Customs '56 Chevy 3100 project - hard time choosing paint color... See RENDERING:

Yeah, I think what I'll do is get a few measurements from different members and take into account age of springs and advertised drop. I'a also like to know your tire size along with the measurement if possible...thanks.

ANYONE willing to give me this measurement, I'll take it...along with tire size. And yes, even if you don't have the front group on, because right now neither do I, so it will help me determine total drop.

I would appreciate it, and another one when you get the front group on as well. Thanks...

Thanks!

 

I have a dropped axle and mono leafs on the front of mine. It's all mocked up to ride height in the shop as we speak. I can get you a measurement to the center of the spindle if you'd like

 

Please do. Can you take it to the underside of the frontmost part of the frame?

 

Here ya go man

 

Thanks. Looks like you're sitting at 10.5" without a shred of weight. The engine dropped my front end about 1" and I expect the front group to drop it another .5". I'm sitting at 10.5 right now, so I should get to 10" with the front sheetmetal. My guess is that you will likely end up around 8" to 8.5" once everything is on, which likely puts the front bumper at around 6" to 6.5" from the ground. This gives me some idea, but I'd still like as many measurements as I can get.

Anyone else?...

 

Well, I finally got a chance to re-bend my steering arm. I also bent the tie rod arm on both sides to increase clearance to the tire.

I bolted and clamped the arms to a steel top bench. To bend the steering arm into the right position I used a piece of welding wire and bent it to create a reference point of where I wanted the arm to end up. I then heated up the arms with an oxy-acetalyn torch. To bend the steering arm I found an old breaker bar that had a fork on the end that fit around the small part of the arm just behind the drag-link hole and while it was hot bent it inward and down-ward until the part of the welding wire that I marked showed through the center of the drag-link hole.

To bend the tie rod arms I heated them up in the portion indicated by my fingers. I then used a crows-foot against the steel top bench for leverage to bend them away from the bench...just as though they were being bent away from the tire.

 

have you test fitted it yet? I went ahead and called a metal working buddy of mine to come over and lend a hand yesterday. WE bent it in 5 different spots and tested the clearance a few times. The only issue I have right now is the drag link when you turn all the way to the left, hits the axle. But, haven't set my steering stops out to where they should be either. I see in a tech article done in Classic Trucks magazine that they bent the drag link slightly t clear the axle when turning all the way left. I guess that's my next route.

 

All of the above fits perfectly...as though I planned it that way, LOL!! Seriously though, the only thing I would change is that due to the bending I did, the pitman arm as at about 5:30 instead of 6:00 when the tires are pointed straight ahead. This means I will have less turning radius on left-hand turns...which is fine I guess, since right hand turns are always tighter and more frequent. If you want, I could take a photo of them installed straight down from a top view so you could blow the photo up and use it as a template. The only thing you'll need to figure out on your own is lowering the draglink hole downward to reduce bumpsteer. In all, you need to lower the draglink hole the same amount that you lowered the front end.

 

any pictures would be a welcome sight.

 

I'll try to take some today...

 

I just figured I'd bring this build thread back to life and see how things are going.

 

Actually have made some good progress these last couple of weekends. Got the whole front end buttoned up including installing the 6 degree shim for caster, shortening and installing the tie-rod and setting it at 1/4" difference front to rear, installing the anti-sway bar and installing the front shocks. Also bent some hard line for my fuel line from the carb to the fuel pump, installed a cool old Mooneyes fuel pressure gauge inline, wired for driving lights and horns, bolted the bed down, installed the inner fenders, hood hinges, new air-cleaner cover, and am just about ready to bolt the front group on.

I'll get some pics posted soon.

 

right on man, you're chugging right along then. I've been curious to see your build progress because we're doing close to the same work on our own trucks. I'll be putting the rims and tires on mine today, along with the cab so I can get the engine and tranny mounts located and installed

 

If that's your pickup in your avatar, then I'd say yours is MUCH lower than mine is. Looks bad ass!

The biggest obstacle to progress up until 2 weeks ago has been bad weather and freezing temperatures.

 

the avatar pic is the truck just blocked up on the floor. I'm running a 3" dropped axle and mono leafs to lower mine.

 

My axle is a stock unit that was custom dropped back in the day...3 1/2 inch total drop. I'm not going to go monoleafs, but sometime in the near future I'm going to go with the posies dual leaf...I think they're either 2 1/2 inch or 3 inch drop. I ended up getting a 7 1/2 inch drop out back, and the truck sits fairly level with one leaf removed from the front, so I need to get the front down just a tad more and it'll be all good.

Looking at the avatar I figured you were bagging her...

 

I would have been a lot further ahead if I would have welded on a Camaro clip and bagged the entire thing but I kind of like keeping it a truck. The solid axle just completes the theme of this truck. I'm not going to auto cross or drive this truck across the country so it doesn't have to ride like it's on a cushion of air.

This is how it sits right now without the rest of the body, interior or power train in it. The front tires are 235 70 15 and the back are 275 60 15

 

Do you have any pics of how your front end looks from underneath after it was lowered?

 

I'll post up a pic later tonight

 

here's a shot of it from the front this morning

 

Looks like you have some splash guards installed under there? Did you fab that stuff?

From the pics you posted, it looks like I should get as low as I want by installing posies leafs, which I believe offer the same drop as your monoleafs. Those big tires up front are whats keeping you out of the weeds. You stick 225's up there and your truck would easily be lower than mine.

 

the tires up front are a 235 70 R 15 I was looking to size them down to a 215 or 205 70 to make it look right.

I honestly didn't know if that plate up front was supposed to be there or not. It came with the truck so I just left it on there thinking it was factory.

 

OK, so here are the shots of my front end. The shocks are used Rancho RS5000's. They have the correct working range from 11.5 compressed and 19.5 extended, but they're temporary until I can afford some new shocks. The anti-sway bar set-up is stock from a 3/4 ton '57 Chevy panel delivery...I made the end-links. The axle is shimmed with a 6 degree shim from Napa allowing for better caster. The steering arms are stock. The passenger side tie-rod hole/arm has been bent inward 9/16 inch away from the tire/wheel assembly. The drivers side tie-rod hole/arm was also bent inward 9/16 inch away from the tire/wheel assembly and the steering arm was bent down and recurved to compensate for the 3.5 inch drop. The axle is a stock axle that was dropped/stretched 3.5 inches. The kingpins are new. The spindles and caliper/rotor assembly are '69-'73 Chevelle/Monte Carlo. The tie-rod ends are the new style, and in order to accommodate the modern ball-joint ends the studs were pressed out of the steering arms. I also had to mount the tie-rod ends from underneath due to the dropped axle and tight clearance to the frame...so I also chamfered the ball-stud mounting holes so that the sharp angle on the I.D. of the hole wouldn't cut into the ball-joint studs.

 

Here's a photo of my engine bay with hard lines plumbed for fuel lines and a fuel gauge installed inline. I also swapped to this new air-cleaner lid but not sure if I like it all that much.

 

Not sure how old this Mooneyes gauge is...I'm guessing 60's or 70's, maybe someone knows. I found it in my dads old stash of stuff that has piled up in the garage over the last 30 years, thought it was pretty cool.

 

Ordered my passenger side lower hinge pocket replacement panel today...didn't realize it was as bad as it was.

Also ordered 2.5 inch SS beauty rings for my wheels...

BTW: anyone know a good resource for having rough cast aluminum valve covers and intakes smoothed and polished?

 

Looks great man, I may suggest putting a small piece of rubber hose in that hard line so it can flex when the engine moves, hate for you to kink something when giving it a little gas, I learned that the hard way

What is with that water pump? I don't think I have seen something with a pipe like that for the heater hose in a while... Can you get a different pump that you can put an NPT fitting in so you can delete that heater hose?

And the air cleaner doesn't really match the rest of the engine build, maybe look for something else. Great work!

 

At the very bottom of the hard line there is about 6 inches of rubber hose coiled into a pigtail between the hard line and the fuel pump.

I was thinking about a finned Caddy air cleaner. This one looked good online, but once it arrived and I put it on I wasn't too happy with the overall effect. I want to see a nut on top and something more traditional. Stacks are cool but in my opinion, with an engine bay that large, I think they're too small.

 

I like the one in this thread - post #4.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=589208

 

the front end is looking really good man!!! is that an aftermarket sway bar or did you alter one from another vehicle?
I bought Nitro slammer shocks for my lowered truck, they're less than $50 per shock from POL