norms 55 chevy pu build

[oldman3]

classic parts sells these plates. https://www.classicparts.com/1947-72.../16-205/...Jim

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by washington blue

Thanks G&R, yes I need to do something. Not sure what tho, I only have about 1/8 - 3/8 inch above the pipes. I have seen guys put metal above it, and I've been wondering about header wrap but not sure yet.

After going back and reading this, the plates I posted wouldn't work, they are 1/2" high. You could put aluminum plate, it should cool quicker that steel. Just a thought, I could be wrong...Jim

[washington blue]

Aluminum metal is an interesting idea, had not thought of that. Google turned up embossed aluminum heat shields. I have also found a company called "Heatshield Products Inc.". They make a wrap, they claim it will bring 8-900 degree exhaust down to about 165 degrees, or about 80% and in my short distance needed that might work.

[BIGglaSS]

Looking good! Ironically, I started making the same inner fenders. Though I haven't welded them up yet.

[washington blue]

BIGglaSS, thanks, I just read your build. Your skills and attention to detail are very high. I may steal some ideas for my much simpler build, thanks.

[washington blue]

Been studying my rear end now that I have the weight on it I'm starting to wonder if it might be a little bit too low. I have a little over 2 inches of travel before things hit the rubber snubbers and the differential touches the wood. I have jumped up down on it standing n the rear of the frame for max. weight and it does not touch by a fraction. Should I be concerned about hitting? Do I need to raise the rear a couple inches? Could flipping the rear shackles be done?

[BIGglaSS]

Been studying my rear end now that I have the weight on it

There's no such thing as too low. Cut a hole in the floor.

[dsraven]

if you have the bed wood off and a mock up bed wood in place i would suggest you use a come along or something like that to suck the suspension all the way up until it is going to bottom the rear axle on the bed wood. pin it there, then build some definate suspension limiting stops so that height will become your absolute end of upward travel for the axle. you can do this and also incorporate a snubber so the end of travel isn't metal on metal and also includes a trip to the dentist after a full bottoming while driving. figure out where the stop needs to be then add a little for a snubber rubber or urethane block. personally i lean towards the urethane snubbers that are beehive shaped and some of those are from stock gm trucks, like an S10 or an avalanche. this will allow some dampening effects before the actual end of travel occurs. you should never leave these things to chance as that is how expensive things get wrecked. if the goal is to have sheet metal touching the ground, thats fine but, the suspension needs to be modified to do that properly.

[washington blue]

I have these, problem is, the rubber touches the axle about when the differential touches wood, give or take 1/4 inch. Assuming the rubber has squish to it and the wood does not I sense a problem, lol. I don't really want to have impact if I can help it.

[washington blue]

I need to mention that the Ford 8.8 rear-end tubing is larger than the Chevy was which lowers the thing by another half inch give or take. I did an extensive search here and have found that it used to be common to flip axles, and due to frame hitting problems also flip the rear spring mounts to the top of the frame. This puts the shackles under compression rather than tension and actually raises the frame back up almost 2 inches. My math adds the width of the axle housing, the springs width and the mounting pad and says that I lowered the rear frame by a little over 8 inches. Flipping the rear spring mount would raise it just shy of 2 inches for a total of a 6 inch give or take drop. These pics show me jacking up the pu by 2 inches, measured at the center of the axle to the fender.

[washington blue]

A couple more. This would give me approximately 4 inches of travel before rubber snubber contact. I am comfortable with that. The steps are not bolted to the fender so they look a little saggy.

[washington blue]

BIGglaSS, I like the way you think, lol.

[washington blue]

Made a little piece of metal to fill my old gas cap location.

[Jason 56]

I like the stance. 4” of travel should be enough. I have mine set at 3”. You definitely don’t want your rear end slamming into the bed wood. Don’t need an ejection system to throw things out of the bed

[washington blue]

Thanks, yea I think I am going to flip the shackle mounts. Looking at the pics. again the difference is hardly noticeable and the stance is nice.

[dsraven]

raising the rear will affect front end alignment a bit as wel, just a heads up.should look good though.
are you planning to redrill the ford axle flanges to be the same wheel bolt pattern as the front axle? if you stay with the 5 bolt pattern it will easily fit between the ford 5 bolt pattern. I have done this and it is simple enough. I used an old rotor with the brake flange cut off so just the part of the rotor that has the wheel bolt patter on it because this is hub centric. then drilled with a small drill bit for the correct new pattern between the ford pattern, then bolted that onto the axle so the original rotor fits nice and tight and centers the "pattern" on the axle, then simply drill through the small holes to mark the axle flange, remove the pattern, center punch those drill marks and drill the correct size for the new wheel studs. easy anough and if your new studs are not super long you can install them without taking the axle out. use a zip disc to cut off the old studs so they are short and easy push them out the back side.

nice looking project bythe way. keep posting up pics, it keeps the rest of us motivated

[washington blue]

Thanks DS, I don't know how to figure the difference changing rear height will affect the front so I am hoping it will work. As far as the rear wheel pattern, the back is 4 1/2 ford and the front is 4 3/4 Chevy. I believe I have 3 choices, 1 just get non- matching pattern wheels, 2 drill the rear axles as you suggested, 3 get front rotor/hubs with 4 1/2 pattern. My front rotors are badly rusted and I have to replace them. If I can get rotors with 4 1/2 pattern while keeping the same bearings and calipers I will do that, if not then the rear will get drilled. Having non matching patterns does not sit well with me in case I have a flat, lol.

[washington blue]

I went ahead and turned the shackle mounts over and put them on the frame top. I found old instructions from No Limit engineering company and the instructions said to move the mounts forward 5/8 of an inch. I don't know why, I don't think it was necessary but I did it. The front edge of the rivet was 5/8 of an inch which made a good locating point.

[washington blue]

Turned out well, grade 8 bolts and nuts & lock washers and it is solid. The shackles do not point straight down to 6 oclock, they point down and rearward to about 7 oclock. Had I not moved the mounts forward 5/8 inch they would have been straight down. The finished product does not look much different. I now have about 4 inches of travel from metal to metal, that's a lot. I stood on the rear bumper and I am about 200 pounds and I jumped up and down vigorously ( stopping just short of falling off, lol) and the rubber bump stops never touched the rear end. I think this will be fine. I have to wonder if there is an engineering reason to have the shackles tilted rearward? I gained about 1 5/8 to a max of 1 3/4 inches in height with my primitive measuring. It was a cost of about 3 bucks for the bolts is all, so may as well do it.

[washington blue]

This pic is a glimpse into the future, it intimidates me, lol

[washington blue]

I think I learned why the shackle mount needed to be moved forward 5/8 inch. I read something about drawing an imaginary line from the front spring eye to the rear eye and having the shackle at a 90 degree angle to that imaginary line for best spring movement. Moving the mount forward gets the shackle to that 90 degree angle.

[BIGglaSS]

Glad the shackle mods worked out.

This pic is a glimpse into the future, it intimidates me, lol

No worries! It only took me about 7-8 months to figure it out, thanks to the internet!

[washington blue]

Geez, 7 - 8 months is all. lol I'm in trouble.

[Jason 56]

Originally Posted by washington blue

This pic is a glimpse into the future, it intimidates me, lol

Feel free to pm me if you need help with the harness. I did my whole Gen v harness myself.

[washington blue]

Thanks Jason, I've been following your build, very nice. Will you have cruise control?