Clay
Croghan's 1956 A Story of Classic
Iron
Continued
The first things to
go were the OEM spring packs in place of a full set of Mono-Leafs with Gas
Shocks. This lowered the truck some for a super look and provided a much
softer ride. Next went the old OEM rear end with low ratio, which was turned
3200 RPM at 60MPH….Whew! Clay located a late model 10 bolt GM rear end with
a 3:70 ratio that brought the RPM’s back down into the “cruising” range.
The soft ride of the Mono-Leafs, the new rear end, and the power of the 327
were causing some axle wrap on acceleration and a general squishy feeling in
the rear end. A set of specialized traction bars firmed things back up for a
real stable ride.
Next to go was
the manual 4 speed transmission. “Stir’n-a-Stick” in traffic was not Clay’s
idea of cruising, so the 4 speed lost its space to a GM TH350 automatic with
a B&M Shift Package. Now the old hauler glides through gear changes on its
own.
With a little help from one of Clay’s work contacts, he replaced the stock,
point type ignition system with a Pro-Billet electronic distributor. A MSD
6A spark box passed the juice down through a set of MSD 8.5 MM wire for a
remarkable improvement in engine performance.
The first things to
go were the OEM spring packs in place of a full set of Mono-Leafs with Gas
Shocks. This lowered the truck some for a super look and provided a much
softer ride. Next went the old OEM rear end with low ratio, which was turned
3200 RPM at 60MPH….Whew! Clay located a late model 10 bolt GM rear end with
a 3:70 ratio that brought the RPM’s back down into the “cruising” range.
Next to go was
the manual 4 speed transmission. “Stir’n-a-Stick” in traffic was not Clay’s
idea of cruising, so the 4 speed lost its space to a GM TH350 automatic with
a B&M Shift Package. Now the old hauler glides through gear changes on its
own.