46 Chevy 1.5 ton to laying frame!

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the reverend muddy grimes said:
Its really funny, there are three things I (normally) hate in a rat. Chopped tops, petina, and z'd frames. That being said, I cant take my eyes off this truck. It looks amazing. Following the build daily and waiting for more.
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Thanks a lot. I'll be back to work on it Tuesday. Gotta re angle the headers to be more away from the cab, mount engine/trans and get the 4 link and rear end in.

As a side note.. that 305 TBI engine is not what i'm using in this truck. its just for mock up. Got a 350 in friends truck that will be rebuilt and go in it eventually.
 
This truck is way kool ,keep up the good work. Had my knee done in June, if you didn't get it fixed I'd highly recommend it. I was back on mine in a couple of weeks. Same thing torn miniscus. Don't know if I spelled that right.
 
rainman said:
This truck is way kool ,keep up the good work. Had my knee done in June, if you didn't get it fixed I'd highly recommend it. I was back on mine in a couple of weeks. Same thing torn miniscus. Don't know if I spelled that right.
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No didn't have surgury. Going to put it off for now. Well really don't have a choice at this time.
thanks for the compliments.
 
Well quick update:

This NV3500 5 speed is not going to work for me. The shifter is way up under the dash and because of how long the truck is i'd have to cut the dash in half to enough clearance to Z the shaft and get the shifter to work there.
I can't eat up any more feet room by cutting the firewall and moving the engine back a ways either. Just to tall for that.

So.. its for sale and i ordered a Ford T5 to SBC Lakewood bellhousing today so i can run a T5 trans in it instead.

For anyone interested.. a guy on ebay is selling the Lakewood housings REALLY CHEAP!

So i'm going to have to wait till i get that bellhousing and a trans to go with it before i can do much more. :( oh well.. i'll be happier in the end with this setup.
 
Sorry for the fuzzy pics! There is somthing wrong with my camera. :(
I'll try to replace them with better ones asap.

Frames all done.. added: front tube support, radiator/grille support, steering rod heim joint mount, engine cross member, front and rear shock mounts, cab and bed mounts.

stripped it all down, cleaned it up and painted it. Then the next day had to paint it again because the chassis paint they gave me ended up being gloss black instead of satin. rrrrr... Felt good to have it all painted! Now i can bolt things to it for good instead of just temporary. :)

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Finished my grille. I really struggled with what to do with it. I intially cut the front of the hood off and mounted it on top. But it was just not sitting right with me. So i scrapped that and went this route. The center support was cut and the grille was widened 3". Then the top 3 horizontal bars were squished together in the middle. Top and side peices added. Those are spikes on top. Hard to tell since the pics is fuzzy.

I will use the heavy duty steel side supports to mount my headlights on.

Grille is painted satin like the frame, but the cab is still flat black. I'm going to paint it all satin as well.

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The cabs main support bars and done so the cab is mounted but i'll show inside pics when the inside floor/tunnel is done.
Bed is also mounted, but ive not had a chance to cut the top of the rails for tire cleance yet. I liked the wider 47-53 bed since its as wide as the cab and i didn't want to narrow it 5-6" to get it inside the tires. I thought the gap would look bad. So i'm keeping the fat bed and will have some half moon cuts in the rails to compensate. The bed is laying frame in the side pics, but when the front end is up and the rear is all the way down(to drag frame) it needs to travel another 3".

Havn't been able to find a tailgate yet so some rebar will do for now. :)

The bottom of the cab has not been trimmed and cleaned up yet.. so pay no attention to it.

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Guess i should note i have not added a gusset for the 90 degree front Z yet. Just can't decide what i want there.. so i'll add that when i make up my mind. Its internally fishplated and 100% boxed in with 1/4" plate so i doubt it needs one, but it will get one anyway at some point.
 
Thanks everyone.

Just got my valves for my heads today. gotta get them cleaned/sealed back up and i can start putting the engine top end back together.

Comp cam says the 305 will make 318hp, so i figure 250hp. :D oh well at least i won't weight much and has a 5 speed.
 
Truck looks killer!! I was looking at it and wondered what it would look like if you took about 3 inches off the bottom of the grill and lowered it to match the top of the cowl. I am interested because i am not there yet but have one and like the look allot. If I knew how to photoshop i would try it myself. Again truck looks awesome.
 
ANNAMEL said:
Truck looks killer!! I was looking at it and wondered what it would look like if you took about 3 inches off the bottom of the grill and lowered it to match the top of the cowl. I am interested because i am not there yet but have one and like the look allot. If I knew how to photoshop i would try it myself. Again truck looks awesome.
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I would have liked to have lowered it more. I got the alum Be Cool radiator for free. Its not quite the right size but i'm broke so i am using it. Hence the reason for making the grill wider. The grille is as low as it can be and clear the top of the rad, and the rad is as low as it can be and still clear the shaft on my steering rack. I agree though it would look better for sure that way!

On yours it may be much easier too if your front cowl isn't shortened so much. I have 9" cut off the bottom of it to get rid of all the massive rust from sitting in a ditch for so long.

I think it will look a little lower once the engine is in with its intake raised above it all.

It looks super short compared to the first grille setup i had. I used the front of the hood for a top, way to tall for my cab.

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