rookie 48 restoration

[BILL48]

Hello everyone my name is Bill and i.m up here in the great white north of Canada. i,ve been floating around this site for a while reading and studying your projects, and finally decided to join in. i,m impressed at how everybody gives each other help and advice on their projects and experience and was hoping i can share mine and get some well needed advice from others. My project is a 1948 1\2 ton chevy i,ve owned it since Oct-2010, its a truck i,ve always wanted to restore and looked for one for a while but around here trying to find something that the salt has not eaten is kinda rare unless you want to pay large for a southern truck. but i got lucky and found a decent one.Anyway my project is started and i will try as best i can to keep you all updated. Thank you

[Atommik]

Welcome to the forum, from the not as far north as you, Minnesota!! There are alot of creative, knowledgeable and helpful people on this site. Your truck looks to be in pretty good shape!! Enjoy the build process!!

Tom

[BILL48]

Thanks tom , i have been following your build and i gotta say your doing an awsome job , and like everyone else has said love those head lights. I was wondering if you had any pics of your rad support and what you did around your steering box , i put a 88 monte clip on mine and my steering box is interfering with my rad support. Looking at the s10 box and it looks smaller than the monte box. Thanks ....bill

[BILL48]

Thanks ogre.. Truck tin is not too bad mostly the hidden parts of the cab that are rough and the right side of the roof is caved in , must of ran into a tree lol. I am planning on replacing the roof with a 5 window roof that i did some trading for want to keep it looking as original as posible on the outside . Reclipped the front with a monte clip and put a chassis enginering rear spring kit in it with a 70 nova 10 bolt rear diff. I will post some pics soon of my progress. ...thanks ....bill

[Atommik]

Bill,
I cut off about 3-4 inches of the rad supprt and welded some 1 1/2 angle across the bottom. Now it clears the steering box. I will need to find a different radiator though. I built a lower rad support off the frame rails. I don't think I took a pic of that. Basically I welded a 1" square tube across the bottom of the frame rails at the front, then made a pair of triangle shaped braces off of that with a piece of 1 1/2 angle iron across the top for the rad support to sit on. I've got a couple of rubber spacers between the support and the brace I made. I'll try to take a pic, but the fenders and grill are on the truck right now. They will be coming off soon because my motor mounts will be here tomorrow and I am going to try to find time to install the motor this weekend, so I'll have it torn down again.
Tom

[1952ssr]

I am SOOOOOOOOOO digging your trucks patina w/ those red wheels. It will look even sweeter once it setting lower after clipping it. Real nice truck.

[FarmerSid]

Originally Posted by Atommik

Welcome to the forum, from the not as far north as you, Minnesota!! There are alot of creative, knowledgeable and helpful people on this site. Your truck looks to be in pretty good shape!! Enjoy the build process!!

Tom

Might wanna check a map Tom! You are actually farther north. LOL!

Nice truck you got going Bill48. Any updates?

[Atommik]

Yeah I guess a little geography refresher class would do me some good!!

[BILL48]

Thanks farmer Sid , sorry its been a while, not too much accomplished for a while between work and winter not much time spent in the garage. I did get the box set on the frame to check clearances and it all looks good a friend of mine brought me out some cab mounts and rear bumper brackets so I'm going to see how they fit, not much else but am planning on getting back to it very soon and will post some picks and more updates ..thanks guys Bill
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[BILL48]

Well here is a couple pics with the box sitting on every thing lines up good and wheels are centered in wells, but the nova diff is a little narrow. i did aquire a 78 trans am with a posi and 4spd so i will swap it out for that one, unfortunately I will have to wait till the ground dries up a bit or if we get another deep freeze so I can get in to pull it out. I'm not in a hurry so I can wait till it dries up (done with the deep freeze part haha), next I am going to tackle the box going to make new box sides I can reuse the 2 middle cross braces but will have to get new front and rear one as the old ones are rotted too bad ......Bill
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[_Ogre]

restore, restomod or full blown custom, we do them all
good looking original tin you have there.
what are your plans for the truck?

i'm into the newer trucks myself, i'll look but can't comment on the older stuff too much.
you have about the same weather as here in michigan, poor atommik has probably been ice fishing already
welcome to the forum

[BILL48]

ogre i checked out your build thread and gotta say you do amazing fiberglass work your truck looks awesome.

[_Ogre]

thanks bill48
my fiberglass work got a little out of control
first total rebuild for me,
we're all rookies at some point

nice jig, should make getting the front sheet metal installed easier

[ChuckDriver]

Awesome work with the jig! Doing a 5 window conversion??

[BILL48]

Thanks chuckdriver yes i am doing a 5 window conversion my old roof was caved in on the rt front corner plus it is a little bit see through in some spots around the windows, i did pick up a nice 5 window roof and soon will be doing the switch , if anyone else has done this and has some insight or pics that would be appreciated. Thanks .....bill

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by BILL48

Thanks chuckdriver yes i am doing a 5 window conversion my old roof was caved in on the rt front corner plus it is a little bit see through in some spots around the windows, i did pick up a nice 5 window roof and soon will be doing the switch , if anyone else has done this and has some insight or pics that would be appreciated. Thanks .....bill

Look at my build thread for how I did my 5 window conversion, but if your roof is caved in you will likely want to do it differently than I did.

[BILL48]

here are some pics of the 5 window roof and the frame with the monte clip

[BILL48]

Well the frame is out getting sandblasted this week and should have it back in couple of days, then i can get it painted with por15 and start assembling the suspension. In the meantime i sandblasted and painted my spindles and blasted my door hinges so i can put new pins in them.I picked up my rear leaf spring conversion kit this past weekend and can't wait to start putting it all together

[BILL48]

Originally Posted by BILL48

Hello everyone my name is Bill and i.m up here in the great white north of Canada. i,ve been floating around this site for a while reading and studying your projects, and finally decided to join in. i,m impressed at how everybody gives each other help and advice on their projects and experience and was hoping i can share mine and get some well needed advice from others. My project is a 1948 1\2 ton chevy i,ve owned it since Oct-2010, its a truck i,ve always wanted to restore and looked for one for a while but around here trying to find something that the salt has not eaten is kinda rare unless you want to pay large for a southern truck. but i got lucky and found a decent one.Anyway my project is started and i will try as best i can to keep you all updated. Thank you

my build thread [URL="http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/member.php?u=118656"]

[99 to Life]

Luv the patina as well, looks very similar to my recent addition 49'. Luv the rims and tires too. Can't wait to see this truck come to life. Jig is cool too.

[BILL48]

Well my frame is back from the sandblaster and tucked back in the garage, this weekend weather is supposed to be decent so i can hopefully paint it with the door open. I'm wondering if anyone can give me some in sight or photos on adding rear cab mount brackets to the bottom of my cab. I have to because the truck only came with a single mount in the center....thanks..bill

[BILL48]

Weather wasn't too bad this past weekend so i was able to get the frame and diff housing painted. Going to start fitting leaf spring kit this coming week .

[BILL48]

I Started to test fit the rear spring conversion kit, it's fitting nicely i'm impressed with the brackets they are lining up perfectly.

[99 to Life]

looks good. I think you'd be way better off just finding a 5 window. Do all the moch ups and prep work with your cab now, you can still do mounts. That way you'd have time to work on everything else in hops of a cab popping up. JMO though.

[oldman3]

BILL48, like what I'm seeing with your build, will keep an eye on it...Jim