1956 daddy/daughter build thread

[sluggish01]

Been a long time since I've been on here. In fact o long that I no loner have the old email address and can't log in under my old user name. Anyway, I am in the process of rebuilding my 56 with and for my daughter to drive. It's got lots of memories, including the fact that I brought her home the hospital in it when she was born so it's the first vehicle she ever drove in outside the womb.? So it only makes sense that it is her first ride. That said, I would like it to have some modern upgrades that are safer and more user friendly. Key points being brakes and steering. As far as brakes go, I have found some disc brake conversion kits, but it would be nice to find a mater cylinder upgrade that was dual port. Power brakes would also be nice. I'd like to keep stock pedals so a brake booster would have to go under floor(unlikely). I'm also open to other options like the electric brake booster setup. Secondly, I'd like to put power steering on the truck for her. Is there a conversion kit out there for these a I am having a hell of a time trying to find that. If anyone can help with these things, I'd appreciate it, Particularly the steering issues.

 

I had contemplated doing a Dakota chassis swap to get all of the modern conveniences but i'm having a hard time bringing myself to do it. Plus it's likely less work doing just the upgrades. I'd like to be driving it this summer so I can get it out of the garage and on to the next project.

Edited April 1, 2020 by sluggish01
changed topic to build thread

[Plymouthy Adams]

I think you will find that in 1954 with the introduction of power brakes the booster was on the frame with a bubble pressed into the floor board for clearance.  I would suspect this trend to continue till the design went to swing pedal.   There are a number of options for the master but you need to balance your entire braking system if you wish to include the booster as bore size for manual and power assist are different.  This is where you do a paint by number copy from someone else or do a bit of math.   Power steering was also introduced in 1954 and that system I do not recommend due to the antiquated system and lack of support parts today.  As for the Dakota....go for it...but only do the front clip...you will find this is easier in the long run but it is not in any manner a walk in the park.  Overall however I would think that hanging the sheet metal and setting the components and working the steering while not a hard task but one to consider is less complicated than the single task of  mounting the original bumper in a safe and effective manner.

[stylesadamson]

On my 52 I have added power steering, T5 5 speed, Scarebird front disc’s, Ford 8.8 rear end(3.73 gear instead of 4.10 and disc rear brakes and parking brake). I find I do not need booster. This was my preference as opposed to frame swap.

Regards,

Styles

[CO54]

I haven't done measurements on my 54 yet, but a buddy here showed me a universal 7" booster/ Dual MC combo that was available on Amazon, Jegs, Speedway Motors, to name a few.  In theory it could fit under the cab using original brake pedal set up. Only thing I found was the need to add a vacuum pump to power the booster.  It requires 17-20 in/lbs of vacuum and the flat 6 only puts out 9-12 at idle if memory is right. 

[sluggish01]

On 3/29/2020 at 1:02 PM, stylesadamson said:

On my 52 I have added power steering, T5 5 speed, Scarebird front disc’s, Ford 8.8 rear end(3.73 gear instead of 4.10 and disc rear brakes and parking brake). I find I do not need booster. This was my preference as opposed to frame swap.

Regards,

Styles

What power steering setup did you go with.

[sluggish01]

Well I got the body off and started to clean up the chassis underneath, scraped off nearly a 5 gallon bucket of crud off the tranny with much more to go. Fortunately, the frame looks to be in really great shape other than minor surface rust. Body looks good but I know there is bondo hidden in there so I'm not looking forward to that. Was quoted $2500 to blast the body but like most people I'm trying to keep cost down, I do have to weigh cost vs time though so it  may still happen. 

 

While searching for a rear diff to lower gear ratio and get improved braking(plus thinking this is not original so I don't know what I have) it occurred to me to check and see what gears I have. I marked the tire and the driveshaft and started rotating to count the number of turns and give me a rough idea of gearing. Well I got a 1.25:1 ratio of driveshaft vs wheel rotation. Obviously I do not have 1.25 gears but what the heck would cause that odd  number. everything turns smooth, so it's not like it is skipping broken teeth or something. At least I assume it's not as I drove the truck for 10 years before parking it and there were never any issues with the rear end. 

 

Maybe I should edit the title and make this a build thread, never done one before.

[sluggish01]

Okay. I have changed the topic heading and this will be my build thread. Bear with me as it is my first build thread. Sorry I tend to be long winded but here is the story on it.

 

17 years ago, when I was a volunteer Big Brother, my girlfriend and I bought a lottery ticket for the Big Brothers Home Lottery and ended up winning the early bird prize of $10,000. Pretty excited, as it was a few days before Valentines Day, we decided to take a romantic weekend getaway with our new found fortune, and whatever was left at the end of the weekend, we would split evenly, we weren't married and no joint account after all. Since we were both cheap and pretty much broke, not much was spent that weekend as we celebrated in our cabin most of the weekend?, and  we each ended up with $4000. I had been looking for a cheap project truck for a while so I decided to take another look with my cash. Keep in mind it is February in Alberta, Canada so it was cold and the classifieds didn't have much to offer in the way of summer toys. Lo and behold, this 1956 1/2 ton Job Rated pops up so I go have a look. Bought locally originally buy a farmer about 1/2 hour away, passed down to his son, truck had never left the province, in fact barely left the farming community it lived in. Son is moving off to Vancouver and can't take it with him, so it's up for sale. $3500 later and I'm driving it home on a nice balmy -30 degree day in February with summer tires and no heater, and a bad clutch, but hey I can drive it home so I'm excited. Truck seems pretty solid, worth what I paid anyway, so I decide to put some rims and tires on it, replace the king pins and put it on the road. April rolls around and my girlfriend and I are out for a nice picnic with the truck and it's proposal time. Year and a half later, the truck is our wedding limo. Married at a ranch with a bunch of straw bales in the back for seating. Great time. Three years later my daughter comes home from the hospital when she is born and yup this is her first drive in the real world. Almost 5 years later  the clutch finally gives out(yup, same one that was bad when I bought it) so it was parked, as I had another project on the go, and a year after that we move across the country. Truck gets loaded up and sits since 2013 only being run a couple times, but never road driven again. Fast forward to now, my daughter is 12 and wants a truck for her first vehicle. She has her heart set on my 2012 Ram dually but she has been informed that isn't happening so she is slowly accepting the fact that it will be the 56. I'm betting she will grow to love it along the way. The plan is a low budget build with a few critical upgrades like brakes, steering and seat belts. I'm hoping we can do the majority of the work ourselves and am even seriously contemplating the paint and body myself as well. Having never done either, it will be a challenge but that looks like it would be the most costly to farm out, so I may attempt it.  Anyway here are a few pics of the truck when I got it and where it is at now. I'm sure I will have lots of questions along the way, and appreciate the knowledge here. 

 

The cobra was the project that put the dodge on the backburner for a few years, then there was the move across country, starting a new business, etc etc. A you can see, my daughter has been a bit of  a car fan for a while. The Firebird will be the next project and has a special meaning to me, and was a motivating factor for me to get at the dodge. It belonged to my best friend since high school. We dragged it out of a field back in 1986 and with tons of help from his dad(and his wallet), put it on the road. We spent countless hours cruising around in this thing in our teens and twenties, blowing up the motor in the process, and swapping in a worn out Buick motor about 25 years ago that is still in there. When he got sick, I went to see him as much as I could, being a 18 hour drive away made it tough but I went often. He didn't have much energy and couldn't get out much but had lots of hope, so when he was resting I would go out and work on his shop. getting it finished so that we could work on his car and bring it back to life. Things were looking a bit better for him, so I started working on his car once the shop was done, hoping he would get the chance to drive it again. He managed to get one last ride in it when we took it to get new springs put in. A white knuckled ride as it handled like crap, so it wasn't ideal. But he drove it so he was happy. Unfortunately he passed away a few months later and the car never got finished. We talked a lot in his last few days, mostly about cars and memories. He left me his Firebird with one condition, I had to get off my ass and finish the truck first and then the car, but both had to be done before my daughter gets her license. A weird request but it gave me a laugh and so here I am. Dodge rebuild has begun. Plan is to drive it this summer at some point.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by sluggish01

[sluggish01]

On 3/29/2020 at 1:02 PM, stylesadamson said:

On my 52 I have added power steering, T5 5 speed, Scarebird front disc’s, Ford 8.8 rear end(3.73 gear instead of 4.10 and disc rear brakes and parking brake). I find I do not need booster. This was my preference as opposed to frame swap.

Regards,

Styles

also what master cylinder did you use?

[59bisquik]

Great story and looking forward to your build. Looks like you have a pretty solid start!

I have a 55 and added the Scarebird front disc kit and used a Corvette dual master cylinder. It stops good and I dont think I need to add a power booster unit. I am going to add rear discs in the future and think it will stop even better. I did swap in a 3.73 differential from a 54 Plymouth which helped with the cruising speeds. I am still working on some sort of overdrive transmission. I have a full build thread on here with all of the mods and upgrades I have done. Post up pics and ask away with the questions!

[bkahler]

Great story!

 

How about posting wedding pictures of the truck

 

 

[Young Ed]

Great truck! Personally I wouldn't touch it-loks great just like that

[sluggish01]

18 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Great truck! Personally I wouldn't touch it-loks great just like that

Since I have to tear into it to do the clutch and a bunch of the wiring is garbage so I figured this was a good time to tear it all apart, and added some modern safety components. Plus I get the quality time with my daughter before she is a teenager and I am not cool at all.?

[Young Ed]

4 hours ago, sluggish01 said:

Since I have to tear into it to do the clutch and a bunch of the wiring is garbage so I figured this was a good time to tear it all apart, and added some modern safety components. Plus I get the quality time with my daughter before she is a teenager and I am not cool at all.?

I agree with that stuff I was referring to paint and bodywork

[Tooljunkie]

That is a very nice truck!

If you can keep your daughter interested, you will be the cool dad, not the old guy that doesent know anything. 
looks to be very solid, a bonus for these old buggys. 

[sluggish01]

Wasn’t expecting a hiccup at this point but here goes. I’m trying to remove the bell housing from the engine. All bolts are out and I can move it back until it hits the flywheel, I’m assuming it lifts vertically to be removed. The problem is the 2 locating pins in the housing, they don’t appear to be clearing the block in order to remove the BH. Am I missing something here or is there a trick to removing it. 

[sluggish01]

On 4/2/2020 at 1:33 PM, Young Ed said:

I agree with that stuff I was referring to paint and bodywork

Paint has lots of cracks and some bingo cracks too since that pic was taken. Paint definitely needs love. 

[59bisquik]

1 hour ago, sluggish01 said:

Wasn’t expecting a hiccup at this point but here goes. I’m trying to remove the bell housing from the engine. All bolts are out and I can move it back until it hits the flywheel, I’m assuming it lifts vertically to be removed. The problem is the 2 locating pins in the housing, they don’t appear to be clearing the block in order to remove the BH. Am I missing something here or is there a trick to removing it. 

Need to pull the flywheel off. Its 4 or 6 bolts depending on the flywheel.

[Tooljunkie]

Transmissionstill attatched?
bet that has someting to do with it.  
drop  clutch out the bottom then flywheel. 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Tooljunkie

[Dodgeb4ya]

I use the appropriate size punch and push the block to bell housing dowels into the bell housing on some jobs.

[sluggish01]

Yup did the same. Problem now is that I was sent the wrong clutch. Now I have to try and find the right one.  Anyone got a line on clutch Suppliers?

[bkahler]

4 minutes ago, sluggish01 said:

Yup did the same. Problem now is that I was sent the wrong clutch. Now I have to try and find the right one.  Anyone got a line on clutch Suppliers?

 

Vintage Power Wagons in Iowa.

[JBNeal]

What is wrong with the clutch that was sent to you?

Did you reach out to that vendor to see if they could rectify the situation?

Have ya looked into the availability of a local source that could rebuild your existing clutch?

[sluggish01]

34 minutes ago, JBNeal said:

What is wrong with the clutch that was sent to you?

Did you reach out to that vendor to see if they could rectify the situation?

Have ya looked into the availability of a local source that could rebuild your existing clutch?

The one they sent me accepts a much smaller shaft diameter than mine. I only noticed last night when I got the old clutch out so I will be contacting the vendor Monday to see if he can help. I'm doubtful though as I bought it quite a while ago. I checked locally and it seems there is nobody that resurfaces them, at least not the smaller one like this, only for big rigs apparently. If someone else knows of one local to me in Ontario, I would be open to that, I just couldn't find one.

 

Related to the clutch, should I get the flywheel resurfaced? It is pretty damn smooth like a brake rotor. I don't know if they are supposed to be like that or not but it doesn't seem like the clutch would grab it. Or maybe a new flywheel is a better bet?

Edited April 4, 2020 by sluggish01

[JBNeal]

If the flywheel surface was not smooth, (pressure plate too), it would chew up the clutch disc during engagement.

 

As for local repair, ya probably need to do some detective work and reach out to certain places that might have similar needs, such as forklift repair shops, construction or ag. equipment repair shops, etc.  They may know somebody who knows somebody...that's how I found the guys in Waco who relined my parking brake, as they are a small shop who works on all kinds of heavy equipment, very busy with local work so they don't advertise other than the business cards at the front counter ...

[sluggish01]

2 hours ago, JBNeal said:

If the flywheel surface was not smooth, (pressure plate too), it would chew up the clutch disc during engagement.

 

As for local repair, ya probably need to do some detective work and reach out to certain places that might have similar needs, such as forklift repair shops, construction or ag. equipment repair shops, etc.  They may know somebody who knows somebody...that's how I found the guys in Waco who relined my parking brake, as they are a small shop who works on all kinds of heavy equipment, very busy with local work so they don't advertise other than the business cards at the front counter ...

Makes sense since  brake rotors are smooth too.  I’ve checked with local hot riders about getting the clutch resurfaced and they all directed me to the same place, which is the one I contacted with no luck. I’ll order a new one if the vendor won’t help me out. 
 

next question. I want to clean and paint the  motorand change some leaky gaskets. It runs fine so I don’t want to rebuild. Am I opening a can of worms to pull the head off or is there really nothing in there to concern me. I’ve read that all components are in the block except the plugs obviously. I don’t want to pull the head If I’m going to have to do a bunch of internal work as I am not a  motor guy and don’t want to mess anything up.