Projects back yard find 40 chevy truck

Thanks Leakie. I get burnt out fast when it comes to body work. but I don't like paying someone to do it more.

 

it did have a 3 speed. I gave the engine and trans to a friends 13 year old son. he just wanted some thing to take apart and see if he could put it back together. sorry!

 

Late to the party as usual, I am so glad you are not chopping the cab. What you have done in my opinion is spot on and your work is great!

 

Thanks pumpman. better late than never.

 

things are starting to go back together. got frame painted and and back to a roller.cleaned up motor and repainted ,pulled the solid lifter cam and replaced with a comp 292 H cam. engine, trans ,cab and frame all bolted together.

 

Nice work HR! That boy looks like he wants to go for a ride!

 

thanks. he loves riding in our 39.

 

now that the cab is mounted I can get the steering column in.had a column from a 70 chevy truck ,shortened it 6" then another 4". put the dash in and fabbed a solid mount off of a piece of angle I welded in across the cab behind the dash. made an upper mount from a con. rod and a lower mount using the original clamp that was at the bottom of the column.and got some shaft connected to the rack. it all works surprisingly smooth and easy to turn .even with the small wheel.

 

Looks good, and that connecting rod looks great. How does the inner fender well fit on there? Will it interfere with the steering shaft ?

 

thanks Leakie. the inner fender might clear the shaft but not the stand that holds the stabilizing bearing.this setup will probably be temporary as are the headers on it now. not concerned about the inners. I am thinking about building or modifying some headers that go out and over the frame. then I will be able to move the steering shaft into a better position and run the plug wires under the headers and make some inner fenders to fit..for now the steering makes it easy to move around the shop .I am using these headers for now just to start it. this engine was in my wife's drag car. and was built by her late husband who was a good friend of mine. it hasn't been started since he passed away , about 8 years and we want to hear it run again!! that is why some of this stuff is temporary.

 

Keep going, good progress.

 

engine start up video. https://www.facebook.com/alan.davis.906638

 

Looking good, watching.

 

I enjoyed reading the whole thread. Been there done it on a '41 ihc... but did not have to notch frame for steering rack. Good to see the truck will be completed, you are in the final leg. All the hard work is done!

Where are you locating master cylinder?

 

I wanted to do the master cylinders under the floor but that may not work .thinkin about willwood pedals and cylinders.not sure yet.

 

I wanted to get a seat established before I mount pedals and set shifter location. I kinda liked the bomber type seats, did some looking on the web. and came up with these cool bench seats.

I decided to build one. did some mock up .this is going to work. went into my wood shop and built the wood frame that will get upohlstery later. pulled some sliders from an old seat and built a frame with hinges so I can access the area under and behind the seat.

 

Nice looking seat, you do good work. Are the ends of the seat going to be covered with upholsrery or something else?

 

A 40 finished out has really nice lines in my opinion.

 

I will upohlster the sides.
nice truck coilover.

 

I dug out the floor pans .I picked up some sheet metal to make some new ones. realized the original pieces just needed fixin. so after a couple hours weldin. beatin., grindin,patchin I had a floor. I used a friends brake and made some pieces to fill in around the seat. and mocked up a surround under the seat.

 

I found this old fuel cell at a garage sale for $10 it fit perfect.

 

found some fender well headers. that will work fine. the pass. side will need a little heating and bending to clear the fire wall.these headers will allow me to run plug wires under them.straighten up the steering linkage and open up space to mount master cylinders under floor. hopefully I don't fix three problems and make another.

 

Here's how my steering looks in mine as a reference

 

I don't know how I missed this, but great job so far. My son has a 40 lwb just waiting to be transformed, or at least driven. He is a busy man and doesn't get it out much. I want to get it up here and shorten the frame and bed to at least swb proportions. I do know from what little I have helped him that grill pieces, especially the top bar[ which earlier was not repopped], are expensive. The metal upper cowl is cut up and they are available in fiberglass. You have taken on a tough project, but its looking good. Here is a shot of my boy's truck. Looks a lot like yours did. Keep up the good work.

 

ok got a few things done lately . decided to mount the batt. under the floor so I built a batt. holder and bolted it to the frame. I didn't want the alternator on top of or hanging off the side of the engine. I found this cute little alternator and mounted it down low and out of sight. been working on a gauge panel too ,should finish it today.

 

got a gauge panel made. I had an old set of SW gauges. found a speedo at the last swap meet for cheap and a speedways fuel gauge and sender.the panel is some sheet aluminum epoxyed and vacuum pressed to some 1/2" furniture grade plywood.

 

The mini alternator should work assuming no huge amp draws. Nice and basically out of sight. The dash look good.

 

It's 40 amp. only running lights an HEI and a radio ,maybe an MSD6a. no heater, no wipers, no el.fuel pump. no el. fan.

 

I've been putting this off waiting to buy an under floor pedal and master cylinder setup. I still have the original pedals and decided to see what I could do with them.after some mock up ,I realized I could make make the clutch linkage mechanical instead of hydraulic. (I never have liked the idea of a hyd. clutch). so after some measuring and making some crude drawings. this is what I came up with so far. still need to make an arm to operate the master cylinder. will clamp it to the frame today and see if it will actually works before adding some bracing and gussets and weldin it up and bolting to the frame.

 

finished my pedals. it all seams to work well . the bolts with jam nuts are stops. two for the clutch to help adjust throwout bearing free play and to keep from over engaging .and one for the top of the brake pedal.