the 49 is done, well, done-ish. :lol: projects keep my hands busy and my liver clean. This is my 1941 1/2 ton short bed build.
I took apart the 41 I bought last super bowl weekend. I rolled it in the garage on my 8k lb capacity body cart because sometimes overkill is just right. my intention was to build this one for myself but we will see. I hope to have it running before New Years. 5AL, 41 3/4 ton.
here is the donor, 91 4.3 auto S10. I used the bed floor on the 49.
I had it stored in the back yard till now, last time I moved it I accidentally ran it out of gas which plugged up the sock or the filter or both. when I pulled it out with a chain to change the flat it developed, I left the key on. so dead battery/weak fuel flow, I decided to jump it and pour a little gas in the TBI to prime it. of course it backfired, and it may be easier to list the things that werent on fire after that. my sweater smothered the engine, then the ground, then the engine again. the only loss was the air fllter. my hubris always has a method of humbling me.
the truck came with the wrong bed, it had a 53 long bed. In may I found a stash of 41-46 trucks and bought everything, 4 cabs, two front ends, 4 beds.
only one set of rear fenders though, and they are 37-38 fenders. my brother was browsing cl in pa and found a set for me though
and I found a spare pass rear at a guys horde
so thats today, 11-18. this will be simpler than my other builds, and should be faster because its a running driving donor and the simple electronics compared to the last three trucks which all had complicated bussed electrical. wish me luck!
I had an hour or so after dinner so I stripped the firewall and cursed at the bumper. thankfully my battery sawzall was handy. never understood these bumper mounts, and they have to be cut off anyway, so choppy choppy
clip off
anyone need a clip? cheap to get rid of it
more tomorrow, the cab is loose just have to take out the steering column and strip the harness and computer. the shifter was connected with a wire tie, like a bread bag tie. I think the drivers lower arm needs replaced too.
did some work to the 49 today, have a couple interested parties. I hope they see it the way I see it. but I did finish stripping the donor. got all the parts I need and only one more harness to pull through the firewall. the cab mounts are loose, just need the cherry picker. dont think the neighbors appreciated the 10:30 work so I called it a night.
not bad for a total of 3 hours work.
OH I remembered, I listed the front clip on cl, the title said "1991 S10 front clip and tailgate only no other parts" and the first sentence of the ad says "I dont have anything else from this truck, no other parts. no wiring, no engine, no trans." I got three calls on it today. one for a trans. one for the engine harness. one for the glovebox. I am not kidding. CRAIGSLIST man, endlessly entertaining.
CL? I advertise stuff and immediately get the azzholes texting me saying they will wire the $$ and send their "Agent" to pick up the stuff I advertise.
They are always from out of state and can't spell worth a crap.
I text back "CASH ON PICK UP ONLY" and they vanish.
I had it listed for $80, fenders inners bumper grille headlights turn signals hood cowl core support. a guy called this morning and offered $65. I told him not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he agreed, $80 would be fine. when he picked up he said he needed a passenger door so we knocked out the pins and he took that too. less to scrap at 10 cents a pound, and maybe I will run into him again when he is selling something.
beep nap time, she was tired today, tuesday is her "school", a 2 hr gym session. I needed to return the title for my car trailer so he could work it out at the tag office, long story, anyway I used the 2 hr gym time to drive an hour south to drop off the title in person so it wouldnt get lost, combating murphys law as it was. well, murphy got me anyway, he wasnt home, so I left it in his door and high tailed it back to get the girl just in time. pulling in the driveway, he finally called back. he was at hobby lobby. in wichita. about 3 miles from my house.
she laid down and I popped the cab off
this was a nice surprise
and on
and in for thanksgiving
needed some room to walk around so choppy choppy
the rear mounts were holding it crooked, now its crooked the other direction because I havent trimmed the outsides of the frame for the cowl.
needs to come back about 6 inches, motor needs to come back about 9. this will likely be the last work till after thanksgiving
well its christmas and the truck looks the same. I had a bunch of little stuff to do for the 49, and we had two funerals in two weeks, one was the matriarch of my wifes family, and 4 family parties. I think we are done for a bit though, so I will be working on the truck starting Saturday.
picked up a few goodies today at bowtie bits. It was an easy decision, I was updating the books on bought/sold and so spending a little bit on the fine details that I love doing is okay by me and the budget.
I had spotted the lower grille at bowtie bits a couple weeks ago and vowed to go get it. I had all that turmoil around christmas and so today was the first chance I had. luckily I went today because he was listing it on ebay, but was happy to sell it in town. I asked if he had an upper, he sure did, couple dings but nicer than the one on my truck, so I bought that too. Best of all was the brand new windshield frame/glass/rubber. Its pricey at first glance but they are always rusted and the screws break off, and assembling them with glass is a &^*(&. I figured I would only save about $200 refurbing mine, and only $100 buying a new bare steel frame. and this comes with a new center bar too, mine are dinged up.
look at the fineness of the backside of this brand new windshield. No broken screws, no rusty nastiness.
More coming! I may work a bit while the baby is napping.
my wife has a new years eve tradition of a kids party, so all the nieces and nephews are over. I feel like gru in the midst of minions, every one is gross and you cant understand what they are saying. But I still got some stuff done.
while it was unseasonably warm I decided to bring the trailer with my parts 41 around to the front yard. My plan is to take the parts off I need, pass the rest on, and pull the cab off that gmc while its up front too. then sell the trailer haha. constant flux around here.
ugh. so many rusty screws. I decided since I had a new windshield frame I wouldnt worry so much about using penetrating oil and heat to extract any of the screws. This decision sped things up considerably. I used the spinny wheel to take the windshield regulator loose, then a jack to hold it up while I spinny wheeled the screws up there.
ready for someone else to restore.
this is where they always rust through, the bottom center. the parts truck has rust there too.
blessed be the designer who made the dash removable. I had to remove it anyway because the windshield regulator wasnt regulating
yep have another one like this. the pot metal wears and the gears dont mesh. I hoped this one was ok, but since its not I will do a rebuild in this thread.
this part is $18. so I need one of those too haha.
last thing tonight was to get the front part of the floor pan loose. little heat and some penetrating oil here, got all but the two right screws.
I need it out so I can set the mounts up. I ordered all the front end components control arms steering etc, mevotech has a kit that is only $300. Debating on drop spindles for this one too, I will decide between blazer dual piston brakes or s10 brakes before I order spindles and rotors and calipers.
will be watching this one closely, have a frame swap i hope to get started in a couple months and theres not a lot of detailed swaps out there that ive been able to find. was the wheel base close or with you have to modify the frame at all?
the wheel base will be close, the s10 is 117.5" wheelbase and the 41 is 115, but I am moving the cab back an inch for the misalignment s10s get when you lower them, and then using setback plates in reverse on the rear to move the axle forward slightly. on the 47-55 trucks the wheelbase is almost exactly correct.
the s10 donor has some okay appearing seats with terrible covers, and a headrest. I am going to go for a nice rich burgundy interior on this one so I drew up what I want the upholstery to look like. the pleats will be half rounds, really bumpily. I think it will look nice with the bolsters. I think he said they were 89 fwd lebaron seats.
I cleaned out the garage and decided it was time to take out another shelving unit. I had cleaned off everything from the 49 and all the extra S10 parts I would never need (TCC or ECM for a 98 blazer? how do I even save these things). Eventually I will get rid of all the shelves on the right side of the garage but for now there IS SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES! :lol:
did you ever have a moment of clarity? I marked the cut for the frame trim and started to get out the plasma cutter, but I wanted to make sure I knew where the fuel lines ran. usually they cross over on the trans and come up the back of the engine but I didnt see them, I figured it out and quickly decided to use the spinny wheel to make my frame cuts.
well that could have escalated quickly! luckily I am the uber careful, googles and a faceshield kind of careful.
did the other side. dont worry about where the cab is in relation to the cuts, I was pushing it side to side to make room. the cuts actually work out perfect with the taper of the cab.
Thats all I got done today but the real trick was organizing the garage and not burning the place down haha. we had some errands to run, time for a new work laptop since its a new year, self employed guys know the glory of Jan 1.
think BIGGER pleats, like 2" pipes cut in half. really hot roddy.
all squared up and roughly leveled.
I dont need it perfect yet, the mounts will be mirror images on either side and will level it, and the mounts will also have a little wiggle room. Still considering lowering it another inch on the frame.
but the mounts are designed in my mind so its just a matter of cutting steel. I may do a mid mount, or at least a support, once I cut the seat riser out I am worried the floor will get floppy.
looks like I can move the motor back 8.5 inches. I would like a little more, but cest la vie.
I ordered mounts but they havent come. I did as much as I could without them. I found some dimensions online and the mounts I am using (70 camaro) should be as tall as the s10 mounts, so I did mock up with a couple S10 bushings.
my kingdom for another inch! I decided to lower the cab another inch, my reasoning is that s10 front suspension does some weird stuff at full droop, the wheels pull back in the wheelarches and the toe goes all wonky, I like setting the truck up to lay on the running boards (well, very close to it) while the frame is still a little off the ground and that keeps the suspension from needing expensive mods like tube arms and tie rod notches. I trimmed out the frame carefully, and the piece I cut out will flip over and weld back in. this lets the part of the rocker that hit the frame go by slightly.
this is as low as I can go without cutting the back of the cab.
you can see where the running board will be, it is about 6 1/4 tall, leaving 7 3/4 ground clearance before I install the 3" lowering springs.
I bolted the s10 body mount in to make templates for mounts.
front mounts made!
more tomorrow. I realized that the tag office put the wrong VIN on the paperwork, I will run in the morning and correct it. All the front end components came in yesterday, I bought the problem solver MOOG stuff for everything. If I can get the rear mounts built and everything tacked in when the camaro mounts show up, I can pull the cab to do the frame cleanup and engine move. on locating the cab, I set the centerline of the front wheels at 31 inches to the door edge. I will tack everything in and put the front clip on to make certain the wheels are centered. This was the measurement I took off the parts 41, so I think it is right, but I will still double check.
The bushings came, I guess they were on the truck friday and the delivery guy thought whatever was in there was broken because of all the clinking and thumping. nope, just the bubble pack came open.
here is the part number, for anyone interested, its 6 bushings so I will be able to mount the core support as well.
got the front mounts in, need a little trim on one side
loooove my plasma cutter. love it. from design to cut in about 10 minutes.
cleaned up and tacked. I like my little switch mags too, handy here.
I need to clean the old body mount bracket off the outside of the frame though before welding these on, thinking of jacking the cab up to cut them off since I cant finagle these brackets up on top of the frame without doing that anyway. Then I will pull the cab and start the frame cleanup.