My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

I call it my Birth Control Truck, I already have 6 biological children and my wife has 2 from a previous marrage, but i,finally found my dream vehicle it's a 1950 Chevy 3100, it needs work but I feel that I got it at a very reasonable price.
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Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Nice! If your happy that's all that matters, it's your truck. Good luck, looks like you have some good parts there.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Anxious to follow along, any plans yet?

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Plan is to clean out the garage first, that's almost done. Separate the body and take inventory of what I have. Plan is to start from the ground up, chassis first refurbish that and get it painted, then update the suspension

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Looks like it already has the S10 chassis under it.

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Or is it just the front s10 sub frame?

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Yep S10 is there already, so that eliminates a step for me, just want to clean it up really nice and start replacing with new suspension, I was thinking coil over for better ride, bagging it is just too much out of my wallet.

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part of the reason the wheels look so far in is because they are super positive offset, like for a FWD or 4X4. if you intend to keep them, you will need spacers even with a 4x4 axle.

good start, but what is actually holding the cab on? I dont see any body mounts

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Yep the body is just sitting on top of the chassis, the seller literally just set the body on top, it's close but not exactly where it needs to be.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Ha, I didn't realize you already bought it. Alrighty then, here we go!

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An odd note I recently found in trying to get my truck ready for PA registration...spacers thicker than 1/4" are not allowed. So a correct track width rear end might be the way to go. (Subchapter E 175.65 (h)) Yep, I'm the nerd carrying around the PA registration paperwork trying to check it all off before paying for an inspection.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

I think they mean spacer spacers, like the kind you slide over the studs but still use the studs. at least that is what they call a spacer in kansas.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Well I just pulled out all the extras for the truck and I must say I just had X-Mass early but there are some things that are missing. But there is a lot i don't need to purchase.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Well looks like the paperwork is from Michigan originally so shouldn't be too much hassle to have that transfered here to pa and updated.
Looks like from all the patch pannels and extras that he had the cab is pretty much covered, he actually just offered me a manifold for the engine that's in the truck now.
I will say that the floor and about 1/4 to 1/2 of the firewall is missing rusted off. He said 2 of the pannels he had were for the floor but I wouldn't know myself just by looking at them.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

looks like you have most of it except rear bumper brackets!

the floor pieces are the two big L's, one has a circle hole and one has a big rectangle hole

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

It's nice to get all the parts with it. Makes getting it together go faster.

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A clean title is very handy. Mine was from Oklahoma. I had to get an inspection mechanic to my house to validate that the cab plate was correct with the title. So make sure that plate is on there. Also if the title doesn't have a weight rating, the inspection mechanic will have to verify the weight. PA form MV-41 is the one you're looking for.

I only say all this because there is no point in spending any more money until you know you're able to drive the finished product.

Awesome parts pile there. I see the two floor panels. the passenger side has the big opening for the traditional battery box cover. I don't see the battery box cover :(

No grill? I see the air dam for the grill though.

Steering column but no wiring harness. You might be better off just getting a wiring harness and steering column than trying to make that steering column work. If you're really keen on trying to use the S10 harness, I have one that I'm not going to use cause I went the route of getting a generic harness.

Brake booster but no pedal assembly from the S10. That's a bummer.

Nice to see the core support since you'll be able to use that to hang the front fenders for when you set the cab on its mounts and get everything lined up.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

:help:The best thing to start with is an assembly manual

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I will be getting manuals ordered by the weekend, yes there is still some things missing, like mainly the grill. But hopefully once I have the manual, and a new welder, I will get to cracking on the frame and body, I will be dropping the rear end to do the flip flop on the frame it is a shortbed s10.

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

I bet the guy has the grille on the wall in his garage haha. they are super popular wall hangers.

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That's a $350.00 dollar piece of art that needs to be on the front of a truck

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What are your thoughts on a welder? I tried to go the 110v route with a Lincoln 140 and was less than impressed with the results on welding the frame. I then went with a Hobart 190 and will never turn back. I run the welder off my dryer plug and a 50ft extension cable. It burns awesome for the thick stuff like frame mounts. I did a little body work on a lower setting and welded my transmission tunnel in the cab. All very nice even for an amateur.

Don't skimp on this tool. You'll use it a ton!

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Yea I was already looking and I'm up in the air right now, that's one thing I know I will be dropping some cash on but I will be using it a lot.

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I like the lincolns, 19 years ago for my birthday I bought a Lincoln 170T which is the same as a 170 plus with MIG but without infinite adjustable heat (it has 5 or 6 click settings). since then I have worked on about 30 trucks with it. it makes anyone look like a pro, its very confidence inspiring.

a lot of guys like Miller too, which I think is a good brand if just a little overhyped, and I have heard that Hobarts are Miller guts, so they are good too.

I say get a 220V MIG setup because you can always turn it down, but you can never turn a 110 flux UP. MIG is so much nicer for sheetmetal too. dot. dot. dot. dotdotdotdot. dot. oh look I am 1% done. :\

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

That's primarily the brand's I was looking at, biggest problem I have is that I don't have 220 in the garage but I could pull it from my laundry room.

I was looking at floor pans today, with the floor and part of the angled part of the firewall missing would it be worth it to purchase a complete floor pan to save time?

I started to to look at pullys, alts, starters, ext. For the engine I need to get this truck running anyone have a good resource to look at for the smallblock?

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Alan Grove components is a good source for pulleys and brackets

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a complete floor pan is a huge project to install because there are supports under the floor that have to be drilled on the spotwelds and left behind. but if your pan is truly gone, it might be a better option.


I gave this advice in your other thread, but try to avoid spreading your money and time around. mount the body, fix the floor, get it running. none of those tasks are a "sunday afternoon to monday morning" kind of project. I have seen a lot of projects on this website come and go, more than get finished. the guys who finish stick to a plan. the guys who buy parts build box forts and sell the project when its time to actually start working because a huge pile of parts is daunting.

just being real with you. I want to see it finished as much as you do, I love seeing these old trucks cruising around.

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Yea I hear ya, I think putting more TIME into the project will be the better option, I'm going make Momma happy by getting the basement finished " only trim left" thankfully I busted my butt the last year and it's almost finished 95% was done myself.

But in the meantime I will be able to get my manuals here and start looking at all the specs, get the truck setup in the garage and pull off the body getting a better look at it and the chassis.

Once it's in the garage I will post pics of the cab and get opines for the gallery on the best way to tackle the cab floor.
I did find out that the chassis is a 96 and the trans isn't standard it auto, which would exlain the chevy auto steering column. It did come with petals and another bracket I believe for the petals but I'm not 100.

I won't be purchasing anything but essential tools and components like I was advised to get the body mounted and engine running.

I also have my son's first car outside that needs a little work done on it. But at least it is driveable needs a new chapter axle and lower control arm it's pretty much his X-Mass gift.

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I could be over reacting based on what I see myself about the cab floor but for what I paied for it and the fact that I have a lot of patch pannels lower doors, cab corners, rockers, kickplates, floor plates and all the extras I think I have enough metal there to pretty much rebuild the entire floor pan.

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I had a 49 that looked pretty rust free but some jackhole shot up the truck from the back and one bullet popped out the windshield seal, not a hole, but pushed it out away from the metal and water just poured in and sat on the floor. the floor in front of the seat was probably 85% gone but behind the seat it was better, and those two patch panels you have fixed it. I drilled all the spot welds and left the structure under the floor and then laid down the new floor and welded it to the supports again. there was some rust on the firewall but flat sheet took care of it.

if your floor sounds like that, you may not need a whole cab floor. honestly, if your plans are for a cool retro cruiser you may find you dont want to replace literally everything thats rusted just yet.

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Ok well that concerns me a little now from your explanation of your cab, there is literally nothing in the bottom of the cab.

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sounds like all the floor supports are gone too. how about a picture?

does the entire floor replacement come with the supports on it? I dont remember

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I will get more pics up, but the main supports are still there I believe all the sheet metal is gone. I do believe it comes with the supports.

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if all the supports are still there it sounds like your job is halfway done! use the patch panels you have and under the seat just use flat sheetmetal, 16ga oughta do it.

cutting out the supports will let the body sag, it may be imperceptible or it may be obvious, but cutting out the supports means you need to brace the body laterally and diagonally beforehand. that makes it fun to get the complete floor in too haha

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Lady luck is falling my way for the floor pans just part of the firewall and the part in front of the seat mount is going to need repair.

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All the extra parts for the truck were packed inside the cab when I was taking pictures so it was hard to see everything.

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I'm not the one who did the rear end swap. I happened to have had a long bed already. This thread is the most recent I can think of, but not very descriptive

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=750872

Anytime you're in E-town, give me a holler. I'm maybe 15 minutes from there.

This might be the link everyone talks about. Photobucket broke the pictures, so I "borrowed" them for you

https://www.killbillet.com/showthrea...-(step-by-step)

Normally what guys use for these swaps is a long bed regular cab S10 because the wheel base is almost perfectly matched to the 48 truck's 116" wheelbase. My donor is a short bed and only 108" so I had to correct this issue. The cool thing is that the front leaf spring mounts are riveted to the frame. I just popped the rivets out, moved teh mounts back 8" and drilled new holes and bolted them on with grade 8 bolts. the rear hole on the bottom could not be bolted due to interference with some bracing so I just plug welded that hole and welded around that end of the mount.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4735/...60bb432ee6.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4587/...df411e1da5.jpg

Now for the rear mounts. The rear mount is kinda built into the frame:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4682/...4a83065391.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4643/...7fac923185.jpg

...so I couldn't slide those back very easily. So after a little measuring I cut the last 11" off the frame on both sides and swaped them side to side effectively moving the rear mounts back 8".

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4635/...ff2a7c1852.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4681/...5594af9d17.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4733/...26206a0521.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4685/...a19a718687.jpg

Then we threw the springs and 8.8 under it:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4689/...374bb7d407.jpg

Re: My Dream 1950 Chevy
 

Thanks GIG now I have an idea of what I need to do when I cross that bridge

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Two items. I put in a 220v with about $40 worth of parts from home depot. I am not an electrician at all! I cheated by just making one end of the junction box a dryer plug then added two outlets...one dryer, one welder. Plug the dryer into the new dryer plug and welder when you need it. I then got a 50ft welding cable from Amazon and voila, welder in the garage :)

I would heed JoeDoh's message not to gather a bunch of parts too soon. That's how I burned money early on was getting stuff I thought I would need. By the time I got to that point in the project, I had learned enough to realize I needed different stuff.

My 350 came without any accessory drive. I got a new starter. I spent a boat load of money getting that stupid thing running. A few ways to research:

1. Will it be cheaper to find a donor 350 that rebuild that one?
2. It will be cheaper to find the full accessory drive from a late model truck like a Silverado. I believe mine was from a 1995 Chevy 1500. On CL or eBay, you can grab the whole set of brackets and pulleys for maybe $200. eBay search "sbc 350 serpentine" you'll see what I mean.
3. Hit up a junk yard and pull all the accessories from a 350.

The most expensive way is to do what I did...source each part new and try and hobble it together only to turn around and have to go with option #2 because there are a hundred options that don't work together haha.