1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[lower50's]

Sorry if I missed it what did you use to rust the inner fenders?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Sorry if I missed it what did you use to rust the inner fenders?

Mixture of vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide.

[Coach529]

[joedoh]

gorgeous!

[benbloom]

dude youve gone crazy with this thing! amazing truck, incredibly jealous

[Coach529]

Bust week. Work is slow so I took most of the week off. Got the bed bolted down. Cab bolted down permanent.

Put the front clip on after we clearanced the inner fenders.



Fought with the brakes for a couple days before I discovered I had a bad prop valve. Contacted CPP and they said they would take care of me once I emailed them a receipt. Was hoping to get the truck down for a local car show tomorrow. No brakes means no pressure......hanging out in the shade......it is HOT.

[youngrodder]

Looking good Mike. Good job on figuring out the brake issue.
I will be going to a car show and with temps in the 90's I will go early and leave early..

Marc

[solidaxel]

For your brakes, are you able to isolate the front and bleed them and get a good peddle?
Plug the P/Valve and just use half at a time.
Just .$0.2

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Looking good Mike. Good job on figuring out the brake issue.
I will be going to a car show and with temps in the 90's I will go early and leave early..

Marc

I have heard horrors stories about customer service with CPP. Hopefully it is not an issue.

Regardless it is only a $80 part........but it is the principle of it.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

For your brakes, are you able to isolate the front and bleed them and get a good peddle?
Plug the P/Valve and just use half at a time.
Just .$0.2

I thought about that....also though about going straight to the MC.

[99 to Life]

good luck with the prop valve, I'd def do some process of elimination as you guys mentioned. I ordered an IFS from CPP and I have had decent customer service, via email which I prefer.

[Advanced Design]

Too bad about the leaking new prop valve. That would cause a spongy pedal as air get sucked in.

If anyone is interested, here is a pretty good review of what a proportioning valve does.
http://stoptech.com/technical-suppor...tioning-valves

[SKT]

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New pics look great!

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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Too bad about the leaking new prop valve. That would cause a spongy pedal as air get sucked in.

If anyone is interested, here is a pretty good review of what a proportioning valve does.
http://stoptech.com/technical-suppor...tioning-valves

That is a great article......thanks for sharing.

[Coach529]

Been tinkering on the truck as time allows. Got the under hood wiring all done and covered up. Hood is on and the front bumper as well.

Still have some gremlins to chase. Every once and awhile my fuel pressure drops to less than 3psi......last night it was at zero for an amount of time. Not long enough for the truck to shut off.....but I noticed it on the gauge. I am running a stock Mechanical Pump. Thinking either the pump is bad, or I have some junk plugging up the line in the stock tank.

I never got around to rebuilding my doors over the winter. The glass rattles like crazy.

Need to get some insulation and a rubber mat on the floor......this new exhaust is kind of loud.

Drove up the street last night, very slowly to at least snap a couple pictures. Nothing special, the lighting was horrible. I just wanted get a couple pictures out of the driveway. I did not even had time to give him a bath.........still bird **** on the hood from sitting up against the shed all winter......

Funny thing is I have never ridden in a truck with air bags. I think I had a notion in my head that it would ride like the truck was on clouds. No more rattles, just a nice smooth ride. Obviously it rides better than the old solid axle.......but the rattles and shakes are still there.

[lower50's]

Lookin good Coach. What kind of shocks do you have on it? because my truck rides better than anything else I own.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Lookin good Coach. What kind of shocks do you have on it? because my truck rides better than anything else I own.

Some good KYB's on the back. Front is Monroe Sensa Trac's.

I am guessin the big part of your riding so nice the extra weight......

[BIGglaSS]

Sick! Hope you work the bugs out.

[youngrodder]

Mike-

Play with the air pressure when you get more seat time. I noticed with mine there is a sweet spot. If I let a little more air out than what set as my ride height, it tends to ride a little softer. The over all height of the truck does not change much though.

In another week or two all of these issues will be in your review mirror as your racking up the miles.

Marc

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Mike-

Play with the air pressure when you get more seat time. I noticed with mine there is a sweet spot. If I let a little more air out than what set as my ride height, it tends to ride a little softer. The over all height of the truck does not change much though.

In another week or two all of these issues will be in your review mirror as your racking up the miles.

Marc

I think I asked you this before, but do you have ride height indication, or are you just going off the air pressure?

After not making the deadline of the car show, and 99% of the tough stuff done the stress level is dramatically lower.

I am a pretty high strung guy, and little issues bother me. They REALLY bother me if I cannot figure them out.

I get too focused on the problem solving and not about the complete journey as a whole. I need to remind myself that I am doing this for fun......because I enjoy it.

[lower50's]

I have Monroe load adjusting shocks on the front and Monroe reflex on the rear, nothing to special. I found air pressure can be +- 10 psi at the same height, depends on air temp. Don't stress over it to much just drive the truck enjoy it and work on the little things as they come. It has taken me 2 months to work out some little bugs. Now I can hop in and go for a drive.

[99 to Life]

cool congrats. Yeah bugs takes months at time to get to. Life gets in the way. I'm in your boat, insanely high strung cause I have such a full plate all the time. (is a good thing cause it keep the fire lit to get a truck done, as we all know they can linger for years). Air pressure is the key, def doesn't effect the height all that much. Was something I was sooo unsure of when setting up my truck. I ran my rear sleeve bags at about 2x's the amount of pressure some guys ran. When my truck hit the sweat spot it was very enjoyable. You'll get there, enjoy it relax and kick back and say yup, I built that.

As for fuel pressure. If you have a gauge with fluid in it, there should be a bleeder on the back of it, try that and see if your gauge pops back up.

[joedoh]

I have had a lot of air systems on trucks. a LOT. usually when I have a stiff ride its because there is too much air in the bags. this can happen two ways, the first is me filling them too much for ground clearance. I will usually ride as low as I can to have the lowest spring rate, and make a mental note of big bumps and cracks in the roads that make me bottom out, which isnt as bad as it sounds, after 6 months you will see a dip or bump coming and wont even wince. it wont kill you to let some air out and see if maybe you were rolling around "locked up" which is the hydraulics guys term for full stroke that leaves you without any spring.

the second way is related to setup. I always set up the bag so that it squishes completely, I mean the last breath of pressure comes out just as the bag hits the internal bump stop. If you install bags where the mounts arent high enough, thats easy to figure out because the truck wont hit the ground. but if you set them too HIGH, there is all this volume in the bag that isnt related to lifting the truck and requires pressure to fill before any lifting even occurs. this is also pretty easy to identify, measure the squished height of the bag from plate to plate and make sure it is right at the min height of the bag. if you cant measure with the bag in, take it out, or my favorite shortcut is to put the tires on a 2x4 or 2x6 and let the air out. if the truck keeps going down past the tires, you have too much wasted drop, which will limit your lift too! this shortcut only works if you have extra stroke in your suspension, so dont try it if your tie rods just kiss the frame at full drop.

other than that, shocks are a big deal. I use as long a shock as I can. also alignment can make the truck ride rough.

good luck!

[Coach529]

Well the truck does for sure need a 4 wheel alignment. That could be a huge part of it.

The bags are set up to fully deflate at full squish. The truck will ALMOST roll when fully deflated.

I will have to do some playing around once it is road worthy. CPP could not guarantee me a prop valve this week so I just ordered one. It will be here on Thursday!!

One other thing I noticed about the air ride is how much different in ride height a certain psi can be.......and how much all 4 bags affect each other. Still trying to consistently get to my desired ride height without getting out and checking. :-)

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Coach529

I think I asked you this before, but do you have ride height indication, or are you just going off the air pressure?

After not making the deadline of the car show, and 99% of the tough stuff done the stress level is dramatically lower.

I am a pretty high strung guy, and little issues bother me. They REALLY bother me if I cannot figure them out.

I get too focused on the problem solving and not about the complete journey as a whole. I need to remind myself that I am doing this for fun......because I enjoy it.

I only go by air pressure and gauge reading (no ride height sensors on this one). The funny thing I have noticed is if I air out and inflate to my set ride height air pressure the actual height is lower than if I'm over inflated and I let air out to get to my ride height.

Yes, I to get bothered when I can't figure things out right then. 9-10 times if you walk away or take a day or two you figure it out.

Marc