Lowering the lid: chopping a ‘52 chevy pickup.
I have previously shown how I put together a new drivetrain for my ‘52 chevy pickup: a new frame made out of 2″x4″ rectangular tubing, front suspension from a ‘79 formula 400 firebird (with disc brakes and a 1 3/8″ swaybar), a 9″ ford rear from ‘76 Lincoln Continental (also with disc brakes) and it was powered by a built 455 pontiac and 400 turbo trans.
This combination yielded amazing performance, but in spite of lowering the truck about 6″, it was still taller than my boss’s dodge dakota. So how did it go from a daily driver to a 10 year project? Listen and learn.
Eventually the trans started making a whining noise, I think this was because it wasn’t downshifting at stops, but the 455 had so much torque that I didn’t notice. I decided to take the cab off to remove the trans (I had had bad experiences pulling transmissions from underneath). While it was off, I decided to replace the floor; the PO had patched some holes with sheet metal from old appliances. Plus he had cut through the main floor brace to install a floor shifter. This went nicely and I decided to replace the firewall also, both to smooth it and to use heavier metal. The firewall was not made hold the brake master cylinder and would “oil can” when the brakes were used. Then one fatefull day, the cab sitting on the shop floor, I started gauging how hard it would be to chop the top. It started as just some lines with a grease pencil.
As you can see, I took the plunge. The back of the cab was almost vertical; it could be lowered straight down. Next time I’ll show the cuts and how it went back together.
