The last pic worked. When I look at it on my computer it shows nothing. When I look at it on my phone. It shows a box with a blue gif banner.?? I picked up a cab a few months back. It is rough. Ive removed the top, and thats about it. Ive been travelling a lot for work so not much is being done. Looking forward to some progress on yours. Maybe you can motivate me! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Cool, use of the alternate taillights, I got something I want to try on my Fleet too. I'll wait and see if it works before I give it away. Those look nice. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Got a new tire machine. Mounted it to the floor. Actually I've had it for a while just never locked it down. Already changed a dozen or so tires with it. Works great! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Did u ever get a tailgate? There is one on craigslist for $125 in McMinnville or. I live close to MAC and wkrk in tualatin. Let me know if u need assistance in getting it to u rich
I was thinking something along the lines of this style. One of course would require a little surgery on the bed to recess into the spears. There's one more slanted type I saw at a swap meet but didn't recognize and couldn't find the seller to ask what it was from. Still looking for the right one. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Is this for a '59? I was told by Dan's that '58-59 had the old looking GMC with the spears on either end of the logo. He's got a ton of tailgates on CL right now.
Also let me know how the Trans Am graft goes. I have a 59 fleetside Chevy LB and thinking about doing the graft. Rich
Here's the cutting portion... There are three holes on the top of the frame that I used as referance marks for the axle centerline. I will probably use the front one for the clip unless I have to cut off more than I think, if so I have the measurements for all three. This is what mine is This is the axle centerline hole cutting off the crossmember and rear spring rivits... there are a lot of them. I cross-cut them then removed the four bits left. It only took about a minute or two for each one with this method. Old frame off - note the support bar that joins the rails together and is used as a place to put the jacks New frame introduced... The front of the remaining stock frame needs to be trimmed to fit the curve of the clip still. I just set it up there to get an idea on how far I need to trim. I looks like the new centerline will be almost 20 5/16" from the first hole (18 5/16" plus the 2" forward). I hope that I did the steering column correctly. That was the vague part of the other posts on this. I just used the sawsall and cut everything flush at the old box. I know that I will have some trimming to do to get the bearing into the column. So far I have about 5 hours into the transformation not including pulling the front clip and engine - that took about 3 hours. Not bad. Mike
Am at about 7 hours into the job. Trimmed the clip to get the desired wb. I did notice that I had to move the entire clip about 3/16" towards the driver's side to get everything square. Everything seems to line up just waiting for help bringing the front sheetmetal in to see if the tires are in the correct spot. Maybe this weekend. Mike
Cool truck. That should be the correct tailgate for a 59 GMC Fleetside. Stepsides had the older style GMC logo, with the spears. By the way, both Fleetside and stepside gates are availble in repro from MAR-K truck parts. http://www.mar-k.com/ I have a 59 GMC stepside that I'm slowly rebuilding, with a 326 Pontiac, Muncie 4 speed and a 59 Pontiac rear axel.
Way to go! I've been hopin for some progress on the clip install! I like how your keepin track of your hours. I end up goin out to the garage and piddlin around for a few hours and nothing seems to get accomplished! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Put in a couple more hours -at 9 now. The b-body spindles and springs are installed. It's a roller. Need to istall the front clip to check alignment then finish weld the clip.
Had some friends come over and we test fit the front clip. I need to move the subframe back about 3/4". The core support fits between the rails but hits the front of the power steering box and the tire is even with the front lip of the well. I'd like to have a little more gap there. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
That made a huge difference. NHL tires are centered in the wells and it is sitting great. Should drop about 3" with the engine etc. installed. Took about 2 more hours and it is just about finished (the clip). Steering is good and quick. Next is to remove the sheet metal and finish weld the clip to the frame. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Cool truck I did mustang 2 in mine I wish now I did this instead. Good job on installation looks good.
Got the '56 Packard front bumper on the GMC and it looks pretty good. Perfect width. Wish that I still had the Dagmars for it though. It is just sitting on there right now. Hopefully the truck won't be too low. There is no drivetrain in it right now and it sits pretty low. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Looks good! Haven't been able to find any time to work on mine! Hope you get to cruise it soon! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Boring update. Haven't had time to put in on the truck at all. I did get a '58 car bumper for the front so that is settled. Still deciding what to do out back. Got a cool gauge from one of my friends last week that will find it's way into the truck. It's a Space Saver III from Radatron. Looks like a chrome tach. Need to move some stuff around in the shop so I can weld up the frame and see about mounting the engine/trans. I need more hours in the day... Mike
Did a little body work today. The front splash pan had been dented pretty bad, actually folded back into itself and pinched. You can see it here. I broke out the hammers, dollies, pliers, crescent wrench, home-made slapper, impact hammer and the shrinking disc. This is the first round of pulling. I bent the worst out with the pliers. To get into the pinch I used the impact hammer. After a few minutes with the slapper and a door panel hammer it was good enough to use the shrinking disc. It works great. Alternate between it and the slapper/dollies. It's close enough now that a skim coat with filler should be good. This area won't even be seen, it's behind the bumper. It took about 2 hours total. I will recommend not setting your hammer on top of the fender while working like this. I was lying on my back pounding the dent and one of the hammers fell and hit my bald head. Much blood came out and of course my wife was a bit freaked. Head wounds are always bleeders. Anyway, it wasn't bad enough for stitches, but I have a cool bandaid/patch on my head now... looks really cool. Don't use the fender that you are pounding on to hold your other tools... lesson learned. Mike
Finally decided to get back on the truck. My goal is running and driving by April. This weekend I borrowed my bud's Miller 211 to finish weld the T/A clip to the frame. Went really well. I used a filler piece of metal like a backer rod to fill the small gap on the inside of the frame. Sorry for the iPhone pic quality. It took about 2 hours of messing around to do. Here's the inside rear pass side: And the front of the same side: Today I got the engine in but ran into a snag with the engine mounts. The clip came from a Pontiac with a Poncho motor so I had to move the mounts. There were 2 sets of holes that looked like they might be for BOP and Chevy. I tried the other holes and 2 of the 3 lined up so I drilled out the other one. When I set the engine in it wouldn't line up with the mounts. They appear to be a bit too low still. Something is wrong here and I'll have to do more 'F-body' research. These problems wouldn't exist if it came from a Camaro... food for thought on conversions. There is plenty of room for the 700r4 and some headers that I had lying around, got lucky there. I did use the plasma cutter to pop little access holes for the motor mounts and it made taking them off and on a lot easier. Also installed the rear from my '94 Impala (3.08 posi/disc) and it's low... Right now the truck is sitting on the frame. I flipped the axle to the top and I have new perches but the old U-bolts. Am I doing it wrong? Even if I c-notch the frame I will have almost no room for suspension travel. What are others of you doing here? Stock spring pack? New springs? Air bags/shocks? Mike
here's the mount in my 57 suburban with 72 camaro clip. The chevy engine (which looks just like yours) fits great.
Thanks Jim, it looks like the same place that I put the mounts on my clip. Maybe I will try new mounts to see if they are better. Also, it seems like the suspension didn't go down at all. And I even jumped on the front and it barely goes down, should I be worried yet?
If you don't have all the metal, glass, seats, etc in the truck, don't worry about the height yet. Mine kept going lower as I added parts, I ended up buying new springs for a late 70s camaro to get enough ground clearance....
Easy fix, got new mounts for a Camaro and bolted them in and it lines up just fine. Must be a slight difference with Pontiac mounts, or that they were just worn out and the new ones were fresh. Slipped right into place. Now to make a rear tranny crossmember... Mike
The Pontiac engine sits a little lower and back, you'll notice the front end will be slightly higher than the rear with the flip even after glass etc. We are about to address this with a 59 soon. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The Jalopy Journal
