58 TRUK intro

[_Ogre]

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new guy intro to this site. i've been working on my 58 for 8 yrs, though i've owned this one for ~25 yrs.
back then it was my daily driver/work truck for my own electrical business.
bought my 1st 58 from the high school janitor back in 72.
had various 56-59 trucks since, all were dd's.

this is around 2000.


truk came from arkansas, i thought it was a good body; until i had it sand blasted.
found out it was a rusty cab, wrecked sometime in the 70s with decent front clip.
replaced floors, rockers, steps, cab corners, hinge pockets and door bottoms in & out.

58 truk had a ladder rack bolted to the cowl and the bed at one time.
the wreck that replaced the front clip also wiped out the whole left side.
a full inch of filler covered this lr fender and reshaped the lip.

[_Ogre]

the battery has been relocated behind the pass seat.
welded up 100+ holes in the firewall.
shaved cowl vent and shaved cowl seam.

[_Ogre]

fully boxed frame, 'fatman fab' mustII x-member, 86 trans am rearend w/ 3.27 posi gear,
axle flipped on top of stock springs, c-notched frame, 4 wheel disc brakes, ss brake lines
and 03 cobra hydroboost in stock mc location.

[_Ogre]

for reasons i cannot explain...

frame and bed shortened 6'', 90 new yorker trunk (8'' sectioned) installed.





fiberglass tonneau cover





trex plastic bed ''wood''

[_Ogre]

ramjet 350: 350 hp, 400 ftlb, efi, gm crate motor
700r4 trans, 86 trans am rearend w/ 3.27 posi.
22 gal al fuel tank side fill with new yorker gas door.

[_Ogre]

as it is now.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

for reasons i cannot explain...

frame and bed shortened 6'', 90 new yorker trunk (8'' sectioned) installed.

I have seen that once before. If you are not going to be hauling stuff like lumber and plywood or motorcycles is sort of makes sense. I like it.

[hopped up]

I like it , nice truck!!
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[Red Foreman]

Very Cool Ogre, I like its stance & quick little build thread to boot!

[meter swinger]

Awesome! Great looking truck man. Thanks for the pics, and welcome to the board.
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[Kim57]

Welcome
Very nice truck.
I like the custom bed.
Kim

[vwjohnny]

Yellow... Really cool.

[Flames97]

I just saw your truck on another website yesterday. Welcome and very nice truck.

[poncho_villa]

Totally Sweet!!

[_Ogre]

thanks for the kudos, glad you like it.

these seats were freebies out of an 07 ford fusion, that was used for factory testing.
the covers were shot, but the frames and cushions were good.
with the head rest off, they were way to tall, sticking 8'' above the rear window.



i cut and welded the frames and cushions to match the tape line above and had a friend recover them.



the drivers seat is all electric, i welded up a base to raise the seats 2'' to give me a little more leg room.

[_Ogre]

my interior was basic ugly butt truck w/ butcher dash.
i found a gmc safari minivan steering column to get tilt, ignition, turn and dimmer on the column.



the interior design started out fairly basic, a 4'' bent metal fascia to mount the radio and ac vents in.

but...
after doing all the custom work to the truk and bed, i found fiberglassforums.com and the interior snowballed from there.
i probably spent a year building this interior...

sub enclosure and armrest:









console: a few wires, single din dvd player, headrest monitor and a few switches for doors and windows.









then i needed to cover up the ugly steering column, hide the vintage air unit and some ac vents.
a little cardboard mailing tube, plywood and a hot glue gun, followed by fiberglass and little sanding.

[_Ogre]

kick panel speakers: i had shaved the cowl vent, thus had no use for kick panel vents.
4.5'' midrange and a 2'' tweeter.







add a little vinyl





2 rolls of rammatt, 20 yds of deadening foam and some carpet...

[Kim57]

Those came out nice.
Kim

[mknittle]

Nice work,And the bed looks great, nice metal work!

[mknittle]

nice fiberglass work I like the steering column cover,Looks better than a lot of the modesty panels I have seen. Keep up the good work!

[Kim57]

Great job on the interior.
Kim

[_Ogre]

doors:

i wanted power windows without spending a lot of money.
a friend gave me a set of new (in 06) dodge durango power scissor regulators.
it took a bit of figuring before i cut the door and cut i did, a big ol hole.
i mocked up the regulator on a piece of wood to figure out where to mount and the travel required.
i ended up mounting the regulator on the door panel, all the access holes are for reaching screws.

mock up down


mock up up with door panel mount


door cut out


door assembled


i have shaved door handles. problem with a task force truck is the door glass is very close to the inner door skin. this makes positioning the solenoid difficult. i looked at placing it down low on the door and decided to make it easy by locating the solenoid on the outside of the door. i used new original style door latches.



then i started on door panels by cutting some 1/4'' luan plywood


make a frame work to fiberglass to


and some fiberglass, a smucking of filler and a lot of sanding...


add a little vinyl


some carpet, speakers and an armrest pad


some wheres in the middle of all this, i looked at rebuild my vent windows.
the wings and frames were rusty, it would have been $800 to replace the frames.
brothers one-piece-windows kit was on sale for $189, so i change to one-piece windows.

[Kim57]

Very ingenious on the power windows.
Kim

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Very ingenious on the power windows.
Kim

necessity is the mother of invention

[_Ogre]

running wires into the door from the door jam proved to be a challenge.
i had 2 speaker wire, 2 solenoid wires, 2 window wires and a safety door release cable to run into the door.
the release cable is a bicycle brake cable ~3/16'', needless to say i had a fistful to run into the doors.
i tried the spring like door wire loom; it wouldn't carry half the wires and wouldn't work with the door hinge geometry on 55-59 trucks.

again, necessity is the mother of invention...
i drew up the hinge geometry to design my door wire loom, just basic pivot points and door locations.


using 3/4'' sq aluminum tubing and some 1/4x2 flat stock from home depot, i made these.
pivot is a 1/8'' roll pin.


door open


door closing


they worked out rather well.
2-#16, 4-#14 and the 3/16'' cable fit in with room to spare.
everything mounts and pivots on the door jamb.
i cut an over sized hole in the door and made a plastic bushing to guide the loose end in and out of the door.