Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I wish I could just "toss" parts on my truck :hm:

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

And you made fun of my taillights?

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

busted... :)

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

okay okay, but I put mine on while I was waiting on a shipment, apparently my new 'tail light assembly including wiring' was somehow not clear that it didnt include wiring...

These things you got your hands on were put on PERMANENTLY!!! hah..
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1327111065
just TRY and defend those!!! haha...

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

well, uh, I, er, They were on there when I bought the bed!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :metal:

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Hah, well I am glad, for your sake, that thats the story :bs:

just kidding... hah. On a serious note, I like the spare tire carrier. It doesn't look good on all trucks but its a cool option to have the pieces to if you decide to use it

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I picked that long bed up for $20.00. I thought it would make a cool trailer minus those taillights.
I didn't come with a tailgate just those ugly taillights, and nasty paint, and some rust.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

okay okay, not a bad buy considering you can probably sell that spare tire fender and bracket to someone for like $100.

but that takes all the fun out of it :lol:

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Thanks Max.. That is what I was thinking the Sunpro gages are a dime a dozen and I've seen them at swap meets aplenty.. The speedo think is what I've been thinking about a lot, I do have an electic sender unit on mine right now as I have an autometer speedo installed along with all of there guages for water temp, Oil, Volts,and fuel. Fuell has been giveing me fits and i've purchased two differnt senders and neither works correctly. It only shows about 2/3 's when full. there guage requires a different o reading like 190 to 233 or something like that.. I haven't messed with it for a couple of years as I got flussered with it and just left it along.. LOL So anyway I've been thinking about going back to the orginal dash insert and looking up info for the swap. Thank you for the info..

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I didn't get but maybe 2 hours to work on the truck today, but I did get a major breakthrough.
To all of us using a Mustang fuel tank, we obviously can't use the original chevy fuel gauge, as chevy uses a 0-90 Ohm gauge and Ford used a 75-10 (backwards!) Ohm gauge until apparently 1986...
I was originally going to adapt the original fuel sending unit from my truck in the mustang tank, and bend the float to match that of the mustang unit. This would probably work just fine, but I have like 6 gallons of fuel in the tank, so pulling the sending unit isn't an option at this time... there creates option B...

I went to the local pick-n-pull junkyard in search of a fuel gauge, and came up with two. The first was about a 1964 ford f100. Looked good, but I wanted another choice so I kept looking. Then I came up with what I think was a 1974 Ford pickup. Brought both gauges home and started working. Because the later gauge looked to be in a little newer shape (obviously) I decided to work with it. Now I am sure some of you want a more stock looking end result, and if I simply order the decal kit for the 55-59 gauges I could put the sticker on the gauge to make it look more stock, and also change the needle if I wanted... but I simply dont care. I left the original ford needle and print because I know it will be most accurate to the gauge. I may paint the tops of the E and F later, but again, for now I just want a gauge that works! and I am thrilled with the outcome.

I drilled out new holes for the new gauge and used tin snips to cut excess gauge background, test fit it and found that I needed to space it up so I used a couple nuts to space it up.
After I was happy with the fit i cut some cardboard off of a piece of packaging do prevent the gauge from grounding out on the cluster.

Again, my crude methods may not be original or clean enough for some, but you all are welcome to take from my experiences what you wish! I will wire it into the dash tomorrow and see if everything works!!!!!

Now for the pics...

This is a photo of what the gauge cluster I tore apart for the gauge I used. This photo is an ebay auction item and it says 1973-79 Ford truck gauges... all I know is the truck was from the '70's
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...73-79gauge.png

The other MAJOR breakthrough was finding the ONLY 1960's chevy truck (it was a dual headlight stepside but I was more focused on the harnesses of every truck then the years...) it had the EXACT harness setup I needed for my dash lights, turn signals and gauge power setup. It has an extra bulb socket that i will just tape off and leave on there...
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo1-5.jpg

Here are the gauges I bought. The one i used was the 70's gauge on the right.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo2-6.jpg

holes drilled, i eventually hogged them out a little larger for adjustment in the opening
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo3-4.jpg

Gauge in place for test fit
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo4-2.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo5-2.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo6-1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo7-1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo8-1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo9-1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../photo10-1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ck/photo11.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../photo12-1.jpg

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Pretty good fix.
Kim

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Looks pretty good and inexpensive also.. just the way I like it.. I still have the orginal senting unit for my old tank and the new one behind the rear end is about the same depth so that guage would not be much of a problem if I went that way. The volt/amp guage and the speedo are the ones that i'm most concerned about... But you have solved a problem that I'm sure several others have had. good post...

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Thanks guys, and inexpensive is correct... I paid $8 for the gauge

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Here is one more photo of the fuel gauge a little further away
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../photo13-1.jpg

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Actually if you painted out the F and E it would look almost stock.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Just curious how hard would it have been to take the works out of the Ford guage and put them in the chevy guage frame.. ??? just curious.. not being critial at all, just wondering..

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

It would have been tricky with the 73-79 gauge, probably more feasible with the older gauge I got (1965 maybe?)
The 70's gauge looked like the guts were fragile, and I thought if i tried to transplant the guts i would ruin the gauge.

That, and time. I knew that I could bolt the gauge in much easier than trying to retrofit it into the original gauge housing.

so, to answer your question, i really don't know how hard it would be heh... but anything is possible to the one who has the time/patience to do it.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I hate it when the gas gauge doesn't work:devil:

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I did it a little different on my mustang tank, I just cut a metal ring to fit chevy stock fuel sending unit and shorten the float arm and cut down pick up tube, then cut a hole in top of mustang tank welded ring and Jb weld after just for chep insurance,

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

that's using the old noggin maximus.
a little black sharpie might work on that lettering :D

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I wired the sending unit wire to the fuel tank and installed the dash. After I wired everything up I was excited to see both the turn signal lights and fuel gauge work!!!
Sorry the pic is so light, the California sun is bright today...

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo1-6.jpg

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Very cool.
Kim

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Because I am obsessed that the dash wiring is all working as it should, here is a photo of the cluster with the backlights on.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ck/photo-2.jpg

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Looks real nice.
Kim

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Nice!

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Great job. Looks great.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Hmm. I filled my gas tank up, and my gauge only went to half. I fail.

I think my sending unit may have gotten tweaked, but I will find out later.

Right now my front brakes are sticking and thats a bigger issue to me hah...

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Your doing it wrong. :lol:

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Okay, so my brake issue is at least known now, the push rod in the booster is too long and1/8" space between the MC and booster the brake pressure was all released. This weekend I am going to see what i need to do to shorten it.

I did however take advantage of the truck not having ceased brakes and drove the truck all over town. I probably put 15 miles of city driving, and the truck is running great. The only issues I had (2) were
1) my dash wasnt screwed down, and lost ground for a second, when it regrounded it blew the small dash backlights doh!! those things are almost $2 each!
and
2)the other issue I had was hard starting after warmed up, but I am almost certain its because of my electric fan. My electric fan is run through a relay and activated by a temp sensor on the engine. Its power source is keyswitched. I am pretty sure when the truck is warm, the fan runs as soon as the key is on and is robbing power from the ignition system during cranking. I will be probably installing a push button kill switch, not a toggle, that way the connection to the fan will only be disengaged when the button is being held down, so I will NOT be able to leave the fan off like an on/off switch would allow. This way I can push and hold the switch if the engine is warm to stop the fan for cranking...

The other issue I was having was ride height. I love how low the back is but the front looked high. It turns out that after the truck is on a level surface its really only maybe 1/2" high up front, so the 1-2" drop springs I am ordering will totally solve this issue. More of a visual than anything...

It was getting dark but I took a photo of the ride height. I think the gap on the front fender just makes it look alot higher than it is. I'm pretty sure the front end is really less than an inch higher than the rear. What do you guys think?
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo2-7.jpg

Regardless, it has a huge exhaust leak still but its been a BLAST being able to drive it. All the electrical is working fine, my carb is fantastic! I have always had issues with quadrajets but this rebuilt carb i bought on eBay just purrs at 500 rpm at idle and seems very smooth. I can't wait until i fix the exhaust to see how well the engine performs without a huge lean condition!

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Maximus,

Congrats on driving your truck!

I have a couple of the rims like the ones you have on your truck.

If you need them let me know.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

That's great you're able to drive it. The problems you listed should be easy fixes.
Kim

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

So i've been dabbleing in the issue i have of warm starting problems, and ran into an issue. I thought the electric fan was on during starting, but its not. The nice people at EZ Wiring made sure that all power is cut off except to the starter during cranking, as it should be. So this left me with the question, why is it goofy to start. SLOW cranking, but it would eventually speed up and start. So...
I hooked an Ohm meter to the alternator and it was only pulling 10-15 amps and the battery was at a full charge, nowhere near maxing out the alternator, and my battery is a 2 month old 800CCA gold top Duralast, so that's not the issue... there is only one more piece, and that's the starter. I pulled it off and took it down to the local parts house to test it. it passed the test (under no load) but sounded like hell. Since it was at least 10 years old, and had an unknown amount of wear, I was quick to replace it. The truck started fine so far but time will tell, im thinking it was the starter...
Again, on the bright side, i drove the piss out of the truck. Heavy exhaust leak still present, putted around for a good half hour to give it a 'warm engine crank test' and so far all issues seem to be gone.

It was tricky because the old starter, if able to start the car within two cranks would work fine, but as soon as it was really stressed on 4 or 5 rotations (the engine doesn't want to fire as quick when warm) the starter slowed down to a crawl. The new starter cranked like a champ after the engine was warm and all is well for now...

I also ordered new bushings for the front trans-am sway bar and Hotchkis lowering springs for my Firebird/Camaro subframe, so I can get the ride height im looking for. Hopefully next weekend ill get the new springs on the truck

Oh yea, and I replaced the dash bulbs with #57's, the guy at the store sold me #55's the first time (tiny dash light part #) and I think the 57's are more durable, but all I know is they haven't blown out yet, so that issue may be resolved too heh.

Maybe this weekend I will get to the rubber around the doors... maybe...

its just so darn fun to drive I might put off the door rubber and just enjoy it for the weekend.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Not a ton of work done today, early I tweaked my brake bracket a little, and thats really it. I decided that instead of work I would enjoy it. drove about 20 miles and loved every minute of it.
I hate to sound like a commercial, but I installed Sylvania Silverstar ultra headlights, the standard sealed beam bulbs, and love them!
I have the Silverstar bulbs in my BMW and Motorcycle, so when I saw the seal beams in silverstar brand I was quick to jump on them. They produce a very pure white light that allows me to see much more than the standard yellowey (its a new word...) light from cheaper headlights.

My only other issue is my dumb mistake from 6 years ago biting me in the butt. I installed the engine 6 years ago without touching the bottom end. Surprise, surprise... the rear main seal leaks... I'm gonna cross my fingers and throw some Lucas oil additive in tomorrow when I change the oil... darn.

anyways, here is a photo of the truck in the parking lot of a hardware store while i bought new bolts for my 1 1/4" sway bar.

P.S. Sorry Bam, but I LOVE the hump on these hoods!!! I just stared at the truck for a minute admiring the nice hump they come with haha
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...k/photo3-5.jpg

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

I am jealous i wish I was out driving mine.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

congrats! nothing like driving these trucks!!!!!!!

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Thanks guys! sorry Rods57, your trucks coming along great! keep moving and you will get there. I have a ton of work (body) to do to the truck but after staring at it for the better part of 10 years, I cant get over the fact that its drivable!! I need to put the bodywork on hold and enjoy what these projects are built for, windshield time!

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

This is coming along nicely. Great that you are able to run it and do some shake down runs. Watch when putting on the new rubbers on the doors. One way looks right but its usually the wrong way.

Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Man that's great!

Drive the piss outta it! Work out all the micies...

Congrats.

How much lower do you think the front is going to drop btw?
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Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

thanks!.
The Specs say 1-2" drop in the front depending on application
They are #600 springs rated for a big block I'm hoping it's not more than 2" so I won't have exhaust issues
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Re: My Build - 1955 2nd Series Short Bed Stepside
 

Gotchya,

Was there a preference between springs or drop spindles? I ask because i debated and chose spindles instead thinking they mess with the alignment less.

Brian
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