1941 1/2 ton project Hannah

thanks fellas!

I was having trouble with my taped on bolts so I chewed out the bedside for the tub, that way I could put a bolt through and get a nut on it. I cleaned it up with a grinder after this picture.

IMG_9134 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

went much better that way, I cut a little more than I needed (pray twice cut once!). what actually happened is I thought the 37-38 fenders had the same mounting pattern because they were on a 41 when I bought it, so I redrilled the fender holes 2" further back. when I was trying to get the running boards cut enough I measured the distance away I was and transferred to to the running board. but since the 37-38 is slightly smaller mounting arc I missed it by just a scant 1/4 inch in the corner. you can see my new hole just forward of the fender, and the small gap in the corner. I will fix both. otherwise looks good enough to me!

IMG_9137-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9139 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


passenger side tomorrow, then back to the interior. I ordered a fan switch, everyone seems to go with the 185 on 175 off, but the thermostat in these trucks is a 185 stock and most run a 190. so I ordered a 200 on 185 off, I figure it will work better not turning on all the time and cycling the thermostat. if I remember the gauge runs right under 200 in the middle.

fenders

rear fender is look'n good Joe.

thanks! my wife cant believe its the same truck I brought home on the back of my flatbed.

learning from the drivers side I was able to knock out the passenger side pretty quickly.

IMG_9146 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
54491292003__B96E3997-7E77-4EBE-9936-99E53351A299 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I thought you might like to see what kind of room I have to work with on the right side. :/

IMG_9148 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

not for much longer though! oh and I seemingly and impossibly misplaced my sharpie in the 4 cubic feet I was working in. I borrowed a green one from my wife and said "I lost the one I was working with". she was understandably concerned about me losing hers too, until I explained that you FIND the first one by USING the second one and paying attention to where you lay it down.

54490992436__8C275E98-7DF6-44FB-A118-150E90FCE038 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I was dying to roll it out and get an overall, but it was raining, so here is the bonus outside picture taken inside.

IMG_9153-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I laid in the harnesses next since I couldnt weld outside.

IMG_9156 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9157 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9158 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

I was able to get the entire engine harness and pcm inside the dash, which I was worried about because there isnt a lot of room for it under the hood. I need to put the AC box in next, then its dash and gauges.

Nice work on the fenders and running boards.

It took me a while to figure out what looked "wrong" about the fenders. [S
Then it finally hit me. You are building a Chevy! NOT a Ford.
Now the fenders look OK.

nice work man. truck looks great

[cl
Right On
The second time you do something it's always faster. First one an hour to 3 or 4 days the second one, 20 to 30 minutes
Continue on [P[P[P

Old Iron said:

[cl
Right On
The second time you do something it's always faster. First one an hour to 3 or 4 days the second one, 20 to 30 minutes
Continue on [P[P[P

Click to expand...

And usually better as well OI......[ddd
I feel your "space' Issue. Waiting for the weather to get to the point where I can park my car outside as I need the space to mill some 16' mahogany boards.
Keep at it. Looking great. [P [P [P
Torchie

thanks fellas, skip its amazing how similar the trucks are. I missed a 40 a couple months ago that I still hold hope was too much for the guy who bought it to chew on and he will put it up for sale again.

Torchie I am pretty over being cramped. although I started out doing it all in the driveway so today instead of griping about space I cleaned the space. someone actually ordered a spring day and I partook with great excitement.

54499958519__23365792-E1A9-47A8-AA08-62FAE06E371F by Joe Doh, on Flickr
54499959626__44CC4CDD-1874-4B4B-B2A9-75D95F35985E by Joe Doh, on Flickr



here is something that bothered me on the last one, and bothers me again on this one. you can see plainly that the front clip is level and square and evenly mounted, look for a clue on the frame rails (the spacing is the same) but look at the flare of the passenger fender compared to the drivers. some of it is that the drivers fender was wiped liberally with a fence post somewhere in history but I have yanked most of it back. there is literally 2-3" more space wheelarch-to-tire in the passenger front fender. the last 41 was the same and I thought maybe I just mounted it crooked.

IMG_9165 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

ahhh so clean again. and some of the tools are actually in the toolbox too.

IMG_9169 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

so the day wasnt a complete loss I did the lower rad mounts. need some padding and to install the hoses but that went faster than I thought. got my temp switch in the mail 3 days early too woop woop. need a tap, the hole in the sensor dealie is 1/8 and the switch is 3/8 so I need add at least 2 more 1/8 holes

IMG_9188 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

Not surprised by the difference side to side JD.
I was talking to a guy with a stone stock, untouched or damaged 41 Ford Car.He thought that it had the wrong front fenders because the spacing from the wheel opening to the edge of the tire was off from side to side by about an 1-1/2"
They didn't make them as good back then as we like to think that they did.
Good to see "Hanna" outside.[cl
Torchie

I'm with Torchie, my 40 Pontiac was the same way.
The drivers side fender needed some massaging to keep the tire from rubbing and the passenger side was fine. Thought is was my expert mounting skills that had went awry [S

I chalk the fitment thing up to geometry. We are assembling an old puzzle with a few newer parts included. (Think 30-something PU on a 90 S10 chassis.) All the parts were made with a bit of wiggle room for "getting it right" at the factory. Now add multi-plane adjustability, and you also have multi-plane misalignment opportunities. A penny here and a penny there will add up to a dollar in no time. Just keep tweaking it, you'll find that sweet spot.

That said, I pretty much gave up on trying to get my hood side-panels to fit. But I prefer the look without them anyway.

well I noticed it on the last 41, so I was extra careful to get this clip mounted correctly (core support centered within 1/16th!, absolutely square to frame and cab) and it is still waaaay out. when I pushed it out to clean I happened to look and see it is a different shape side to side. I have another front clip in the back yard (is that enough directions?) and I will measure it to see.


on a related note, I came home from dinner with the truck outside and noticed the bed was SUPER crooked, I spent some time with a tape until I realized the tailgate was just sagging on one corner where the pivot weld had broken. old trucks!

joedoh said:

well I noticed it on the last 41, so I was extra careful to get this clip mounted correctly (core support centered within 1/16th!, absolutely square to frame and cab) and it is still waaaay out. when I pushed it out to clean I happened to look and see it is a different shape side to side. I have another front clip in the back yard (is that enough directions?) and I will measure it to see.


on a related note, I came home from dinner with the truck outside and noticed the bed was SUPER crooked, I spent some time with a tape until I realized the tailgate was just sagging on one corner where the pivot weld had broken. old trucks!

Click to expand...

Just remember you're dealing with 70-some year old sheetmetal. I'd be more surprised if it was symmetric from side to side than not! Mine took some figuring to get everything lined up because it had a bit of a rough life.

Some of the distortion like that can easily come from daily use over it's life. By the time we get to them, they have already lived a pretty rough life. Our attempts at bracing the cab before disassembly are good but how many have checked real good how square it is before we get in and brace everything up for removing the cab? They can get beat pretty whonkyjawed sitting in place. I know how small issues that draw your eye won't leave you alone. Maybe little small things that others don't see or just plain don't mention are there and they bug you. In the immortal words of a memorable guy that I can't seem to remember, you can only see one side at a time ...

yeah some of it is definitely the life, but there is no denying the parts are not mirror images of each other. maybe they figured guys would be more likely to bang into the passenger side, I know the right rear fenders are almost impossible to find is any kind of shape, because the farmer always backed into stuff.

picked up some neoprene at the yard store for the lower mounts but they did not have a tap (the drawer was EMPTY, unheard of at the yard store), so once again I had to go to ace. $^&%^ $18 (all taps are $3 at the yard). and the dril bit size was a princely 37/64ths. another $19. uhh, not for me. I used a 9/16 and knew the aluminum would be my friend.

IMG_9172 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9173 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9174 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

got the rad mounts done too. the little clip looking parts with the screws just hold the kydex I use as an air director.

IMG_9176 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9177 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


I cut up the speedway rad mounts to make them, in the future I will just make my own. I spent a while laying out the rad hoses, looks like the stock s10 hoses will work perfectly, but the bottom outlet is a little big for the stock hose so I need to grease it up or get a larger hose.

Looks like you will be test driving very soon. [cl[P

smallfoot said:

Some of the distortion like that can easily come from daily use over it's life. By the time we get to them, they have already lived a pretty rough life. Our attempts at bracing the cab before disassembly are good but how many have checked real good how square it is before we get in and brace everything up for removing the cab? They can get beat pretty whonkyjawed sitting in place. I know how small issues that draw your eye won't leave you alone. Maybe little small things that others don't see or just plain don't mention are there and they bug you. In the immortal words of a memorable guy that I can't seem to remember, you can only see one side at a time ...

Click to expand...

smallfoot....
That quote has been attributed to Kenneth Howard aka "Von Dutch. He was supposed to have said that to someone that claimed his pin striping job was different on one side of a Car to the other....
This vehicles (especially commercial ones) do take a beating over the years. And as has been stated most of the "Little" things are only noticed by we who have built them.
My wife likes to say to me when I am getting hung up on a little thing." Nobodies going to notice that when you are going 80 down the highway."...
Torchie

"And as has been stated most of the "Little" things are only noticed by we who have built them."
That's what my friends tell me all the time but, it's still like fingernails on a chalkboard when someone points out a mistake I've made.
Reality is, nothing is ever perfect.

Old Iron said:

"And as has been stated most of the "Little" things are only noticed by we who have built them."
That's what my friends tell me all the time but, it's still like fingernails on a chalkboard when someone points out a mistake I've made.
Reality is, nothing is ever perfect.

Click to expand...

oh man, me too. like little exposed nerves, you just have to grit your teeth and say "yep, uh huh".



got the rad in and the hoses lined out. not perfect yet but good enough! I was grunting and fighting trying to get the hoses on, the rad inlet and outlet were just slightly too large and I couldnt get the last edge up over the lip. my wife heard my stream of obscenities and said "hmm try some coconut oil". it made me laugh out loud, until her terse expression made me realize she wasnt joking. so I humored her and wiped a little coconut oil on the hose, and it slipped on almost without effort. lesson learned.

IMG_9194-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr
IMG_9195 by Joe Doh, on Flickr


after staring at the drivers door pranged open all week, I decided to take it back off and twist on the hinges. but while I was looking for my punch I realized it wouldnt solve anything, the sheetmetal was bent, not the hinges, so bending the hinge would compound the problem. my father in law was a ride noise vibration and harshness guy at the chevy dealer for 22 years and taught me a trick about doors that didnt seal to the weatherstrip and had wind noise on the highway, he would wrap an old tire in a blanket and put it in the door jamb and push around on the window surround, just a little, till the surround hit the weatherstrip when the door was closed (and the tire wasnt there). I figured since it was over-opened, I could use his trick and over-close it.

worked good! needs to come up a little in the back and the job will be done

IMG_9198-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

started to run the light harness under the hood and hit a snag, the bulbs dont fit the 41 housings. the last one I did had 46 housings and fit, but these are too small. I can either put the small park light in there and the big turn up top, or find a small LED turn for inside the glass. I am leaning toward the second, I want the little cab lights to be BARELY on, 5w is fine, not a turn signal bulb.

IMG_9199-1 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

You may already know this. Those park light housings and lens are the same as a 40 Pontiac.
On my 40 Pontiac, the 1157 style bulb just barely fit in them (with some manipulation and a newer socket) but create too much heat so, the led would be a better deal.
You're fortunate both of your lens are good. You can buy re-pops in either plastic or glass. The glass ones are pricey.