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55 to 59 chevy truck owners

935K views 3K replies 212 participants last post by  DOUBLEDICK 
#1 · (Edited)
My name is Richard Johnson and I am building my second Apache truck.I drive this truck every day and am doing everything I can to make it a pleasure to drive and still be a good work truck.I like modern drive trains and stock body and interiors.I am looking for other guys that have and drive these trucks to talk to and share Ideas and designs for custom made parts with.I have sent private messages to a few people on this board and only one person responded.At his request I sent him pictures of my custom sway bar mounts so he could make some for his truck.Without sway-bars these trucks are no fun to drive.I am curious to see what others have done and share ideas.
 

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#653 ·
Gator I have seen me with a torch :eek: If that trans is a 700r4 you will love it in your truck just use the hardened basket(that is were they always break)when you rebuild it.I have one in my 58.The overdrive allows me to have 4.56 gears for pull power and still get 14 mpg.With 3.73 and a small block you should get at least 18mpg just go with a 1500 stall converter to get the heavy beast rolling.I run a 2200 stall but I am geared to be in the higher rpm range to go with my intake manifold choice..Kim57 go to the wrecking yard and check out an old dump truck.It will help you design your tilt bed set up.For the tail lights you can have any design you can think up if you cut it into the fender and mount the light on the back side.Flames would be cool with your hot set up.You could practice cutting them out on a piece of sheet metal and even work out how to mount the lights on the back before you ever touch the fender.
 
#654 ·
Picked up my tranny last night. It is a turbo 400 like I thought. The fluid was a nice red and no burnt smell to it so I hope I got a good one. He also gave me the torque converter, flexplate and the drive shaft for the yoke.

I might be able to use the new drive shaft due to the length of the turbo 400 being longer than my standard tranny. I need to look into a cross mount for the 400 also. I think I will have to remove my existing crossmember.

Yesterday I also picked up some 1/2" plate from the local steel distributor. It was such a small piece they just gave it to me. So now I can cutout my sway bar brackets.
 
#655 ·
Hey everyone..... havent posted in a while! Nothing new here..... just waiting on some extra spending cash to start back up with my truck. Everyones project's are lookin nice! I went to the Drag strip today(Opening day). it was cold but took some good pictures of my buddies mustang leaving hard off the line. He ran his best time which was a 10.34 with a rt of .67. well hope everyone is well and projects are moving along a little bit better then mine is.

Mike
 
#657 · (Edited)
Gator I got my cross member from Harmons.They had the best price at the time.It is $52 now.It is made for the turbo 350/400 But I made a riser block to bring the mount up to the proper hight and it worked just fine for my 700r4.I raised my engine and moved it forward to accommodate the 700r4 so my trans sits 2 inches higher and 1 1/2 inches farther forward than yours will.
 

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#658 ·
DD My engine mounts with the original V-8 mounts which attach to the front of the engine. I am really hoping that the location of my engine than the added length of the turbo 400 will allow me to use the single drive shaft instead of the double that was on the truck. I'll have to ge with you guys to figure out what angle the engine and tranny should be.

Thanks for the tip on Harmons
 
#659 ·
Gator for the proper angle set the truck level first then take off the carb and put a level on the intake manifold.The engine will have a slight down angle when the mounting surface for the carb on the manifold is level.As far as the one piece drive shaft goes as long as it does not hit a cross member when you have a load in the bed it will work.Just make sure the yoke on the shaft has room to move in and out on the output shaft of the trans.Take the yoke off the drive shaft and insert it in the trans most of the way in.Measure the distance from what would be the center of the bearing cap of the u joint to the center of the bearing cap of the rear end.Before you take this measurement put 1000 pounds in the bed(two 52 gallon trash cans full of water directly over the rearend) this is the length of drive shaft you need.This is how I got the measurement for the drive shaft in my 58.I had a one piece drive shaft in my 59 long bed step side for 10 years without any issues.
 
#664 ·
gator412 said:
DD My engine mounts with the original V-8 mounts which attach to the front of the engine. I am really hoping that the location of my engine than the added length of the turbo 400 will allow me to use the single drive shaft instead of the double that was on the truck. I'll have to ge with you guys to figure out what angle the engine and tranny should be.

Thanks for the tip on Harmons
general rule that i learned is tilt your engine 2 degrees down towards the rear and your rear dif 2 degrees upwards.
 
#666 ·
Hey Guys
Been working on getting the bed to tilt. Made up some brackets out of some 3/16 steel plate. I'm going to build a frame out of some 1x2 14 gauge rectangle steel for the bed to attach to. Need to see if I can get an actuator strong enough to lift the bed.
Kim
 

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#671 ·
Hey everybody. I have a '59 Apache shortbed stepside, just got back on hotrodders after a real long time and found this huge thread. Doubledick you'll probably remember be, i'm the kid you sent those sway bar pics to. Thanks for that advice, i made mounts in metals shop at school, and of course the bar does help plenty. The truck has been my driver to school and back daily until recently. At the moment we're in the middle of putting in a Muncie 4 speed, and I figured id ask anybody if they have done this in their truck(s). Im gonna have to cut the floor some for the shifter, and probably find some bucket seats out of something to put in the truck, because of where the shifter is. I hate to cut the floor any, because it is almost rust-free and its real solid, but after going almost broke buying the trans, shifter, etc., I'm not going to change my mind now. If anybody has done this before, I would really appreciate any input. Thanks in advance.
-Matt
 
#672 ·
DOUBLEDICK said:
My name is Richard Johnson and I am building my second Apache truck.I drive this truck every day and am doing everything I can to make it a pleasure to drive and still be a good work truck.I like modern drive trains and stock body and interiors.I am looking for other guys that have and drive these trucks to talk to and share Ideas and designs for custom made parts with.I have sent private messages to a few people on this board and only one person responded.At his request I sent him pictures of my custom sway bar mounts so he could make some for his truck.Without sway-bars these trucks are no fun to drive.I am curious to see what others have done and share ideas.
nice truck
 
#673 ·
Thanks coryc I have been working on it for 4 years now and am getting close the body and paint time.Hey chevapach59 Good to here from you again.Things have been slow on the 58 but I am going to order new window regulators,the green glass and all new seals to make the doors like new again.I am also looking at the power assisted steering from CPP.Going to do that after I finish the doors.
 
#674 ·
Hey guys...sorry for being MIA. But work is busy right now. But...at lunch today I was reading the easy ad and saw an ad for 55-57 truck parts. I am looking for a hood so I call the guy, real nice fellow and he has a hood at a good price. So Saturday I'm gonna go get it. Well he says if I don't like that one he has several more...in fact a barn full of truck parts and 4 55-57 trucks! So if anyone needs me to be on the look out for something let me know before Saturday 4-28-07. I'll bring my camera and take pics if you want.

Later,
gator
 
#675 ·
Gator cool deal on finding parts.I am good for now.Thanks for thinking of us :thumbup: Hey Everybody if you need sway bars Brothers trucks has them on sale for $99 they are regularly $175.Dave if you haven't done the windows yet the one piece windows are on sale again too.The kit has all the seals and hardware.power is $599.Manual is $249.
 
#676 ·
questionable service

So I ordered the parts from the truckandcarshop.com and received an email that tells me I will receive another email that will give me the finial price with shipping etc. As of today I still have not received that email...so I call to make sure they received my order. The phone was answered and I was put on hold. I waited 11 minutes and 10 seconds (my phone keeps track of these times that is how I know) and finally spoke with someone who could help me. They could not find my order via my name or phone number. But they did find it. They could not tell me how much the total bill would be and they said it would ship out in 5-7 days. Now I ordered from this place because they were just south of me in the LA area and shipping would be cheap and fast. But they won't ship for 5 to 7 days and they have the items in stock (I asked)? I canceled my order...I hope it was canceled

Now they might be a great place...but I felt really uneasy dealing with them. They had the best price but questionable service....... I think I will stick with companies I have dealt with.
 
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