Projects 1948 Chevrolet fleetmaster

last night relaxed during the day and started drinking. then it got me to thinking im very close to wrapping up the inside, so at midnight last night I got to work with just a small shop light to help me. I put new speakers in my radio so I set the radio in the dash permanently

pulled the dash out of my house

and bolted that thing in

 

looks just as good in the day. lots of wood

 

All I can say is WOW!!! Looks fantastic, just a few loose wires and u will be out cruising in no time!!

 

and figured Its early, might as well wrap it all up for good

 

and for the first time, I finally get to sit in my car

 

alittle over a week ago

not bad huh for a home build =)

 

Very, very nice...good luck with her.

 

nice build carnal.

 

The look on your face in that last picture says it all.

 

He's right. You did well and the car is getting another chance to live. You brought it back and gave it some more class. Its going to thank you with miles of smiles.

 

it was very humbling sitting in it for the first time, it wasn't a jumping for joy kind of moment but more of a quiet moment for me and all the while people I know coming over and flipping out it came out better than we thought. felt there was a lot of work but im finally at this stage so I was taking it all in. but yea, just rewire the dash, redo the brakes and tie up some ends on the interior and the car is done and all in time for route 66 here in so cal =D

 

Hope to see it at the Reunion.

 

yes you will, its my target date and if there is no road blocks from here like the running gears (my only concern that will hold me back, hasn't been driven in decades) and ill make it with time to spare but its my target date and so far so good. I rewire the dash/gauges this week too, never did it so I hope its not a headache since im using the ez wire kit

 

thanks guys, and thanks graybeard im going to try that headliner trick I can see it working I didn't think of that. that's what we do with vinyl to get the wrinkles out. and again thanks monkeyspunk, if you look you can see the bezels you sent me I used those on my dash =)

great news for me, I was going to dedicate a week into either finding out what was seizing the rear driver side wheel. it was completely seized, so I was going to check the bearings then the differential case, in that week I was either going to fix what was broken or replace the whole rear end which was going to be a lot of work but was going to find it and replace it in the week coming up. it was the only issue I had with the car the only problem I had to face. well today I figured I might as well change the brakes so I can isolate the rear end problem next week to just that. well I took the wheel off and after about an hour of tugging I got the drum off. and guess what, the axle spun free! =D =D I no longer need to fix or replace the differential, saving me a weeks work and about 250 bucks =D so as I see it its not the money, but im a week ahead of schedule now im happy!

drum off



and spins just fine =D



took the brake cylinder off now that was definitely seized



popped out the cylinders, with some oil and one of the cylinders itself I "honed" it so it slides in and out just fine with now restriction





and the rebuild kit which is the cylinders with new rubber and spring is 15 bucks from autozone for each tire so 60 bucks and I have all rebuilt cylinders and its a super eazy job, literally takes about 5 min each cylinder. and that's better than the 80 bucks each for a new rebuilt complete cylinder, for 4 of them youre spending about 320 bucks. just rebuild them yourself its so easy all you need Is a socket and hammer you use the original housing just replace the internals. if any of you need me to show how its done let me know and ill post pictures how that's done. but after youre done your brakes will be like new. I rebuilt the cylinders but ran out of daylight so ill install tomorrow, left off right here I replaced the brake shoes



and got this in the mail for the car, its an original north east electric ahooga horn. a real one not new reproduction it has a different sound that those, its original so its sounds good. and its a 12 volt model so no rewiring itll bolt right in I just have to clean it up tomorrow





I have a few more goodies like that, pre 50s that's going in the car I will be installing this weekend =)

 

anyone going to route 66 this year? apparently theres two shows going on at once one in Ontario and other in san Bernardino

 

hey hamb admins, im sorry about the 65 impala thread that I started and was deleted. I just posted because I kept getting asked about my 65 but I think I remember this happened before now it getting deleted because the car being too new but that was a long time ago but I remember now. sorry for the trouble, wasn't my intention to cause any issues wont happen again =)

 

definately cool rig!

cool job

 

I thought 1965 is the cutoff year for the H.A.M.B.?

 

yea but its a full lowrider not a custom 65 or traditional hot rod or custom car. im not being singled out because of it though, they also don't allow rat rods, muscle cars, mustangs, or VWs. and that's fine I respect that, because its cool you can come to one place to find a type of car forum that you are looking for without having to dig through a bunch of other cars you aren't looking for. also I cant get upset about it and im not, im a guest member here, this is theyre house if you know what I mean and im glad they have me on here. me complaining would be like someone coming to your house and insisting on coming in like its theyre right to come in, then I would be like if this guy was demanding to have his car on here like its his right to and just ruin the forum with threads like those





so trust me, I respect that rule and am glad to be here =b

 

today I rebuilt the cylinders on the rear wheels and cleaned up and replaced the brake shoes. so back brakes are totally done just need adjusting and bled. but the front ones Im stuck, completely stuck. the drums on the front brakes just wont come out at all and don't know what to do =(

 

any help and advice is highly appreciated, stressed out here

 

Don't know the answer but I do know that the front drums are the same as my '49 truck and they are 2x the price of the next generation of bendix brakes and drums, sooooo, be careful of the front drums. I assume you can't back off on the wheel cylinder adjustment. If not, maybe squirt your favorite penetrant in there and give it overnight, hopefully more experience will come forward with key advice.

 

Are your front drums still riveted to the hub? If so, either break the rivets off or remove the hub and drum together.

 

riveted to the hub? how would I know? and no cosmo I thought of setting back the shoes from the cylinder adjustment but no go, the cylinders are seized wont move in or out till I get them off the backing plate and punch them out with a punch and hammer

 

where are the rivets, are they on the front face of the hub? Ill post a pic

 

these are the rivets right? so I just use my dremel to cut them off?







and today I dropped the tank, wasn't too bad it was a new tank when I put it in 4 years ago and put gas in it but I guess 4 years isn't enough time to make it turn to tar. but im still going to clean it out with plumbing acid and washing it out



and the sending unit was still good



I put 4 gallons of gas 4 years ago, poured it out man did it stink BAD. and it was green. theres still gas in the line so ill have to blow it all out too. forgot I had this, redoing it this weekend but not sure what type of fabric to use to make it look good in my car

 

Those are the rivets. You can use the dremmel, just be careful not to cut into the drum. I do it the old fashioned way with a hammer and a chisel. Once the head is off then punch out the slug.

 

To bring the shoes IN, you have to turn the adjuster counter-clockwise when you look at the end of it. Squirt a load of penetrating goop into the 2 adjusting holes in the backing plate and let it soak in. You may have to get the adjusters on nthe wheel cylinders started with a hammer and a small punch or chisel.
You could also try to remove the flexible hose and the 2 bolts which hold the wheel cylinder in, it might give you enough slack to remove the drum.
I have just removed the 3 rivets on my drums to try and replace the drum, I drilled and punched out the rivets, but the hub and drum won't seperate.
Let's hope yours do.

 

thanks jc, I o u 1. I would have damaged my drums I was planning to go back and just bang the hell out of it till it just came out. so does that mean since the car first came out the brakes were never changed?

 

roadster so after you punched out the rivets it still stayed stuck? I hope its just the standard seizing like my back drums, but they came off after a few min of tapping and prying. I will try to get to work on it in the morning before I go to work and see what happens, if not ill have to get back on it till Saturday but ill let you know how it goes