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Hello, and welcome to the forum! I must have missed this one.
It's great to see a father/son project. When it comes to your decision on a rear-end, the stock Dana 44 is a solid rear end. Parts can be more expensive, but there are gear sets available. You can determine the rear end gear ratio either by counting turns of the wheels and drive shaft, looking at the data plate bolted to the housing (sometimes missing), or by looking at the data plate in the glove box.
I happen to like a 9" because they are easier to work on....parts are available, so you can set up a 9" to just about any gear ratio that you want. It might help to set up a spreadsheet with the current gear ratios of the 3-speed and whatever ratio your Dana 44 currently has....map engine RPM to wheel turns or speed. Do the same for the T5. You can get an idea of how low 1st gear will feel since you did have a chance to drive the stock.
It appears to be a copy of Dwight Bond's (Second Chance Auto) hogshead adapter , which requires a "hogshead" from a truck with either a HD 3-sp or a 4-sp. This part is essentially integral to your column shift Light Duty 3-sp, so you don't have one. If you read their ad, it's pretty clear they don't know what's what on the conversion. Their adapter will (really) only work with a hogshead, on a '84 - '92 S-10 T-5's with the GM-pattern case. '93-on S-10's have a Ford pattern same as the Mustang T-5's. Cornhusker and Speedway make good kits (more so Cornhusker). But keep in mind major surgery is needed for a T5 conversion.
I recommend keeping the stock transmission and changing rear axle ratios. The rear axle is almost a bolt in swap, while the transmission change involves hacking your cross member. Get a 9 inch from a 1972 or earlier F-100 and have the gears you want installed. 3.50 is a very good ratio for a flathead.
Today we removed the engine and transmission from the chassis and pretty much everything else that bolts onto the frame. Getting ready to sandblast and paint the frame. I searched for tips on removing the running board braces but haven't found any. Should we grind off the rivets that hold the braces on so we can paint the frame behind the brace? If we do that is it common to just bolt the braces back onto the frame?
You can drill half way through each rivet with a 5/16 bit. After that you'll be able to knock the rest out with a hammer & punch. Bolt them back in with grade 8 bolts.
It's been a while since I've posted, we've been real busy and not always with the truck. Frame has been sandblasted and is painted ready to go. Our original springs were shot but I found a set of good used ones to put on for now. I drove it before we started disassembly and the clutch was very chattery so we have that apart, it was covered in oil so we've done a new rear main seal and pan gasket. I've got a couple questions, is there a seal on the input side of the transmission? It's a 3 speed side loader.
I also ordered a new clutch kit from Advance Auto, when it showed up the pressure plate appeared to be correct but the clutch disc had the wrong size splines and the throw out bearing was too small to fit over the input shaft in the tranny. The disc measures 10". Is it safe to just order a 10" clutch kit from LMC or might that be wrong also?
Motor and tranny back in the refurb end chassis. Body is at the media blaster then we will get it painted and going back together. In the mean time we picked up another f-1 body at we've started to work on for a "dark side" project. Chopped top, suicide doors etc. the first one just seemed too nice to hack up and this one already has been. Looking for an upgraded rolling chassis or just a bare frame to update for this one.. Anybody have one near upstate NY?
So it's been over a year since I've posted on here about the progress my son and I are making. Post above has us working on an original truck and we had just purchased another dark side body. Well in the past 15 months since I posted, we've been mostly working on the dark side truck. Again, this is my 17 year old son and I working on this so we were going for the "low buck" street rod truck. We found a late 50's chevy 1/2 ton truck frame that actually had a lot of the measurements right, it already had a running 350 and automatic installed in it and we got it dirt cheap. We got it home and started to put our body on it and decided that in order for the front wheels to be centered in the wheel wells, we needed to move the cab and all forward which meant cutting out the garbage engine mounts that were on it and moving the engine and tranny ahead and lengthening the drive shaft. All of that work is done, we're actually moving along pretty well right now.
I'm posting a picture here, when we bought the body, the guy said that it was a '51, but we have an original '51 and the grille does not fit in this one. This one has had a lot of work done to the grille area, and what we are left with is a space that is about 50 1/2" wide where the grille goes. It's 39" center to center of what they have here for head light holes. I know it's too narrow for a '51 grille, I'm wondering if I could make a '50 grille fit in it. Does anyone have the measurements of width for a '50 grille? If I made a '50 grill that was straight across the bottom with no drop, that may give me a place to hang my headlights and not look bad. What do you guys think?
well this discussion is fresh in my mind. My 17 year old grandson absolutely wants his 52 stock. End of discussion. I myself had other plans. Then I remembered, it is his truck, sooo, we are going back original.
I am very proud of him for his interest in preservation of this old truck. He loves the old stuff.
I am for making it a father and son project that is full of fun, hard work and getting it done together. The memories will be there as long as you both live. Enjoy these special times and may God Bless. Check out our build when you get the chance.
12-18-2013, 11:13 AM
