Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[G&R's57GMC]

BTW after I posted earlier I went to SeatBeltsPlus.com and found a direct fit set for my '66 Dart and they also have a conversion set with lap/sholder for it also. Cool.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Nice Dart! Later, like ‘69? GTX Rally wheels on it?

[Black_Sheep]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Nice Dart! Later, like ‘69? GTX Rally wheels on it?

I believe those wheels became available in 1970.

Regardless, that's a beautiful Dart! I have a soft spot for Mopars, mine's the black one...

[Dan in Pasadena]

My brother in law had a 340 like the green one except in mettalic bronze with short glas packs on it and that was a FUN car for me to drive. I was 16!

[tlwilliams]

man i really wish i could view your build but all the pics are that photobucket third party stuff, how do i fix that?

[G&R's57GMC]

Thanks guys , It's a '66 we ordered new in Nov.'65 and took delivery Dec 22nd '65 .

I had it repainted in '75 and that is the paint you see now.

I just added disc brakes, wheels and tires in early April this year just in time for Kool April Nites .

[G&R's57GMC]

Gee, remember when times were simpler ...

You've come a long way baby !

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

man i really wish i could view your build but all the pics are that photobucket third party stuff, how do i fix that?

I tried fixing it by manually reloading as many of the pictures as possible but there’s apparently a fixed number of hours after which you can no longer edit your own thread. I sent a message to the moderators but no response so far. Guess they just stay lost from this thread - Photobucket really pisses me off!

Thanks Glen for at least posting that one. Maybe I’ll post Before & Afters of the original purchase condition and the engine. I really liked the Shop Truck look I had in that Sage green. I had intended to keep it mostly looking that way just with IFS/lowered and either rebuilding the 283 or swapping in a crate 350. But as my signature says, it became a slippery slope and got away from me.

[Dan in Pasadena]

For giggles, here’s what my truck looked like in Spring, 2011 as purchased. I paid $4600 for a running ‘55.2 Big window cab with 283 that had camel hump (fuelie) heads, a TH350 trans and already converted to 5x4.75 lugs. And I got some criticism for paying that much.

Followed by before and after pictures of the engine. I dropped about $2000 getting it running right. All new belts, hoses, filters, spark plug wires,converted to electronic ignition, rebuilt radiator, new Edelbrock dual plane intake, small hi torque starter. It ran great BUT had one weak cylinder.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

For giggles, here’s what my truck looked like in Spring, 2011 as purchased. I paid $4600 for a running ‘55.2 Big window cab with 283 that had camel hump (fuelie) heads, a TH350 trans and already converted to 5x4.75 lugs. And I got some criticism for paying that much.

Followed by before and after pictures of the engine. I dropped about $2000 getting it running right. All new belts, hoses, filters, spark plug wires,converted to electronic ignition, rebuilt radiator, new Edelbrock dual plane intake, small hi torque starter. It ran great BUT had one weak cylinder.

Did you notice any HP increase with the intake manifold? I switched mine hoping for better efficiency. Sure is shiny! Are you going to move the battery elsewhere to clean things up?

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by tlwilliams

man i really wish i could view your build but all the pics are that photobucket third party stuff, how do i fix that?

There's a chrome plugin floating around that will help. I have run into so many broken build threads from as far back as 2007 with useful info. Now they are probably forever dead.

Chrome Photobucket Hotfix
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...alioapbifiaedg

Dan, if you need any of the pictures, I can probably help just downloading them from the 50+ pages on your thread haha. You'd still need to edit and upload them again

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by gigamanx

Did you notice any HP increase with the intake manifold? I switched mine hoping for better efficiency. Sure is shiny! Are you going to move the battery elsewhere to clean things up?

Gigamanx,
I re-posted the photos on this page to sorta recap what the truck looked like 5 years ago. Go back a few pages and take a look. The firewall is totally bare now.

As for the dual plane intake? There’s no way to tell if it improved the performance. The truck ran like crap before that was swapped out and even if it had run ok those 283’s only put out about 140hp so if it gained any, I couldnt tell. It went from barely running to starting and running reliably.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Completing post #2311 are the painted & reassembled repro armrests. The black vinyl will be changed to match my “Chamois” color interior. Almost too bad, I kinda like the red against the black.

Shoulder belts & installation brackets arrived. A regular lap belt for the middle will likely arrive tomorrow. I don’t feel comfortable installing the belts until the bench is back in the cab.

Stopped by the upholstery & painter’s shops today. Bench will be done by next Wednesday - we’ll see. Painter has one bed side painted and cleared on both sides, color sanded & polished. The other side, tailgate, front panel, side steps and cowl non-vented cover will be final painted next week - again, “We’ll see”

Pasadena has. Tradition of cruising classic cars Colorado Blvd through Old Town on Christmas Eve & New Years Eve day. I did it in its shop truck look. Now I want to do it finished. Besides, my birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and I’d love it to be “done” for that - but it won’t be.

[G&R's57GMC]

I say make the arm rests match the paint , What say you ?

[Dan in Pasadena]

They do....well, at least as well as they’re going to out of a rattlecan

[ChuckDriver]

Great color match Dan!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Great color match Dan!

Are you being sarcastic or you actually think they match....well enough?

I think they’re close....enough for me anyway. If they DON’T look right after all is done, I can easily dismount and repaint.

[joedoh]

man you got a good deal on that truck even with the work it needed. anything big window here has a bid war

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by joedoh

man you got a good deal on that truck even with the work it needed. anything big window here has a bid war

Thanks, but take a look at the first couple responses to this thread in 2011 and one of the first ones was that I’d paid too much. I never agreeed with that. Even 6+ yearsago big wondowswere hard to find and ones with a V8, automatic, modern rearend, and converted to a car lug pattern just didn’t show up.

As it turned out, I went to AAA to register it and found it hadn’t been registered for about 10 years. The bed in it was VERY undamaged. Proof of that is I used the original bedsides and tailgate under the new paint job. I would have used the front panel but it rusted through in the top curl so it was easier to just replace it. Less than $100 so cheaper than trying to fix it. Most guys seem to have to replace the majority of their beds.

[Kim57]

Color match looks real good.
Kim

[ChuckDriver]

I wouldn't tease you brother Dan!

[joedoh]

yes I stepped out of bidding on a big window CAB, just the cab, at $1400. the guy next to me muttered "jeeze I will just buy the glass and make my own", I told him the structure was different, it wasnt like a 60-66 where you get the inner panel and the glass. he listened and was the next bid at 1500.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

I wouldn't tease you brother Dan!

Ha! Buddy of mine I talk cars with all the time told me the color “looks weird”. I know it doesn’t match exactly but I thought it wasn’t bad.

[G&R's57GMC]

Dan did you know you can get the matching paint put in a rattle can at the paint store .

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yes, I know. I bought Duplicolor from eBay hoping it would match and it does petty closely but not exactly. If it ends up I can’t live with it I’ll go to the auto paint place near me and try that. But thanks!