RAPID'S 58 BIG WINDOW

ok this is my 58. i bought the cab and doors on ebay a few years ago. when it arrived at my door i was impressed with how nice and solid she was. a few weeks later there was a sweptline box on ebay. it was for a 1960 it was just what i wanted. it arrived. and again nothing to be disappointed about. in the same fashion along came a couple fenders. then a hood, a grille and radiator support. all were from different listings and several weeks and sometime months apart. within 5 months i had collected the entire body. now i needed a frame. on the local craigslist i came across a 1992 extended cab dakota, with a 5.2 magnum and overdrive automatic transmission. i went and purchased that. and i was all set to go..

since the frame had the long extended cab wheelbase i had to cut the excess amount out of it and pull it back togethe

Nice project! How about a description of what's needed in your frame swap. I'm starting a similar one soon.

That bed is what I would like to put an 55-57 Dodge truck in put my old Hemi in. Sweet project!

thanks lee. updates are coming

Are you going to have any problem with the bed floor? One of the main reasons I didn't use the rear portion of the Dak frame was that big kick-up behind the axle. I wanted by bed floor to sit low like stock while still having the bed low over the frame.

i have no problem where the fame kicks up over the axle just the front cross member. but i can replace that with a differently designed one you can see the front bed mounts sit right on the top of the frame

Isn't the top of the front cross member the same height as the rear frame section?

not quite. but i am raising the floor slightly anyway. it's a pretty deep box so a few inches will hardly be noticed

so here i have the frame tacked in place and the box is ready to be dropped in place.

box is planted

Awesome.

Sheldon

yes it is thanks

Looks like the stance will be right on!
So how much will the box floor need to be raised up? Is the cab mounted at he same height as the Dakota was?

i doubt it i set the cab as low as i could before i set the body mounts.

so i decided to bring the profile down a bit

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h356/richsplace/58%20dodge%20truck/DSCF1030_zps80b340e2.jpg



i made some sleeves to insert into the pillars to use to guide the roof back into posiion




it was decided to take two inches out of the height. in doing this the roof needed to be sliced through the center, to gain the proper width required to lower her back into position.







<img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h356/richsplace/58%20dodge
%20truck/DSCF1113_zps007fe545.jpg">

Hi Richard, I like how your project is coming out
using the whole Dakota chassis is great.
I have 2 of them here under 2 of my projects

and the chop looks good

not sure how much you know about old cars/trucks but I wondered what you were going to do about the back window?

generally rear and side window are tempered and not SAFETY glass like the windshield

safety glass has plastic in the middle of 2 pieces of glass
and can be cut by most good glass shops.

but most side and rear glass is tempered and can "NOT" be cut as it will shatter in a million little pieces.

so I wondered what were your plans for the back glass, are you going to go with lexan?

another thing you could do is make a vertical cut down from where you chopped the back window and then cut across the back below the window and take 2" out of there and lower the back window the same amount as the chop if there is enough room before the body line, then you could keep the back glass stock, just something to think about Ron....

thanks ron

another thing you could do is make a vertical cut down from where you chopped the back window and then cut across the back below the window and take 2" out of there and lower the back window the same amount as the chop if there is enough room before the body line, then you could keep the back glass stock, just something to think about Ron....

this is exactly what i intend on doing.

Quote:

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thanks ron

another thing you could do is make a vertical cut down from where you chopped the back window and then cut across the back below the window and take 2" out of there and lower the back window the same amount as the chop if there is enough room before the body line, then you could keep the back glass stock, just something to think about Ron....

this is exactly what i intend on doing.

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sounds like a plan...