My '39 GMC COE Build

[Flowmeister]

That's a pretty good guess b-bop!
For anyone who doesn't know him,
Blaaze is a local COE owner and woodchuck by profession.
In his spare time he whittled out this COE shifter knob for me.
Thanks again Brian, enjoyed the visit with you!

[b-bop]

Blaaze, I know you are reading this. You gotta post some pics of the rest of your custom knobs on the Friday Art show!

[Flowmeister]

Thats what I told him.
He has a very cool/impressive assortment of them.

Flatti, I think this will just live in my trinket cabinet for now,
it will be some time before i'm shifting gears.

[Blaaze]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words. My hat is getting a bit tight, may have to loosen it a bit. I have a knob for Pex too and b-bop if you get your ass in gear and find a COE I'll make you one!

[Halfdozen]

Love the truck and the build ideas, with one exception:

Hate to sound like a dick saying this, but those 2" front wheel spacers are liable to cause you grief unless you run front wheels with a lot of negative offset. The distance from the centre of the tire contact patch to the steering axis (line drawn vertically through the ball joints) at ground level is the scrub radius. The spacers move the centre of the tire 2" farther outboard of the steering axis, greatly increasing the scrub radius. You may find this makes the truck heavy to steer at low speed, inclined to dart when you hit a bump at higher speed, and it may not stop very straight under heavy braking. At the very least, you'll need more toe in when you align the front end.

Please don't take this as a personal slagging, it's not meant that way. Just something to think about, and investigate further.

[pex]

Kool-i have a grasshopper tap handle for blaaze if he's interested. going out to blackie today. happy birthday canada. there could be beer!

[Blaaze]

Definitly interested in the Grasshopper Pex, my favorite beer!

[Flowmeister]

Originally Posted by Halfdozen

Love the truck and the build ideas, with one exception:

Hate to sound like a dick saying this, but those 2" front wheel spacers are liable to cause you grief unless you run front wheels with a lot of negative offset. The distance from the centre of the tire contact patch to the steering axis (line drawn vertically through the ball joints) at ground level is the scrub radius. The spacers move the centre of the tire 2" farther outboard of the steering axis, greatly increasing the scrub radius. You may find this makes the truck heavy to steer at low speed, inclined to dart when you hit a bump at higher speed, and it may not stop very straight under heavy braking. At the very least, you'll need more toe in when you align the front end.

Please don't take this as a personal slagging, it's not meant that way. Just something to think about, and investigate further.

No worries,no offense taken.
I do understand your concern with the wheel spacer use.
My options are limited as to what I can do to get the wheels where they need to be.
You know how it is, It either looks right, or it doesn't.

If the fenders were wider I would cut and move them in a couple inches,
but that won't end up looking good, so the spacers were my best choice.
the wheel choice is still up in the air, but the one set I am considering do have a lot of inset, so that would nearly correct the ideal geometry.
As a precaution because of using the spacer, I am planning on carrying an extra set of bearings with me on long trips.

Thanks for your input.
Glad you like the build!

[buggy5872]

Truck is looking good. I know what you mean about the sand blasting. About 5 minutes into it, I am like a little kid "am I done yet". Keep up the good work.

[57chevy350]

LOL I hate sand blasting !!! nice truck keep up the good work !!

[johnsont963]

Originally Posted by Flowmeister

I had set the cab onto the frame and put the truck in my yard,I needed the space.
In January I decided I need to get on it and had a plan to get my list of 5 done.
A friend of mine kept telling me I need to have a build book, so one day I drew this pic and said,Here, this is all I need.
The first thing I did was to refine and finish my front cab mounts, then build my rear cab mount,Check!
I went to our pick and pull and got a mid 80's 3/4 ton van steering box,centerlink and idler arm.
It took a lot of thinking and then after a few nights,it was mounted and that was also checked off the list.
I borrowed a plastic mock up engine and started making the mods to keep it under the floorboards and still have lots of foot room.
I moved the engine back and down, this involved cutting and shelling the crossmember so the harmonic and crank pulleys could sit there.
I did a lot of measuring,and then I bent up a piece of 1/4" plate to be the shell and cut a piece for the front wall of the recess.
I have enough room to put a fanbelt down in front of the pulley,perfect!
I pondered the engine mounting for sometime,and went with the 55-57 style front mounts. Thanks Cactus for sending me a pic of yours.
The pads sit very nicely on top of the crossmember and holes from original mounts were in the perfect spot.
I built the mounts out of 1/4" plate. My trans plans changed, I don't really like the thought of wires coming out of a trans, so i figured I would complicate things further and run a T5. I used a '69 truck bellhousing and built my rear mount from 3/16 x2 1/2 x2 1/2 square tubing,heavily modified.
I will change the tailshaft to a s10 so the shifter is forward, but it will still be an engineering /fabricating marvel to make the shifter linkage. i'm up for it.

thats funny i make lists to!!!! Love this build!!!!

[gkent]

List are the only way to accomplish anything!

[ONE8SEVEN]

fuckin sweet, i want to build one of these into a tow pig

[bondo bill]

Saw one chopped, AWESOME!

[Flowmeister]

I've been beating it with hammers and dollies,
There are a few dents I will document with photos and post them up
Kind of a long, not exciting part of the project.
But it is forward progress.

[Givens]

This thing is cool man! I am on the hunt now for a coe to build as a ramp back.

[K13]

I can't believe I have missed this up until now. Nice work so far it is going to be one cool truck when done.

[Flowmeister]

Thanks guys!
I am deep in the metalwork phase of the project.
Not very exciting.
The back of the cab and roof are the worst, but it's all repairable.

[CoolHand]

Don't worry about the scrub radius too much, so long as you make sure both sides are the same, and don't go crazy (like 2" is fine, 8" not so much).

Sometimes you don't have any choice but to widen the scrub radius.

I race oval track stock cars with very wide front end width rules (but limited in what suspension arms we can use), so to make our maximum width we routinely run very large offset wheels and special spindles.

This combination of parts ends up giving us scrub radii upwards of 6", yet this causes us none of the problems listed earlier, because we do it right.

What the larger scrub radius does is increase the leverage on all the suspension arms, so all your bushings need to be tight and harder than normal (we use solid steel bushings, which you won't want to do, but more the more rigid the better), and all your steering linkages need to have zero slop (we use heim joints and giant tie rod ends).

If you run drum brakes in the front, it is imperative that they are both adjusted not only properly, but to match each other (IE the shoes on both sides touch the drum at the exact same time).

The increased scrub radius will increase the leverage on your steering gear, so any mis-match in the timing of brake application from side to side up front will yield some really goofy steering feedback and possible darting (the dreaded death wobble, by another method).

Careful design and construction can overcome these issues, but you have to be aware of them, pay extra attention when you're building, and make sure you take these issues into account when you're planning your parts layout, etc.

It's not a big deal unless you're sloppy with the suspension geometry and construction, then it becomes a PITA.

EDIT: BTW, that truck is gonna be bitchin' when you're done with it.

One look at your avatar in another thread and I had to go read the build thread. Love the lines.

[Flowmeister]

Thanks CoolHand!
I appreciate your input.
I believe I am within acceptable limits and all the steering parts will be new.
The brakes are all 3/4 ton Chevy disc/drum and will all be new components as well.

I am deep in the metalwork on the cab, but I will post up a few updates with pictures of certain dents and repairs.

Yup, I think it will be a fine looking truck when it is all done!