*** Update (w/ pics) 48 chevy pick 'em up truck

[Flipper]

Here is the way the truck sits now.  


Here are my crazy assed headers.  Building these things was a royal pain in the *!


The brake booster complicated things.


The rear tube couldn't go up and over due to the column and the booster..........so it goes DOWN and makes a full loop before joining up with the other tubes!


I am not 100% on running the seats out of the jaguar xjs donor.


We recycled the original column and wheel.  Not 100% sure what is going to happen with the dash either.  S-10 pedal assy has been cleaned up, trans tunnel started, floors started


I'm proud of my column drop.  Pedal assembly welds will get finished when it comes time to paint.  From the driver seat, you cant see the bracket that holds the pedal.


Dad's dog checkin' stuff out.


Do all AD hoods stand up like this?

[enjenjo]

Do all AD hoods stand up like this?

Pretty much. Looks good do far. I'll have to do an update on mine.

[WZ JUNK]

Looks good.  Sits nice and low.  Your engine sets up in the compartment higher than the ones I do.  I suspect that you whole front suspension is up more than the ones I have done.  Nothing wrong with that just a different way of doing it.  That may have made it harder for you to work around the master cylinder.  I like to put the master cylinder under the floor but that opens another can of worms.

Keep at it.  Believe me they do get done.

John

[Flipper]

Looks good.  Sits nice and low.  Your engine sets up in the compartment higher than the ones I do.  I suspect that you whole front suspension is up more than the ones I have done.  Nothing wrong with that just a different way of doing it.  That may have made it harder for you to work around the master cylinder.  I like to put the master cylinder under the floor but that opens another can of worms.

Keep at it.  Believe me they do get done.

John

It is a S-10 frame swap.  I did my body mounts shorter than most to get the truck down and still have room for sewer-pipe sized exhaust.  I am running 3.5" pipes and flowmaster streetcar shoot-out style mufflers.

I recycled the S-10 pedal assembly and master cylinder.  running brake lines will probably be a pain.

[sirstude]

What are the wheels, I like them?

Doug

ps, John, what do you think, that you get a lunch break, get back to work.

[Flipper]

What are the wheels, I like them?

Doug

ps, John, what do you think, that you get a lunch break, get back to work.

They are 20x8.5 Centerlines.  When I bought them, they were called the RF SERIES and were dirt cheap.  Now I think they call the same wheel the California Smoothie

[1FATGMC]

Looks good, just keep plugging away and you will get there.

Just a comment that you can take for what it is worth.  If that is the final ride height in the front I suspect you will hit the bottoms of the front fenders going in and out of driveways or other places that have dips.

The back bottoms of the front fenders where they meet the body will also most likely hit out on the highway at speed when you get a dip in the road and the weight of the truck compresses the front suspension (like those dips you see where cars leave oil on the road).  

Ask me how I know .  I finally raised the front of mine about 5/8 inch per side with spacers under the coils and I also got good, read expensive, carrera 50/50 shocks for the front.  The shocks slowed the suspension down and stopped the bottoming at the rear of the fenders.  I had also cut some off the bottoms of the fronts when I built the truck as they were just too low.  Are you going to bag it.  That might take care of some of these concerns I have.  One last thing is you don't have a bed on yet and you would think that weight will compress the rear springs and that is mostly correct, but some of it is going to transfer to the front springs and lower the truck even more there.

You will get good at entering and exiting low spots at an angle.  It is also interesting to be cutting across 2 lanes of traffic coming at you to pull into a fast food place only to see a dip too late and put on the brakes and hope the oncoming cars don't hit you.

Well anyway enjoy the build and get it on the road un-done as soon as possible and enjoy it while you are building it.  You won't loose interest that way.

c ya,

Sum

[OldSub]

If that is the final ride height in the front...

Sum you are scaring me.  Can you share some measurements from your truck?  Such as how far the fenders are above the ground?  Say at the front and rear edges of both the front and back fenders?

And do you still have to drive that conscious of dips and bumps?

Thanks!

[Flipper]

If that is the final ride height in the front...

Sum you are scaring me.  Can you share some measurements from your truck?  Such as how far the fenders are above the ground?  Say at the front and rear edges of both the front and back fenders?

And do you still have to drive that conscious of dips and bumps?

Thanks!

Mine really isn't that low.  It is about 5.0 inches off of the ground at the rear of the fender.  everything else is way above that.

My bug is 2.5 off the ground and does scrape every now and then  

[phat rat]

If it never scrapes it's not low enough, but Sum is right on entering driveways and going across traffic only to realize you're going to scrape. Front bumper on my cpe is lower than any curb and the grille chin (about 3 1/2" off the ground) has been know to hit going over a dip going down the highway at speed

[1FATGMC]

If that is the final ride height in the front...

Sum you are scaring me.  Can you share some measurements from your truck?  Such as how far the fenders are above the ground?  Say at the front and rear edges of both the front and back fenders?

And do you still have to drive that conscious of dips and bumps?

Thanks!

Don't mean to scare anyone  :oops: .  The problem is if you do hit/scrape in those two spots very hard you will at the front bend the fender back under (not good if it is painted) and in the back it will flare it out.  Some things on a vehicle can just scrap and make noise, others bend :cry: .

I'm 5 1/2 inches at the bottom of the front fender and 5 inches at the rear of the front fender just behind the wheelwell.  As I mentioned I raised it about 1/2 inch to these measurements (the new springs sagged more than I thought they would  :cry: ) and changing out the shocks to good 50/50 ones that slow the suspension down did the trick.

Yes I still have to be careful going in and out of driveways or from streets into businesses.  On the road it has been a long time since I hit the fenders, well I take that back.  Recently on a road with some serious swells/dips in it with just the addition of Julie in the truck and she is only about 115-120 I bottomed out at speed where I don't by myself.  Some of the roads around here go over what is call Mancos shale, named after the Mancos Colo. area, that are very unstable and keep settling in spots that cause dips in the road.  The other places I use to have problems was on the interstate on overpasses where they didn't do a very good job of laying the pavement.

Hope this helps a little.  I just mentioned it as it looks like Flipper's truck is probably still going to come down some more with the addition of the bed and other items.

c ya,

Sum

[Flipper]

I've been kicking around the idea of making my running board mounts so that the double as sliders (like on an off-road jeep).  Maybe even hide a reinforcement plate inside the lower edge of the fender and tie it in too.

I'd hate to mess up my pretty paint    

[39deluxe]

It doesn't look like it needs new paint to me but those mirrors gotta go.

BTW '69 hoods stand up like that too.

Tom

[sirstude]

Sum, your are in big trouble now, you never give a womans weight, just say she is a 'Little bitty thing'.    

Doug

[OldSub]

Hope this helps a little.

Yes it helps, thanks!