1951 chevy 1300

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

1951 chevy 1300

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

So this is what happened.....

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Sunday 16th of January 2022 06:57:18 PM

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Sunday 16th of January 2022 07:00:36 PM

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

New motor, 4sp munci, T/A posi rear end, new wiring, new gauges, new floor, new fuel system, new cooing system, upgraded lighting new brakes, disk brake conversion, lowered 4"....Bla...Bla...Bla....

Iwannagofast · ONTARIO

30-S6 wrote:
New motor, 4sp munci, T/A posi rear end, new wiring, new gauges, new floor, new fuel system, new cooing system, upgraded lighting new brakes, disk brake conversion, lowered 4"....Bla...Bla...Bla....

-- Edited by poncho62 on Monday 17th of January 2022 07:27:11 AM

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I found that when you put a v8 engine like I did you're going to need to move the steering column.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

When I looked at the brake master. I knew I needed to fix it... single reservoir, drum brakes all around...
I looked into a few options so I wanted to have disc brakes up front at least.... so this is what I did.
My buddie has a bunch of race cars and parts....

Wilwood brake and clutch pedal assembly with 2 reservoirs and hydraulic clutch.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

The frame crossers were gross too... Speedway Motors has all the parts you need to change them... I changed the transmission, motor and rad cradle.

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Monday 17th of January 2022 07:06:03 PM

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

Now that looks a bit tidier.... tight fit with the steering but it fits.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

A few other things that I needed to do was to shorten up the steering column 4" to give me a bit more room inside. I also moved the back of the seat into the seat frame to gain a bit more.

as far as the pitman arm goes... because I moved the steernig box, the ball needed to be moved to the inside of the arm to line up properly.... I also cut the shaft connected to the arm in the center , turned it 180 and re welded it so the cup for the ball on the pitman arm would be on the correct side.

parklane · St THOMAS, ONT

Should have it done by Feb 1

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I started it last year .... I probably could have it done by then, but I keep changing things... like I just got my new front axle in the mail today so I need to tear the front end apart again.

it's Okay the way it is but I want to lower it some more....I took a couple of leaf springs out, but still not enough so the 3" drop axle may do the trick.

jarvis1 · COBBLE HILL, BC

Looking good.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

Here it is with the new motor, disc brake conversion with 5x4.75 bot pattern instead of the 6 bolt.

I also went with a painless type wiring kit on this project too. I did the last car also and it worked out great.... (if you follow the directions). replaced the old shocks too.

Also the posi rear end is sitting there came out of an 81 Trans/am

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

This is the Borg Warner/ Munci 4 speed with a Lakewood bell housing and the hydraulic throw out bearing.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

The rear end I'm using came from a 1981 Pontiac T/A. It's a posi ... The perches were not where they needed to be so again Speedway Motors has everything you need to make this project a breeze.
The center bolt on the truck is forward 2" , so without knowing I drilled through the leafs to relocate the bolt... after I did all that I came across an article that says that I only had to spin the leaf pack end for end....

4" lowering blocks in the back get it down where I like it.... the tire is a 275 60 15 on a 10" wide rim ( the tire in the picture is a slick from my buddies race car NOT what I have on it)

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Tuesday 18th of January 2022 08:06:30 PM

Lightspeed Mike · BELLEVILLE, ONT

Looking good. Making quick work of the project.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I ordered a 3" drop axle from Speedway back in July 2021...... I finally got it Jan 17 2022.... so that's what I'm doing this weekend...
So far it's going pretty good, I had the axle with the spindles out in under an hour with basic hand tools....(and a few beers)

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Friday 21st of January 2022 11:00:03 PM

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

This weekend has been pretty laid back... nothing I had to do, so I poked around... in the garage and cleared a path for the dog with the snowblower....

I bolted the 3" drop axle from Speedway in today, over all it went pretty smooth other than a spacer that needed a little trim. and I didn't realize that the tie rod needed to be mounted from the bottom rather than the stock top location.
All good now......

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

See it still looks like an old farm truck...... Maybe a bit?... Sorta?

123pugsy · MARKHAM, ONT

That it does. Nice stance.
Get the straw hat out and cruise come spring time....... If it ever gets here.

Cuddles · PETERBOROUGH, ONT

I like that personal touch on the hood and you guys with a tidy garage freak me out. You guys must have a maid ? Truck sure looks sharp.

jarvis1 · COBBLE HILL, BC

the dog with the snowblower....

Pictures please

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

jarvis1 wrote:
the dog with the snowblower....

Pictures please

AHHHH! a guy with a short attention span.... reads a sentence and forgets what the beginning was....

sorry no pictures but it would be funny... problem is my dog likes to bite the shovel, so no snow blower for her.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

Cuddles wrote:
I like that personal touch on the hood and you guys with a tidy garage freak me out. You guys must have a maid ? Truck sure looks sharp.

The garage just looks tidy.... I can't stand tripping over crap or looking for it ,so everything has a place and I know where to find it....

if not I end up buying more of the same stuff I put away (somewhere)... I'm sure I'm not alone.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I was messing around with the truck over the weekend and I wanted to check the wiring to see how I did with the kit...
as soon as I put the booster pack to it the horn went off (which I didn't expect at all).
I unplugged it to turn it off at the steering column which I think is the ground because there is only one wire going to the button... the original horn is bolted to the firewall so I would assume that that is a ground also.... and I have a power wire directly to the horn with the kits relay.
now I'm confused would the original 6volt system be a positive ground? maybe the way I have the horn wired is shorting it out?

so the power is coming from the green wire to the 2 brown wires which run up to the screws on the top of the horns.... I also had the wires removed from that block and did not make a difference.

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Sunday 6th of February 2022 12:36:19 PM

BARRIE, ONTARIO

are you going to run the stock heater box / core ? The fan died on mine and the core blew out also .
I,m thinking to look into after market heater / ac box , or maybe a small unitized one like from a civic
The factory defrost vent system is horrible on these , but that might have just been my horrible heat set up loll

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I'd like to use the original horn button on the steering wheel... maybe it's grounding in the column before it gets to the button..
an easy solution may be to add a horn button and bolt it to the column....
I'm thinking this way because I unplugged the wire going into the column and the horn stopped... ( the horn button is not on the steering wheel either, so I know it's not stuck or being pressed down) I even pulled the spring loaded contact out to make sure it wasn't that.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I have an original heater in it that took out of my parts truck the motor does work in it but is really noisy...It works without the switch, but I cant get it to work with the original switch..... I looked at a newer one on ebay which I may install.

www.ebay.ca/itm/292877369405?

BARRIE, ONTARIO

I dont want to hi jack your thread with my own questions etc . I scrolled down that ebay ad , and for temp control it says temp of heater depends on engine/coolant temps , meaning the the temperature output is full hot only . I like the smaller size of the unit tho , but I want temp controls too .

edit note but then again you could put a coolant flow control valve ahead of the unit , like the ones honda uses , mounted to fire wall in engine conpartment and cable controlled

-- Edited by 77 on Sunday 6th of February 2022 02:27:19 PM

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

77 wrote:
I dont want to hi jack your thread with my own questions etc . I scrolled down that ebay ad , and for temp control it says temp of heater depends on engine/coolant temps , meaning the the temperature output is full hot only . I like the smaller size of the unit tho , but I want temp controls too .
edit note but then again you could put a coolant flow control valve ahead of the unit , like the ones honda uses , mounted to fire wall in engine conpartment and cable controlled

-- Edited by 77 on Sunday 6th of February 2022 02:27:19 PM

Having the option of different temp setting may be nice but even in my newer Silverado I only use 2 speeds.

to me in this old truck I would only drive in warmer weather, so I won't even have to open the valve to the heater... I'm hoping it would be enough to clear the window on a cool morning... If anything? I may look into a swamp cooler or a fan for the heat in the summer.

Thanks for the fuel for though.... if I do find out that I need to change my plan..... now I have another option to look into.

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I thought I had the truck done.... took it out for a ride and the steering was horrible....
when I put the 3" drop axle in it I had the original pitman arm so the link arm was on an angle so when I drove into or out of a dip in the road the truck would be all over the road (bump steer).
I figured if I shortened the pitman arm so the draglink was parallel it would fix the problem (I also added a steering damper)
now I have a totally different issue... to turn the corner. the steering wheel has to turn two times.... I guess it's because I shortened the pitman arm.

So now I want to pull out the steering box and convert the steering to rack and pinion....I did find a power rack conversion kit but I want a manual rack ... no pump or hoses to deal with

Has anyone here done this conversion on a straight axle rear steer? if so, was it worth it?

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of the rack and pinion steering... I picked one up at the scrap yard for $100 including the steering shaft with the 2 universal joints....
Using a rack in my thinking will take out all of the 50+ yr old mechanical components like steering box, pitman arm, drag link and the tie rod shaft.
Direct shaft to the rack, 1 internal gear to push and pull the wheels. hopefully eliminates the bump steer problem with these old straight axle trucks.
I still have to decide where to mount the rack... If I mount it on the axle I wonder if the universal joints will compensate for the suspension travel. Or fabricate a mount from the frame

30-S6 · NORTH BAY, ONT

I was just looking back on this thread I started and I guess I haven't updated it in a while.
I did build a frame and mount the manual rack from a newer Malibu here's how it looks today ,but I'll get back and post pictures and processes from where I left off.

-- Edited by 30-S6 on Tuesday 24th of September 2024 08:33:58 PM

Iwannagofast · ONTARIO

She looks sweet Bud.

wuga · PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, ONT

That is a perfect build!
Warren