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Stick a Fork in it-- It's done!

Slinger53 said:
After five years it is finally done! Could not have done it without some very timely advice from all the guys on this site. For those of you who have just started your projects, hang in there . There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Hi Slinger

I have never had a Chevy truck of this age to drive on the highway but I am about to get a nearly stock one any day now...I gotta ask how do you like it on the roadways? How does it travel along with the flow of traffic? The reason I am asking is yours appears to be stock and I want to keep mine as stock as possible. I just redid a 1947 CJ2A Willys Jeep and it struggles to go 40 MPH...(not good in any traffic situation that is for sure).

Any insight would be great. Yours looks great by the way.

MikeC
 
Drivability

Mike ;

The original 216 engine will easily propel your stock 3100 to 60 MPH *BUT* at that speed it is wound up very tight and will fail quickly .

The prudent driver keeps it around 45 ~ 50 MPH unless the higher ration pinion gears have been fitted .

Using rear tires with less than 30" diameter (32" being optimum) will also reduce the prudent road travel speed .
 
mikec4193 said:
Hi Slinger

I have never had a Chevy truck of this age to drive on the highway but I am about to get a nearly stock one any day now...I gotta ask how do you like it on the roadways? How does it travel along with the flow of traffic? The reason I am asking is yours appears to be stock and I want to keep mine as stock as possible. I just redid a 1947 CJ2A Willys Jeep and it struggles to go 40 MPH...(not good in any traffic situation that is for sure).

Any insight would be great. Yours looks great by the way.

MikeC
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Mike,
This truck is pretty much stock. I did replace the old 216 with a 235, and convert it over to 12 volt. It originally had the 3 on the tree, I converted it over to the old SM420 granny four speed. Some will ask, Why did you do that!? Well, I wanted to replicate the truck I had in high school.! :) The engine purrs like a kitten,and does well keeping up with traffic in town. On the hi-way it is a different story. Top speed on the highway is between 45-50. At 50 she is wound pretty tight, so I cruise along at about 45. For now, that is just fine with me. As I get older, I am beginning to enjoy life in the slow lane! People fly around me on the hi-way and I wonder what the big hurry is all about. In the future, I may install a set of 3:55's, not so much to go faster, but to reduce the stress (RPM) on the engine. As most will tell you, the steering in a stock AD can be a challenge. I have about 200 miles on this truck and I am just starting to get use to it. My goal was to re-create the truck I drove in high school, but to make it a dependable daily driver. It took me five years to complete, and I told my wife, this was first/last build. Hmmm...was that a 67 Nova that just passed me??? :)
 
Blueflame236 said:
Your truck is beautifully restored. I wonder if you could provide the blue paint color code ?

Thanks Martinius.
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Martinius,
Sorry for the delay in responding. Had to hunt up my painter. The paint was supposed to be a substitute for the original mariner blue. This is what he sent me:

Martin senour, Prism basecoat 63-282-00-A. Not being a painter, not sure if this makes sense.
 
Blueflame236 said:
Your truck is beautifully restored. I wonder if you could provide the blue paint color code ?

Thanks Martinius.
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Martinius,
Sorry for the delay in responding. Had to hunt up my painter. The paint was supposed to be a substitute for the original mariner blue. This is what he sent me:

Martin senour, Prism basecoat 63-282-00-A. Not being a painter, not sure if this makes sense.
 
Plates too!

Very nice job. Congratulations and enjoy it on the road. Nice detail with the license plate too! I can only imagine the feeling of getting to drive it out in that scenery.
 
You truck is great. Very nice job. Being into the 4th year of mine I am hopping to complete before the 5th year.

Haasman
 
Prize winner

I do believe it's a real prize winner for sure. I can only hope mine turns out as well. Got any tips for those of us not finished?
 
Nice truck! Great color of blue too. We both started and finished our trucks within a couple of months of each other. I"'ve put 1500 miles on mine so far. I'm able to run about 55 on the highway. I put a front swaybar on and it helps the steering a lot. Hope you enjoy your truck as much as I do mine!
 
coonkka said:
I do believe it's a real prize winner for sure. I can only hope mine turns out as well. Got any tips for those of us not finished?
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Sure, I think the best tip I can give you is to be patient. Several times, I got caught up in the race to get it done, and that usually resulted in a scratch in the paint or a broken rear window! The other thing I would say is know your limitations. From the beginning I knew that I was not going to be the person painting or wiring this truck. I wanted these two items to be done correctly, so I saved up my nickels and farmed this out.

There were two items that really challenged me. First was the door windlace. What I learned was that if you take the time to open up the track the windlace slides through first, and coat it liberally with a "food grade" spray silicone, it will slide through pretty easily. After you get it in where you want it, it is important to go back with a rubber mallet and hit the windlace in four or five different spots so the track will clamp down on the windlace holding it in place. The other secret I will tell you is that I used a pair of sheet metal vice grips to grab and hold on to the windlace while pulling it through the channel.


The second challenge I had was installing the cardboard headliner. I first tried doing this by myself. I realized pretty quickly this was a two person job. We started by installing the front section first with the center bow attached. We loosened the interior windsheild trim, and tucked the cardboard behind the windlace. I tightened up the windsheild trim to hold in place. Essentially you have the front piece installed before you start on the back section. Much like the windlace above, make sure you open up the slot on the center bow. I was pretty lucky, the rear piece slid right in the slot, and my partner held it in place while I installed the rear bow. Like the windlace, I finished the install by tapping on the center bow with a rubber mallet to re-crimp the slot holding the headliner.
 
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