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

And the rear suspension is finally finished!!!

Got some time this week to weld up some rear shackle mounts and welded them on Henry yesterday after work. I also welded on some square tubing for my bed mounts.












Goal for the weekend. Get this baby off the jack stands and on the ground and get the bed mounted.

 

Door Latches & Thermostats

The trick to smooth & easy door latches is proper alignment ~ not the door , the latch into the striker plate on the door jamb .

It firstly requires you to dismount the latch and properly clean and de rust it , it's ful of 50 years of rocj hard grease , accumulated tirt & munge plus corrosion .

Once de greased (this is some work lemme tell you) it must then be soaked in a dilute mix of Phosphoric Acid and water whilst you work at it with a bush until it's shiny inside as wellas out , then blow it dry and shoot it full of wite lithium grease from a Foo-Foo can , or maybe some War Surplus Gu Greae ~ that's really good stuf but hard to get all the way inside where it needs to go for the latch to work properly .

Then take some time peering in the doorjamb as you slowly ease the door closed , it *MUST* enter the striker evenly else you'll be slamming the crap out of it forevermore .

If your engne dosn't reach 160* F in 10 minutes , replace the 'stat with a 180* F one , be sure to drill a 3/16" air bleed hole in the flange so it'll self bleed and never steam lock ~ running your engine too cold is a very bad thing indeed and ruins many more old engnes than overheating ever did .

 

Drill a hole

Nate
I am not real sure about drilling a hole in the flange. First time I have heard this. Would you go into a little more detail maybe a picture?

Thanks
Papy

 

This weekends achievements:

Drivers door latch is done inside and out. Weather stripping also done. So impressed with the Altman kit. Easy to install and the doors latch so nice.

Bed is installed and loose bolted along with passenger side fender and splash guard between running board and bed.



Fiddled around tonight putting the seats bases in and cleaning up stuff. Spent some time with my 1 year old on my lap making motor noises and trying to honk the horn. Life is good!!

 

Great work. I'm envious on about every post you've made on this thread.

 

Great info on the doors.

I will open it up and replace the thermostat.

 

Thanks. It is finally coming together.

 

A toy truck I thought you might like...

 

Sweet!!

 

Still plugging away a little at a time. Life is soo busy right now we projects and work........but the end is near for Henry!!

Picked up a seat cover and seat rebuild kit from LMC. The cover is nice. Wish it was 2 pieces so I could removed the bottom. I bought a seat rebuild kit. Not overly impressed with that. Basically just some foam, a chunk of carpet and some hog rings. And only enough to cover either the back or bottom, not both. Live and learn.

Anyway, got the bottom part of the seat cover done and installed.



Bolted on the taillights that I got from Wood1 last night. Still need to wire them. I found some awesome old 3/8" rusty galvanized flex I am going to use to cover the wires.



Still need to get the fenders bolted up solid and bolted to the running boards. The bolt the bed down.

Install rear bumper.

Stereo is ordered......will be here Tuesday!!

Itchin to drive this old dawg!!

I had a little help last night.

Colton, age 1.



Colton and my oldest, Kennedy.

 

Thermostat Bleed Hole

Papy :

(anyone else who wants to prevent / cure steam / air locking & overheating)

Find a thermostat , pretty much any old one will do ~ hold it in your hand and look at it ~ basically it's a thin stamped piece of brass with a big hole in the center , the hole is filled with the valve disc and the wax pellet inside .

The flat portion , midway between the outer edge and the hole in the center , is where you want to carefully drill one 3/16" hole and that's it .

Some newer vehicle's thermostats have a small wobbly rivet in the flange part , these are the same thing , as long as it's not stamped more than 185? F or 82? C , and it fits the small ledge in the thermostat housing , you can use these as well .

I hope this helps , they really do work to ease initial filling and prevent the flashover of coolant to steam when the engine gets really hot .

 

Had a marathon late night session last night and got the brake leaks fixed and the brakes bled.

Also tightened up the steering box.

This morning I finished up the rear tail lights and put the rest of the cover on the seat and we set out for a test drive.

Put about 20 miles on around town and came back to the house. Ran great, except ran a bit warm IMO.

Check all the fluids, the anitifreeze was a bit low. Rest was good.

Set out again for a little tool around the neighborhood.

After stopping at a couple places around town it left us stranded. Seemed like no spark. Called a buddy and we pulled it home. Further inspection found no point gap at all. Adjusted the gap and started right up. Replaced the rotor and cap for good measure since they were shot.

Went out for another 45 minute cruise tonight. Temp got up over 200 (gauge showed 212 which is maxed). Stopped and took some pictures and let it cool.

Drive home and the longer I drove the more it crept up.

Got home and the coolant level is fine.

Should I flush the cooling system? Any advice?

 

Engine overheated

I love the wheels on your lowered truck. Your questions ; flushing the system does no harm so do it. Ad some Citronic acid or some of these cleansing liquids you can buy everywhere. I`ll gues you have a 180 F thermostat but try to use a 160 as it will open earlyer.What about the radiator core is it in good shape ?

Martinius.

 

Man, I'm jealous! Love this thread. I'm getting ready to start a three-week vacation from work with no real plans other than working in the garage. Gotta get back to work on my old Chevy!

Thanks for sharing.

For what it's worth, I just fixed an overheating issue in my old fire engine by replacing both thermostats (your engine only has one, of course). Then I had to purge the air out of the system (sounds like you've already done that though). Are you sure your thermostat is good?

Damon

 

OK.......so a little playing and working on the truck the past weekend.

Last night my son and I flushed the cooling system with water and replaced the old thermostat. Topped it off and let it warm up. Comes up to temp perfect now.

Went for a spin around the block and the temp rose again. Came home and checked coolant and it was a little low. I am guessing I had an air bubble. No problem. Topped it off again and went for a longer spin and it stayed right at 190 the whole time. I am holding out hope the cooling system problems are fixed.

It runs great and the more I drive it the better it gets. Getting a ton of looks, and thumbs up around town. What a hoot.

Last night after a 20 minute cruise the brakes seemed to be dragging. I am wondering if I have the pedal set a little tight and it is building up pressure.

I still need to align the truck but it drives straight and so far is a delight. Obviously it is not a fan of rough roads.

 

Congratulations for a great job getting this 40 year project underway and getting it drivable again as you like it. This is one very good thread for anyone to use which wants to work on their ride, again Congratulations on a job well done.

Enjoy,
Charles

 

Thanks. It has been an awesome project and is far from done!

 

Coolant Temp. Rise

O.K. ;

If the temp slowly rises as you drive , it's usually crud in the radiator .

If the temp creeps up while it's ildleing in traffic , I'd firstly go back and re check the valve gaps when hot , then see if you bumped the Ign. timing a bit when you fooled with the points ~! remember this : every .001" change in the points gap , changes the ign. timing by THREE? and that's a lot .

Flushing is good , I hope you know not to run plain water in there ? .

As it's been sitting , expect crud to loosen up and foul the new coolant , the more you drive it the cleaner it gets until the coolant remains translucent .

Time to go , bye for to - day .

 

I can get it to stay at a consistent 190-200 now while driving, but I still do not feel the radiator is flowing like it should.

A new radiator is likely in my future.

 

Sorry for no updates.....not a lot to report I guess.

Last week I installed the floor mat and shift boot Newfisher sent me.

Today I installed a stereo and some speakers, along with an amp and sub for the box I had built below the seat.

Still have a couple speakers to install, but at least I have some tunes now!!

After flushing the cooling system multiple times it seems to be cured. Solid 190 all the time once warmed up!!

I have been driving it daily if possible. Mostly short trips around town, but tonight I took a 15 mile cruise at highway speed. Took him all the way up to 70mph without issue. Plenty of pedal left, but no idea of the RPM's I was turning. Tracks down the road great......no shakes or wobbles.

I can hear a distinct vibration at anything over 50mph. Some sort of drivetrain vibration I would guess. I do not feel it in the steering wheel.

Not sure if it is a driveshaft issue? Transmission makes a lot of gear noise all the time, IMO any way. I really have nothing to compare it to.

I need to get it over to my father in laws place and put it on the hoist to change all the fluids in the next week or so.

Doing work!!



Poppin wheelies



Bath time