1949 Chevy 3600......making it a daily driver!!

You guys are too kind. I am not doing anything that anyone here is not capable of.

 

Another solid weekend........

Bottom of Thunderbird IRS cross member and Danforth cross member final welded and cleaned up ready for paint.



I pulled the cover of the 8.8 and gave it a thorough once over. The fluid was stinky and dirty.....but it looks clean and solid.



I had about 1/4 of can of KBS coatings that I wanted to use on the rear end. The can was a couple years old so I destroyed the cover when trying to get it open. I painted my front UCA's, rear LCA's and center section of the 8.8 as well as a bunch of the frame before the can was empty.

 

So ya got it put back together yet? It's been over a day~
Waiting for next update...

 

C'mon Zig, let the guy SLEEP! "it's been over a day" Somebody has to pick up the slack- you are too busy DRIVING your truck now. And folks have stopped waiting for ME to post some progress. Maybe if you and I post some progress it'll help.

 

There has been some progress but nothing post worthy. The bottom side of the frame is completely painted and it is not ready to flip and paint the top side.

Goals this week are to get the frame flipped and painted, and get the cab mounted. Lofty goals, but we like a challenge!!

Waiting on my quarterly bonus check to order some more parts.

 

O.K. , few thoughts here :

I see a clean frame , dampness on the floor and a box fan , did you wash the frame with a chemical rust neutralizer or something ? . Phosphorus soaked rag or something?.

I look at what you're doing and trust me , many here can do what you're doing but by no means everyone . certainly not me doggone it .

Times like this , I look at careful cutting , measuring , set up and welding and wish I'da taken the time to learn to weld .

Over the years I have seen way too many wrecks and people KILLED / MAIMED to ever accept anything that ' lays on the ground ' because sooner or later it'll get old and pneumatic suspension fails , the *instant* the frame / drive line touches the ground whilst the vehicle is moving , you're out of control , period ~ no ' maybe , if , but' etc. about it and skating across the road in 4,000 pounds of uncontrollable , unstoppable metal is bad , very bad , worse if SWMBO or your kids are aboard .

This is why it's against Federal Safety Laws .

Nuff said , if this pleases you so be it , I ride a Motocycle , also inherently dangerous .

Your work and care in the details remains TOP NOTCH ! .

 

The entire chassis got degreased and scrubbed down. Then it got coated with KBS Coatings Rust Blaster which is a powerful rust remover, zinc phosphate pre-primer, and metal etch.

Rust Remover - RustBlast - Metal Prep Primer - Metal Etch

After that it is scrubbed down again and rinsed thoroughly and dried before the first coat of paint.

I here you on vehicle safety. Way to many vehicles out there that should not be. I have seen some crappy stuff that amazes me.

I plan on having a margin of error built into this truck. It will not lay on the ground. I will used bump stops so it will be off the ground even with no air.

 

O.K. cool ~

I've been closely following your works here and no , it ISN'T ' over engineered ' one bit ! .

When I read where you said you'd cut off the bump stops and it now lays on the ground , I began to worry....

 

I cut the factory bump stops off the S-10 A arms. I will be building my own bump stops.

 

I drove my truck some more. And I even took my DAUGHTER (who HATES my truck) for a ride to a store or two. She lived, so that's progress!

But come on Coach~ It isn't painted and back together yet?
Oh, right... Valentine's weekend...

 

Took a couple week break to take care of some other stuff and recharge my batteries!!

Frame is finally painted 100%. There will be some touch ups, because I still have some misc welding to do. Shock mounts, mounting the rack and pinion, etc.



I had some rubber belting, so I whipped up some cab mount rubbers with a hole saw. Cheap and quick.



Air Compressors are mounted, also got the rear LCA's mounted and the center section of the dif.







Starting to look at air line routes. Since I am running a full manual system I need to get a single 3/8" air line, and 4, 1/4" air lines into the cab. Looking for ideas on that. 80% sure my gauges and switches will be behind the speaker grill which will have a hinge installed.

 

Air Lines: maybe run inboard of the pass. side rocker, and follow the outside of the "kick panel" until you get to the top of toeboard/bottom of firewall, and then do 2 grommets (1 for 3/8, 1 for 4-1/4's) so the lines can run horizontal, then vertical up to the speaker grill?

 

I like that idea.........

 

Progress has slowed, partially because of other obligations, lack of motivation, etc!

I truly do not know how you guys do these long projects. I have been building some furniture to break it up a bit.





The back of the truck is wired. Brake, Taillight and Blinker Wires run in the 1/2 NM conduit (grey). Compressor wires and wires to my pressure switch run in the fabric loom to under the seat where I will be build a control panel for my air ride set up.



Manual Air Ride switches are mounted as well as my 3 gauges.



Next big thing to tackle is the motor. Picked up a set of reworked heads. 2000-2200 Torq Converter is on the way.....

 

About ready to embark in the steering adventure.....

 

Coach, unless you already have a handful of steering U-joints in hand, it may be worth you while to see if an ASTRO or SAFARI double U-jointed, telescoping intermediate steering shaft will fit the bill. Take a look at the aforementioned item in the first picture in post #123 in my thread. It is fully collapsed in the picture, but you'll get the idea. If not, I'd be happy to snap a photo of it up close for you. No expensive Borgeson stuff, AND it telescopes in case of an accident.
Mike

 

I will need to look into that. Thanks!!

 

Not much new to report. Waiting on my rear knuckles to come back from the machinest and some fab parts from my local fab shop. Those parts should allow me to be back to a roller and finish air ride install.

Picked up a set of reworked heads from a local auto repair shop that had done some work for me in the past.

They are 601 heads totally reworked. Deshrouded, fully ported, SS valves, whole nine yards. Price was right so I snagged them. Should wake up the SBC a bit.