Hope everyone had a Happy & safe New Years, & spent some quality time with their loved ones. That should have included your families & not just your beloved trucks.

I have posted in my Gallery photos of my build which took 6 years & 31 days to this point with a lot of minor finishing to do yet.

Started with frame, cab, & boxes of miscellaneous parts, no registration or VIN numbers just a sales receipt written on a scrap of paper.

With the great help of all of your fantastic information in reading hundreds of posts I was able to complete this build by myself with the exception of paint.

Lowered springs front & back 2 inches, sway bars front & back, lengthened shock mounts front & back, front disc brake kit, under cab power brake booster, Toyota power steering box, 1987 Mustang 5.0 L HO, AOD automatic, & 3.73 gears in stock rear end, Ididit chrome steering column, Grant wooden steering wheel, No Limit custom dash with VDO gauges, Vintage Air A/C Heater, & Pro's Pick Custom Tonneau.

To much more to list all the small stuff.

Hope you enjoy the photos, any questions on the build please ask.

P.S. My personal plate is coming in couple of weeks "KOOL 56" as that is what everyone has said first time they see it. Only 353 miles on it as I just got registration done and trying to break in the motor.

Thanks for all the help,
Kevin

 

just checked out your gallery, what a great looking truck. shows a lot of high quality work. congrats and enjoy.

 

Kevin

That is a great looking truck. I'm certain that you'll enjoy every mile on the road. Thanks for sharing.

Happy Motoring!

DW

 

Great looking build. Thanks for sharing

 

Excellent job. I'm basically doing the same build. I'd like to ask you a bunch of question's. I'll put some together in the next couple of day's.

 

Your plate says it all.

 

Thank you for the wonderful comments, it means a lot to me for comments coming from you folks on this site.

Everything I have seen built on here is beautiful work and I tried my best to do good job of mine as well.

It has been a great learning experience building this truck and you all have helped a lot as I did a lot of the items in my build because of reading about the work done by others on this site.

If I can ever help anyone else with info please let me know.



Kevin

 

Hey Kevin,
Beautiful truck - I need to follow your lead on dressing up
the 5.0L - very clean. Curious how you came up with the vented rear tailgate idea? That's a pretty unique look back there.

How does it drive?

Ben in Austin
1950 F1 (351W/AOD)

 

Nice truck - congratulations !

Don't know if they are ever "done" but the time you have in looks to be worth it.

Tom

 

Ben in Austin, thank you for the comments.

I had seen a Hot Rod done quite a few years ago with louvers like that and really liked it and so when I saw the Tailgate in Mid-Fifty's catalog with louvers and hidden latches that was for me.

I also got the matching roll pan to go with it and went without a rear bumper to showcase the tailgate and poll pan along with the LED taillights and roll lights.

They have numerous tailgates with louvers but wanted mine to make a statement but not be to outrageous.

Kevin

 

Very Nice '56! It lookslike you went with widened rear fenders? Maybe just seeing things. I see you put disc brakes on the straight axle, how do you like them? Its hard to tell, but did you use a dropped axle or is is stock?

Great looking truck, you did a super job.

 

Thanks Dano78

Left stock straight axle in, replaced all removable parts, and had springs front and back lowered 2 inches by local shop.

Brakes work fantastic, good stopping power with disc on front and rebuilt drums on back and underfloor power brake booster complete with remote fill reservoir behind drivers seat in panel, system self bleeds almost instantly.

Rear fenders are the 3 inch wider fibreglass, they fit and look very good. Went with them as I put 15 inch custom made wheels on truck. Front are 15 x 8 with 3 inch back set and rear are 15 x 10 with 4 inch back set American Racing Torq Thrust II - 5 on 5.5. Tires are 235/60R15 front and 295/50R15 rear FireHawk Indy 500

Kevin

 

Awesome! Just what i was wanting to hear. I like the stance of your truck and the wheel/tire size.... spot-on of what I'd like to do. Been on the hunt for 15x10 slots, for just cause. Right now I'm 15x8 all the way around with 235/60-15s front and 265/60-15s rear. Because of the way the FE is mounted in mine I can't lower the springs, the I-beam will hit the oil pan. Looks like I'm gonna have to go drop axle with stock springs. At a crossroads with the front end right now. Spend the $$ and rebuild it, add disc brakes, or go Mustang II. I've already got the Toyota P/S conversion done. Decisions, Decisions.
You like the 'glass fenders? Local guy here has a set of 'steel' 3" widened rear fenders for sale... Haven't asked him 'how proud of them' he was, almost afraid to!

 

Dano78

At the time all I could find were the 3 inch wider fibreglass fenders, and I really wanted them for the look I was going for with the wider wheels.

Glad I got them though, they look fantastic and no one knows they are fibreglass unless I tell them. Biggest thing was I had a major BOO BOO one day moving the truck around in my shop on four wheel dollies when one flipped up and drove into the rear fender.

Just a small chip out of it that was sanded, filled and repainted so you can not tell it ever happened. If it had been steel fenders the whole corner would have been bent in with major damage and wouldn't be easy to fix so quickly.

When i put my 5.0 L HO engine in I put a dual sump oil pan on it and ended up splitting the sumps over my axle so I had a fair bit of clearance, can't take the pan off and out without undoing motor mounts but actually enough room that I installed the oil pump in position as the machine shop didn't put it in before they put the pan on and sealed it. That's a different story for another time. Thankfully I believe in preloading the oil pump and pressuring the oil system before starting an engine.

Kevin

 

Beautiful truck ! All your hard work and attention to detail shows !