1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

The story starts in 2010 when I pulled this truck home for 1500 and a friends trailer that I almost broke because this thing is so heavy

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

The interior is was alright and it ran

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

I had dreams of what it could be, and this is where it started to eat my brain

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Or this

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

In my neighborhood they decided to remove the roads, curbs, and driveway aprons. So the church down the street says "park your cars in our lot until the work is done". They didnt expect my truck in there yard so they had it towed away. I found out where it is and the guy says "no paper work no truck" I said no paper work huge time delay for you, getting it out of the tow yard. My friend has a yard and it takes 3 months for DMV to clear vehicles. Here is 200. and I left with it. I hauled to my newly acquired yard. If you look at other projects I have done you see the yard where I take apart the trucks. And here she is after I pulled the cab

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

engine

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

I think I was stronger then because the cab was no big deal to take off. I had acquired an original 1/2 ton frame and had new dreams of a small truck. The frame got 500 and the motor got 500 with trans

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

I acquired a 40 took the bed for myself since it was an original GM bed parted out the rest

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Picked up a70 frame for free from a friend and my plans changed again. I could not believe the bumper bolted on and the running boards where in a good spot

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Put the cab on. I built a 305 motor for it. Put a 700r4 behind it and I was going

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Fit more pieces

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

fenders fit ok

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

frame cut for fenders

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

modified radiator support to fit frame

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Grill is in and now its is a driving truck

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

If you follow the other 42 project, I ended up selling it, so now I want a 1/2 ton again so it comes back in the shop to be disassembled. To go for the S10 project

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Disassemble

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

The new 305 went into the 49 Merc and I added TBI

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Time to pull the cab

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Up she goes

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

I have had this 89 rust van and finally quit driving it when the radiator blew

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

So out the motor comes

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

And she is out

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

So I post a free van on craigslist and its gone in an hour. No paper work, No wire harness no engine or trans and I put bad rollers on it

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

I set the motor in the 70 frame and it fits no problem. I pulled the plugs and they were very bad so I decided I better have the heads checked, because it over heated.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

So it turns out the heads were good so I had them cleaned and valves ground. The guy says these are low mile heads. Nice. Turns out they were replaced. Also the block had no wear. And its a 880 block with roller cam. The trans is a turbo 400. No Vortec heads but ok ones

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

So I detailed the motor a bit and put the cab back on the frame. Here is a cool tip. If you have a 70 Chevy steering box and you put a serpentine belt motor in it, with power steering you have a metric to sae fitting problem. Sure you can buy a hose with a fitting or adapters but why? Take the one inch nut off the back of the steering pump and replace it with your old one inch pump nut and now the hose fits. I love Chevy Trucks.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

And now you are all caught up. So where is my brain going on this? I cant get around the tall adapters to the chassis to use the S10 chassis. I got in a wreck with a truck that had a body lift and it fell apart. So I am on a course to make a flatbed again. Or maybe a custom bed or a service bed? Just saw this the other day

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

The 70 chassis works it already is modified to fit the 42 front clip, and now with TBI it will be as reliable as my work truck. Trying today to finish installing motor mounts then the starter. We will see.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Wow, you have been have too much fun with these old trucks!

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

No doubt. and this doesnt include all the other cars. 49 Merc woodie, 49 Ford woodie, 50 Ford woodie, 31 Ford woodie, 65 Chevy Truck, 53 Chevy Truck, and the 50 Studebaker Truck. Fortunately I am only working on the 49 Merc Woodie and this 42 right now. I want to drive this thing and be done with it.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Todays progress is... motor mounts finished. Starter is in. I rearranged the power steering hoses and put the radiator and core support in.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Ok now my next problem. While the cab was sitting in the shop on a dolly I was working on the 49 Olds Woodie. I finally got it to start after a long engine and trans rebuild. All assembled, radiator in, wires all complete, 6 volt system with a new Optima. Put a little gas in the NOS 2 barrel carb and it fires off. Launches across the shop and runs into my cab and my Tig welder. Wow what ride that was. If you don't know these cars don't have park. They have neutral and you use a parking brake. Well i was surprised that I wasnt quite adjusted on my brake handle. So the damage was minimal. One welding cart destroyed welder is fine. Cab has a few more dings but the big problem is the rods from the cab to the radiator support. Those are noodles now. So my question is, what is the measurement from the fire wall to the radiator support and the I will make new ones

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Off to the Oriellys to get 21660 upper hose for the radiator. Since the neck goes straight up on the 89 TBI intake and is 1 1/2 like a stock 42 it should work perfect. The lower I had laying around and went right on. Seems like I should have these already since this was together before. I am hoping that giving myself structure and writing down what I am doing is going to push me harder.

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

By the way, I really want to paint this truck but I want to get all my structure work figured out again. This truck was originally dark blue and that looks awesome

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Lots of good work. Keep it up and thanks for all the photos!

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Thanks Rickey
This pic is when the Green 42 was sitting on the 70 chassis and this 42 was sitting on the original chassis. Ugh my brain

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

Now my brain is "ate" lol. You got a lot of balls in the air with all of those cool projects!

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

No doubt. Thanks for looking.
Todays work is the upper radiator hose was a perfect fit so that is done. I cant do the headers until the bung and O2 sensor come, hopefully tomorrow. I figured out the hood is 35 inches so I think I am going to delete the old v rod and make some brackets off the front of the support, we will see. Started thinking about gas tanks and fuel lines. I threw the old tank in but not stoked sitting on the gas tank. started reading posts on this forum about different ideas. I like the 69 Blazer idea. Tank behind the axle. Had a few tanks laying around not liking. Managed to finish sand the Merc hood so maybe next week it gets paint. I have spent 2 months sanding, hamering, and filling a "straight hood" Thats it for today

Re: 1942 Chevrolet Flatbed that ate My Brain
 

more tanks