The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Going back to stock ride height

I recently got my grandfather's '56 GMC truck from my cousin's estate. It's now a street truck with a Heidts Mustang II front end, a TPI Camaro engine and a 700R4 transmission and the rear is a four bar setup with a narrowed rear end.

The truck is beautiful, but I don't like the ride height which is about 4 inches off the ground. The paint is a high dollar job, it's white basecoat/clearcoat and I want to keep it that color and not paint. It does have the bed bottom gas filler which is another feature I can not abide.

It's the original frame which was channeled and cut.

I want the truck to be a truck. I'm trying to decide whether I should just pull the cab and bed off and get a whole new frame or whether I can go back to a stock ride height, give or take a little, and a little wider than stock wheels and tires front and rear and still retain the Mustang II front and the GM rear.

The bed filler has to go too.

Any thoughts? No, I don't want to sell the truck and buy another. I was supposed to get the truck from my grandfather but the cousin got it under the false promise he wouldn't do just what he did. He's dead now, which I am not happy about, but I have no desire to drive the truck the way it is. I'm going to use it as a truck and while it drives okay on the highway, even a washing machine in the bed will have the frame grinding the pavement and driving on rough roads is a nightmare.

Hi Roger,AFAIK the main problem with raising the front end is,the MII IFS will have been set in the chassis to ride at that predetermined height.
The lower arms should always be parallel to the ground at ride height.
Raising it by fitting longer springs or the like would quite simply upset the geometry/alignment.IMO.
Do you know if the truck was also fitted with lowered front spindles?
If so you could gain 2" lift at the front by going back to stock spindles.

The rear as far as I can work out is in a similar situation,the 4 bar will have been set to work most effectively at that ride height too,simply raising it might bring other factors into conflict such as pinion angles,shock lengths etc,although if it's a fully adjustable set-up you might be able to compensate for that.

Hang in there,someone else more qualified than I should chime in soon with their comments/opinions or solutions too.

Your best bet would be going back to a stock frame and suspension for what you want. Rodders will be knocking at your door since you have exactly what most of them want. Remember, you are in the catbirds seat on any swap so insist on getting exactly what you are looking for. The MII alone is a $1500 plus item so your swap chassis MUST come with NEW spring bushings and shackles, NEW tie rod and drag link, Steering gear box rebuilt by Lare's, New brakes/hoses and hardware, New front and rear wheel bearings, New U-joints, and New springs if any doubt about the old ones. All this just about comes to the price of the MII front installed so they will be getting the 4 bar, the disc brake, etc. for free so don't back off an inch.

Good point coilover,that's something I hadn't considered.

See Roger? I told you someone would come along with a better idea!
Good luck.

I want to keep the frame, and I'm not militant about it being one hundred percent stock. The rear end is a shortened GM rear and in fact I would have preferred a full floating nine inch Ford or a Dana.

From a pure economic view I would be better off to sell the truck, I have turned down what I consider stupid money for it. From a pure satisfaction point of view, I'd pull the body off, pull the engine and trans and take everything off the frame in small pieces with a plasma cutter and haul it all down to the scrap yard in chunks.

In fact, this morning I just dropped the gas tank, threw in some Tide and put the garden hose in. There was about a pint of gas I couldn't get out so I think a hundred gallons of soapy water should flush it out. I've got friends coming over tonight to pull the front clip and the bed.

I need to contact the vendors of the front setup to see if the whole thing can be repositioned lower. As far as the rear, the four bar setup might be retainable if I can get the links to support the changed geometry, get different springs and the rear end itself is too narrow, so it's coming out anyway. I do want something that is safe with a fully loaded bed though.

Otherwise I'm going to have the frame redone by a truck shop to put the stock style or a later model stock type setup on. That will mean the cab has to come off, which wouldn't bother me but I don't want the paint damaged.

I'm taking the gas tank, the rear end and the TPI setup off the engine to the next swap meet. Although I had really wanted a manual trans, I've decided to keep the long block and automatic since I know they're tight and the tend to have little resale value as separates even if you can demo them. I'm going to put a two barrel intake on, paint it and get some vintage style valve covers.

My original goal was to make the truck look just like the one in the movie, "The Misfits". I think I can come pretty close.

This is why I hate to see people ruining the frames. There is no reason to buy a good stock truck and ruin it. There are lots of ruined ones that are for sale, I wish folks would buy them and ruin them some more. Sorry it just irks me.

Another option would be to do a frame swap with an older model truck. There are plenty of 80's c10's in the junk yard. Then you would have your truck ride plus all the benefits of the later technology. Sell your existing frame and you might come out ahead.

We got the cab off this morning. After looking at it I have decided to get another frame, but I didn't want problems with the DMV with having a frame with a different serial number and if I sold this one, it may have a serial number on it (I haven't found it). I took the plasma cutter and cut a 18 inch section out between the front and rear on each side meaning this is an ex-frame, it's expired, etc. I'm going to haul both sections down to the swap meet or put them on eBay separately.

I want the truck registered under its original serial number and not a salvage title. If I use a frame from an 80s truck, won't it have a VIN on it and be subject to registering as such?

Are new stock style frames available? I see a lot of Hot Rod frames but they put me back to where I was. I want to keep the ride height, track and wheelbase where they are on the stock truck with a stock wheel or something pretty close.

I also had an offer to trade my engine, transmission, harness and ECM for a brand new GM Powertrain marine 5.7 long block even up. Would this be a fair trade? The engine I have was built up by a machine shop locally from a core out of a Camaro, it's .30 over but a cast crank, not fully blueprinted. it does run pretty well but I was only getting about 12 mpg on a highway drive which seems poor with the 4 speed lockup transmission and EFI. It's not particularly rumpy or high powered, it idles smoothly.

How odd that you and I have not met,but you hate what I do.

No frames, once everyone goofs the good old stuff up there will be no more.

And it seems you can't escape some kinda mess that someone has created on the frames. Like a small pipe welded across the back of one where the spare tire rack is, and another with the rear bumper brackets tack weled to the frame, and even burt through in a few spots. I guess some people are not happy unless they are goofing something up. It takes time and lots of it to try to return some messed up modification back to stock like condition.

Find a stock frame or "project" for sale on eBay, etc. Then,
build a chassis the way you'd like it.

When done;
swap the nice cab and bed onto it and sell your modified chassis and drive train.

Cheapest approach, and you get it done the way YOU want it.
my opinion
mike

You would think that it would be straightforward to find a stock frame for these trucks, but it isn't.

There's a local junkyard that has a 57 Chevy truck with a homebrew flatbed on it he'll sell cheap, but the frame looks like it's been bent, straightened and welded on.

ALL the aftermarket frames are the lowered hot rod style. Doesn't anyone ever need a regular replacement frame?

Everyone around here is suggesting I use a S-10 frame, but I don't like that idea. I think the wheelbase and track are both off considerably.

I'm beginning to have second thoughts but it's too late to go back now. On the other hand I knew that when I did it. I wanted to be forced not to punk out on this.

Instead of looking for a stock frame only look for a truck with a good enough stock frame. As others have suggested.