49 3600, s10 swap, project boogie

[joedoh]

thanks! there is a lot of lichen built up and the rear fenders are 47-55, but I am still pretty tickled.

[99 to Life]

I'm drooling on that truck, perfect patina, just super nice find. I want to be jealous!!!

[lower50's]

Sweet find

[joedoh]

thanks it would be nice to bring it home, sunday was too cold and today I forgot was a holiday, so tomorrow should be ok to tow. I think I have a line on some rear fenders, Ive got time for all that though. Need to get on the guy who traded me the 91 longbed, when I finish the 49 I will start the 46 and want to have the title in hand. it is his truck, but titled in his parents name and they have passed, so he needs a trip to topeka to get a dup. I like having the paperwork square first.

I cut the frame horns today, no more shin bruises.

wire feed issues behind me, welder working well. got the rear cab mounts on and tacked.



for those on the fence about the switch magnets...

just click the switch off and all that fuzz falls off.

I have adopted some safety policies, always use gloves, always use full face shield when grinding, long sleeves, and most importantly, wait around 30 minutes after you weld. 30 minutes is about how long it takes for a stray spark to smolder into a fire. I wish I was still a smoker, which may sound counter intuitive haha, but it helps pass the time after sweeping up. I am saying this because it may help someone else, not because I think people are interested in the minutia of my life, thats what instagrape and facebanana are for.

I think I will stab the motor next, I have the mounts but this is a 2.8 frame so you have to PULL THE CONTROL ARMS to get the motor mounts out. no I am not kidding, they are nut/bolt. I think I may just get the springs out and tack weld the nuts to the frame, problem solved.

[Advanced Design]

Good safety policies Joedoh. Thanks for the lead on the switch magnets. Mine came in and are really useful. They are stronger than my standard welding magnets and I don't have the struggle with keeping them clean.

[joedoh]

spotted these on craigslist before dinner, thought about it and went and picked them up. dont know what I will use them for just yet, but for the price this is the nicest set of original boyds I have seen since they were available new.



the guy was a sheetmetal king, had these beauties in the garage. thats a 60s olds hardtop roof and he made the doors fit the olds windows. I was staggered, the metal work was flawless.

he said he has had this car 40+ years, been finished 23.

[lower50's]

Glad your welder is fixed, nothing more frustrating. Good call on the safety tips. I use them too. Also when I lock up shut lights off then look and listen for a second. You don't want your baby to get hurt.

[FarmerSid]

Those magnets are awesome. I follow MOST of your safety policy..

[joedoh]

oh yeah? what part do you skip? the face shield? I use cut off wheels in my grinder and the face shield has saved my eyesight a couple times.


Time was when I would borrow a trailer and beg some help and spend hours crawling around on the frozen ground to save a couple bucks. I have gotten smarter, hell even walmart oil changes are a bargain if you use good oil and double check the drain plug. So I ordered a tow, 130 bucks and a total bargain. Because the truck bought on the statement that it rolled, didnt, the brakes were frozen solid. and the tires were flat on widowmaker rims. I cant even imagine how hardcore I would have to be to attempt this with a borrowed trailer.


time to shake it off, no not the taylor swift joint, he literally had to use the hydraulics to shake the truck off the flatbed. I was so fascinated I forgot a vid but he put it right where I wanted it. if you pay attention, the wheels havent rotated at all haha. not regretting the tow x100


wife aggravate, activate! actually she loves this one, this is her favorite of them all.


I couldnt get the doors open when I looked at it, the seller jumped in the window to try and get the doors open but I lack the svelte physique. rather than looking like the truck was birthing a large baby (I have a hilarious story about climbing in a sunroof I might tell sometime), I fiddled around with the door latch, easy because the drivers window is off the track. and viola!


Then I shut it. HUBRIS! no amount of fiddling opened it again. I finally got the can of penetrant and was able to duplicate my accidental success about 10 hours later.


it came with a spare passenger door, so I have to assume there is something wrong with it. If not, I will sell the extra door!


More on the 49 soon, this was a fun distraction but I actually have progress on the 49.

[99 to Life]

So when am I coming to pick this truck up with a 2x4 s10 and tow dolly!!!!! hahahah the days of my bravery are behind me. I feel yah, on just payin for the tow and not risking all the BS and time you can save doing other things. I dread towing stuff these days, prolly cause I have no trailer brakes and my trailer lights need rewired almost every time I use it):
x's 2 on the face shield, had a chunk of metal fling up and bust my shield one time, scary to think what it would have done hitting my mouth or eyes.
I luuuuuv your new addition, killer patina.

[Coach529]

Amazing catch on the '46....love it!!

[joedoh]

thanks, I cant wait to pressure wash it and see what is lurking under all that lichen and muck

[rusty76]

Such a cool truck dude. I'm in for the build whenever you get there. Oh man I love that truck.

[WorkinWrenchs]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I have adopted some safety policies, always use gloves, always use full face shield when grinding, long sleeves, and most importantly, wait around 30 minutes after you weld. 30 minutes is about how long it takes for a stray spark to smolder into a fire. I wish I was still a smoker, which may sound counter intuitive haha, but it helps pass the time after sweeping up. I am saying this because it may help someone else, not because I think people are interested in the minutia of my life, thats what instagrape and facebanana are for.

I think I will stab the motor next, I have the mounts but this is a 2.8 frame so you have to PULL THE CONTROL ARMS to get the motor mounts out. no I am not kidding, they are nut/bolt. I think I may just get the springs out and tack weld the nuts to the frame, problem solved.

Agreed with the safety policy, I follow all of those also. I ordered the Uvex Bionic Face Shield and cant wait for it to get here, should be tomorrow. Going to replace my bulky HF face shield.

Also what motor mounts are you going to be using? I have the same chassis with the 2.8L so thanks for the heads up on the bolts/nuts issue I may just weld the nuts to the frame as well.

[lower50's]

Sweet new project. If you don't mind how much did you pay for the '46?

[joedoh]

workin I have some universal weld on mounts from speedway that use the 3 bolt mounts from 70s-80s v8 gm on the engine side. I was up in the air, i also have some new transdapt 4.3 to V8 mounts that would move the engine 5 inches, but I learned on the 47 that 5 inches was just slightly not enough to use the stock fan. I thought about tracing them with the plasma and making them 6.5 inches, and still may, but right now I have the weld ons slated to use.

lower50s I paid less than a lot and more than a little

It was a better deal and in better shape than a lot of trucks I have seen sell quickly on craigslist, I think because they only had the ad set up for craigslist relay emails, a lot of people nowadays wont even reply unless there is a phone number to text or call because their attention span doesnt allow for anything except instantaneous gratification. but you have to be comfortable with emailing the ethers and waiting for a reply. I sent a couple emails and even though I wasnt first, I was the only one ready to go look at a moments notice, so I made the drive, made an offer, and was successful.

its really in nice shape, the rear fenders will cost a penny but maybe I can find a complete bed by the time I need it.

[northern 49]

Really like your projects. I liked slow ride, I think your engine choice was great, not just another small block chev.(such as the one I have) Those safety rules are words to live by. I'm a body man and we practice all those rules in the shop. Even with a face shield I have had to get metal removed from my left eye twice. I tend to wear goggles now quite a bit even under my shield some times.

[joedoh]

thanks man, yeah the 2.2 really polarized people, I used to get all kinds of crappy private messages and emails about how I ruined a perfectly good truck. I offered them all refunds on whatever they spent on it haha.

motor mount removal tonight. for you brave s10 swappers, if you happen to get an earlier frame, the motor mount bolts dont have nutserts like the later ones, the nut isnt captured, its got a real spinning nut on the backside necessitating removal of the springs. I have to remove them anyway to bag it and extend the lowers, and I gave them every chance, took out the first four, all 3 drivers and the top passenger side, but after dropping a 15 mm wrench down in the frame I had enough and took the lower 2 passenger bolts out with my trusty grinder. I took the steering off, it will all be replaced, box and linkage both, and started scraping the frame.


I got the unloaded front end apart in a couple minutes by loosening (but not removing) the upper and lower balljoint castle nuts and getting the joints loose by banging them lightly with a sledge till they both popped. the lower castle nut spun off by hand and the whole thing separated. your results may vary and please use a lot of caution with springs. I have found though that with a bare frame there is almost no tension on the front springs.

[99 to Life]

Ah some of the several annoyances on dime swaps. on my 51' I cut a small rectangle in front xmember so I can get a wrench and nut under there so I could bolt my mounts back to the frame. I can't even remember right now what I did on my last one. I don't recall it being as hard, though I feel like I moved engine back more than on my 51' ahhhh even with all my notes, its all a blur. I'm actually glad to be working with a stock frame, don't have to worry so much about this and that. on my 49' I had no reference points for the stock cab mounts, so it made it way harder than it needed to be lining it up.

[joedoh]

I love working on these trucks because I have met some of the neatest people in my life since, this forum included. today I answered an ad for a cheap oem 47-53 grille, the guy was nice and had some beat up running boards he threw in. I picked them up at house he was working on, he is a carpenter and pretty talented, the whole house was made from reclaimed materials. the floors were old warehouse floors, the front door was the original double door from the downtown sears robuck, it even had a sticker from the 40s still on the glass. but what I really flipped over was the bedroom door, I have seen a lot of warehouse sliding doors with rollers on top but this one was completely supported by the right side of the door with a complicated gear/lever setup.

here is the only other picture I took, sorry, I was flabbergasted at every corner. the newel post caps were backlit onyx, the outside stairs were ornate iron with wood.


after that I cleaned up the rails with some simple green

shuffled the frame around to get the cherry picker out and hooked up to the motor.

trimmed the steel mounts

and zapped them in with the caulking gun
worked on the tranny crossmember for a bit, I may do something different here though


tomorrow i will extend the lowers to match my extended uppers. then once the spindles are back on its time to test fit the cab

[99 to Life]

nice progress, yeah always like meeting cool people that see the world through in a diff dimension. unlike most the cheap ass, fake, cookie cutter, selfish, jagoffs you end up coming across in world.

[lower50's]

That is a really cool door hinge. LOL calking gun.

[joedoh]

I cant take credit for that, chip foose said it haha

[joedoh]

I didnt like that trans crossmember, so I modified the stock one.





I got it bolted in (well good enough) and decided instead of modifying the lowers I would test fit the cab. My reasoning is, there is always time to add to the list, but never worry about what comes next if you havent done what comes first. the more complete the truck, the better chances of being motiviated. So I put the front suspension together. I cut little more than a loop off the springs to make it easier to assemble, I will do spindles or bags or probably both on this truck so dont kill me over cutting some roll aorund springs haha. I always flatten the end of the spring where I cut the loop off, habit.


rolled it out and popped on the cab. forgot the old shackle mounts were still on the bottom of the cab DOH

thats better



I have to trim the trans tunnel to let it hit the front mounts but I tell ya, it looks dead on. I might call my new sheetmetal friend (you can see I put the boyds on the front, you know, to make sure the front was level haha) and see if he can pop me out a replacement panel for the trans cover. I moved the motor 6.5 inches and probably could have done 8 easy. nice that all my body carts are empty and there is more room in the garage now too!

[99 to Life]

making it look easy