Roadkill's 58 Chevy Stepside

[59chev]

It might be a Canadian engine. Or at least one that came from somewhere that gets cold winters. The extension cord is probably an oil pan warmer or a block heater.

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by 59chev

It might be a Canadian engine. Or at least one that came from somewhere that gets cold winters. The extension cord is probably an oil pan warmer or a block heater.

The car (maybe a Pontiac) had Canadian plates so I knew it had seen some cold weather. The shop teacher explained that if he forgot to plug it in at night he wouldn't be driving in the morning.

Need to remember to write down the engine numbers so I can see what's up.

I pulled the heads this morning and am not very happy with what I found.

Looks like something was left or fell in that cylinder. I bet that made some noise.

I think the beat piston was originally in the cylinder with the groove in it.

Heads don't look too bad, but won't know until I break them down.

Overall I was not happy with how dirty the engine was inside.

Going to tear it all apart to clean everything.

I will replace oil pump and pickup screen at the least.

[Roadkill58]

Got an engine and transmission installed in the 58 last month.
Used the stock battery box for now. Still need to install the drop box on the chassis.

With winter coming soon I decided to clean up the shop so I could have room to keep the truck inside. Once I had enough room for the truck and room to work I ran some conduit (free from demos) for light and outlet circuits. While I was at it I added some 3-way switches for two of the bays where I park the bikes, and truck. Need to clean up more every week until it is done.

Motor didn't fire on first try (180 out on the distributor).
Re installed the distributor and the second try it fired right up.

I need another crossflow radiator. The one I have is too wide and sits on top of the frame rails. I'm too cheep to buy a new one until I get closer to driving the truck.

Fought with the brakes for a while. I finally won.

Didn't like the way the return line on the power steering pump ended up. There is a loop in the return hard line and then it seems to be brazed to the side of the reservoir. I'm going to have do something about that.

Checked the rear end and discovered I have 3.23:1 limited slip 10 bolt.
Filled it with fluid. Also filled the Muncie with some fluid.

Today I installed the coil springs and shocks on the IFS.

The lower arms are not level. Instructions say to drive a thousand miles to let it settle before cutting on the coil spring.

Took the wife for a ride down the street and back. She wanted to know why I didn't have an "Oh ****" handle for her. She also said something about not having mufflers. At least I think that's what she said I couldn't hear her at all.
Maybe I won't install mufflers....

Still have a lot to do before starting metal work.

I'm just happy it moves on its own power now.

[jjzepplin]

Nice build. How did I miss this? Those heads look to be 2.02s and the pistons are flat top probably replacements. Could be a nice engine. The new one looks good too.

[Softpatch]

Great just great .!
Like the last post now I have to go back and read your whole thread
Don't know how I mised this
thanKs for the up Date RK58...I used a V8 Trifive rad in my 59/327...Sp
.
.

[Kim57]

Looking good.
Nice to be able to drive it if only up the street and back.
Kim

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Nice build. How did I miss this? Those heads look to be 2.02s and the pistons are flat top probably replacements. Could be a nice engine. The new one looks good too.

Thanks jjzepplin. Yes those are 2.02s. The pistons are replacements (made in brazil). The engine has 4 bolt mains and a gear drive.

The engine in the truck is a 350 out of a 1989 firebird.

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by Softpatch

Great just great .!
Like the last post now I have to go back and read your whole thread
Don't know how I mised this
thanKs for the up Date RK58...I used a V8 Trifive rad in my 59/327...Sp
.
.

Thanks Softpatch.

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Looking good.
Nice to be able to drive it if only up the street and back.
Kim

Thanks Kim. I was getting tired of pushing the truck, so yes its nice to be able to move on its own power.

[ChuckDriver]

Congrats on your first ride!

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by ChuckDriver

Congrats on your first ride!

Thanks JJ.

Technically it is the second ride. I drove it once when it had the stock axel in the front and rear and the three on the tree. Also had the 307 SBC in it.

I liked the second ride more.


.

[ptc]

All right Jim!!! congrats on the driving machine!!!! glad to see it.
Still waiting on a few things for mine.

But the cab is going on... bed is going on, everything is going on and Im driving it when its ready.... rat roddin here i come

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by ptc

All right Jim!!! congrats on the driving machine!!!! glad to see it.
Still waiting on a few things for mine.

But the cab is going on... bed is going on, everything is going on and Im driving it when its ready.... rat roddin here i come

Thanks PTC.

Did some more cleaning in the shop and now I have the front end group in the shop. Now I can disassemble it so the inner fenders can be modified as well as the core support (for crossflow radiator). The bed will be next.


.

[Roadkill58]

Got a radiator and shroud and fan from ebay.

It's a crossflow for a 1969 Camaro. 23" core.

I had to shave the mount brackets off to make it fit.

Also started on the bed.

[ptc]

looks good!!!

[Roadkill58]

Thanks PTC.

Got my weatherpack kit today along with the fan relay parts.

Need to install the new plug wires.

Need to do about a million things on the truck....



.

[tpimuncie]

Nice! Greetings!

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by tpimuncie

Nice! Greetings!

Thanks tpimuncie.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

.

[Roadkill58]

When I first got the truck I bought a new gauge/instrument cluster.
Finally got around to installing it. Not really liking the billet look anymore.
Thinking about painting the inner part flat black.

I noticed the high beam indicator light was red. My other vehicles the light is blue.

I ordered some electrical related items from All Electronics and one of the items was some blue LED's. Wanted T3 but got T1. It will still work.


Removed the red LED and installed the blue LED. The red LED was for 12v (no resistor) so I added a 1k resistor to the blue LED to not let the smoke out of it.

Also used weather pack connectors for gauge lighting and signal.
Still need to finish connecting the turn indicators and high beams.

[Kim57]

Looks good but I think it will look real nice in flat black.
Kim

[Roadkill58]

Thanks Kim.

The speedometer lighting only light up the mileage and not the needle and numbers. I tried sticking a golden white T5 LED down the hole where the bulb goes but it didn't work.

I'm thinking a T3 golden white LED shining at the speedometer from the column might work as long as it doesn't look too cheesy.

Swapped the Monte Carlo wheels for the ones off the 88 IROC.

The Monte Carlo wheels have too much backspace and just don't look right.
They worked ok for rollers.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

[Roadkill58]

These are the wheels I'm going to run until I decide what and what size to buy or trade for.

They are from a 1988 Iroc. They are 16X8? and 0 mm on the front and 16 mm (negative - outward) on the rear.

They are marked front and rear on the rims.

Thinking they have 51/2" back space on rear and 5" on front.

Tires are 245/50/16 front and rear. They need replaced soon.

Should be enough clearance for the extremely rusty bedside.

Maybe I should give them a tetanus shot?

[tpimuncie]

Originally Posted by Roadkill58

Thanks tpimuncie.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

.

Happy Holidays bud! Soooooo theres a lady by the name lisa with a big 4x4 apache fleetside that wants to get a truck day at a park in elk grove in feb you down? If we get enough people interested we can make it happen
Posted via Mobile Device

[Roadkill58]

Originally Posted by tpimuncie

Happy Holidays bud! Soooooo theres a lady by the name lisa with a big 4x4 apache fleetside that wants to get a truck day at a park in elk grove in feb you down? If we get enough people interested we can make it happen
Posted via Mobile Device

Yeah I'm down.

[tpimuncie]

Originally Posted by Roadkill58

Yeah I'm down.

Cool! theres a park there they do a Camaro show every year think show is called Camaro gernerations or something close