1949 Chevy 3100 Build Thread

[Coach529]

Any updates??

[Kodiaks53]

Subscribed, Looking good! nice cab.
I've ordered several items from Classic and found they ship quickly and have good prices. Matter of fact I should be getting a windshield gasket today from them!

[74project]

Did u trash the original blue cab... man a pressure wash and green scrubby followe'd by a coat of penetrol and that blue paint would look great... hole in the floor = ventilation. Nice ride.

[Flysocal]

Been busy collecting parts, waiting on media blasting, reading threads on this forum.

Decided on 54 front clip in addition to the 54 cab. Crap I didn't realize all that was involved. Basically all new (used) parts cab forward. So it's turned into a 49/54 hybrid. 49 frame and bed.

Been working on cab. Filled in fuel filler hole and cowl vent. Fixed a couple of tears/ fractures in cab floor. A little hammer and dolley work. Waiting on a couple patch panels from classic parts.

Ordered a seat from wise guys

Jerry from Dr Js rebuild 3 of my door hinges. One was good. Should have them back in a couple days.

The plan for the next month or so is to get the cab and doors all straightened out. Space is limited in my garage so frame is in dry storage for now.

[Flysocal]

This is the only surprise from media blast. Overall the cab is really solid. So nice that I felt bad cutting out the seat riser in preparation for my wise guys seat. I was going to buy a smooth firewall, floor, inner fenders from absolute sheet metal but no point fixing what ain't broke. This week I'm gonna buy some 18 gauge and fill holes. From what I've read, an LS1 should fit (tightly) without any modifications to the firewall, floor or inner fenders. So I'm going to run oem sheet metal for now and hope for the best.

[lv2tri2]

Your original cab looks like one of those used in the Old Navy stores, they were painted the same and with no engines or trans in them either. My first purchase was a 49 Chevy cab and replaced it with a 54 GMC. Will follow your build with interest.

[Flysocal]

Patch panels arrived from classic parts. Tackled the fenders. Good quality panels but needed a little massaging

[Flysocal]

[oldman3]

Looks good...Jim

[FarmerSid]

Nice repair job!

[rtinniste]

Nice progress its funny my driver side cowl looks just like yours minus that mine is dented in about a inch haha.
Btw noticed your in Glendale, Pomona swap meet is this Sunday if you don't know already!

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by rtinniste

Nice progress its funny my driver side cowl looks just like yours minus that mine is dented in about a inch haha.
Btw noticed your in Glendale, Pomona swap meet is this Sunday if you don't know already!

Thanks for the reminder! I'm gonna try and make it

[Flysocal]

Cab is coming along. Got most of the sheet metal repaired and hung a door. Halfway done smoothing the firewall. Almost time to get the frame back in the garage.

[Flysocal]

I guess I didn't need to buy the patch panel

[Flysocal]

Once the cab is cleaned up I will carry on with the chassis. Got it sandblasted so I can get clean welds. I understand the stock rear track width is 60". My moser custom rear end is 58 and I think that's gonna be a problem. I don't want to tub the bed. I would like to run 18 or 20s in the rear 9" wide. Fender is 11.5" deep so it will be a tight fit but doable with the pan hard. I'm going to replace my 58" with either a 60 or 62" not sure yet but 58 is def too short. Bed is 50" wide plus 11.5 for the fender. So I would need a spacer for the wheels or Custom make a 9" wide wheel with a 3" backspace. Best thing to do is get a wider axle I think....

[lv2tri2]

That's a nice cab, I'm putting a 54 cab on an older frame as well and looking forward to watching your progress.

[Tikal48]

Flysocal,

Did you get an answer on your tag? If not check out this link:
https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail...st_12_Ton.html

This may be the one that you are looking for.

Truck is looking nice! Keep up the good work!

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by Tikal48

Flysocal,

Did you get an answer on your tag? If not check out this link:
https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail...st_12_Ton.html

This may be the one that you are looking for.

Truck is looking nice! Keep up the good work!

Cool thanks man.

Justin over at Scott's hotrods is being cool and willing to exchange my 58" axle for a 62". I settled on 62 because that will put the wheel mount smack dab in the center of the wheel well. The bed is 50" wide and fenders are 74". 12" in each wheel well maybe more like 11.5" so I guess 61-62 axle is the sweet spot.

Today I drove down to Orange County to visit Chris Coddington. I settled on 2 piece junkyard dog wheels polished finish. 20x8.5 rear with 5" BS. 18x7 front with 4" BS.

Overall specs on the Scotts ifs is 60.5" track width and it will be 62" in the rear. Looking forward to putting some puzzle pieces together and making progress on the chassis.

I also played around with my tig welder today. Modified Scotts hotrods LS mount to fit my application. With hooker block huggers they didn't fit but was able to make them work.

Here you can see the mount touches the headers

I modified it so it fits tig welding isn't as good as Scotts but will do

[Flysocal]

Just plugging away a little bit at a time. Should have most of the puzzle pieces soon. Seat is on its way. Can't mok up steering column/wheel and foot controls without it. Ordered raingear wiper kit, lokar foot e brake. Already received lokar eliminator pedal. Mini vintage air heat/cool system with streamline controller. Vintage air glove box. Trique dash vents. All these pieces are needed before I can make it all fit together.

[Flysocal]

Firewall is done for now. Lots of work filling the many holes. But I kinda like the original stamped firewall. Been going back and forth with steering wheel ideas. Really like the con2r but I'm trying to make the stock wheel work. Decided to tackle the reduction to 15" and got the Eastwood kit to fill in all the cracks and gaping holes. The kit had almost enough epoxy but didn't quite get the job done. Happy with the wheel so far but time will tell if it looks decent in the end.

[Flysocal]

The trique vents are small enough to fit on either side of the radio. Plan is to run 2 vents along with the windshield defroster and lowers. With the vents taking up the space on either side of the radio, I will probably have to fabricate a dash extension to accommodate the 4 knob streamline controller and ignition switch and maybe a 12v charger/cigarette lighter. Was thinking about going with a ididit keyed ignition but that's only available with the tilt feature and drives the price up $400 over the straight column. I kinda like the straight column for its simplicity and cleanness. Either way it will have a column shift. Once I have the wiper kit installed I will know if the repop radio will fit. Here is the one I'm looking at. Pricey but it slides right into the original spot.

[Advanced Design]

Cool, pieces are coming together! Nice work on the repairs and I think your Tig work looks good on the engine mount.

My mount is similar and when I set my engine back an additional 1 1/2 inches, I ended up with the mount right about where the steering shaft wants to go. Hopefully you don't run into the same.

[Flysocal]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Cool, pieces are coming together! Nice work on the repairs and I think your Tig work looks good on the engine mount.

My mount is similar and when I set my engine back an additional 1 1/2 inches, I ended up with the mount right about where the steering shaft wants to go. Hopefully you don't run into the same.

Only time will tell. My headers are okay but the cast like yours look to be better quality. At least I have a backup plan...

Btw lovin your build thread that's gonna be one cool suburban

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Flysocal

Only time will tell. My headers are okay but the cast like yours look to be better quality. At least I have a backup plan...

Btw lovin your build thread that's gonna be one cool suburban

Thanks! I went ahead and ordered DD slider mounts to get the clearance. Guess I like to redo fab jobs because this will be the third set of mounts I've welded in.

[Flysocal]

More epoxy PC7...

A few hours of sanding later...

Some bondo and putty and finish sanding now ready for paint...