65 Old School Build on a Budget

[protrash64]

Mean low is right; CPP is a good source and they sell in sets, I BELIEVE. 2" in front would probably accept a stock application. 2" isnt that big of a deal as far as your articulation.......however, if you were to go lower it could run out of travel, I suppose.

2/4 is a common drop combo; shocks may be available as a kit.

[joe231]

looks nice!
good work!

[Old School Kid]

Well thanks guys with all the help.. I found a local company (God father custums in Atl) that had a set of drop shocks for my application, ordered them on 12/17(still don't have them yet, rumor has it 1/6) They said they had to be shipped from west coast, but being they were local I only had to pay sales tax... Beats the 90$ shipping I got from one of the popular sites... Slow boat will work (christmas yadda yadda), we've been having a little rain hear in the south so no big deal, Oh well. I did come across something yesterday and wanted to know your input. I found a 73 El Camino engine and tranny donor (350/350 I think,did they do 400 this year?), both checked out fine and for next to nothing I couldn't beat it... Thanks to my buddy that found it My question is the car is complete... Is there anything else on it that I could possible reuse (on a budget). The rear-end is a ten bolt, I have a 12 in the truck.. Brake booster? Just want to grab everything before I part it out.. Thanks your help it is greatly appreciated.

[ApeKing]

welcome to the board from your neighbor to the west (Douglasville). I just bought a 65 short bed fleetside myself. It is still at my buddy's shop though. I hope he feels like doing a little with it later today. Ill take the camera if we do. Give me a shout if ya ever need help doing any work. Im not a great mechanic or anything but I can be a strong back weak mind if ya need one.

[scotts62]

Looks good man!!

[Old School Kid]

Apeking, saw your truck a few weeks back on here, love that color..... Ditto goes for you if you need a hand... I'll keep my out for a crazy guy on a HD on 20... I'll probally be on my Ultra Classic,,,, Stupid Rain!!!

[Old School Kid]

Roger that Dadredwagon! They gotta stop showing that on tv, maybe DVD... Everyone out there thinks their pile of junk is worth a mint..... oh well, old story!

[Old School Kid]

Any ideas what other parts I could use from the cruck? Thanks, I don't think I can use anything else, but just want another opinion... Thanks

[Dadsredwagon]

old school kid... like the ride, and the quote at the bottom of your profile .I'm watching Barret Jackson right now, how in the heck do people buy a car for 150,000 bucks? keep it real...

[ApeKing]

I work in buckhead and blast down 20 to work daily. If the weather isnt too terrible Im on my Ape King.

[Joey~AP]

Very nice truck!

[Old School Kid]

Well I've searched all the forums.. I'm getting ready for my inline 6, 3 on the tree to a v-8 350 turbo set-up. I'm making my list and wanted to see if you guys would mind reviewing it..... Thanks

1. Order- bolt in motor mount bracket kit (tubular) bolt into existing holes in frame?

2.Remove current inline 6 rear motor mount bracket( the whole thing from frame to frame? not just the center portion? slit and pop rivets)

3. Oder-new bolt in tranny crossmember mount... (the truck currently has a brace that goes from frame rail to frame rail that the 3 speed is currentlly going over but not attached... Do I remove? use? or go over it also with t350?)

4. Order-Hedman Mid length headers 69260?


I know I know lots of questions.... Just gettin excited and want to start ordering some parts..... Again thanks for reading and any input would be helpful....

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Old School Kid

Well I've searched all the forums.. I'm getting ready for my inline 6, 3 on the tree to a v-8 350 turbo set-up. I'm making my list and wanted to see if you guys would mind reviewing it..... Thanks

1. Order- bolt in motor mount bracket kit (tubular) bolt into existing holes in frame?

2.Remove current inline 6 rear motor mount bracket( the whole thing from frame to frame? not just the center portion? slit and pop rivets)

3. Oder-new bolt in tranny crossmember mount... (the truck currently has a brace that goes from frame rail to frame rail that the 3 speed is currentlly going over but not attached... Do I remove? use? or go over it also with t350?)

4. Order-Hedman Mid length headers 69260?


I know I know lots of questions.... Just gettin excited and want to start ordering some parts..... Again thanks for reading and any input would be helpful....

I had to convert to a different motor mount when I went with the CPP motor perches. The motor mount that came out of my 65 (V8) was bolted thru the perch from bottom to top and into the motor mount. The tubular mounts have a bolt running front to back. At least the ones I've got do. You might want to check that. I got some motor mounts for a 69 camaro. They also come on alot of other cars, but I knew these cause i had a 69. Good luck

[Old School Kid]

Thnaks Protrash64 and Allan......Getting ready to pull the motor in the El Camino this weekend.. Will be taking the t350, brake booster, master cylinder and a few other odds and ends... Should work out pretty well...

Finally recieved the shocks that I ordered, took about 3 weeks... grrr Anyways very happy, ended up going with a budget Pro-Comp Toxic shock. They were around $30 a piece. I was having trouble waiting and went for a few rides with no shocks at all, yikes! Shocks are installed and work great (compared to nothing at all, really do work well) they will work just fine for my application and the price was right..

While jacking the truck up to install the shocks, I thought that I would try and figure out what rear gears I had. (Inline 6, three on the tree ,open differential) I marked the tire with a piece of tape along with the drive shaft, rotated the tire one full turn and the drive shaft turned just shy of 2 complete turns??? 3 3/4 turns = 3.73, 3 plus a fuzz = 3.08 ??? I was told this was a good rule of thumb, yes or no? What gears do I have?

Chased Down fellow forum members truck the other day, thanks again Mike for all the great info...

[protrash64]

No problem O/S/K. I enjoy looking at the progress and it keeps my dream alive of one day having a DD 60-66. Good luck with your swap.

[MikeN]

Originally Posted by Old School Kid

While jacking the truck up to install the shocks, I thought that I would try and figure out what rear gears I had. (Inline 6, three on the tree ,open differential) I marked the tire with a piece of tape along with the drive shaft, rotated the tire one full turn and the drive shaft turned just shy of 2 complete turns??? 3 3/4 turns = 3.73, 3 plus a fuzz = 3.08 ??? I was told this was a good rule of thumb, yes or no? What gears do I have?

Chased Down fellow forum members truck the other day, thanks again Mike for all the great info...

You're welcome As far as I know, all 64-66 with 6cyl/3sp have 3.73 gears. I've never seen one with anything else. Sometimes, you'll find a truck with factory 283 V8 and Powerglide automatic, and they might have 3.08's, but that is not so common.

[LILRED66]

The sure fire method is to pull the pumkin cover and divide the number of teeth on the ring gear by the number of teeth on the pinion gear, this will give you an accurate gear ratio.

[Old School Kid]

Thanks 72 Bigred, That makes more sense....

Thanks Also Lilred66, I will definatley do that when I pull the cover...

Slow but sure, one step at a time.....

[Alan's Classic]

The number of both teeth should be stamped on the ring gear. It might be something like 43 14. 43 teeth on the ring gear and 14 on pinion.

[collins10672]

1964-66 chevy trucks came standard with the3:73 rear axle.on the g.m. spec. book that i have.3:07 and 4:11 were optional.the 1964 and 1965 trucks optionally had a package called economy package with the 230 i-6,standard 3-speed tranny,and the 3:07 rear axle.i have not seen this package on the 1966's in the g.m. book.best to take the other guys advice pull it off and start counting teeth.also i discovered on the 64's i've owned that on the rear axle tube from viewing from the rear on passenger side they have a code stamped in them,never saw the code stamped on 65,or 66.my 2 cents worth.

[Old School Kid]

Thanks guys, I will pull the cover sometime in the near future to install a new seal and will use the true method of counting the teeth... I'm thinking 3.73 (no stamps on the axle)

Well the motor build process continues. Just getting all my ducks in a row and trying to determine the biggest bang for my buck.

The other day when I took the Hell Camino to the junk yard, my truck gurue buddy spotted a step bed. I 've always been a fan of the fleetsides on these trucks but the current bed was falling apart and had a steel plate in the bottom. Robbing HP from the weak inline 6. The bed had no tailgate but is in great condition. $80 dollars later we left with the bed and a rear chrome bumper... Now I just have to find a set of brakets... Already have a line on a tailgate...

All in all very happy with the find.. Mounted it today, couple coats of Krylon satin, flush mounted the fleetside tail lights ( thanks to bird7263, hope you don't mind ) looks great.

Here is a picture just before it got dark. Lights were just taped on for motivation, once I took a look I pulled out the saw..

[Alan's Classic]

Nice score! It's lookin' good

[TimE]

[sweatmachine]

that is a badass truck man, congrats on a job well done (er, well doing?).

I could go either way on the fleet vs step issue, but I'm leaning towards stepside.

[Barebones66]

Very encouraging thread. Nice job, keep up the good work

Originally Posted by sweatmachine

I could go either way on the fleet vs step issue, but I'm leaning towards stepside.

Then you'll probably like this one I just came across. Anybody on here own this ? :