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1956 C30 Build


dmckeehan503

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Dad bought this 56 about a year ago, V8 truck.  Frame is straight, motor is free and spins, 4 speed feels good.  Little rust in floor pans, but nothing major.  It has a little crease on the driver side rear fender, but easily fixable.  Missing a driver side window and both wing windows.  Putting it on a 98 Dakota Chassis and powering it by a 12V Cummins with Automatic.  should be a fun little cruiser.

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Thanks.  It took me 20 years of planning, scrounging and saving for the shop.

 

I have been running the cummins for probably 20 years.  I love the motor.  Dad is wanting a cruiser to drive but be reliable and dependable.  Modern running gear, and easy parts availability.   Plus, it is just a cool swap.  stealing some cues from the Little Red Express trucks, gonna have dual stacks at the back of the bed as well.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Weekend is still young..... productive day yesterday though.  Cab and front clip have been fitted to the 98 Dakota frame.  Today will be spent burning in the mounts,  and finalizing placements.  If all goes smooth, might even try a test fit of the 12V Cummins tomorrow morning. 

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I just came to your thread here from your profile page- I was trying to remember what kinda dakota thing you were doing after you posted on my build thread. 

 

I hope the Moog springs work out for you. They gave about a 2” lift on my rig from the beat stockers which was about how far it sank when I set a 400 motor with aluminum heads & intake and a 727 auto transmission. 

 

I don’t know what kind of weight difference there is from my driveline to yours but the cummins is a heavy girl if I remember right? Definitely get that weight sat on there before finalizing your cab mount (& resulting front sheetmetal location) if possible. I just made mine the high side of ok and got lucky that it worked out later. 

 

I will say the moog springs are nice and stiff and my 300 lbs on the bumper doesn’t spoil the stance like it did with the stockers.

 

There’s a bunch of wiggle room to make everything fit using wheel and tire choice if you end up with tire rub but those big dakota tires sure look cool in your mockup!

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Thanks for the info. I may end of having to do air bags up front if a set of new springs doesn't hold it up where i want it.  the Cummins itself weighs about 400 more than the small block.  Auto tranny is heavier than the a 727.  So i am probably gonna be pushing about 600lbs more up front than stock V8.  I do like the look of the big fronts,  but the running stock will be narrower for sure.  Those are 265-75-16's.  at ride height without  any weight up front, everything clears great.  gonna have a bout 6-8 inches of ground clearance under the running boards. 

 

thanks for the heads up on setting the engine and trans in before finalizing the mounts.  I know the firewall will have to come out. 

 

When you get a  chance, if you don't mind, could you snap of few pics of your brake pedal arrangement inside.  i am  planning on using a firewall mounted master cylinder as well, just not sure what brake pedal assembly to use yet.

 

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Here ya go. It’s a corvette style dual diaphram booster off ebay that came with a bracket and swinging pedal for the inside of the firewall. My firewall is not stock but I originally put this same setup in this truck back when it was on it’s 54 chassis with the flatty- search my threads from like a year/year and a half ago-ish? 

 

The key is the dual diaphram booster it’s much smaller diameter and worked fine with whatever vacuum my hotrod 230 flathead made. There is a lot of room to put it where you want under the hood but I did extend my toe board up and make more room before the pedal is floored- a smaller bore master will have better feel but need more travel. Fingers crossed the big stroker idles tame enough to suck on the booster but I can always go manual brakes if I have to later. 

 

I welded the stock 54 brake pedal pad onto the bottom of the aftermarket pedal arm so if would look right in the old truck. I might be welding a wide pad on it like an L now so that it reaches under the column more- the new hacked firewall didn’t have much room so I put the pedal swinging to the outside of the column instead of to the right and it fits because there is no clutch pedal but it feels a little far left to hit with my right foot. 

 

Likewise when the floor/tunnel is done I wanna tweak the gas over to the right some more.

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Radarsonwheels, thanks for the info on the brake booster set up. Will look into it.  ggdad1951, i was figuring about 400lbs more than a small block. 

 

Made some progress over last weekend.  set the cab where we thought it might be happy, tacked in some mounts to hold it steady, then lifted it all off and set the motor and transmission in.  We made some cuts in the firewall for clearance, and determined that we are gonna have to raise the body about 2 inches to give adequate clearance for the wiper motor and such.  All in all, a good productive weekend.  Now that i have an idea of what we need for mounts, i can purchase the metal for the fab work and get started. 

 

Chassis handled the weight of the cummins and transmission well.  I did find the heavier moog front springs, so those will get ordered pretty quick and installed just to make sure all he clearances are good before final weld in of the brackets. 

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