Projects They call me Panelman.....1956 Chevy Panel Truck

Congrats on the new truck, Dan.

At least is has the right engine.

I have to get me a 1st design pickup ... one day

 

Thanks. Just sold the other panel...so this one is it now.

The o/d solenoid isn't working......but I think I might have a spare or I'll take it apart to see what happened. I've been working on the '41 to get it back together for the Model A show/breakfast in 2 weeks. I'll do some more checking out this week. I have 2 grill bars coming to replace the dented ones (They all look like the same one). Finding good used parts seems harder for this one......or it's just that I've been dealing with more Fords over the years and lost my Chevy mojo .
Here's the other side.

 

Nice, I like the 2 Tone Paint !

 

That is one clean panel! Don't change a thing just drive the crap out of it!

Sent from my SM-G920V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Looking Great! What's in the future for this beauty?!

 

Clean up the floors (light surface rust), replace all rubber, I have some NOS door latches coming, fill the roof holes and body holes, fix the o/d, re upholster the drivers seat back pad, re wire, possible stock looking radio......all while I drive it.
I do have a stock 283 for it IF the 261 dies.

 

Kool Thank you for sharing your project.

 

Good looking ride, the rolling stock is perfect as is the stance....drive that thing.

 

Looking great Dan

 

Ok, the other 2 o/d solenoids I have don't work either......sounds like my luck. The mission is to get it all functional so I can drive to LARS and get more parts that I don't need.........

 

Update:
Cleaned the contacts in the 2 solenoids, both are working now, also found a bad contact in the fuse holder. So now the o/d works and fuel gauge works (wire was loose).

The YF is working great now, thanks to some tips from Mikes carb parts. I didn't see that the check ball was missing from the accelerator pump housing. So it took 3 parts carbs to make one good one.

Next is to tighten up the steering box.

 

So cool!

 

That is a cool ride, thanks for sharing.

 

I upgraded to a Newport wiper motor as mine is shot....the armature and brushes. The new one bolted up to the stock transmission, then I found a delay switch and hogged out the stock knob. It looks all stock but works better and has delay. I also put a single LED next to the light window on the old S/W temp gauge so now I can see it at night. Still waiting for all the parts to put the caster shims in.

I've been working some o/t, so times been tight. I took a few days off after memorial day, I'll see how much I can get done .

 

I couldn't get the center pin out of the leaf springs and working in the street didn't help the matter. I thought it would be a couple of hours, so I jacked it up in front of the house (so removing springs is out of the question). Here's my solution to caster shims without the center pin removal, made a 1/4" spacer, machined a button to fit into the axle and used a friends TIG to weld it together. I'm getting better at the TIG (6 times total), I think I need to sell more stuff and save for one of my own. I also finished the seat repairs but need to take the top pad in to get re upholstered, I've done some upholstery before and this is a simple seat pad but time is getting thin.

 

I also made some spacers for the passenger seat, 1 to help the crushing of the sub floor (has a flat panel welded on top of the floor for boxes when there's no pass seat) and 2 for the amp sub . It already has holes for speakers in the doors so I'm going to run with it and get a modern playing/stock looking radio (when funds permit). The set up worked great in the '41 p/u I hope it works just as well in the hollow panel truck.
I know this looks shitty right now, but plans are to make side covers that attach to the risers to conceal the speaker. The bonus is it makes the seat the perfect height for my g/f as it was a little too low before.

 

The caster shims helped A LOT, now it tracks pretty straight. Made it up and back from LARS without any issues. I guess the only problem I had was I didn't find enough stuff at the swap meet to fill up the back .

 

More small progress.........I hate summer.
Por15 on the floor:

And finally got the seat pad back:

Made a side cover that snaps over the round seat risers (will take a shot during the day, too black for the flash):


Lastly, bought a cheap tire from Walmart for a spare and it actually fits under there:

 

Had to take the seat pad back, no barrier between the springs and the foam (like burlap) and it needs more foam. Here's a shot of the side panel installed.

And the mat in:

 

Next weekend will be re jetting the carb, waxing the truck and more radio work.......I want to get this going for winter trips. Sometime before it rains I want to try my hand at installing window gaskets (on this truck and the '41). I also lowered the tire pressure to 50 psi and it tracks even straighter now, I want to go to 45 psi but don't want to overheat the sidewall (these are 80 psi max 10 ply tires).

 

I couldn't find speaker covers that I liked for the 6.5" round new ones.....so I used the ones that where already on the doors. They're old 60's?? golden voice speakers and grills. The hole wasn't big enough (I didn't want to cut anymore of the door), so I put them in from the inside. Found some flat speaker wire on eBay, glued it to the lower door hinge...tried to be stealth.




This is what I started with, it still has the same grill on it now...so basically it looks the same .

 

I spend about 4.5 hours buffing this old paint.....hopefully it stays


I went from a 103 to a 107 main jet and it runs a lot better, but I think I can do better with the 110 . It uses the same jet as the AFB, the steps are 103, 107, 110 nothing in between.

 

I need to make one more cover to hide the sub/amp from the back (looking through the back door glass) and then it's all mounted.

 

Omigod, I love everything about this, color, lights, interior, wheels.
Exactly what I would do, congrats!

 

Looking good Dan

 

Thanks everyone, it runs sooooo much better now with the .110 main jet. It has great power, no hesitation, it really woke up the old 261.

 

I would say that 4 1/2 hrs. was well spent! Looks fabulous.

 

Thanks!, I believe it was painted sometime in the mid 70's. Hopefully it will hold up and not just soak in the wax.

 

Hey 1OT,

Nice work on that panel van. We will look for it cruising around Orange County, soon. I noticed that you put the speaker wires through the holes in the door and body panel. We did something similar on our old sedan delivery. The wires moved every time I opened the door. The sharp metal edge started rubbing the wire coating.

So, I went to the Denault's Hardware Store and found flexible, rubber, slit edge grommets for the appropriate hole size. They are squeezed into the hole. Then, shove the metal into the slits all around and now, you have protection for any wire running inside the opening. There is plenty of clearance for the door to shut correctly. Lowe’s also has a drawer full of different size grommets.

Jnaki

You may have already thought of this grommet idea. But, since you are doing a great job with that panel van, it was something I noticed in your photos that we also encountered a long time ago.

 

Thanks Jnaki, but that was the old setup (I'll fill the holes when it's time to repaint). The speaker wire is now a super flat style that I glued to the lower hinge and the slack is inside the body so no real pulling of the wires.