Projects 51 Chevy 3100 project

nice build. ill be posting pics of where i started to where i am currently tonight so check my thread later. if you ever need patch panels and other parts that are great and affordable order from "The Truck Shop" in Orange, CA. they can ship to you and its cheap compared to buying online they also have a website!

 

Well, it certainly has been awhile since I've posted anything. Right now just trying to get through these winter months so I can get back at it.
But I did make a little more progress before the cold did set in. I got both rear inner & outer cab corners patched. Still need to finish grinding the welds and apply the filler, but I feel pretty good about the results considering I did this with my old Lincoln 220 stick welder. Oh, that reminds me - my sweetie of a wife bought me a new mig welder for Christmas! So I've been reading how-tos and watching you-tube videos.

Anyways, here are few pics of my progress.
This is what I started with on the left side...

 

First I had to take care of a small spot of rust behind the drivers door.


Sorry for the cell phone pics. I see I'll have to start using my good camera again...

I ended up beating on a piece of metal to form this patch.

 

Then it was on to the cab corner itself. After replacing the inner corner I got the outer tacked into place.


Here it is almost all tacked in. Just had a few spots that blew through to finish up.


And then it was on to the right side. It was in much better shape and didn't need to have as much cut out as did the right side.


Here is the inner panel tacked into place.


And the outer panel cut and just about ready to tack in.


I didn't get any pictures after stitching this in. I did get a coat of POR15 on the insides and some primer on the welds before the snow started to fly.

So this Spring, once I finish off those corners, I can start the work on getting the bed back on the frame. I really could be working on the boards for the bed floor now since I could be doing that in my basement...

 

Not much progress being made. Waiting for the snow to stop...

 

Got some nice weather and a little time this last weekend so I worked on finishing those rear cab corners. I did the grinding, applied & sanded the filler, and got a coat of paint on them before the rain came on Monday.
Next on the list is to fix a leaking brake line joint, install the passenger side floor patch panel, & install and plumb the gas tank.
I really hope to be able to drive this thing by summer's end!

 

My wife told me last night that she wants my number one priority to be getting the truck on the road. We also talked about expanding the extension on the barn so it will be big enough to put in a two stall garage. That would be cool, but the garage may have to be a project for next summer.

I've started removing the rusted passenger floor, and today I hope to continue with that and get the patch panel fitted. I'll just make my own side kick panel patch like I did on the driver's side.

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Got all the patch panels made and fitted on the front right of the cab but it's been raining all weekend here. Can't really weld out in the rain...
But I did get a leaky brake line fixed and now I believe they are good to go.

 

I know I haven't updated much, but I have been making progress on the truck this summer. Time to bring this thread current I guess.

Finished off the passenger side floor and right cowl. Made my own right kick panel to save a few extra $s. Bought the cab mount support since it was pretty gone and replaced that when I did the floor.



It was a lot of work trying to save the inner to outer cowl, but again I was trying to save money - those patch panels will nickel & dime you to death...




Cab is now mounted solid to the frame!
By the way - LOVING my new mig welder. Man, so much easier than the arc welder. Now I'm not as hesitant to tackle those little rust areas and to just go ahead and cut & weld in a patch.
I am happy to be done with the major body work on the cab.

 

Got tired of looking at my old rusty seat frame so one day I wire brushed the hell out of it with my trusty drill and put on some POR15. While it was still tacky I sprayed on some of the hunter green. Here it is drying hanging in my barn.


And then mounted in the cab.


I liked the looks of that so I decided to spruce up the interior a little by painting the rear section around the back window and also the roof. I realize the roof won't be seen, but I eventually want to put on some sound & heat proofing and figured it wouldn't stick very well to rust. Both of those areas I just brushed on the POR15 after wire wheeling (boy that was fun...) and then the hunter green on the rear section and some left-over black I had laying around for the roof.
Here are before & after shots.

 

This post is a little out of order, but I started my seat belt installation. I had scavenged a pair of seat belts from my 1980 Ford Courier before I scrapped it about 20 years ago - hey you never know when you might need seat belts! Looks like they are going to work out really well. I have the retractable unit mounted and the shoulder harness drilled and ready to bolt in. I just need to go to the hardware store to get a nut to fit the bolts I have ( I think the Courier must have had the nuts attached to the cab).

Also got my gas tank fastened in and plumbed. I decided to just go with the cab tank since I actually have three of them! I installed a filter in line under the cab to catch any of that 65 yr old sediment.


Bought a new rubber fuel filler through cab thingy since both the ones I had were hard with age and just weren't going to keep the weather out.

 

Also of out of order, but when I was working on the right cowl section I had to patch some rust out on the firewall before I could finish up the kick panel (where it wraps around onto the firewall). This is one of those "small" rust areas that would have taken me much more time if I has used my arc welder. I re-purposed a chunk of metal left over from my rear cab corner patch panel to make this patch.







And here it is after I folded the kick panel piece around and spot welded it to the patch:

 

A funny picture of my makeshift tent for one of those days it was over 90 degrees (and don't forget the humidity! ).


Started thinking about mounting the bed back on the frame. Decided to make my own wood blocks from an oak tree branch that fell last year during a windstorm.


Now I just need to get this thing on the table saw.

 

I spent a few days last week trying to get the engine to fire up. It was running great last year, but I had not yet started this year. I figured "Yay, now that I have a real gas tank I should be able to see if I can finally drive this thing." But now I was getting no spark.
Tried a new condenser but that failed to make a difference. Swapped in a coil from my 38 and that didn't help either. Checked the timing, points, etc. Nothing. Tracing wires, testing voltages... Finally tried cleaning the point surfaces again and walla! I had spark! A little more fiddling and it was running.

So yesterday I put in a piece of plywood and a couple of cement blocks for a seat, asked my 15 yr old if he wanted to go for a ride, grabbed my wife to get the event documented, and we were ready to give this thing it's first drive!
I have to admit I was a bit nervous. There were a number of things that had not been tested - transmission, clutch, brakes, rear axle... well, everything!

I put it in reverse, let out the clutch, and backed down the driveway about 20 feet. Put it back in first and returned to the starting spot. Everyone was still alive - it was a banner day.
I'll post the video if I can get it uploaded.

 

Last Fall I started working on the getting the bed back on.
I cut some wood blocks from the oak branch and painted them with POR15. Used an old radiator hose to cut some pads. Removed the front cross member from the spare parts blue pickup and got that cleaned up and put on some POR15.


Drilled some holes in some pieces of scrap lumber I had laying around to help get things mocked into position.

 

Did the same for the other crossmember that gets mounted on the frame.


And mounted the rear....


Got the bed sides bolted on and it started to look like a truck again! As you can see, I decided to use the driver's side from the blue truck since it was in much better shape.

Now to get some wood cut for the bed floor. Can't decide to splurge and spend the extra money for oak or save some money and go with the pine. I'm thinking that the oak will make me happier in the long run.

 

This Spring I pulled the seat cushion & back out of the barn where I had them stored and removed the old covers. My plan was to recover the original springs. Unfortunately, the frame and springs were so rusted on the drivers side that they essentially aren't worth repairing.
Now I'm trying to decide whether I should just purchase a chunk of foam and make my own to fit the original frame or purchase another seat. If I can find an original seat locally that was cheap enough I might go that route.

 

Just ordered a chunk of high density foam for construction of the seat. It should be here next week. I will test it to see if it is firm enough for the seat bottom. If not, I figure I can use it for the seat back.
http://www.amazon.com/Mybecca-Densi...459535294&sr=8-7&keywords=5+high+density+foam

 

Finally got some time today to do some work on the truck so I thought I'd better get started on that seat. Here are some pictures of my progress with the foam carving. Here is the chunk of foam I started with.


The seat cover.


I used the old seat springs as a template and traced it onto a piece of 3/4 inch thick plywood.


After cutting it out I gave both sides a good coat of paint just in case it ever gets wet. Sometimes those thunderstorms will catch you with your windows rolled down...


To start I traced the seat cover (at the ribbing seam) onto what will be the top of the seat cushion. I then used the carving knife and cut on this line vertically.


After cutting I flipped the foam over and laid the plywood base onto the foam lining up the back and traced it.
I then used the knife to cut on this line while tapering my cut so the other end of the knife met up with the top cut on the other side of the foam.



This gave me an angled cut as you can see in the following picture. I put it in place so I could test the the height and firmness. I like the feel but I knew I had to contour the edges. And I noticed that my shift lever hit the top edge of the seat when the seat was all the way forward - rounding the edges would give me the clearance I needed there.


Here it is after rounding the edges of the foam. At this point I was pretty happy with the fit, but I still thought it was just a bit too high. And the cover only wrapped around the base by about an inch.


So, rather than take more off the top I traced a line about 1 inch down around the entire perimeter of the base. I then cut at this line and tapered my cut toward the center. This will allow me to pull the cover down about 1 inch more around the edges, and also will give me a more rounded top side due to the thicker foam in the center.


I also bought some 1 inch thick batting to place between the foam and the cover. This should help hide any irregularities in the foam. I will post more pictures when I put it all together, but that probably won't be until next weekend.

 

And the Beat go's On - It is enjoyable to see it all coming together !

 

Thanks LB+1 - it's now into year 4 and I know I just have to keep on it! Baby steps.
Here are the last few steps & photos while I was finishing the seat bottom.

The batting was only wide enough to do the top, front, & sides (not the back), but I figured that was fine. I used contact cement around the edges to hold the batting in place.


Used my arrow staple gun to staple the cover to the bottom of the plywood. Here is one corner. After fastening all the way around the edge and trying it out in the truck I went back and put in more staples.


The finished seat.


And a picture of the seat in the truck.


I'm really happy with the results and it feels great. Of course, a trip longer than just down the driveway may prove to be a different story. Now to get some foam for the back, and start on that...

In the mean time, I'm starting to think about wiring it. I had purchased a 12v wiring harness from a friend a couple years back and it is set up for an alternator rather than a generator. I started making the modifications to the brackets & picked up the alternator from AutoZone. Almost done with the installation of the alternator (had to buy a longer belt also), but haven't wired it up yet.

 

That came out great, good job! I may go back and do mine that way, maybe shrink the thickness of the bottom and back to give me a little more wiggle room and not be so bouncy. I dont mind driving it that way but any improvement is good with me.

 

Decided to put my radiator back where it belongs and get rid of my butchered radiator support bracket. I ordered a short shaft water pump from fellow HAMB member, MotherTrucker. Thanks for the quick turn around on that, MotherTrucker!

Also been making good progress on the wiring - just haven't updated. Shame on me!
Appreciate everybody else's updates - I will update soon.

 

Well, Spring is finally here and I decided to get something done on the project today. I really want to get the front clip back on so I can finish the wiring, but since the engine is much easier to work on with the fenders off I decided that now was the time to replace a couple of the engine gaskets.

I removed, straightened, and painted the valve cover while waiting for the gaskets to come in from Autozone. Did the same with the side pushrod cover. However, after removing the side plate I discovered a retainer clip just laying inside. Upon closer examination I found that 2 of the push rod retainer clips were not in place. I have the one, but the other is no where to be found.

Here is a picture of the retainer clip.


In the picture below, the pushrod on the left has the retainer clip in place, the one on the right is missing.


I am not that familiar with the internals of the 235, and I realize these clips must be holding something (perhaps the pushrod sleeve?) but I have been running the engine and everything still seems to be in place. Have I just been lucky? And where is the other clip? Possibly in the oil pan? If not, where do I find another retainer clip? I am not sure what these are called and have not yet searched on line. I guess that is my next step.

 

Last Fall I did get some work done on my grill. The bottom shield and bottom bar were both shot on my original grill.


So I removed them and replaced them with the ones from my blue parts truck. There were a few rust through spots on the replacement but overall it is solid.


I wire wheeled the entire thing (there is A LOT of surface area on that grill and also some areas are very difficult to get to! ), gave it a good coat of POR15, and top coated with black. Also tore apart the parking lights, and did the same with them - except top coating with silver. Here is the finished grill before bolting in the parking lights.


I did not try to remove the few dents that were in the bars. I am just calling them character scars. The same goes for my tailgate which has MANY more scars than this!

 

I mentioned my tailgate, and I did manage to get that on last Fall, also. It was in bad shape - very bent and broken, but overall solid.


It was bent so badly that both ends had separated at the top. As you can see in the following picture.


I banged, pried, jumped on, etc, until I got the ends clamped in place. Welded them on, stitched up the tears, and put her on the truck. Good as new!


After putting on the tailgate I figured I might as well mount the tail lights.


I really like the idea of having a third brake light, and I've been checking out what others have done on that. I want to keep it simple, cheap, but functional. Probably the easiest is inside the rear window...

 

Glad I found your truck thread, a lot of good information. I think I have one more build left in me and this kind of truck is it. I'm on the look out for one.

 

41 C28, I hope you find one in decent shape - fixing the rust through on mine has taken more time than I anticipated. I checked your album - looks like you've had a nice assortment of rides! I think you'll enjoy working on one of these. I certainly have.

 

I went to my local AutoZone and asked them about the retainer clips for my lifters. They said they were not available and suggested that I just replace the entire lifter. They could get them for about $14 dollars a piece. Not a bad price if I needed a new lifter, but all I needed was the clip. Doing some more searching I found that a regular C-clip could be used in place of the stock spring clip. I went to Ace Hardware and picked up a couple of clips for 39 cents a piece. Much better on my wallet!



Removed the two lifters that had the missing spring clips and replaced with the C-clips from Ace. These were 3/4 inch Internal C-clips. Here is a picture of one of the lifters back in with the C-clip (one on right).


Also picked up the gaskets & sealer from AutoZone so now I just need to adjust the valves and get it buttoned back up. I'm hoping that when I remove the pan to replace that gasket I find the missing spring clip!

 

Nice job searching around a bit. Love it when something works out that way....