1941 1/2 ton project Hannah

[Diesel46]

I love that steering wheel!

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Shop? Wait a minute. You’re building me a shop? You shouldn’t have. What a Merry Christmas I shall have. Lol. Awesome that your building a shop. Now we are cooking.

yep, I hope you dont mind if I use it till you pick it up though!

Originally Posted by Diesel46

What keeps the seat from going back as far as the stock seat? Is the back to thick?

yeah, much too thick, and the seat angle isnt great for the cab either. I am going to chop up on the interfering bits a little and see what I can see, but I dont have high hopes.

Originally Posted by Diesel46

I love that steering wheel!

its outlawdrifters fault! oh wait, maybe I was preemptive with my blame haha.



edit: I didnt want to bump the project without any work being done but today we cleaned up the yard from all the junk left after the addition and dismantling 10 trucks and taking down a shed, etc, and I found the home planet of every brown recluse spider in 10 miles. there was a large pile of LP smart siding cut offs and ends that the contractor didnt think he had to do anything with and after picking up one or two pieces we noticed there were 10-20 brown recluse on every board. most people will SAY they saw a brown recluse because they see a brown grass spider but I know them very well, they are GREY spiders with dirt brown fangs. it took 3 times longer to get the boards up than any other pile of brush or parts and afterwards we were checking each other over. I had two on me and they werent very friendly, but no bites!

[OutlawDrifter]

I...represent..that, remark?

[rusty76]

If you do use it just leave me a little space I won’t need much. Lol

[joedoh]

haha no problem, your spot will be under the compressor. I always forget to drain it and that can be your job.

I DID get bit by a brown recluse, it showed up over the week since, small open wound, I can post pictures if you guys want to see them. that makes me 2 for 2 messing with that junk pile, remember last time I got bit but no venom.

I got the seat in a position where it might work and its still way too high, needs to drop maybe 4". I will work on that in a bit.

IMG_7933 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

also got the dash sanded for paint, there was some concern about rust on this one but there are only a couple pits to fix. thats a relief (you can see them barely under the glovebox)

IMG_7934 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


and got the cab pulled to finish the frame painting and finish welding.

IMG_7936 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

[OutlawDrifter]

Making progress. Sounds like you need a serious can of spider spray!

[paintman]

Joe, don't take getting bit by a spider so lightly. Back when I was about 24 years old I spent 2 weeks in an intensive care unit, and nearly lost my hand thanks to what the doctors think was a spider bite. My hand sweeled up to the size of a football. No literally the size of a football. I had red streaks up my arm and across my chest. and pain like you can't imagine!

Had to have a drain installed in my hand and antibiotics for 2 weeks pumped into me. the first time the doctor came in to change the bandgages on my hand, I had a hole about the size of a hockey puck from the surgery. I could look right through my hand to the other side of the room. Doctor said the hole was so big they couldn't stitch it shut. I took about 6 weeks for my hand to heal naturally.

I'm just saying, proceed with caution.

[joedoh]

thanks, I am overly cautious with safety so I wont put myself at risk. I read up on spiders, and we teach catch and release in our house. brown recluse and black widows dont get that consideration. the family knows what they look like too, no accidental squash of a brown spider or a grass spider. in kansas brown recluse are actually more silvery grey, but they have those huge mud brown fangs and you cant miss it once you have seen it. when we pulled back the first board and there were 20 of them looking at us, we almost stopped. while squishing them there were a few that jumped on me and so I had to knock them off.

here is my bite, lost a little flesh but on the mend. just oozing now.

Screen Shot 2017-12-11 at 9.24.41 PM by Joe Doh, on Flickr


I think it will be ok, its not painful any longer. I notice in the picture you can see the old scar on my shin of a hitch ball someone left on their truck that I punted over 15 years ago!

[Dieselwrencher]

Those things sure are nasty!

[Advanced Design]

Yuck....spiders here don't get the catch and release program.

The truck on the other hand is looking good.

[joedoh]

most spiders are pretty good. we have one in the corner of the dining room, must be 3rd generation by now, catches all the mosquitoes that come inside, its better than flypaper and his web is very small and tidy. if I didnt point him out no one would even notice!

my leg healed, my back healed, so I went on a tear today with johnboy, an old boyfriend of the oldest girl that just kind of kept hanging around. good kid, proud of him in a lot of ways.

we got the cab flipped on its back and all the repairs welded up. got the frame sanded and painted, body mounts leveled and welded solid. firewall welded up and seam sealed, even patched the other torch cut. got the front clip and bed and fenders to the driveway for some patina-ing, got the other 41 off the frame and everything in the back yard organized. johnny works well, perfect help.

it went so well I didnt take a single picture. haha. maybe tomorrow. mother-in-law is coming into town the 21st and I am rebuilding the steering on her van for christmas so this may be the last work I get done this year with the holidays.

[joedoh]

work day finally. john came down to sand the fenders

IMG_8067 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got the radiator in, 19x21 (the 22 wont fit the 41 core) from ebay, came with a free electric fan which is great because I dont feel like finding the super sweet spot for the hoses around the fan or running a filler in the upper hose again. live and learn. put in the camber shims too, need yet another set for the passenger side but getting there.

IMG_8074 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8072 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8073 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


the hood had a big crease in it from sitting in a field unlatched for 60 years and the wind blowing it around. I used a soft piece of cedar and wielded my sledgehammer like the precision instrument it always hoped to be. viola!

IMG_8076 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


cab back on, fits perfect! need to mount the front clip to get the cab in the exact right spot, maybe tomorrow. seam sealed the firewall too, need the steering parts and it will turn!

IMG_8077 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8078 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

heard from chris in pa who bought booger. says the gauges died, so he put in a new set, otherwise still working great.

Picture1224171619_1 copy by Joe Doh, on Flickr

[mongocanfly]

booger's one of my favorites. ..good to see a update

[OutlawDrifter]

Nice to see some progress! Not sure if you've had the subzero temps we've been running in this part of the state, but working outside in them is sure unpleasant.

[joedoh]

it was 9 degrees with a -3 windchill when I took that picture, but we both agreed it wasnt that bad outside. when we put the cab back on I didnt even wear a jacket.

[gigamanx]

Nice progress! I hate spiders, I would have quit after seeing that many of them. The 19x21 looks awesome. Is that the camera or does the lower inlet look like its straight out instead of turned inward like the 19x22s are?

[joedoh]

yep! straight outlet on the lower hose. who says I dont learn? thanks for the lesson!

every spider gets a pass from me aside from brown recluse and black widows. black widows feign death but brown recluse are just mad, if you see a bunch of them there is a great chance some are already on you.

[joedoh]

we are done with all the christmas projects, did the MIL van all new steeering and suspension and found the water pump was out while in there so did that too. parties are done and visitors have gone home so it should be smooth sailing. johnboy came back today, got some more done. first we cleaned out the shop stem to stern to get the front clip inside for work, johnny worked on the studs for the cab while I clearanced for the rad and trimmed the lower section.

IMG_8100 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8110 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8101 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8102 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

the 19x21 fits perfectly. right in the correct opening on the core, no need for complicated air dams on this one. (the front clip is forward about 4 inches in these pictures still)

IMG_8109 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8108 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

no more c clamps holding the pedal bracket!

IMG_8107 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

looks like the stock S10 seat will work ok, going to have the headrests removed when its recovered this week

IMG_8106 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got the bed pulled up to be cut down from longbed, and the s10 floor set to weld in.

IMG_8105 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8103 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

should be an exciting week, ordering steering shafts tonight and dropping the seat off!

[joedoh]

got it on, still have to line the cab up on the mounts and square it, there is a lot of room in the passenger fender haha. the front is being held up slightly by the air scoop pan, I should be able to just give a couple technical taps with my sledge, rather than cutting it out and boxing it back. steering lines line out good too. I am super happy with how this is coming.

IMG_8122 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8124 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8126 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8127 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8128 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

while I had the welder out I zapped that crack in the fender.

IMG_8131 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got the bed floor cut to fit inside the original bed, now I just need to cut the original bed down. thinking of 2 cuts, so the stakes line up.

IMG_8130 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I needed to put a brace on the pedal mounts, it was plenty strong from the cantilever on the left, and the brake booster on the forward side, but with the column in you could deflect it down on the right side. I drilled two holes in the top of the cowl and made it a stressed member with a bracket going up to it.

IMG_8132 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8133 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I know that weld looks like a booger weld but its not, there was a through hole there and I filled it like a spot weld.

got the seat in the right spot so it goes to the upholstery shop tomorrow. I have had this vinyl on the shelf forever without a project to use it on, its a metallic black fabric that I think will be perfect.

IMG_8135 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8137 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

windshield glass is ordered and on the way. I am ordering steering components right now. tomorrow I will take advantage of the weather and shorten the bed, and then maybe get the doors apart for the latches rebuild. maybe running this weekend?

[joedoh]

I dropped the seat off this morning, went with a diamond pattern, removing the headrests. they couldnt use my vinyl but thats ok, I got it free years ago and at least now I can pitch it. they said that type of vinyl wasnt made to have stitches that show. someday I will recover my own seat, just to try it.

did some measuring and decided to take 9 inches out of the longbed. my reasoning is that the 41 wheelbase is 116 and the s10 longbed is 118. on fenix the bed gap was pronounced by the curve of the back of the cab.

IMG_8139 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8140 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8142 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I will weld it up when I have a little more room inside, the front clip has to come back off to do the steering and the air pan mods.

the glass will be here tomorrow, aside from some glass setting tape I think I have everything I need now. the windshield frame was in pretty good shape, just a little bit of rust, so just like all my projects here is a how to from someone who has never done it but thinks he can!

I separated the halves and got the glass out, pretty easy. the rubber gasket was just like stone, but luckily I had something like this on the last truck so I used a slicer blade on a grinder to just cut it down the center and it almost fell out.

IMG_8143 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

what happens is, water gets in between the glass and the steel and freezes, splittng it and exposing it to rust. only one side has cracks, and I have a good plan for welding it up. the water also rusts the joining bars, luckily they repop those.

IMG_8145 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8146 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8147 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8148 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


here are all the parts after wire brushing them and getting the cracks ready to weld. I need to pick up a narrow wire brush wheel to clean the inside channel where the glass goes, and some glass setting tape. the glass will be here tomorrow and I need it to know what size tape to buy. you can see the repop bars there on the pile. I think I will pick up a new center bar too, the rubber in the original one is pretty hard and the screws are snapping.

IMG_8150 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


edit: glass showed up today WITH rubber setting tape already on it! woot! not bad for $110 bucks

IMG_8182 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got a little more done. since I didnt need to find glass tape, I went and picked up the center bar from bowtie bits. at the price, its cheaper than buying JUST THE RUBBER! and its billet aluminum so a little more durable than stainless. I stopped by homer derpo and got some channel cleaning tools, a wire brush for the drill (and a new drill!) which worked just ok. the hero was the wire brush for the grinder, holy crud that cleared out the.. crud. I also picked up a thin grinding wheel to cut the welds back after I made them

IMG_8198 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8196 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I did the worst half first, the other half I didnt think was cracked turned out to be cracked after wire brushing. before and after pictures of the two ends

IMG_8193 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8194 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8192 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8195 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I still need to squeeze the open ends shut a little more but the bottom is the right size. one thing, these things are stronger than you think, I was grunting like a caveman to get them shut that much. that means ice is a lot stronger than you think, stretching them out like this.

adding it up, it was $35 for the gasket, $36 for the connectors, $85 for the division bar and $110 for the glass. I spent about $50 on materials at homer derpo, and have about 3 hours in stripping it and welding it. I will have another hour in drilling out the stuck screws and another hour in assembly. so maybe $500 all in? all I have learned is that the rebuilt one is $750 and a freaking bargain haha. but hey! I did something new.

[joedoh]

still a bargain for the new windshield, and I will tell you why.

first, the original connectors were rust stuck in place, so badly that I had to cut all my fresh welds right down the center to get the pieces out

IMG_8199 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8205 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8203 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

second, the butyl tape that came on the glass is way to thick, barring some magic I think tomorrow I am going to pick up some glass urethane and some shims and just put it in myself. my reasoning is, yes it makes future glass changes a pain but it will seal all the pinholes I am sure exist in the channel.


oh and I got the seat! rest assured it looks a lot better than this washed out picture. I wish the diamonds were puffier but I didnt specify when I dropped off, so my fault there.

IMG_8201 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

[rusty76]

Seat looks good.

[OutlawDrifter]

I dig the seat!

[gigamanx]

Seat looks like a winner to me! I like the notch in the center for the shifter

[joedoh]

thanks! the notch is where a cupholder goes, I am deciding if I want to put it back in (it had to be removed to recover the seat)

finished the windshield. thats all I have to say about that.

IMG_8259 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

still have to put the outer seal on but that will be super easy comparatively.

fixed the torn section of the firewall where the cowl rods attach, havent sanded it yet need to check it

IMG_8258 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

also welded up the last of the floor inside where it was just tacked.

time for steering, since the steering hole is over the valve cover I need a heim bearing.

IMG_8260 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8261 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


have to decide where the double joint will go, top shaft or bottom. probably top.


I got a new car last week, was browsing craigslist new ads (does everyone do that? push enter on a blank search bar and it shows you new ads as they are listed) and I was literally the first to call within a minute of it listing. I have been looking for something nostalgic to drive, the saturn is nice but not really me, so I thought of maybe a nice 3rd gen camaro or even an older BMW.

I cant believe my luck though, its what aficionados call an M3/4/5, a 4dr, 5spd manual M3. only two years production and there were a lot more automatics made than manuals. It runs perfectly and the interior is mint. it needs the hood repainted (clear is peeling) but considering its 21 years old, its just my thing. I have been taking long drives in it, its addictive. 240hp doesnt sound like a lot but it is a 3200 lb car.

IMG_8237 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_8240 by Joe Doh, on Flickr