My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Hi, I'm Marc, I want to take a moment to introduce myself and start my build thread. I'm new to classic trucks, but have always loved the '55 Chevy look. I'm planning on building this into a 4-wheel drive with a modern drive train. I am also new to forums and will be attempting to document my build thread in hopes of getting advice from experienced builders and help others who are attempting to do the same thing I am. I have not been able to find too much information about making these trucks in to 4-wheel drives. The frame is a '77 Chevy P/U and the wheel base has already been shortened, but thats about it. The body is straight and fairly rust free and I think it is a good solid project. With the support and help from my girlfriend, I am looking forward to sharing this project.



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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Hi marc. Looks like a super start you have there . My 56 spent a year on the same axles you have under your truck now . I see your in Vancouver . Where did your truck come from .

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I am actually in vancouver wa. I bought the truck in july in portland OR. I have spent the last couple months disassembling the truck and will be posting pics soon.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Good start assuming the original converter did a good job. Look forward to seeing where it goes.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Hi Marc, your off to a good start, I am going along a similar path but using a stock frame and the axles from a 76 Chevy 4x4. I would recommend reading all of OrrieG's thread lots of great info there, good luck.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Thanks for the tip I will check him out. I have been going through a DMV nightmare for the last couple months. The vin on truck and title did not match. I was lucky that owner was a real good guy and dealt with most of the red tape. The truck was in his family for 30 years and sitting in his shop for the last 8 or 10 years. The wheel base has been shortend and the cab was mounted to the frame but the front sheet metal or the bed was not. Hopefully figuring out how to mount the core support will not be too tricky. So far the truck is real solid wont know more untill I get through the 3 paint jobs on it. I will be posting more pics of the teardown soon. Now that I have a clear title I am going to get the ball rolling. First thing is 2 outer door skins and and inner door pannel repair on the passenger door.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Got the cab off the frame, even with the lift it was very hard by myself. Started stripping paint, cleaned frame.

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

only 2 small dents in the hood

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

The lower part of both doors did not look so hot

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Decided to do the outer on both and inner skin on the passenger

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

This is my first major repair lots of cut and fitting

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This was the hard way to save 60 bucks on an inner skin. Took a lot of time to make this flange.

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Cleaned up as much of the doors I could.
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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Little more grinding and all done. I am happy how they came out. Not bad for the first time. Better than bond cheaper than repo doors.

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Looks real good to me . The truck looks very solid . Whats your plans for power and such ?

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

lookin good!

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Welcome from kennewick. Good looking truck marc. Don't you just love washington state when it comes to old cars, vins and titles...:lol:

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

My plans are for a daily driver. I want to do a vortec 5.3 or 6.0. I do not know how easy it is to bypass the 4l60e and transfer case and the whole harness thing is new to me. Push button 4wd would be nice. It also looks like the transfer case on newer trucks have the front driveline on the drivers side and I don't want to change my front end. I will probably just use a 700R4. The rear is the small 10 bolt and I would like to upgrade to a 12 or 14 bolt. Finding something like a wrecked Tahoe would be nice and get everything in one shot but not sure how easy the swap would be. Need to do more research. I go back and forth between the ls or a 383 with throttle body fuel injection.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I will briefly explain my title night mare because it was ridiculous. Bought truck and frame. Title had a very strange number looked to be a clerical error. Truck vin was good and could be decoded. Owner goes to DMV with title, picture of vin, and the license plate. This truck was registered and licensed to him 7 years ago. DMV say we need to see the vin on the truck. I already removed cab. Previous owner schedules an appointment (one month later)to show the cab. DMV says we need to see a body on chassis. 2 weeks later put cab on frame owner takes back to DMV. DMV, this is not the original frame. Owner goes to junk yard get receipt for frame. DMV where is the engine? Owner, original engine is long gone. DMV we just need to see an engine in it. Owner put engine only in truck takes back to DMV. Finally DMV issues a new vin a sticker no less. To top it off he had to remove the truck from the flat bed because they would not climb up to put the vin on. I am very luck the guy owns a tow truck company and that he is a stand up guy. This truck was very close to going to the scrap yard due to red tape.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Pulled the bed apart yesterday. Now the truck is 100% disassembled. Cleaned and painted the bed rails. Once again found very little rust. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I can get more of the paint stripping done.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Looken good . This is deffinately a nice truck to work with . In regards to power I know a cummins will fit ! Lol....

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Welcome to the 4x4 brotherhood. Nice truck! FYI, early 90's suburbans use a passenger drop np241 transfer case. Bolts right up to a 700r4. That's what I am using Not sure about a 460le but shouldn't be to hard to figure out.
Here,s a crappy cell phone pic of my setup. I think I have some better ones somewhere if you need them.
Keep up the good work!

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

youse guys in the northwest are lucky, very good looking tin on that truck.
nice work on the doors too.
glad you got the title figured out.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Thanks for the pick that helps. Your frame looks awsome.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I am lucky. I live about 20 minutes from a place called Dans classics. I can go there and buy stuff like this off the shelf. My fill panel for the hood latch. Adult candy store.

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Nothing fun today just did some stripping on the bed. Got a good chunk of it done. Still looking good no surprises.

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

4 universal poly urethane body mounts would cost $65. I found a 68 corvette poly body mount kit for $35 on amazon. These will work perfect and I think the extra 2 can be used when I mount my core support.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Good looking truck to start with and looks like you are headed in the right direction.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Hard to get stuff done this time of year. With the lift on the truck my engine hoist can not get the cab high enough to clear the frame. Hopping this set up will work. I want to start fitting the front end to see if there are any surprises.Attachment 1183906

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One issue I have is mounting the body. I want the rocker parallel to the ground. The bar in the picture is parallel to the ground the front cab mount is lower than the rear but only by an 1 the front mount is already 2 inches lower and I do not have the weight of the engine on the frame. Looks like I need the front mounts to be higher. Not sure how to compensate for the suspension compression. I know the rear will come down with the weight of the bed.

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Find a similar stock truck (matching donor frame and suspension) and measure the distance from the frame to axle at front and rear. this assumes the relative weight of the drivetrain and body components are the same. If in doubt leave the body mount points low to allow for shimming, you cannot get it perfect anyway. Very important part of the equation is the radiator mount too, it affects the hood and fenders, which affects the cab tilt, which affects the bed. I would just tack everything and mount all the sheet metal to check NS and EW level and heights before final welding.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Isnt there sumone out there who makes a kit to do this ? Task force truck on to a 73 to 87 frame ? I thot I read somewhere that it was available ? Im sure there are a lot of trucks on here that have done it . Just keep searching . This website is the best tool you will ever have !

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I do not remember any kits, but it has been done a few times. A search using the box at the top of the page for this site should turn them up. I think sgtusmc used that year for is 2wd conversion, body to frame relationship is the same as 4wd.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I am lucky my friend has a 82 blazer with a 4" lift and I took some measurements. Looks like my frame all stripped has about 1 1/2 rake forward. I am going to start with the mounts that came with the truck and go from there. Like OrrieG said measure, tack, and shim. The only way to tell is to put it all back together. The truck was not assembled when I got it so this is a good time to do the fitting. I want to run as little of a body lift as possible and might have to slightly channel the bed to match the cab. Once I get the cab back on the frame it is not that much work to hang the front end. It beats watching TV.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I was reading another build thread on here and that mentioned EZ chassis.
Here's their link for a kit
http://www.e-zchassisswaps.com/kit.php?category=5

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Yep thats the one I was thinking of . Not saying thats the way to go but it's nice to see there is a kit . But you are right , tack measure and shim and it will come together .

Have you read Luthers thread ? He put his 55 2nd on a dodge chassis . He just droped it on and started moving stuff around till it looked rite . Turned out well.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I have been all over this board in the last 8 months. I wish the e-z swap site show a picture of the kit. I just need to get on it. Trial and error. My days off are during the week and it is hard to get help. Moving the cab by myself is a pain. I think my system with the lift will work well. I am going to start tomorrow with putting the cab on the frame.

Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I got the front fenders and the cab on the frame today. It is all sitting fairly good. It is about 3/4 inch low on the passenger side. It also has about 1" rake forward. I figure with the engine it will drop almost 2 more inches. I think I am going to shim the front of the cab up about 1 1/4'. The core support will also be easy to make once I get my cab placement. The fenders are just thrown on and the gap are not that bad.
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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

Finally getting some stuff done now that x-mas is dead. Made my front core supports and set the cab height. fender height is within 1/8 of each other and side to side is exact.
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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I also decided to upgrade the front body mount. The other on was just a piece of water pipe. I wanted something a little more stable.

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I shortened the frame for the rear bed mount but I still need to lower the mounting point about an inch lower to get the cab and bed parallel to each other

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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

This was a surprise when I put the grill in. The inner hood brace spot weld was drilled out and I welded it back the the original holes. Hopefully this is just a matter of moving the brace to take the twist out.
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I forgot to take a side pic before I put the truck away. It is a little higher than I wanted but I could not get the back of the cab any lower than it is. About a inch High from the front of the rocker to the back of the rocker but when the engine is installed I think it will squat down just right.
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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

I got the passenger door hinges rebuilt and the door on. The gaps need some work but I have a bulge in the center of the door just below the door handle and the door sticks out about a 1/2" from the cab. Not sure how I am going to fix this.
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Re: My 55 Chevy 4X4
 

That big bondo patch right in front of it might be your clue. If the door got hit hard there it could have lifted the outside edge. Is the door inside jamb bent? looking from the inside can you see now deep the dent is. Cure is to figure out what caused it a reverse the force. Get the bondo out and try pulling and shrinking the depressing back out while applying pressure to the bulge. You will probably need to work the door metal perpendicular to the bulge to, time to find a third arm and hand! The lines below and above it looks pretty even with the body line so it probably did not get compressed from below.