My 55 Chevy halfton 4x4

[2Loose]

I originally built and put this truck on the road ten years ago. I put in a used '70 Olds 455 and it eventually developed problems and I had to pull it and rebuild it. But the original front steering setup I put on it had a bad bump steer problem that I had to resolve.

I had mounted a steering box 12" in front of the front axle. The drag link ran straight back to the steering arm from the pitman arm. It turned out that due to that setup, the arc of the end of the drag link at the steering arm was rather sharp, and a 2" upward movement in the axle resulted in an 1/8" forward movement in the steering arm, causing the truck to head into the oncoming traffic, the harder the bump the worse it got, definitely not a good thing!!!

So I finally put the front end up on stands and pulled it apart....l

And fabricated a new steering arm to put on the right side steering knuckle of the front axle, converting it to a cross steer setup.....

I sent the right side steering knuckle to a machine shop to get it drilled and tapped accurately for the new steering arm (well, more accurately than I am capable of.....). While I am waiting for the machine shop, I notched the left side frame rail for clearance for the reoriented pitman arm and the ball joint nut:

I cut the original 12" long drag link in half and prepped the two pieces to insert and weld into a longer piece of heavy wall pipe. The final length will be around 36", exact length to be determined when the right side of the axle is back together with the new steering arm on it...

Our "Old Dudes Racing" shop has a Smithy, a small lathe and milling machine, very handy for jobs just like this one....

LINK: There's a whole bunch more pix and story here.....

Aloha,
Willy

 

[grumpyvette]

thats darn impressive work!
After doing a great deal of custom fabrication (AND IN CASE YOUR WONDERING<NOT ALL OF IT WORKED OUT AS PLANED)
I know how rare it is now ,for most guys to do any mods to a car that don,t involve simply buying and installing parts,
the very idea of THINKING THINGS THRU and FABRICATING CUSTOM PARTS is fast becoming a LOST ART!
when I bought my welders and my MILL, most of my friends thought I was nuts , simply because I could have purchased a great deal of quality engine parts and I,m sure been far further along in my plans to build my dream car, but taking the longer view I knew that having the ability to fabricate parts rather than buy parts was the smarter long term move.
I could easily have purchase some damn fancy engine components for the $7K-$8K I spent on a mill and a couple welders, but while theres no question it put my cars build time back at least 6-7 years , it also allowed me to build dozens of projects I would never have even attempted without those tools in inventory, plus Ive gained a great deal of experience and increased skills.
yes, theres no question, I'm addicted to having good tools just as much as having a fast car, and I get a great deal of satisfaction building custom components.
If I ever find a good LATHE and on the very rare occasions when I have cash available you just know Ill own one of those also
I don,t know how you feel, but its darn frustrating to go help a friend at his garage vs your own, when the work requires basic tools like a welder and a drill press, an air compressor, decent jack stands, etc. and you find that friend has none of the tools that make working on a car effectively possiable

related threads

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=970&p=15786&hilit=mill+machine#p15786

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4231&p=11181&hilit=mill+machine#p11181

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2198&p=8396&hilit=mill+machine#p8396

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=993

viewtopic.php?f=60&t=72&p=21992&hilit=welders#p21992

viewtopic.php?f=60&t=530&p=20330&hilit=welders#p20330

 

[mathd]

Nice, am loving it all

 

[Indycars]

Very nice work 2Loose!

I can tell it's not your first time to modify something.

 

[2Loose]

I grew up on a small orchard farm (cherries, plums, peaches, and a roadside stand) in the Sacramento Valley, we did all our own maintenance and repair (and upgrades) on our orchard equipment, plus Dad and his brothers were into hot rods and motorcycles, so there was always stuff going on in the shop....

When I went to UC Davis (THE ag school for us Calif. guys back then) I didn't have any money, but I had the grades to get into the Ag Engineering program, and was able to get a job in the Engineering Dept. shop. Started out as the cleanup boy, and by the end of my 5 years there they had me designing, fabbing up and field testing manure pumping systems and custom manure spreaders! I became known as the "manure man" (but not exactly in those kind words most of the time) around campus. It did not help at all that my last name is "Pyle" (I don't tell that to very many people online.....)! :mrgreen: I managed to stay good natured about that though, never got into any fights or bad situations over it....

Plus I became the "go to" guy on campus for the hot rodders and mc guys who needed repairs/mods. I helped one guy put a caddy motor in his 40 ford sedan, then keep upgrading bits and pieced as he kept breaking them, starting with the original 40 ford tranny and rear end, as he (like me) was going thru school on a shoestring but did not want to give up his hot rodding passion.

Another guy there had a nicely customized 50 Chevy hardtop that he and his dad had put together while he was in high school, so we eventually upgraded that to a 300 ci six, corvette sidedraft carbs, Fenton cast iron headers, exh. cutouts, and eventually a four speed. It was the quickest running six I ever worked on! It left many a 327 in the dust over at the Friday night stop light wars in Sacramento or down in Stockton.... (Shades of American Graffiti....)

I love working on them as much as driving 'em, still working out some wrinkles on the '55 gasser motor, but it's done. And I have a '55 Bel Air hardtop in storage, and a '93 LT1 I built up with a T56 to put in it, as soon as I get this 4x4 back on the road....

That might be my final project, but who knows, I'm 70 now and find I'm slowing down, but Dad was turning wrenches well into his 80's, I hope I can do as well....
Aloha,
Willy

 

[Indycars]

I became known as the "manure man" (but not exactly in those kind words most of the time) around campus. It did not help at all that my last name is "Pyle" (I don't tell that to very many people online.....)! :mrgreen: I managed to stay good natured about that though, never got into any fights or bad situations over it....

Aloha,
Willy

That was kinda shitty of them to say those things!

All this stuff must be second nature to you. It's always amazing the kind of mods you get into!

 

[2Loose]

I was talking to one of the CompCams guys on the phone, about the lack of composite gears for my Olds distributor, he told me "well, the Olds motor is NOT a mainstream motor, so a lot of parts that we will make for the Chevy, Ford or Mopar motors are not profitable to make for those "off brand" motors....."

He said the same thing about the Buick, Pontiac and Caddy motors.....

Sheeesh! :roll: :roll:

 

[2Loose]

Milled the top of the right side steering knuckle smooth to get a good match to the new steering arm, then drilled and tapped and mounted the new steering arm.....

I'm now shopping for new dust covers for the ball joints, 4 on the drag link/tie rod, and 4 on the steering knuckles, then it will go back together....
Aloha,
Willy

 

[2Loose]

Started putting the front end back together with the new steering arm in place.....

Aligned the front knuckles straight ahead, also the steering box, got the new drag link measured to fit and welded up.....

And pulled the motor apart to check a couple of things before putting it back in the truck....

LINK, scroll down for latest pix.....

Gettin' there....
Aloha,
Willy

 

[Randy_W]

He said the same thing about the Buick, Pontiac and Caddy motors.....

All of which are among my favorites! I'v e run into it again and again with those engines, simple things for the big three are hen's teeth for them.

 

[2Loose]

I've got three Buick 455's stashed away, two '70's and a '71, someday......
And have two sets of Edelbrock heads for them....

Well, I made the new steering arm for the truck too long! With the steering wheel turned lock to lock, each side is still about 10 deg (maybe more) short of where it was before I did this mod.

Two ways out of this, a longer pitman arm, or a shorter steering arm. Luckily, I think I can drill a second hole on the steering arm closer to the steering knuckle and solve this problem. I hate to give up turning radius! The stop nuts on the back side of each steering knuckle where they hit the axle on full turns are still where they were before I made the mod, now they don't come close to making contact when the steering wheel is all the way over, left or right about the same.

So, looks like I'm going to pull the steering arm and drill another hole for the drag link ball joint!

At least that should be pretty easy to do!

 

[mathd]

wow it seem like things have been really fast there
Wish i had so many spare working engine and parts hanging around. that would keep me busy for a while lol.

 

[2Loose]

for the last 15 - 20 years, that was the plan....

A friend called me, was bull dozing an empty overgrown lot, went down and there were two Buick Rivieras, always loved those boattailed monsters, a '70 and a '71, about half absorbed into the ground! Worked hard to open doors which fell off onto the ground! Two guys prying the hoods open only to have them fall off! I put a big socket on the crank dampner nut and they turned over! Got my torch out, my motor hoist, and freed up those puppies, stripped 'em down, clean inside, minimal wear, hone job and stock rings will put 'em back on the road. Got the BOP pattern th400's too. Didn't bother with the rear ends. Both cars always Hawaii, they tend to be real low mileage cars that way....

A neighbor of mine, knows my passion for these cars, calls me, his son didn't come back from Iraq, he has a 70 buick GS455 in pieces in the back yard, was his son's, do I want it? It now sits in my front yard....
Got this far with it....

back halfed and caged, when the '55 4dr rolled into my life and I took a left turn, abruptly....
LINK
It'l be a tribute to his son when I get'er done....
Who sez I'm retired, who said that??? :lol:

 

[2Loose]

Worked on finding the spot to drill and shorten the steering arm today....

(LINK to more pix....)
Aloha,
Willy

 

[Indycars]

You are definitely NOT in retirement......that's obvious!

Nice work!!!

 

[grumpyvette]

Its nice to see someone whose got both the skill and desire to rebuild and modify cars that would obviously other wise be crushed or abandoned.
Its also great to see someone whose not afraid to fabricate or modify parts to build something a bit custom and who had taken the effort to acquire a few major tools!
I swear every time I start working with a welder , porting or modifying an intake,or using a milling machine to make custom components, I learn a great deal more and feel a great deal more satisfaction once Im done than I ever get just unpacking and installing parts

 

[2Loose]

My partner in my car escapades has a large shop at his disposal, once was his Dad's commercial flower packing and shipping shed, today it is a 4 bay hot rod shop. We ran across this very nice small lathe and milling machine called a "Smithy" at a local estate sale and got it for nearly nothing! Learning how to use it was no problem, as I have machine shop experience from a distant past working environment. But shaping the cutting tools on our existing grinder is not really working the way I want, so am learning about HSS tool sharpening, Wow, didn't know there were so many plusses and minuses to the subject! Green grinding wheels, aluminum, diamond, right now my head is a blur as I try to absorb all this info, the shop I worked in many years ago had all this setup, just learned which ones to use to shape a cutting tool, never knew what they really were, now that I have to order some proper grinding wheels for these lathe tools, I'm nearly overwhelmed by all the info, sometimes conflicting, that I am running into....

When I turned down the stub ends of the old drag link to plug them into the new drag link extension, I had to reshape the cutting tool several times, and think I was just not getting a sharp enough edge with the grinding wheel we now have.

It looks like diamond is the way to go though, big $$$ but in the end I think we will be way better off than using the cheaper soft bond wheels that wear out quickly.

The internet is full of info, but as we all know, probably about half of it is "baloney"......
Ya just gotta learn to try to figure out what is and what isn't....
Willy

 

[2Loose]

It all came together looking good, now to road test it, but first I am going to rebuild the brakes, finish putting the motor back together, that will take a little longer.

Aloha,
Willy

 

[grumpyvette]

its impressive to see someone who doesn,t throw his hands up and walk away from a project just because you can,t get the parts you want out of the local parts store or a catalog

 

[2Loose]

I built this truck from '98-'00 and drove it on Maui until it spun a rod bearing and started knocking, in '03 I think. The '70 Olds 455 was a used motor I had acquired for $400 and seemed to run fine, so put it in the truck. I had built the truck in my brother's shop in Corvallis Oregon, as there were a dozen parts yards in the area where I could easily find parts for the truck. I put a Mondello intake manifold on it, drove it around only briefly in Oregon before I had to ship it home. Loaded up the back with a crate full of spare parts (the shipping company to Hawaii will not let you ship anything in your car/truck, it has to be crated and shipped separately. It's a way of making more money!), and drove from Oregon to San Francisco nonstop. Climbing a hill in heavy traffic somewhere just north of the Calif. border the oil pressure suddenly dropped to zero and there was no place to pull off the road! It was better to keep going rather than stop and take a chance on getting hit! Pulled over as much as I could with the emergency blinkers and moved slowly until I could get to a safe place to pull off, with no oil pressure!

Hitched a rid into the nearest town, bought 8 qts of oil and took a taxi back to the truck. Don't remember how many qts it took to get it back up to full on the dipstick, but it was a bunch, seem to remember it was 4 in a 6qt pan, but could be wrong! The truck started ok, had plenty of pressure, and ran ok the rest of the way to SanFran, with me checking the oil and adding frequently along the way!

When I got home I started looking for where that oil was going. Pulled the carb off and the plenum under the carb was saturated with oil. Pulled that Joe Mondello manifold off and there was a casting flaw, the result of a too cold casting where the molten aluminum flowing into the form from both ends met in the middle of the floor of the plenum and did not join adequately. A "cold casting joint"? When I poured some solvent in the plenum it poured out the bottom almost as fast as I poured it in! So the intake manifold vacuum was pulling in oil from the motor! Called the Joe Mondello Co. and they shined me on, did not want to take any responsibility for the faulty manifold and did not want to help me or even discuss it! Consequently you can guess how much business me and my other Olds buddies give to the Mondello people these days!

I put on an Edelbrock Performer manifold and it ran just great, for nearly 3 years, before the effects of that oil starvation finally came home to roost! By pulling off spark plugs one at a time, I was able to determine the rod knock was on #7. The rear mains and rods in the Olds oil system are the most sensitive to oil shortage and will feel it first. So I decided to rebuild the motor, using new pistons, cam lifters, and Edelbrock heads.

But there was also a fairly bad bump steer problem that led to me doing this cross steer modification described in this post. This project kept being postponed due to family, home, job, and other car projects. Finally got to the truck this year after nine years sitting, and now am close to getting it back on the road. The cross steer is done, the front calipers rebuild, pulled the master cylinder and it was empty and had rust. Honed it, a bunch, and the rust pitting is not going away, it's good enough that I could rebuild it and it would work, but with those pits, it would leak. Found a replacement and am now waiting for it to arrive.

Next I have to pull the remote vacuum booster master cylinder that is actuated by the stock truck master cylinder and go through it to make sure it is ok. Will post pix of that when I get to it. It is mounted under the floor next to the stock truck MC. The booster MC runs the front disk brakes and the rear drum brakes. It is a good system. It keeps the firewall clean and allows me to run the stock system with the pedal through the floor.

The ported Edelbrock heads I have on my 55 gasser blown 425 Olds motor I would like to keep if/when I ever sell the gasser. This truck is going to stay in my family, one of my four kids will eventually get it. Wanted to keep the ported heads, so thought about putting them on the truck's 455 motor. The problem is that the ported heads have the exhaust ports raised, and the headers on the gasser were built to accomodate that. The headers in the truck are for "stock" Edelbrock heads. So if I put the stock heads on the gasser, and the ported heads on the truck, I run into match up problems with the header flanges. I would have to modify both sets of headers to accomodate the difference in the heads. Decided I didn't want to do that, so the ported heads are now going back onto the gasser and the "stock" heads are going back onto the truck motor. Oh well......

If/when I do sell the gasser, I can then stick some "stock" Edelbrock heads on there, adjust the header flanges at that time, and keep the ported heads. I have enough spare parts around to build one more Olds 425 and two more Olds 455's if I want to. The best stock Olds iron heads were the "C" heads, and I have a couple sets of those stashed away.

Off to the shop....
Aloha,
Willy