1949 Chevy 3100 Build Thread

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

So the outside air comes thru the other tube and just blows in where the filter sits?..are you going to build a housing around the filter?

Maybe but I'm done with the inner fender. Painter picks up on the 30th! I might fab a heat shield that clamps onto the filter but I don't know, probably not. Diminishing reaturns at this point. It's a stock 5.3 and it won't get terribly hot under the hood. There's plenty of room to build a closed system in the inner fender but I'm keeping everything as simple as possible. My goal is 300 ponies in 2500 lb truck.

[e015475]

I like your cold air approach - I may steal a few of your ideas if you don't mind.

A little anecdotal story - I'd taken the factory paper filter and ductwork off of my 2003 GMC and installed a K&N filter directly upstream of the MAF. I was curious how much temperature the filter saw in its new location, so I put a thermocouple on the filter and hooked it up to a Fluke meter to see what the temp was driving to work one day. I compared the temp at the air filter to a analog temp gauge (the kind the ac tech sticks in your dash to measure temps) that I'd wedged between the door window and the weatherseal to sample the ambient temp.

The difference was about 10-15 degrees with the truck sitting in traffic, but as soon as I'd start moving it was maybe half that. I concluded that the cold air intake wouldn't give that dramatic a result and it wasn't worth going to the trouble of rerouting the intake to the inner fender on my daily driver

For my '49 though, I'd sure like to keep the engine bay as uncluttered as possible and really like the idea you have to push the filter through the inner fender.

On the comment of '300 hp and 2500#' - I had similar goals for my truck, but wasn't quite so aggressive on the weight. I'd read that a half ton AD weighs about 3200# from the factory. Have you done any weight calcs or actually had the truck weighed? At 2500# and 300HP it should go like stink.

You build is looking great so far - best of luck at the painter. Having a ball helping doing mine myself, but it takes much longer to do than you'd think it would- took me a whole day just to color sand the dash and interior. I'm down $1500 for material and supplies so far, and have not really painted anything but the interior

[solidaxel]

Originally Posted by e015475

I like your cold air approach - I may steal a few of your ideas if you don't mind.

A little anecdotal story - I'd taken the factory paper filter and ductwork off of my 2003 GMC and installed a K&N filter directly upstream of the MAF. I was curious how much temperature the filter saw in its new location, so I put a thermocouple on the filter and hooked it up to a Fluke meter to see what the temp was driving to work one day. I compared the temp at the air filter to a analog temp gauge (the kind the ac tech sticks in your dash to measure temps) that I'd wedged between the door window and the weatherseal to sample the ambient temp.

The difference was about 10-15 degrees with the truck sitting in traffic, but as soon as I'd start moving it was maybe half that. I concluded that the cold air intake wouldn't give that dramatic a result and it wasn't worth going to the trouble of rerouting the intake to the inner fender on my daily driver

For my '49 though, I'd sure like to keep the engine bay as uncluttered as possible and really like the idea you have to push the filter through the inner fender.

On the comment of '300 hp and 2500#' - I had similar goals for my truck, but wasn't quite so aggressive on the weight. I'd read that a half ton AD weighs about 3200# from the factory. Have you done any weight calcs or actually had the truck weighed? At 2500# and 300HP it should go like stink.

You build is looking great so far - best of luck at the painter. Having a ball helping doing mine myself, but it takes much longer to do than you'd think it would- took me a whole day just to color sand the dash and interior. I'm down $1500 for material and supplies so far, and have not really painted anything but the interior

Your under hood temps will increase about 100* come june july !!

[Flysocal]

Not sure how much the truck will weigh but I'm pretty sure it will be less than a Silverado!

Painter picked up cab and front end sheet metal. I still need to do the metal work on bed get it all welded together as one unit. Need to figure out fuel filler (blazer tube on order). Slowly finalizing the accessory drive. Ordered a newer style truck water pump to get the spout pointing a better direction. Got my PS pulley pressed on. Built a mounting bracket for trick flow catch can. Belt on back order. Ordered a bunch of AN fittings for fuel system. Going to tap water pump for AN heater fittings. The painter wants the chassis in 2 months so I want to have as much done as possible. Hopefully everything except electrical.

[e015475]

Looking very nice!

I didn't get near as much done to the chassis as I should have before I took it to the painter. Now I'm going to have to install all my brake/clutch/fuel lines from underneath the truck instead of standing on my feet. Oh well.

Can you tell me what power steering pump you have on your truck? I have a truck Saginaw TC pump that I was going to put a remote reservoir on, but yours seems to be a much cleaner solution.

Phil

[mongocanfly]

Looks like you've git a fair amount of clearance between wpump and fan now..

[mongocanfly]

I can't get under my 81 enough to get a good pic but this sketch is the way my tank vent is..on the tank there's 2 nozzles..one for fill one for vent...on the fill end there is a 90* fitting welded onto the main fill tube on the upper side of the tube and close to the mounting flange..if the gas nozzle is inserted in the filler the 90* elbow is behind the nozzle tip

[Flysocal]

Yeah I hear ya. Paint is instant gratification so I don't blame you. For me, paint means the end of metalwork so it's a big milestone. There will be plenty to do and things I forgot but I'm trying as best I can. My PS pump is the stock Silverado part number. Fits fine but will need to bend return line since it close to inner fender.

[Flysocal]

Starting to work on plumbing. Going with fragola 6an wherever I can. Very nice quality so far. Fittings clipped right on fuel rails. Transmission cooler fittings, radiator, gas tank, going to tap water pump for NPT to 6an. Bought vintage air fittings for sanden compressor. Cut throttle body nipples and sealed up with JB weld. Plugged EGR and EVAP with nice billet pieces off eBay. Next will be to buy some hose and get fuel system sorted.

[Kansas T]

Those throttle body nipples are just pressed in. I pulled mine out with vise grips and left the open hole. It doesn't go anywhere.

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by Kansas T

Those throttle body nipples are just pressed in. I pulled mine out with vise grips and left the open hole. It doesn't go anywhere.

Thanks man. Sometimes the obvious eludes me. Got a Newer truck water pump. Same belt spacing so one would think the water pump would be the same depth. Turns out the snout sticks out a bit further maybe 5/16" and pulley sticks out just enough to cause me problems. So I'm trying to work through this problem with a thinner fan and shroud.

[mongocanfly]

You'd think they'd be the same but I guess the factory wadnt worried about clearance..you must be real close if that's causing problems...
I'm not looking forward to it but I'm going to do a recessed firewall on mine just for this reason
On my throttle I just stuck a couple of vacuum line caps on those fittings..when intalled you can't see em anyway on mine
On the egr intake holes I just drove freeze plugs in mine and painted em black..can't see those either with the engine covers on it

[Flysocal]

Yeah man it's really tight in there. I could have moved Engine back a couple inches with a recessed firewall. Another good option would have been corvette accessories with inner fender mods. I was stuck on the original firewall and inner fenders. Literally everything is going under the dash so I'm sure I will be happy with a bit of extra space there. This is my third water pump. Moved radiator forward twice. I will make it work.

[mongocanfly]

I don't know for sure about how much room I need for mine to fit..I've got a ls3 from a camaro and compared to my lq9 it a very compact engine package..if I do have to do the firewall it'll only be what it needs and nothing more... I've seen 4 and 6 in recesses and I'm trying to avoid that much if possible..plus I hate messing up my factory look firewall..

[mongocanfly]

I don't know for sure about how much room I need for mine to fit..I've got a ls3 from a camaro and compared to my lq9 it a very compact engine package..if I do have to do the firewall it'll only be what it needs and nothing more... I've seen 4 and 6 in recesses and I'm trying to avoid that much if possible..plus I hate messing up my factory look firewall..

[Flysocal]

Yes I think if you go with corvette spacing life will be much easier between that and the radiator. If I had to do it over, I would just buy the Holley corvette and modify my inner fenders which have tons of room anyway. My radiator which I bought a long time ago has a passenger side IN. With corvette water pump center would be better. It's a big puzzle and when you buy a piece, it tends to steer you in a certain direction.

Here's what my powers steering plumbing looks like:

[mongocanfly]

My ls3 water pump outlet is on drivers side..inlet on pass side...I know what your talking about..you can get committed to do something a certain way and its hard to change your way of thinking sometimes

[dug224]

Enjoyed the exchange between you and mongocanfly on the cold air intake. Although mine seems to run well, I'm still not happy with directly attaching my air filter to the MAF to the throttle body so I continue to study other options. Nice build.

[Flysocal]

Got the radiator fan spacing sorted. Went with a 16" spal fan. Only 2.5" thick made in Italy much better quality than the fan that came with my superior radiator. 1610 CFM not gonna move much air but I suspect it will be enough since it's a stock 5.3 and i won't be towing a boat. There is room for a thicker fan if necessary spal sells a bunch of 16s with bigger motors that move more air. Same fan dimensions though so I'm not sure how much difference the bigger fan motors really make. Put a couple of spal flaps kinda cool they open when on the freeway and close with suction if the fan is doing the work.

[joedoh]

haha those powersteering lines are perfect! I would have a 7" service loop in there, just for my own sanity removing or replacing

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by joedoh

haha those powersteering lines are perfect! I would have a 7" service loop in there, just for my own sanity removing or replacing

Exactly. I didn't want to modify the pump tube because if the pump needs to be replaced some day it's much easier to plug and play.

Spent half the day today on my back fabricating my filler tube. Started with a stock GM part number Dorman filler tube for a 2000 blazer. Got rid of everything except where it bolts to the filler door housing which is also from a blazer. Took some fancy cutting to get to fit right. Was a good exercise in removing and installing wheel which was an easy task. Good tire to fender clearance. Next project is welding the bed together, then some plumbing before the chassis is off to the painter.

[solidaxel]

Where are you placing your vent for the filler?

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Where are you placing your vent for the filler?

The original filler had a vent line. I figured since the tank has a dedicated vent with a special copper check valve, I would just route that to the frame rail. Did I overlook something?

[Flysocal]

No Limit tank instructions say run a vent attach to frame rail. Kit included a rollover check valve, cool but probably won't do much since I removed the plastic float out of the filler tube (I think it was for rollover protection or to stop fueling when tank is full at the pump). With this dedicated vent, do I need a vent at the filler tube?

[mongocanfly]

I might be wrong but I think the filler tube itself needs vented to keep it from vapor locking when your filling up..I don't think the tank vent is big enough..