Project No Time '49

[cleanshaven84]

It's all good. It's a 4x4 rear out of a 97 blazer. Supposedly it was rebuilt 2500 miles ago. Before I run it I plan to take the cover off just to make sure its in good shape. I'm hoping I will only have to run spacers up front. Haven't picked out a wheel design yet but I think some 10" wide wheels in the back would look really good. I'm either going to run some steel wheels with baby moons or find a nice set of 20's.

[99 to Life]

cool, your good to go then, I prolly asked this question before.

[cleanshaven84]

Now we are making some progress! Today was the first day working on the actual '49 and man did I get some work done. I got home from work around 4:15 and went straight to the shop. By 7:30, all I had left was a rolling chassis with a motor and cab. Not bad for just one person, lol. Unfortunatly every bolt except the hood and bumper bolts were completely rusted. So out came the cutting torch. It feels good to finally be making some noticable progress. Tomorrow after work I'll start getting the cab ready to remove and hopefully have it off the old frame. Anyways, enough talk. On to the pics.



Drivers cab corner. Looks like I have some cancer to fix. The passenger side isn't quite as bad.






Thought this was pretty cool. Under all the grime someone had scratched in the firing order.


Years and years of dirt.




Here is how it sits after 3 hours. Ready to start on it again tomorrow.

[99 to Life]

awesome progress, feels great getting something torn down and cleaned up. Gettin that steering column off the box is a PITA. You might wanna just cut it off down by the box cause if you reuse the column like I did, you'll have to cut some off anyway. Keep up the work, it will come. I managed to get mine done in about a year worth of only weekends and I had little to no tools and no experience at the time hauled everything with a 2x4 s-10 and tow dolly. Now I have 5 more AD's and a slew of other projects, a trailer and tow rig, some tools and working on space to put all my stuff. It all just takes time.

[cleanshaven84]

Made more headway tonight. After spending a good hour pressure washing the front trying to remove years of gunk build up, I got the steering column disconnected (99 wasn't lying about that being a pain), removed some old wiring, removed all the pedals, got the cab unbolted from the frame, and removed both doors. I also found the casting number on the side of the block. Come to find out, it's a 228. Guess GMC's had a different inline 6 than the Chevy's. I also managed to get the speedo out of the dash. The numbers where faded on the mileage so I took it apart and found out that it only read 19,xxx miles! Now I know that's not the correct milage because when I was removing the guage, I noticed the speed cable was disconnected. Either way, thought it was cool that it read low milage. I also found a date on the back of the speedo that just further confirmed that this is a '49 truck. It reads "Oct 27 1949." I love finding little things like that, lol. I didn't get any pics because my phone died but just before it did I got a pic of the date. I'll have more pics tomorrow after we set the cab on the S10 frame for the first time.

When I bought the truck my friend told me it was a '50. I searched and found that the VIN said it was a '49. This is the back of the speedo showing the date making me feel even more confident that it is actually a '49.

[cleanshaven84]

Had a BIG day today! I made it out to the shop around 1-2 this afternoon and by 10pm, the '49 had a new chassis. Setting the cab was the easy part but wow did we have a time aligning the front sheet metal. It was measure, then cut, measure, then cut some more. Finally I was able to thow in some temporary bolts in the fenders while I work on the next step. This next week I should have some cab mounts mocked up and possibly installed. I really like how the stance is too. I believe once it's all said and done with the motor/tranny mounted and the correct wheels in place, it will end up being about and inch or two higher than how it sits now. It's been a really busy past two days to get to this point. Ready to have some mounts done so it can be set permanently.



The old 228


Sitting on its new chassis.


Front sheet metal mocked in place


Threw the grill and hood on just for giggles

[99 to Life]

great progress, congrats. Hopefully you can sell off that frame and engine and not have to scrap it. Someday that stuff will be all gone and I think alot of folks are gonna wanna start using inlines again. Without researching the 228 might have babbit bearings, hopefully it don't.

[cleanshaven84]

What are babbit bearings?

[99 to Life]

oh thats what the earlier inlines used. Instead of insert bearing like 235' and new engines use. Babbits are more pain than they are worse when they go bad. But people that have a good running engine with babbits like them, its just if something goes wrong with them, its not economical to have them redone as it is in 235 per say. But again, I don't know about the GMC's off hand, that could be an insert engine but I'd say since it is basically like a 216 and from that era I'd lean towards it being babbit, I should just look now lol.

[cleanshaven84]

Well, no progress so far this week. Looks like it will be saturday before I get back to it. I did get a nice surprise today though. The cab bushings I ordered on monday showed up today. This are actually CJ5-7 cab mounts but they will be perfect for what I need. They are an inch tall and almost 3 inches wide. I got 14 of them for less than $40! I still have to do some final adjusting on the cab and make my cab mounts but hopefully by Saturday night the cab will be setting solid on the frame.





Hey 99, do you have a good shot of where you placed your front cab mounts? I remember you saying that they were right at the bend in the frame but from the looks of where mine will hit, they will be slightly behind it. Just looking for some refrences. Thanks!

[BILL48]

Looking good so far, your doing a great job keep up the good work. i know what you mean about small garages mine is 20x20 and overcrowded. but thats what sheds and tarps are for lol.

[99 to Life]

No Time, here is a pic, nothing great by any means. I can get some better ones. I got poly bushings and they cost me like 80 bucks, wish I would have gotten these. sheeesh

[cleanshaven84]

That's true BILL. I have most of my parts behind my shop so I can actually do some work in my shop, lol. Between all the wood working tools and auto tools, I barley have room for the '49.

Thanks 99. That looks to be really close to where mine will end up.
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[gregw98]

Question about body support brackets.
Am I understanding that you and '99 to Life' are mounting the cab floor 4 inches off (above) the S10 frame?

[99 to Life]

gregw98, I originally planned on 3.5" but it was a PITA to do it myself, with the cab on and I had to drill through half inch steel then through frame. My 4x4 was a scrap piece I got from a welding shop, I couldn't find 4x4 with a 3/16" wall anywhere. Anyway, by the time I got it all done, I'm about 4" from top of frame to top of cab mount with bushing and washer on top. It would be way easier to put your bushing on top of your mount with washer, measure from washer to top of frame, clamp to frame and weld it up. Surely the route I'm going on my next project.

[99 to Life]

here is my overkill cab mounts. complete nightmare bolting these up to frame never again will I be doing that. anyway, just cap off the top, drill out your hole for bushing, or punch the hole out like did and its that easy to make a custom mount.

[cleanshaven84]

How tall are your mounts 99? I was thinking of doing mine around 6" tall.

Greg, I decided on 4" because after some research I was seeing that anything less is a little too much. I was going to do 3.25" but after getting a good deal on the lowering coils I decided on the 4". Plus it just seemed that anything over 4" was just too much gab between the frame and cab. And that 4" is from the actual floor of the cab to the top of the frame. From the cab brace under the floor to the frame is around 3"-3.5". My plan is to bolt the mounts with the cab bushings intact to the cab before doing any welding and then once they are tightened I will line then up, clap them to the frame, then weld it in place. I'll take some pics when I do it and post them here.

[99 to Life]

I think mine are like 8" tall, not sure I'll have to measure. Better long than short. Yeah 4" seems like the money shot.

[gregw98]

I plan on using the S10 donuts cushions with my frame mounts. I will have a total height of 4 inches for the front bushings, then set the rears at 3.5 inches and go from there with the front cap. This is about the only part of this transformation that scares me a little. I have no doubt that I can get this done, but I want to get it right and not try to re-invent the wheel. So, I am all ears. Thanks for your help guys.

[99 to Life]

Am I following you correctly on 4" front and 3.5 rear? I'd just do 4" all round. You'll be fine. It is nice to have front fenders, running boards, bed and fenders all moched up too, help you keep the cab square. From what I remember trying to center up the cab wasn't so cut and dry left to right. But I did check it. Easier to reference from the back of the cab.

[cleanshaven84]

I agree. I'd definitely do a 4" gap on all four corners otherwise your cab will be leaning back on the frame. I currently have my cab and front cap bolted together and that helped me to mock up the frontend. I even threw my hood on just to make sure it fit good. I'm still about a half inch out of square on the drivers side but with a little adjustment to the rear on that side I should be good. Once thats all on I plan to set the bed on too just to make sure the rear tires line up with the rear fender wells. Another thing to keep in mind is if you are doing all this fitting without a motor and tranny, I have been suggested to line the front wheels an 1" forward of center of the wheel well. With the weight of the motor and tranny, your front suspension will tend to "settle" back a little. That is how I have mine lined up. I have seen a few builds where guys have put the wheels center of the wheel well and then once the motor and tranny are installed, the front end looks like it has an overbite because the wheels settled back some. And don't let it scare ya bud. Just have patience, patience, and more patience, lol. Don't rush it and just take your time.

[cleanshaven84]

Worked a little more on the '49 tonight. Finished up fitting the body on the frame. Also started making the body mounts. Still have some cleaning up to do on them and have to weld in the top plate. I made the front mounts out of 2x3 tubing and the rears out of 3x4 tubing.Tomorrow I'll buy some body bolts and hopefully have everything bolted down. More pics to come.

[99 to Life]

No time, ahh some thick mounts, just like mine. Don't miss those. Anyway, I'm sure your bed is just sitting there but it looks high. I' sure once you get your running boards on and level that will tell you your bed height. As far as engine and trans squat, I don't think its as big a deal as people think. If you line the center of your front hub with center of front fender, center rear fender with center of back tires you should be fine. It is nice to get everything on and moched up so if you wanna move something a little here or there you can get a happy medium of centering your wheels. Looks like your on the right track.

[cleanshaven84]

The bed was sitting a little high in that pic. I mocked up the running boards and it looks like it needs to come down around 2 inches. There's no bed floor in it now so it was just sitting on some 2x4's just so I could get the wheels centered up.

I did a lot of work on it yesterday. I was in my shop from 10am to midnight. I finished up my cab mounts and got them semi-welded on and then also managed to get my motor and tranny mocked up. It doesn't sound like much but man it was a lot of work just doing those two things. I'm still trying to figure out how I will mount the motor but from the looks of it, all I have to do is take the front bolt hole in the mount and line it up with the rear bolt hole in the crossmemeber and that should move it back just enough for the fan to clear the radiator. Not qute sure though how that's all going to work out. So now the next step is to figure out the motor mounts, then build a tranny crossmember, and then order a radiator so I can finish mocking up the radiator support. After all that's done, I'll move on to mounting the running boards. Still a lot of work to do but it's moving forward nicely. Here's a few pics from yesterday.



Ignore my ugly welds, lol. This isn't the finished product. These were more for just holding the mounts on until I can get the body back off and really weld them good.




I slid the radiator support in just to see the clearance for the fan.


We also set the front sheet metal on to check for clearance. It fit's pretty nicely in there.

[cleanshaven84]

Here's a few more.

Here's what I was talking about with the motor mounts. Need to figure out a bracket to make to make this work. I was kind of think about some thick plate steel.




Like it belongs there, lol.


With the weight of the motor, the front dropped another inch or so. The front is sitting really low now. I'm hoping that once I get some bigger tires installed it will bring it up some. Right now you couldn't get a coke can under the front fender.


Thought this was a cool pic my friend took while I was welding on the cab mounts. Don't worry, he had on a welding shield.