1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[Coach529]

We had a pretty good shot of snow yesterday and last night.....combined with 40mph winds today.

School cancelled, but my wife had to work. Snow day for kids.....shop day for dad!! :-)

In between some other tasks and moving snow I got some stuff done today!!

Got my pinion set and burnt in the spring seats.



After that I bolted the Blazer sway bar on the rear end and shortened up the vertical mounts to use it on Henry. Fits perfect!!





I then spent about an hour boxing the spring mounts I made.





The UPS man.....and Mail Lady have been making alot of delivery's to the household lately!!

My wheel spacers showed up.



And I got a special package from Wood1........tail lights and a center steering wheel cap!!



Up next:

* Box frame
* Fab cross member for upper shock mount
* Fab lower shock mounts and install shocks
* Fab upper front shock mounts

[Chris.]

Between the snow and the new stuff it must feel like Christmas! Haha. It's looking good man!
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Chris.

Between the snow and the new stuff it must feel like Christmas! Haha. It's looking good man!
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Yes sir......always nice when packages of shiny stuff arrive!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Yeah, except when it's Christmas someone ELSE pays for the stuff you get!

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Yeah, except when it's Christmas someone ELSE pays for the stuff you get!

True....

[Chris.]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Yeah, except when it's Christmas someone ELSE pays for the stuff you get!

Not at my house, haha
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[NEWFISHER]

What year blazer did you rob the sway bar from? Looking good!
Edit: you have a 3600 and I have a 3100 with a 10" narrower frame in the rear, mabey the s-10 blazer bar will be too narrrow.....anyone with a 3100 hang one or just look for the camaro rear?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

What year blazer did you rob the sway bar from? Looking good!
Edit: you have a 3600 and I have a 3100 with a 10" narrower frame in the rear, mabey the s-10 blazer bar will be too narrrow.....anyone with a 3100 hang one or just look for the camaro rear?

It was a 1997 or 1998 Blazer. Perfect width for the 3600 frame. It would require some sort of cross member and mounts to work on a 3100 frame I am afraid.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Coach, Whats going on with your bed?
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[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Coach, Whats going on with your bed?
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Nothing......it is sitting out on a concrete slab in the snow.

After I build all my shock mounts, and run brake lines and electrical we will bolt it back on.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ssshhj... You're living in the WRONG house! Lol.
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[BlueJeep]

Looking good! Not sure if you have your shackles figured out or not yet, but they don't have to point up like the s10 did. They can hang down from the springs, which will buy you a lot more room. But..if you've welded your spring perches on already I assume your shackles are done.

[Coach529]

Spent a little quality time with Henry last night.

I modified the Blazer lower shock mounts to accept the shocks I wanted to run.

Before:



After:





Everything bolted up the way I had hoped, but I am running into a bit of a snag.

The shocks I have are for a mid 60's C-10. Collapsed length is 12.56" I am going to have to lean these babies over about 40 degree's to get that length to work.





So do I lean them over....or try to find a shock with the same mounts that is a 2-3 inches shorter?

[solidaxel]

Looks like you have two good swap meet items !!
Spend some quality time with your parts counter folks and look for some shorter units.

[NEWFISHER]

Look at all new Chevy, Ford , Dodge trucks. They lean at an angle too ( forward and back). I do agree with the chart and the theory, but are you really going to feel or notice it? I would try to get a shorter shock, but wouldn't spend a ton of time looking and "run what ya brung" if it dead ends.

[OrrieG]

I'm with newfisher on this. As long as the shock in near the middle of the compression rebound point, try it and see if it feels ok.

[Coach529]

IN the sake of time, and my check book I am leaning towards running this ones. For now anyway!!

[Coach529]

I did not knock anything off my honey do list......but I made good progress with Henry!!

First line of business....cross member and shock mounts. I threw caution to the wind and leaned the shocks I had over.



I never did get a chance to cut my frame boxing plates at work wiht the plasma cutter, so plan B was in order. Jig saw and 24T blades. Easy peazy!! I blade per side is all it took. Not ideal, but it worked!!



Tacked in and read to start welding.



Not proud of the some of the welds.....but they are strong. Hopefully they will never see the light of day again!!



I got my new center caps and bullet lug nuts installed on one wheel as well!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Your welding looks fine from here!

Which of course is as close as 99.5% of us will ever get to it. Besides, that's what they make grinders for! (Heresy, I know)

[Coach529]

I have alot of respect for guys who can lay down miles of weld and look awesome. I am not one of those guys.

Some spots look great.......other spots I wish someone else would have done so I could blame it on them!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

I know what you mean. I'm the Project Quality Manager for a major public agency on a very large civil engineering project. I approve welders for the job and I would fire me!

I can make a solid weld that is structurally sound; but they look like ****. I'd never consider doing my own welding on something like a frame clip or an IFS cross member. I guess I might tack it, but I'd have a certified welder do the actual welding. Fortunately, I don't own a stick welder. Only a 110v Hobart Handler 140 I bought to do rust repair on sheet metal only. And believe me, that's all I OUGHT to be doing! lol.

[Coach529]

You would be surpised what you can do with a 110v mig welder. All my stuff at home is done with with a Miller 110v Mig.

[_Ogre]

i'm with coach on the 110 v welders, most of truk was welded with a 110v fluxcore welder, all of the frame including the mustII xmember.

coach: what are your plans for a fuel tank?
if your mounting one behind the axle, typically you'll need to move the rear xmember and weld in some nuts in the frame.
nice work on boxing the frame.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i'm with coach on the 110 v welders, most of truk was welded with a 110v fluxcore welder, all of the frame including the mustII xmember.

coach: what are your plans for a fuel tank?
if your mounting one behind the axle, typically you'll need to move the rear xmember and weld in some nuts in the frame.
nice work on boxing the frame.

Not a fan of flux core........

I have the stock tank cleaned and in the stock location for now. At some point a tank might be added under the bed.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Not a fan of flux core........

I have the stock tank cleaned and in the stock location for now. At some point a tank might be added under the bed.

Coach, You might want to take a look thru Chuck Driver's '57 build. He bought a generic tank from Tanks, Inc. and his install looks great. Plus, if I understand him it was pretty damned cheap.

I hope no one thinks I was talking down 110v welders; I've GOT one. I had just heard you can't do major structural fabbing due to a lack of heat.
I also heard you can do more if you're able to preheat the metal.