Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-3 Today was ruff thats for sure. Weather was a little warmer even though it snowed a couple days ago. Got gas pedal in but realized I didn't have the carb bracket, so I ordered one up. So I'll button up the cable next week. I might cut this brake pedal and bend it to straighten it out, or my friend has another assembly that would work so I might try putting that in and see if I like it better.

Got fuel regulator mounted to frame hope it will hold up there. I still have to run the main line up to the carb, where I'll have a filter and pressure gauge within that line.

I got some brake lines flared and I managed to strip out my CalVan tool that I liked, its only been used for like 10 flares so I'm going to be hitting them up for a new one. I need a little more line to finish the system, MC should be here by the weekend. Hoping to paint it, bleed it and get brakes bled.

Got some steering parts coming so I can start buttoning up the steering. I found another set of headers I might order when I finish the truck, the driver side header is really long so its making my exhaust sit too low on that side, I'll address that when I get the truck running and driving etc. Shooting for January to be done with most of it. Prolly iron out things in spring/summer. I'll be making new link bars for the rear.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

another pic of the booster, got it mounted up a couple inches higher than my 51's so I'm pretty happy with the location. The clutch MC will be mounted beside it, hoping to have that done as soon I can get it ordered up.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Making progress..

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Looking good 99. What was the brake line tool that failed after 10 flares? Bummer.

The brake pedal does look a little tight to the gas pedal.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks guys, managed to scrape up some change for a few key parts for this weekend.

the brake tool is called the CalVan tool. got it off amazon. Its really a nice tool and I was cautious to not strip it out, but I think since I put it in a vice and had more torque than I should have on it, may have been the culprit. I might try and run a die down it and see if I can't get the treads back. The other problem with this design is you have two pieces of cast aluminum, coming together to make 1 thread that the other part of tool has to thread over. If the threads don't line up in the least, your done for. but... when it works it holds the line better than those cheap wing nut tools. Luckily I'm just running all 3/16" copper nickel line so its easy to work with. The other tool I got won't do 1/4" hard steel line so thats why I bought the Calvan tool, so I'll just have to either fix this, get a new one or just use it for 1/4" and use my other tool for the 3/16.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-8 Sat, Ruuuuufff last couple times working on the truck. what will go wrong does. Waiting on supplies that shoulda came in mail, waiting on refund from another company, messed up ordering my steering ujoint so I gotta send that back. As you can see by the pic I'm not sure if I'll be able to clear through the headers. So I'll try and route along the side and or try a different header, which I was going to get another one anyway because this driverside one is a little long.

I did get my sending unit for my gas tank, got it in and plumbed up the fuel lines in the rear. Got the front all done too. Got fuel pressure gauge, fuel filter and regulator all in. Got rear brakes all done, waiting on MC that should have been here already. Got most of the front brakes plumbed.

got wilwood clutch in, need a fitting to hook up line and get that bled.

managed to get a run of stickers done up for rebel wire. I'll be getting their 21 circuit harness in return. I'll do up some shirts for them too. Lastly got my driveshaft ordered from southwest speed. Should be here next week.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

You sure got a lot done even though you had some issues. Right on.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

You did make good progress! Stickers look good too....part of your business?

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Hang tough, 99. All that is a PIA, but you've been through worse. Just a bump in the road for ya!

Would you be able to heat/encourage the header with a hammer to get enough clearance? Looks like you're pretty close

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks guys, AD yeah I have a print shop in pittsburgh we do shirts there. I do stickers as another side business and then also my coffee&customs stuff, I'm spread thin.

reaper, yeah I'v bought stuff from rocky hinge. I wasn't aware they had a locking bearclaw though. I'll have to check them out again. I been through tons of research on a locking usa made claw years ago when I wanted to put them in my 51'. Found a guy on another rod site that makes them, but not locking. I always wanted to use the door handles and with the turn down handles to work I would need a spring kit rock hinge sells. I ended up just making a custom dead bolt lock for my 51' using a remote key fob to activate it. on this truck I could settle with the extra costs.

49' not sure I could caress these headers, they are stainless for 1 and two I have to get all the joints on there and see what they are gonna do. Worse case I just route it to the side and have a heim jont come off my shock mount. then run 3 joints instead of 2. a little more money. either that or get different headers, which I been thinking about for the drivers side anyway. its just a bit long for my liking.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-10 Today was surprisingly warm, so I decided to start stripping down the rest of my parts. didn't get very far today but I got one front fender stripped and started coating bf I ran out of chassis saver. This rubber that was all over this truck is a pain to get off and stinks. Maybe I'll try that stuff that melts rubberized coatings off next time. I welded up some patches on this fender as well. the hood and other 3 fenders all need some work.

Got my clutch bled as of now I can't tell if its good or not. have to start up the truck and get it in gear maybe next weekend when my driveshaft shows up. If anything I might have to adjust the pushrod a bit. My brake MC is mia and I contacted the seller today with no reply, so lets just say I'v had the worst month of ordering parts outta the almost 12 months I been working on it. Would really love to have brakes bled next weekend and a possible put it in gear and move it. but.... I need to work on my steering alot. I ordered up two ujoints today. Would be lucky if I can get them to work and not reroute the steering.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

The fender looks solid in this picture. Were you able to clear off the rubber coating? Better luck with parts ordering....closer and closer to driving!

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Man, that fender is in way better shape than the ones I'm working with. Looking good Henry! Waiting on parts sucks big time, especially when you don't know when or if you're even gonna get em! Hope it all comes together for you buddy.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

yeah my front fenders weren't too rotted. I have more work to do on the other one that is for sure. My rear fenders need quite a bit of work. Yeah sux depending on parts. I still haven't heard back from the ebayer that sold me the MC, they took my money and I should have had it thursday but now its tuesday, so something is not right. I had another place have to resend me something cause it never showed up, then I had a place send me calipers that weren't what they said they were, then I ordered the wrong ujoint for my steering. So I have to send that back, and ordered different ones that are on their way.

Luckily I have stuff to do in the mean time, like finishing the bed and fenders thats more just busy work. But.... I would like to drive this thing outta the garage bf a blizzard comes.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-15 got a few hours in today. Cold but clear out so I decided to start stripping my other front fender. The tear in the fender adds character but since its where the brace mounts to, I needed to fix it. I didn't have all my dollies with me so I'm waiting on the final shaping with the right dollie since it curves and also has a rolled edge to it, I don't wanna crease it cause that would suck.

So my shipping/buying qualms are still going. My brake MC should be here monday which is about two weeks late. So hopefully I can finish up the brakes.
Got driveshaft from southwest speed. I never dealt with them but they do answer the phone and have been around for quite some time. I got this DS and yoke with you joints for 209 shipped. but... the yoke isn't gonna fit for my trans and same with the ujoints. So I found conversion joints from moog which range from 16-23 a piece. The yoke fortunately I had. So i'll just sell this one off. Should hopefully wrap this up tomorrow.

Lastly I'm having super problems with my steering. I don't quite have the steering tube secured and tightened down to try and cycle it. A. I need a specific bearing to put in the bottom of the tube, B. I need a heim joint to keep the lower shaft in position. Even with everything in place I'm not sure if the geometry will work. So, plan b is to move the whole shaft over a few inches, but.... that means I'll be making more holes in my already finished firewall. So all my options include backtracking or spending more money, like for the camaro headers which are shorter, I may be able to sqeeze the shaft through them but I can't say for sure. I wanted to get camaro headers anyway because the driverside header I have now is rather long and makes my exhaust sit too low.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

I could either move everything over a few inches which would entail making a plate to bolt to the outside of the firewall, I could then have my steering tube clamp on the outside instead of on the inside, so this way might work ok. the plate would cover the stock hole and give support for the new hole.

Or risk getting a new set of headers, which might not even work, the more I look at them. not so sure if they are even shorter anyway, I could always cut and shortern my headers I have now.(top pic, full size chevy, what I have) last two header pics are for camaro.

or I could try and route through my headers and use a long heim joint to support the long DD shaft, I don't have any heims so I can't play around with what will work. I might just move the steering tube completely over and be done with buying more stuff. The way the links are now, look a worse than they are cause they are just setting there with no support.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-17 got conversion joints from moog, got driveshaft in. Reworked a few patches on front fender and the hood. Got the backsides of hood, grille and most of front fender done. Ran out of chassis saver.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Nice progress...Jim

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks jim, this last month has drug on. feels like I got nothing done. MC didn't show up today, mail in general didn't show up. Maybe cause the roads were so bad. So hopefully I can get brakes done next weekend. Start back on this steering issue. I ordered up a few things that I need for the steering. I'm ordering battery cables so I can put battery in cab and fire this thing back up soon, see if my clutch is in working order. Rebel sent out my wiring harness so I should have it this week. I still need to work on the airride plumbing. Then I have a whole ton of work to do on rear fenders. But I want to do the bed and rear fenders last.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-21 Got my Rebel wire 21 circuit harness. I did a run of stickers for them and also some shirts for it. Spent some time on my steering. Ordered up a bearing online, had to weld a little bit to it to fatten it up so it fit snug in the steering column. Got a Heim joint too, so I tightened everything up and ran it through its cycle, seemed to work. So I gotta mount the Heim joint and finish up mounting the steering column.

Finally got my MC after a hickup that set me back almost 2weeks. So I got it painted and rigged up, ran some more lines up front and will button them up tomorrow. Bleed the MC and hopefully get some brakes going. had to make my own pedal to booster connector.

I got a ton of little things to do bf I get to wiring and air plumbing. Gotta hook up ebrake, reinforce the clutch pedal, put the dash supports in, make a seat mount, finish up the gas pedal. Should have battery cable, kill switch and terminals by monday. Gonna get battery rigged up in cab so I can fire the engine back up. Put it in gear and maybe do some burnouts in my garage since there is bunch of snow outside.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

you can see the heim joint sitting on top of the shock tower. next time I'm just move the steering over a few inches. Just didn't want to cut up the firewall since its painted. Even though I spent alot more money on the headers and all this steering puzzle. I'm so glad I ditched the s10 headers.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

You've been a busy man, hope you snow wasn't as bad as NY...Jim

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Jim, thanks, never enough hours in the day. Snow missed erie by a bit, I'm about 40 min south of Erie, we got snow but no 6-7ft like buffalo.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

11-24 didn't get much time in today and or this weekend. I did manage to bleed brakes and started finalizing the steering. got the heim joint welded up and have a enough clearance on the header. I'm making a new mount for the column on the inside, I think its gonna come out better than my other mount because this way the tube won't get scratched up sliding it in and out of the column support.

Steering wheel on just for kicks, staring to look like a truck. making some moves on the vinyl interior. I want to try and fire up the truck next weekend but we'll see. Got some pedal reinformance I gotta make, and mount the seat.
Then order up some fatmat soon. Prolly get front clip on soon too.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks reaper, I tell ya what I thought I learned alot on my first truck. Well I'm learning much more on this one. Its a way better build and different but man its easy to overlook all the little things. This truck is on my mind everyday, spend countless hours online looking for parts. All the little things like pedals, steering brakes etc just get overlooked in builds. for me what killed my time was all the patches I made for cab, fenders, hood you name it, it got patches. All the stripping of rust and grime and undercoatings. Since last november I got 420 plus hours in. Wanted to be at 500. I think I'll miss that mark.
thats not including dash and engine and the time in painting rims.

But if I build almost the identical build next time I could cut hundreds of hours I know that. I got all my measurements and better plans for next time. But alot of the stuff I have in mind or lined up would be different builds as of now, so it would be right back to square one. Just need better bodies, and I just missed out on a cab locally that was just that, all new patches, 5 window split with doors and title and option for whole front clip for a steal, missed out on it. But whatever, I'm trying to just focus on this and worry about the next project when its time. I don't have a deadline anymore but I surely don't want to take much over a year to do a truck. If my gal didnt loose her job and I get an extra day or two a week to work on this, I'd be soooo far away from completion.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

looking good 99, you expecting to get her done this winter???

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks sarge, yeah I think I should have it done this winter. that would give me enough time and budget. Was hoping to complete by end of Jan, for the pittsburgh autorama. but I don't wanna stress getting it done and not only that, dealing with making the 100 mile trip in the dead of winter.

today I got my seat mounts done, got some sample vinyl in so I can start finalizing my interior colors. Worked on finalizing steering some more. Friggin broke the tap off in the bottom of my column, so I stopped and moved onto something else.

Realistically if I rig up my bat cables, I should be able to start it back up, and check my clutch and brakes. Just finished up my throttle today. I'm trading some print work for the accuair airvalve pod, so that will save me 400 plus bucks and also help me finalize the air system.

So I gotta put front clip back on, finish interior, wiring, some bed work and the air plumbing, also do all the glass and the bear claws. also making a custom consol that will be tucked up under dash, so with all the little details I'm doing its gonna be a bit to finalize, but....soon as we get a little warm front I'm gonna attempt to drive it outta the garage.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Nice job. Coming along very nice. Keep the updates coming as it is a lot of good information for me on my build too.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

J48, will do man. I post every week. Only reason I post so many things whether it looks like alot or not, is for reference when I scroll back through all the pages. Helps me timeline wise and to learn from my times.

Here is the seat riser. just some 2x3 stock. Seat sits about 11.25" off floor. It has quite a bit of forward and back motion, so I'm pretty happy with this seat. Just need to paint the frame and get my seat cover done.

also the to do list (I know we always have things to add) I need to hook up my ebrake pedal and lines. and do all the power steering.

So just when I think I'm almost there, boom so much more time and money ahead of me. I'm also going to try and do my door panels and roof myself so that's gonna take me a bit I'm sure. also need fatmat and carpet. need to purchase mufflers and exhaust hangers too. I'm just gonna stop typing now.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Great progress 99. Really appreciate the updates!

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Sweet build! Sorry if I missed it, what is your seat from?

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

That looks like way too much angle for those joints... 30 degrees is the max and most places I've ready to stay well under that. Just something you may want to consider...

Excessive angle will also produce a cam like effect on your steering. It will cause the rotation to speed up and slow down... Hard to explain...

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

uncle jimi, seat is out of 88-89 chevy I think width is about 56". In my 51 I'v used one out of a 73-87 I swear and its about 56". i got two other seats outta 73-87 and they are about 58-59" wide which won't fit.

Perdue, these joints are rated up to 38* the cycle seems good. I thought about getting a double joint for up top to give it a little more room for error. I'll try it out and rework it if need. I wonder if I brought the initial shaft all the way down and mounted the heim lower if i could get any better angle.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

12-8 Doesn't look like much but there are some other things I got done, just no pics or worth mentioning. Got front fenders, inners, running boards top coated with herculiner.

made a bracket to mount my wire harness to. started routing some wires. made a dock in the center of cab so I can mount relays and grounds to. Got ebrake pedal in, came outta a 90's silverado. debating on putting my air tank behind my seat.

Going to be a tight squeeze in the bed and I don't want to move my bed height any more than it is.

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

Looking good 99! I had tight steering room on the 35 Chevy and ended up with a double about in the middle by the header...made a lot more room.

How do you like the harness?

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

thanks AD, harness seems good so far. Really easy to deal with Bob over there. He usually emails you right back on any questions. As for my steering, I'm gonna pull the whole unit up into the cab an inch or two and that should straighten out the joints alot more. Still might do a double joint up top, but I got working on some other things so I haven't gotten back to that.

I got my PWS bracket, just need a puller for my pulley so I can either get a new pump or clean mine up. Got my accuair valve coming, I'll explain more on that later. Trying to get wiring done enough to where I can just start the truck with the ignition. Been meaning to fire it back up and check the clutch.

Trying to get front clip back on soon, gotta make a fan shroud so I can have the fan come off and on incase it ever dies. I don't like the zip ties. Iv been short on money because of winter and xmas so I'm gonna be bouncing around alot again. This feels like the never ending build and I'v been through some things during this time so thats why she is called "49Hardtimes"

Re: 49' Patina bagged in PA
 

12-13 not alot of pics, but I did run some of my battery wires. I build this junction box for my kill switch that will be under the seat so I can just reach down and access it. Its almost done. I need a little more wire to complete the system. I used 10ft of each so far so I really only need about a ft or so of pos cable.

I did some printing for a somewhat local air ride supply shop. Traded for the VU4 manifold and the harness to run the AVS switch box. also got some fittings.

money has been real tight, esp with the holidays and 4 kids. So I'm gonna be skimping by with stuff to do. Got alot of wiring but I need to do alot of things bf that is finalized. Hoping to get front clip back on monday.