Now I had 5 lug setup with disc brakes up front and drum brakes in the rear.
I removed the front shock mounts from the frame and fashioned some new ones to weld up later. Before I could weld up the panhard bar brackets in place, I had to set up the engine and transmission for the pinion angle.
My newly rebuilt engine is an Oldsmobile 350 Rocket along with a fresh 4 speed automatic. I had to cut the old transmission mount off the frame and put it in a new spot for the trans mount. I happened to have another 1960 frame outside that I had put my cab on so I could roll it around better. I put that in my shop and put the engine and tranny in it to take measurements. I wanted to make sure I set back far enough, and not too far back. After I figured out where I wanted it placed, then I took relative measurements and documented so I could transfer those measurement to my rebuilt frame.
Once the engine and trans are mounted, I can set up the rear drive axle and pan-hard bar. After determining the rear axle angle and bolting the rear end down (always new U-bolts), I welded my cradles.
I'm leaving the truck stock height, so I started at 1/2 travel of the rear end and made the pan-hard bar level at that point.
My friend and neighbor has a frame rack, so we are going to put my chassis on it to double check the frame for straightness. But I have to wait a week or two to get it on the rack.
The body shop is ready for me and now I am getting ready to bring all my sheet metal to them.
