55 project thread

[Jebb1978]

Originally Posted by texascowboy593

Welcome back from a fellow "lurker" LOL! I on the other hand...have little to no progress to report

Lurkers are coming out of the wood work over here!

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice build thread... subscribed..

[55ChevyPU]

hi everyone, did some craziness this last couple of days. I was playing around with pops plasma cutter and figured, "lets body drop the whole car." I really didnt want to mess with the geometry of the suspension or anything so it kinda works out to take this route instead of drop spindles. The cars whole cab was dropped 4 1/2 inches and im satisfied with the stance. You can see how much lower it is compared to the radiator support which I havent moved yet.

I made some suicide door hinges for the truck as well. I need to get them installed.

finally ive been playing with the idea of converting to a bigger rear window. I can either do this two ways, I can go with the original big window, which shouldnt be too hard to squeeze in there, but im also thinking of sectioning the big window so the majority of the center, excluding the rounded corners actually can roll down. Its either that or just find a trashed newer truck that has a full rear power window and transplanting it. Suggestions :?

heres a quick shot, ill try and take some more tommorow in the light

[watahyahknow]

i see a lot more work in youre future , does look nice though

[jjjmm56]

So by body dropping it you raised the floor?

[55ChevyPU]

some more pics, Got the cab and bed mounts redone on the frame, I also got the radiator support adjusted properly. And also got the suicide doors in, some strategic cuts, welds, and reinforcing on the original hinges and the doors open and close great.

[55ChevyPU]

Just ordered some new stuff fuel gauge vacuum canister new bushings for suspension and a couple other minor items. I also got my hands on a new pair of polished aluminum heads

[55ChevyPU]

Ive also been thinking about doing a full tilt forward front end, the ability to take the front sheetmetal off with little to no effort is very enticing, heres an example of one ive seen before, I think the only thing I might try differently is to incorporate a sliding mechanism into the hinge so the front sheetmetal can get enough clearance from the cab, then swivel up.

[jjjmm56]

I was thinking about doing this a few yrs back and thought by using suicide doors all you needed to do was open both doors and flip open the front. Would that work? That way the fenders don't need to be cut.

[CAL 58 GMC]

Welcome back! Nice to see your back at it again and so far what you have done is really looking good!

[hotrodsbyray]

Oh 55ChevPU
Where are you?

One a post you mentioned you might go with a diamond plate bed - just wondered if got a photo of how you did it - am considering doing the same.

[BC Toy chest]

Originally Posted by 55ChevyPU

Ive also been thinking about doing a full tilt forward front end, the ability to take the front sheetmetal off with little to no effort is very enticing, heres an example of one ive seen before, I think the only thing I might try differently is to incorporate a sliding mechanism into the hinge so the front sheetmetal can get enough clearance from the cab, then swivel up.

Your truck is awesome like your work. Yeah I agree with you on the tilt front end with adding the sliding mechanism. It will give the truck a cleaner look with out that parting line cut into the fender.

[BC Toy chest]

OOH man my hats off to you on the suicide doors. I had a hard enough time just putting in hinge pockets, lol.

[watahyahknow]

I like the slideout version better then the extra cut in the side as whell , i think saab does the same thing with there hood , they use one or two torsionbars to get it out after you release the lock arms atached to the first torsionbar lift the front of the hood and turns it out then you need to lift the rear up by hand balanced by the second bar
if you use that system for you complete flipnose you prolly need some pretty hefty bars
put the torsionbar and botton hingepoint about bumperheight and the top one just above the headlights you should get a verry smooth working system
unless youre good at cadcam you prolly need to experiment some of the arm lentghs and placement to get everything to clear the doors upon opening

[hotrod1]

Hey, did you ever figure out the one piece front end? I was thinking about it myself. Need pictures and to talk to someone that has done it.

[55ChevyPU]

Been gone for a long time, Hi everyone

[oldcouple]

The roll down rear window would be fun, lots of old cars had them the mercs from the 60s and even the privacy windows in limos.