After looking at things this morning, a few ideas come to mind. The first addresses the position of the steering box in relation to the cab, as mounted on the Dodge frame. Due to the design of the Dodge frame, the steering box sits about 8" below the front sheet metal and ahead of the core supportby about half the overall length of the box itself. If it were higher, it would be under the valance at the bottom of the grille and behind the front bumper, but with it sitting 8" lower, I am inclined to build a winch mount to install below the front bumper, thereby concealing the steering box and frame from view.
The second issue relates to the wire harness. Using the Dodge MPFI 360 engine means keeping a lot of wiring that would not be necessary on a carbureted engine. The wire harness for the engine and fuel management is a necessary evil, but I am thinking the majority of the harness, (the ECM, distribution block, etc.) could be mounted in-cab, behind the seat where the fuel tank was, using one of the existing holes. I believe I have decided to use my existing GM steering column and ignition switch rather than trying to fit the Dodge column, though if I do so, I loose the steering wheel mounted cruise control switch gear.
When I parted out the Dodge cab, I saved the steering column support, which also has the brake pedal and accelerator mounted, as well as the firewall support for the brake booster. The column support in its current form, is too deep to fit between the '57 dash and the firewall, as there is only about 11.5" of room, vs. the nearly 16" of cast aluminum that has the pedals mounted and would be used to support the column. I can trim it down to fit in order to use the pedals and mount the brake booster. support for the column is not an issue with the steel '57 dash. The biggest issue appears to be the column shifter for the transmission. The GM steering column is on the engine side of the column and fits in the frame with no clearance issues. The Dodge sterring column shifter is on the frame side of the column and will not work with the hardware I have at this time. Then again, I am not above modifying something to make it work. : )
I laid out the 2" x 3/16" flat stock I bought the other day to use for my bed mounts. The '57 Chevy frame's top rail is drilled every so often to mount the cross sills that mount the bed to the frame. The space L/R between these holes is 31 3/4". The Dodge frame is wider than this and leave no material to drill in to in order to mount the bed. To fix this, I am going to use the 2" x 3/16" flat stock to make my mounts. I laid one piece along the '57 frame rail and marked the location of all the bed mounting holes on the 2" stock. Next I am going to drill the holes in both pieces, one for the left and one for the right, then weld them on the Dodge frame to give me the 31 3/4" wide mounting points for the cross sills.
I am also going to borrow a page from BaldeagleSR's build and relocate my battery to the passenger side behind the right door step. With the Dodge frame's drop, there is lots of good metal to weld a battery tray to for a Group 65 battery that can be accessed via a hidden door built in to the step. This should also work better with my relocation of the engine management electronics.
Any thoughts?
-Joe