Gaging Interest - driveline swap


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Posted by Steve in PA on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 11:00PM :

I bought a WC26 with a seized motor.
The body is fairly decent and complete, and can make a decent truck, but being honest, probably not a perfect restoration.

I have been reading many of the posts on these issues in the past, and want to dig into it again.

I intend to fix this up to be something I can drive and enjoy because I really like the body style of the 1/2 ton and the uniqueness of the panel body.

If I want to upgrade the driveline to better brakes, including power, then it will not be original anyway, so why not swap in something like Mil-Spec CUCV axles with 4:56's? Then it is farther away from original, so then would it be wrong to just change out the rest to a more modern, syncro'd, granny low trans with 2-speed case, and a small block to power it?

Trying to justify what I am doing, because I went out and bought a WC-51 chassis with an excellent driveline to swap primarily the motor for the one that was seized. When I thought about swapping it, I started to look at wheels, etc, and wonder where to stop?

If I swap to V-8, smooth trans, modern axles, then it leaves a very good driveline (or two minus the seized motor) with all components including dual (forward/back) PTO with winch (not original or probably even the right size for WC), and a complete running drivetrain for the guys who want to do a complete restoration.

Wondering about purist thought on this...

Thanks,
Steve



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