Thread: 55/58 Chevy truck build

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I been a very busy over the last year. I remodeled the entire house with an addition. The wife told me while we are at it to build a workshop for my tools that way only my cars where in the garage. We also added a driveway between the garage and the new workshop, a fence that sections off my part of the yard from hers.lol
I been a very busy over the last year. I remodeled the entire house with an addition. The wife told me while we are at it to build a workshop for my tools that way only my cars where in the garage. We also added a driveway between the garage and the new workshop, a fence that sections off my part of the yard from hers.lol

I had my handy man build the structure and I did all the electrical and drywall.






I used Gladiator rails and cabinets. I love the rail system for storing my tools and misc.



I also could not resist buying a new toy I caught on sell, a new miller mig.

Bam, nice progress! I think all of us have that delicate balance between home life and our time in the shop, good to see you kicked out of the house again!

Good to see you posting again! And thanks for all the update pics. It's looking sweet btw,

I really like your work shop, and nice work on the engine and trans!

just read thru your whole build and am very impressed, it seems you can do most anything. Really nice metal work. I'm doing a 5.3 with a 4l60e too but I chickened out on trying to rebuild the trans myself. I've done a couple manual transmissions but after looking at some video of a 4l60 rebuild it looked kind of involved.

Originally Posted by v8nutz

just read thru your whole build and am very impressed, it seems you can do most anything. Really nice metal work. I'm doing a 5.3 with a 4l60e too but I chickened out on trying to rebuild the trans myself. I've done a couple manual transmissions but after looking at some video of a 4l60 rebuild it looked kind of involved.

I just had to learn how to do most things myself due to the fact that customer service and caring about doing customers right seem to be a thing of the past. You are lucky if you have a good shop to take your things these days. I can mess up my own stuff, I don't need any help doing that.lol

The trans is not so bad you can do, I find most things are not that hard if you have the will to learn, attention to detail, and patience for any learning curve. I had a great time rebuilding the engine and trans.

Thanks for all your comments buddy

Here's another thread I seemed to have missed. Just finished reading first two pages, Excellent build with great photos and step by step sequences. Thanks! Steve

Thanks guys I really appreciate you guys taking time to check out the build.

I have a core trans that I'm using now for mock up but I have no idea where to get it rebuilt. I just don't trust that the shop is actually going to replace everything they say they are. I could be getting mostly just a shiny new coat of paint.

Originally Posted by v8nutz

I have a core trans that I'm using now for mock up but I have no idea where to get it rebuilt. I just don't trust that the shop is actually going to replace everything they say they are. I could be getting mostly just a shiny new coat of paint.

I'm sorry to say that I've seen that happen before. There is no reassurance like doing it yourself. You have DVD's, Youtube, and Manuels, man you can do it.

How much did you have to spend on special tools?

Not much at all. I made my own spring compressors, Stator Shaft and imput drum sills installer. When you look at the spring compressors you will see they are easy to make but if you purchase I seen them as low as 20 bucks. For the Stator Shaft and input drum sills that is an expensive tool, but here is what I did. The tool allows you to slip on the sills and the use another plastic piece to slide over the shaft when the sills are installed. This allows the sills to conform to the shaft. So what I did was cut some small plastic paint mixing bucket, put the sill on it slide it over the shaft and install the sills. After all the sills were install I used my fingers to conform them to the shaft the best I could. I then used that same plastic to wrap around the shaft. I use zip ties to hold it together and pulled them as tight as I could. I also use zip ties on each sill. Waited around 30 min. and the sills were conformed to the shaft.

But if your sills are in good shape you really don't need to replace them.

Got the engine, trans, and torque converter mated up, next is to get it between the frame rails.

Man that looks really sweet, wish mine looked that good.

Thanks man I really appreciate it. Judging by the work I saw on your project page I'm sure you will have your looking great.