Build A pig for Father's Day

Member Build Threads

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

wngrog said:
Is that a flat top piston 2F hiding under a dome valve cover?
Click to expand...
No idea to be honest. I know that is the original valve cover. And I know as a '77 dome pistons are OEM. I also know those pistons sure are pretty. But I can't tell you if that's a domed or a flat top piston.



1780768130715.webp
 
Kelly is about to commence reassembly and given that everything, and I mean every part, is disassembled he needs a frame to build up from. It's a bit far for me to take mine out to him so he plans on building a metal jig to build from. So yesterday I put 4 tires on, lowered the frame off the lift, removed the gas tank, and took some measurements. I thought I would post them here for posterity in case anyone else needs these dimensions in the future. We did not include the doghouse mounts or the ones that don't bolt through the body (#6 mounts in the frame diagram below). Mount #2 is the lowest and I have notated the relative elevations of mounts 2 through 5 on the diagram. These were shot with a Topcon laser level so they should be within 1/16". All of the elevations are from the top of the original body mounts (including both the rubber bushing and the large washer that goes on top) so there could be some variability given the age of the bushings. I will say though that there was almost no variability side to side which I found surprising.

Now, if anyone has an unmolested frame in the vicinity of Flagstaff or Cottonwood that Kelly could use, then we can just scrap this idea and go in that direction.

1780837349272.webp


1780836953816.webp


1780836982353.webp
 
Last edited:
As a bit of an aside, I took the top tire off the stack yesterday and put in on the passenger front position only to find out that the tire wouldn't turn. Took it off and to my surprise saw rivets. I checked the other 4 tires and they are all welded so I guess the first one I pulled was the spare. I'm sure a '77 55 wouldn't have come with a spare with rivets so I suppose it was replaced at some time in the last 49 years. Thinking through this, I suppose if I ever have a flat on the front I will have to move a rear tire to that position and use the spare on the rear. Or replace the rim.

1780837780786.webp
 
greenbeast said:
I’m little closer, your are more than welcome to the 69 rolling chassis that will be available after next weekend. I intend on selling after but am in no hurry at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jon. I appreciate the offer but it's probably much easier to just let Kelly build a stand. I threw that line out there in my last post on the extremely low chance that @RUSH55 or someone else nearby had a good frame sitting in their backyard. 😂

I did consider taking my rolling chassis out to him but that would preclude me from building up the drive train and ancillaries (brake lines, etc.) so the timing isn't great. Now if I hadn't more or less ignored my pig project for the last few months then I might already have most of that work done and could drop the engine in place in Memphis and just keep on driving - but I did.
 
Greg, your build is unprecedented. If I missed it, apologies, but who made the pistons, Wiseco or similar? Outside of custom, all I have seen for 2F domes is ITM. Thanks 👍
 
WarDamnEagle said:
Thanks Jon. I appreciate the offer but it's probably much easier to just let Kelly build a stand. I threw that line out there in my last post on the extremely low chance that @RUSH55 or someone else nearby had a good frame sitting in their backyard. 😂

I did consider taking my rolling chassis out to him but that would preclude me from building up the drive train and ancillaries (brake lines, etc.) so the timing isn't great. Now if I hadn't more or less ignored my pig project for the last few months then I might already have most of that work done and could drop the engine in place in Memphis and just keep on driving - but I did.
Click to expand...
I get it, with all the cruisers around that area, surely someone has something that could help. IF you need it in a pinch it’s available.

I’ve got itch to see if there is a 45 body that could fit to the frame. Hate to sell it when we could acquire a 45 for Kim and dad.
 
MudDauber said:
Greg, your build is unprecedented. If I missed it, apologies, but who made the pistons, Wiseco or similar? Outside of custom, all I have seen for 2F domes is ITM. Thanks 👍
Click to expand...
Thanks! I don't know the brand of pistons but I can ask Cam and report back.
PabloCruise said:
Fantastic!
Is Cam hooking you up with a header for your 2F?
Click to expand...
No; I wanted to stay with the OEM manifold. My intake had a crack that was not repairable. After a couple of hits and misses I picked up a matched set off the same year 2F. We sent those off to Jet Coat Edit: Jet Hot. They turned out nice. I'm still looking for a good pair of heat shields. I missed a good set in the Classifieds by one day a few months back.

1780841629524.webp
 
Last edited:
MudDauber said:
If I missed it, apologies, but who made the pistons, Wiseco or similar? Outside of custom, all I have seen for 2F domes is ITM. Thanks 👍
Click to expand...
Cam said Wiseco.
 
It occurred to me this morning that my pig frame with no body, fuel, spare, etc. is sitting with quite a bit of rake so I went out this morning and lifted the front a couple of inches with the lift until a short magnetic level was level at the shown position, about a foot in front of the front rear spring hangers. That flat spot in the frame seemed like a good place to measure a "level stance" but without the body on it's difficult to tell. That adjustment does change the relative elevations but I don't think it really matters as the body will obviously sit on the mounts regardless of how level or unlevel the stance is. To think of it another way, everything is pivoting off of mount #2 the way I'm measuring the relative heights regardless of how I angle the frame. It does however possibly make the frame jig that Kelly is building a bit easier as the mounts will be shorter overall.

I put the new elevations on the same diagram labeled as "Alt 1".

Edit: I also mis-scribed a center line dimension. It was pretty obvious to Kelly that something was off between body mounts 2 and 3. Somehow I had measured and wrote down 54 3/4" but changed that to 57 3/4" when I drew the diagram. Corrected diagram below.

1781649712365.webp


1780928160116.webp
 
Last edited:
WarDamnEagle said:
It occurred to me this morning that my pig frame with no body, fuel, spare, etc. is sitting with quite a bit of rake so I went out this morning and lifted the front a couple of inches with the lift until a short magnetic level was level at the shown position, about a foot in front of the front rear spring hangers. That flat spot in the frame seemed like a good place to measure a "level stance" but without the body on it's difficult to tell. That adjustment does change the relative elevations but I don't think it really matters as the body will obviously sit on the mounts regardless of how level or unlevel the stance is. To think of it another way, everything is pivoting off of mount #2 the way I'm measuring the relative heights regardless of how I angle the frame. It does however possibly make the frame jig that Kelly is building a bit easier as the mounts will be shorter overall.

I put the new elevations on the same diagram labeled as "Alt 1".

View attachment 4155333

View attachment 4155335
Click to expand...
Over my head But sounds good , Nice build
 
55guy said:
Over my head But sounds good , Nice build
Click to expand...
Yes. Maybe a little TMI. Thanks though. It’s a long journey to truly rebuild something this old and overly complicated.
 
I have tried not to duplicate too many of the posts that Kelly makes in his body restoration thread but every so often I am so impressed that I can't help myself. I say "every so often" but honestly that's more like twice a week. From the timing on the photos, it appears to have been about 2 hours start to finish. This is why I took my 55 body all the way to Arizona.

....and yes, that is a @bobm floor pan that came with my pig. Also great work.

1781132322281.webp


1781132549278.webp


1781132729070.webp


1781132981072.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom