The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 55 2nd series.....IM LOST!!

First off I new to this forum and VERY new to the Old Trucks! Im 28 and live in north florida. I just picked up my 55 chevy pickup stepside and wanting to turn it into a hot rod. Im looking for disk brakes all around and put in an LSx engine. I have done hours and hours of research but havent came up with a setup? What would be the easiest way to achive this? I have looked at frame swaps and front and rear clips. What frames can be used to fit the 55.2 onto with the least amount of cutting? I would like to keep it in the gm family.

Did my 55 2nd with a M2 setup from TCI,complete with power R@P steering and disc brakes.On the rear I got a kit from TCI with new 5 leaf springs,spring mounts,shackles,and hardware to flip the rearend. However I am still running drum brakes on the stock(3:90) rear,which works out just great.For power I am running a built 350 GM engine hooked to a 700R4 tranny.The kits from TCI are a little bit pricey,but if you go the junk yard route,chances are you are gonna have to rebuild the suspension unit,which isnt cheap either.Hope this helps.

There are 6 lug disc brake kits that are available for both the front and rear axles. I put a 6 lug disc brake kit on the front of my 1959 and absolutely love it. Of cours my Truck came from the factory with a V8 and very rare power steering, so I would never swap the frame.

I know this is the HiPo shop, but I still would like to point out there is nothing wrong with the stock suspension on these trucks. Of course people will tell you you have to do this or that and you can't do this or that, and have some pretty interesting reasons for why or why not. I like the way the old truck drives... like an old truck. This however is your truck, and you will be paying the bills, so do what you want. I just wanted to make sure you knew that there isn't some kind of law that says you have to cut up the truck to enjoy it.

Welcome to the Bolt!
John

There's a book "How to Build Tri-Five Chevy Trucks HP1259" that's a pretty good source of info. Google it, but stay away from Amazon, they want $100 for a $20 book.

If you go to the Classic Performance website, you can download the "instructions" for their (actually Total Cost Involved) IFS to get an idea of what's involved. Custom Classic Trucks also has a pretty good archive of tech articles.

I don't know that there's much functional difference between them and Fat Man, but Fat Man is on the east coast so you can save some $$$ on shipping. I've dealt with both and hands-down the people at Fat Man are way more helpful.

Either way, by the time you throw in the PS pump and hoses, brakes, rack, steering column, brake booster etc. etc., it's going to run into some seious money. But, for me it was TOTALLY worth it.

The word around the campfire is that rear discs are highly overrated.

What is your budget? Do you have a shop or garage? What is your technical ability? You can jack up the body and drive a new frame under it, "cut and paste" an independent front suspension onto your frame or keep the frame and suspension and use redily available kits for disc brake conversions. And the sky is the limit for the power plant. It's only money...

I was in your same boat last year. Here is a link to what I did. I clipped the front of the truck with a G-body Monte Carlo (1978-1988 Olds Cutlass, Pontiac LeMans, Malibu) front clip. The width is perfect, allowing you to lower the front end down and not have to worry about the wider track widths of some of the other clips. I was on a budget and couldn't afford the M2 kits. I am going with a carbed 5.3 LS engine out of a 2002 Silverado, 700R4 tranny, 1996 Ford Explorer rearend with 3.73 posi w/discs STANDARD and easily available for around $150 all day! I am installing 2000 LS Camaro front rotors and calipers by making my own adapter brackets and turning down the factory 10.5 disc rotors and making them hubs that will allow the 12" Camaro rotors and calipers to bolt on. The info on that swap is on the internet. Anyway, good luck with what ever you decide to do. Here is a link to my thread I started on another forum, as well as the link to my photo album.
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/55-...y-147429.html?highlight=monte+carlo+clip

Thanks for the replys everyone.......I think im looking at the s10 extended cab frame?? I can get a pretty good deal for the whole frame with all the susp and rear end. But I was wondering if the 98 and up would work? Most s10 frames i see that people have swapped is the 80's style. Im looking to make it ride very smooth and have updated susp and have it lowered.

The s10 frame swaps are much more popular on pre 1955 trucks. There are aftermarket frames that are available for your 1955 chebby if you would like to spend the money. But If you are going that route you might of just purchased a cab, and built the truck around that.

thanks.....this has been kinda stressful trying to find what is cheap and easy to make this swap!

I have a 552nd series truck also .I installed a Mustang 2 front suspension from heidts. The cheapest way to do this is to buy the whole kit all at once. I am poor so I bought one piece at a time and ended up paying almost double for it in the long run. I think the mustang 2 front suspension looks like the cleanest install of all. I installed the disk brakes on the front. These are the bigger brakes from a chevelle. I like the stance it came out with. My buddy used an 81 chevy truck front end. This ended up being a big mess I think. He had to do a lot of fabbing to make the front sheet metal fit.

ok..i figured out the route im goin. 85 vette front and rear susp with coilovers! I cant wait!