leaks a tiny bit. .... I just cant justify changing it out yet. ..... 90% of my driving is in town under 50 mph.

I do have a fresh rebuild 1951 8BA/4spd that has 3 stuck lifters in it from sitting for years ... 3/4 race cam with adjustable lifters should fix that issue .... and compliment the new chrome shorty headers I bought for it.

Or the 1970 318/3spd would be a more practical solution ..... 126k miles on it, would be a easy rebuild.

I just need to drive it and get a feel for it. before swapping drive train.

I did need to patch patch the fenders to take care of the usual rust And a new floor pan with a patch on the back of the cab. ..... lets be real, the truck was a construction truck for a cement company .... it had body damage that is difficult to explain. Mechanically it is almost perfect!

The steering has ~1/2" play in the wheel before the tires move. The top right king pin bushing has 1/32" play in it because of a bad zirk fitting, zero play in the rest. Brand new brake drums and shoes all around. ..... Mechanically it is in excellent condition ..... Like the company had a mechanic to do regular maintenance ..... The body was just trashed. I fixed and used everything including the fenders that were ripped on both sides ..... Another forum member said my paint choice was fine for a fire wood hauler .... that made me smile .... knowing it's previous life was much worse then a firewood hauler ... I had advanced her on her first rendition

 

Where did you find those wheels?

 

They were on a buddies 60s caddy. Gota love local hotrod networking.

 

Cool wheel. Just found them on the Summit site. Expensive suckers. The polished TTIIs look good as well.

 

I always say search around for a good set locally before buying new. The TT2 were ok, they did me many years of good service for sure. Just needed the change for the look, plus I got tired of polishing wheels

 

Don’t blame ya on the polishing. Shinny paint causes stress.

 

I got bored and wanted to tie the exterior color into the interior, I was going through and found a old Mex Blanket I had and the color was perfect for covering some door panels. I also was done with audio competitions for this truck and decided to get rid of the tweeter mounts, so that cleaned things up alot also. I do plan to remove the speakers from the doors and probably build custom kick panels to hide them in, weld up the doors back to stock look also.

Before and after photos.




So we had a local get together from a few of the clubs here in Houston. I got there too early but enjoyed the quiet time. Figured I would shoot a few photos while I waited. Cant complain with photos camera quality for sure.

 

Well, not much to update... I have been torn lately with swapping out the transmissions for a inclusive overdrive, a500 trans. The old 904 is all sealed up, works flawlessly, and is in great shape. Its so hard to even think about putting her to bed. So I think the same amount of money I can do the Gear vendors kit, I think I will enjoy that a bit more. So that's the plan at least for today.

So I was thinking about shifters, I have had this shifter in this truck since it was first built. A little B&M cheap shifter but its nice with gates when you want to run the gears manually. So its hard to take something out that works flawlessly. Best part is most folks have a hard time shifting it... So theft deterrent haha. I like Lokar shifters but I hate the button, and I didn't want to cut a hole in the floor right now, I can always change up later but right now I wanted something that had a little better form and function.

Found this guy making these cup holder and shifter towers for cheap. www.rustnaway.com

So I nutzerted the floor, makes install so much easier than climbing under for nuts like the old one was setup.
Overall I'm pleased with this. Form and function...

Before......


After....

 

Well its been a few months since any updates. Did I change anything, no. Driven it a bit, but mostly used it like a truck. Here is the pic from last weekend. 1k in the bed... God the ride is amazing when you have that much back there.... I could slide a foot under the running board barely...






I had recently put it listed for sale here, and look at things as if it sells cool, if not, I'll go on to her next chapter of changes....

Trailer hitch and possibly some more suspension mods. This truck pulling a TROG racer would be pretty tits I think.

 

Well if it can't haul a few bags of garden materials ..... going to look pretty silly hauling a TROG contender.

I would feel sad to see the truck go ..... I just love to see it used as a truck.
I guess it is just getting boring. The 318 with 727 just so dependable just no longer fun.
I get it.

I actually like the first version of paint over the 2nd ..... Looks like the truck my Grandma would drive now. ...... I just never did feel it after you painted it again .... yeah I get it, it is cool ..... just not what I would drive ..... Grandma would though .....

After being married 40 years, I kinda need to spice up my sex life .... sometimes we just need to try different things. ....

 

Yeah, somewhat boring for sure, but still she is there and ready... So who knows what Ill do...

I liked the first paint first also, its hard to top it for sure, this teal is just a sealer to get me to when I get around to another color if I keep her.

 

So when I was at the hardware store before getting loaded, one of the kids working there shot some photos, kinda fun seeing your stuff from other folks eyes.

 

Well, Ive been focused on my 34 so much recently that I finally am in a waiting game for a few things to do on the 34 so I decided to hop into something on the 56 that has bothered me for years now. The vintage air Mini that was installed in here about 10 years ago just never could quite do the job right. I think for a A coupe or a 40s truck it would be ok, but the glass in this ole dodge is hard to keep up with.

So I thought about swapping the units out with a super or a compac, but I have really wanted the under dash. I tried to fit a Mark IV in and it stuck out way beyond the dash and looked dumb. So fast forward 5 years later, I was looking at the dimensions of the Heritage, 1.75" less depth was a stellar idea, so went ahead and bought one to give it a test fit. Stellar. So now all I am waiting on is a couple new hoses and putting the truck back together. I had to make my own accelerator pedal, I hated the billet look of what was in there anyways, So I took some 3/8 stock and bent it and made a new pedal with a valve face as the spoon pedal. Looks much better to me and the function is still great. This was also needed to move the cable pull to the side of the AC unit.


Before. The two holes in the dash will be converted to something else soon, The center vent is gone now and I never really liked it anyways but it served a purpose.




During Removal.



OUT!



Test fit success!!!!




So stay tuned, I will have more updates coming in on this, and will let yall know the performance of the new unit when I drive an hour each way across town to grab another flathead v8.

 

Well someone came across with a trade plus cash deal for her and she is gone off to a new home a few months ago.
I will always have a special place in my heart for her, and she was a great truck, I do miss her 2 months later. She is at a good home, they put a proper interior in her, and giving her love she deserved. I realized I had done everything I had set out to do with her, and she did it all flawless. But I was ready for new endeavors and some more comfort. Granted she was big boy friendly, but still it's a bit small after a few hours. After 2016 Power Tour of 3k miles in 10 days, I never quite recovered with wanting to long haul drive her anymore.

I bought a 51 Buick, here I thought I wanted a big road car, still not sold on the deal. I really am still enjoying my 34 Tudor and really have had an itch for a Fenderless Flathead again. I already have a Flatty for that project, and wheels, I will slowly accumulate parts to make that happen probably sooner than later.

Here is what took the place in the garage, pic from when I bought it.



End of the day.... It's been a fun ride with the old 56 Dodge. I thought about building another or a Panel truck honestly, with all the acquired knowledge I can do alot better with less setbacks and gain some more room and better AC performance. Thats neither here nor there. I know after sitting in a few 55-60 Chevy trucks that the interior room in those are alot less due to the slant of the back cab wall requiring seating to be further forward.

 

I like the Buick too.

 

Fantastic work!
Any advice for that disc brake bracket fab to put the Metric caliper on there?- looks like a Speedway bracket, and maybe a homebrew plate to attach to spindle? I'm looking at doing the same thing for my axle- not a dodge truck, but same issue. I've removed the drums from the center hub and pitched the backing plates already. Just a cut and fit trial and error deal i guess?

-rick

 

Thanks. It was a gm metric weld on style caliper bracket that I cut apart, bolted caliper to the two cut off pieces and figured where I needed it to sit with the rotor on the idler hub, clamped it into position and from there, figured out the needed offset was 1/2" so it worked out to cut out the piece that bolts on the spindle, then weld the two ears on to that overlapping those areas so all said and done, main material was 1/4" and the areas where the two overlayed, 1/2" drilled and plug welded and then welded all around was the final way of doing it.

Rotors for 5 on 4.5 turned out to be Dodge Avenger rotors. If other bolt pattern then I don't know. Some others that were close were ford Exploder and Probe.

Thanks man, its a cool car, Im just tinkering with it right now, de funking it, many years of other owners doing weird things.

 

Wow, did you encourage the new owner to join the HAMB? Just curious if you came up with a location for the speakers?