Red's 1950

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by RedneckRodder

Yeah, I thought so too at first. We mocked the fenders up on it, the core support will be close, but it should clear. I'll have to mount the radiator on the front side though, and electric fans are gonna replace the water pump mounted fan.
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I Was wondering because the GMC radiator sits farther forward than the Chevy and mine is going to be close. The electric fan will buy some much needed room though.

[RedneckRodder]

Went to the Seattle Auto Swap Meet this weekend, got a steal of a deal on some practically brand new tires mounted on chrome baby moons.



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[_Ogre]

these trucks are a little front loaded with the motor in the stock position
plus your going to have to modify a lot of stuff to have it that far forward
take the time to move it back and level the motor a bit, you'll be far ahead of where you are

[RedneckRodder]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

these trucks are a little front loaded with the motor in the stock position
plus your going to have to modify a lot of stuff to have it that far forward
take the time to move it back and level the motor a bit, you'll be far ahead of where you are

I agree, I decided yesterday to drop the engine down and back towards the cab, finally seeing everything together showed me that its necessary.
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[jmsaunders]

Love the baby moons. I so want a set of those.

[RedneckRodder]

Originally Posted by jmsaunders

Love the baby moons. I so want a set of those.

I went to that swap meet hoping to find a set of wheels and tires for under $800. I was amazed at some of the prices I saw, a lot of people were REALLY PROUD of their stuff. Lol.

I had all but given up on finding rolling stock, then I stumbled upon these. I'm not really a fan of the bigsn'littles setup, but they get me on the road in close to the same fashion I wanted. And at $350 for brand new tires on gently used rims, the bargain hunter in me couldn't leave without them. I figure I can run these till they're dead, then replace them with whitewalls.
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[mknittle]

the angle of the engine should be roughly 4 degrees down in back to match the pinion angle on the rear end or you will get vibration! Getting it back and the right angle will be well worth it. other wise looking good!

I would also get the engine as low in the frame as possible to help with handling.

[RedneckRodder]

Originally Posted by mknittle

the angle of the engine should be roughly 4 degrees down in back to match the pinion angle on the rear end or you will get vibration! Getting it back and the right angle will be well worth it. other wise looking good!

I would also get the engine as low in the frame as possible to help with handling.

I dropped the engine down 4" and pushed it back 1" from the firewall this weekend, I'll post pics of that this evening. Not sure of the overall angle, but the intake is just slightly off of level, being higher at the front by about 3/8". I tried to match the angle the engine was at in the '76 it came out of as best I could.
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[mknittle]

The way I do it is to match the pinion angle as close as possible It should be within 2degrees of parallel to prevent vibration.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by RedneckRodder

I dropped the engine down 4" and pushed it back 1" from the firewall this weekend, I'll post pics of that this evening. Not sure of the overall angle, but the intake is just slightly off of level, being higher at the front by about 3/8". I tried to match the angle the engine was at in the '76 it came out of as best I could.
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4" is a lot that should help.

[RedneckRodder]

Alright, so after listening to the advice that was offered to me by a couple members here, I decided that moving the engine down and more towards the firewall would gain me more wiggle room to build my core support. And moving the weight of the engine farther back should help with traction up here in the rainy PNW. Here's a pic if the engine in its newest, and hopefully final, location.



I used 1/4" plate to extend the motor mount pads that are built into the frame rearward by 4 3/4", with a piece of 1/4" plate underneath to support the added distance.


Then I cut down the motor mounts where they attach to the block and welded in 1/4" tabs to attach to the resilient mounts. Once everything was tack where I wanted it, I pulled everything apart and fully welded all joints and reassembled.


The back of the block ended up about 1 1/4" away from the firewall, inside the stock recess.

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[RedneckRodder]

And here's a shot of the space all that work created in front of the engine for a core support and radiator.


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Compared to what I had before:

Not the best to show this, but its the best "before " pic I could find

[jmsaunders]

Awesome work you're doing there

[_Ogre]

looking good, red

[RedneckRodder]

Just got it running for the first time! Its like somebody just gave me a shot of adrenaline! I'm so pumped up right now, this is awesome.
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[jmsaunders]

Originally Posted by RedneckRodder

Just got it running for the first time! Its like somebody just gave me a shot of adrenaline! I'm so pumped up right now, this is awesome.
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You're getting closer keep up the good work.

[mknittle]

Originally Posted by RedneckRodder

And here's a shot of the space all that work created in front of the engine for a core support and radiator.


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Compared to what I had before:

Not the best to show this, but its the best "before " pic I could find

That's more like it. I didn't mean to sound negative before. It is an old machinists habit. always looking for potential problems. It drives my wife nuts.

[RedneckRodder]

Originally Posted by mknittle

That's more like it. I didn't mean to sound negative before. It is an old machinists habit. always looking for potential problems. It drives my wife nuts.

Nah, I didn't take it negatively. Any advice is always welcome, otherwise I gotta figure it out on my own!
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[RedneckRodder]

So here is today's progress:

I decided I needed one of those license plate things, so I built one. It seems super sized in this photo, but its not nearly as big as it appears. I also installed some new LED '40 Chevy taillights and gave it all a squirt with the rattle can.

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[mknittle]

That looks good I like that yours isn't a cookie cutter one. different is good to see

[RedneckRodder]

Originally Posted by mknittle

That looks good I like that yours isn't a cookie cutter one. different is good to see

Thanks for the compliment. I've had one rule during this build that I've been sticking to the entire time: Don't buy anything I already have or can fabricate myself.

It won't be a fancy show queen, but I think it looks good, and I'm still below the $5k investment mark, including original prices I paid for the things I already had! Besides, I don't want something I'd be scared to take out of the garage.
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[RedneckRodder]

Finished building the shift linkage today. I used a short piece of 1"X1" square tubing cut to fit in between the tranny shift actuator and welded nuts inside the ends. Then I welded another piece of sqaure tubing to that with a small tab to fit the linkage through. I'll try to get a better pic of this later, as I have a habit of leaving things in place once I figure out it all works. Lol.



I then bent a piece of 3/8 round stock into a shape that misses hitting everything near it when shifted. Took some time and tinkering to get all the angles correct for the throw to match properly, but it works. I now understand why companies such as Lokar are doing so well!


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[RedneckRodder]

I also built a battery "box". Yes, it will clutter up the firewall, but I don't care. I'm too lazy to climb underneath the truck to hide the dang thing. Plus it will be very easy to jump start and disconnect when I need to work on electrical. I still need to figure out a tied own, but that will be simple enough.


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[RedneckRodder]

Also finished (I think) the bed mods. I was planning to run a piece of angle across the front of the bed to finish off the front stake pocket caps, but I thought that was something everyone would do, so I got creative. Not sure I'm in love with it yet, but its different from anything I've seen before, so I just went with it.




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[RedneckRodder]

Got some more stuff done recently. Finally began priming individual pieces and putting everything together. I decided to run it as is for the rest of the summer, so assembly has been going fast and I haven't had much time to take pictures.

Hood in filler primer



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