1940 Chevy truck build

[fuel]

I posted this on another site, but was told this site might be more appropriate/receptive to this kind of build. So sorry, if you've seen this before.

This is a project me and a student of mine have been working on the last few months. I wish ya'll had seen it before we started. We are both pretty proud of it and I am especially proud of Jason, my student. He is really sharp and is going to be a very talented builder someday.

We z'ed the frame, build the front suspension (except for the springs of course). This includes the front, middle, and rear spring mounts for the front suspension. We built brass radius rods for it. We also built our own front and rear motor mounts.

The pic is of the front motor mount. I took some 2x4 mild steel tubing and cut it at a 45 on both ends. Capped it and made the top bracket and welded it on there. Also, we took the old torque tube and turned them down on the lathe and I hole sawed the tubing. We then took them and put them in the holes and I TIG welded them up and polished it out.

I'll post some pics of the rear motor mounts later. They are cool, too.

I made some radiator supports out of 1/2 stainless round stock (threaded them for 1/2-13 UNC).

I even had to machine a new distributor shaft as the other was too short.

The engine runs and sounds good, thanks to Jason (my student).

We have to build a flatbed for it. I have a keg for the gas tank. We're going to a junkyard to get a driveshaft this week. I'm building a grill out of stainless round bar and some brazing rods. LOL.

There is plenty more of stuff we built that I forgot. Oh yeah, the cab is channeled 4" and the engine is raised 4.25".

It will be painted black and gold when it is finished. We hope to have it running and driving by homecoming so we can drive it in the parade. We probably won't get the bodywork completed by them, but we'll probably do that during Christmas break.

 

[fuel]

Front engine mount is made from 2x4 mild steel tubing that was mitered, holesawed, and welded in place. Total number of pieces to make the part: 9

The suspension is a semi-elliptical type design. We capture the front middle and rear of the spring. The front spring mount is at an agle because it has to be (the frame gets narrower as it goes towards the front of the truck). Also, the axle has about a 5 degree anle towards the center.

All radii have been sanded by hand - and they all match.

 

[fuel]

Built a steering box mount out of 1/2" plate. I gussetted it as well. Do you think it is stout enough? It was the only plate steel I had laying around that was close enough to the right size, so it is what I used. It's a little heavy, but it'll work. The first pic is of the steering box mounted and the next pic is of the rear of the steering box bracket so that you can see the gussetts.

If you look at the steering box bracket, it has two "ears" welded on it. My plate was not quite long enough, so I took some .5"x2" flat bar and welded on it. The seam is just a little bit below the 1st large hole from the bottom. You can't tell it is there because we ground and polished it out.

 

[fuel]

I've never seen anyone do door hinges like this before. My dad (RIP) was the only person I've ever seen use them as hinges and he used them on bbq pits. Worked great. So I had some 80 roller chain laying around and made some door hinges in kind of a tribute to him. They work awesome. This is just my prototype and when I get finished I will make them out of stainless steel. They are just tacked right now. There is also a backing plate behind them so that they don't mess up the sheetmetal. The bolts are the only 10-24s I had laying around. I had fastenal order me some stainless ones. The hinges give it an industrial look, which is kinda what we are going for. They look WAY better in person.

 

[Bonehead]

Great truck and good build pics. Tell us more about yourself, and the student, is that a class project? Also I am an old oilfield welder from Oklahoma, and the chain hinges were popular there in the 60's and 70's, but I never even thought of them for a hotrod. They look great!

 

[fuel]

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

My dad was an old millwright so that might be where he got the idea from. He traveled all over Texas and even Canada, so no telling if he saw it somewhere or what. I just know that he was the only one I ever saw do it, but then again, I was born in the 70s when maybe that stuff was fading out. He was a millwright and a welder from the early 60s until he passed away in 99. He worked on a lot of different stuff, including A&M's supercollider.

I grew up doing millwright work, but wound up doing a lot less of the traditional millwright stuff like rigging and more of the custom one-off kind of fab and machining. I was a decent machinist/fabricator and wound up working in a plant making a lot of prototyping and modifications to production machinery. I also went to college (2 of them!) and got my degrees so I could eventually teach at the college level. I love teaching. It is without a doubt the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Well, maybe not financially... LOL.

The student, Jason, took a couple of my classes and found out about me building this hot rod. He wound up working on it every step of the way. He is something else. Great guy, hard worker and he has a really excellent mechanical mind. Whoever hires him when he graduates will be getting a steal no matter what they pay him.

The hotrod isn't really a class project. It's more like anyone who is willing to come help out and learn how to do stuff is welcome. It is mainly been me and him working on it, but we started it at the very end of the semester last spring, so most of the kids are gone for the summer. There have been a few others come help including one of our alumni, an ex-student of mine. Once school is in session again, we'll have more people come over and help out or even just hang out, for sure.

I do most of the fab and Jason does most of the mechanical. I've been teaching him and honestly, he's been teaching me, too.

 

[Tripper]

Awesome!

Fuel,
Awesome work! Love the truck & yep... perfect for here!!! Thanks for posting & keep us in the loop on the rest of the build... please! Love it!!!

BoB

 

[Boltbreaker]

Fuel,
Thanks for posting. Looks like a quality build! I might use the chain hinge idea on another area of my truck than the door hinges. Its a cool idea!
It is also great to here of someone teaching an interested student along the way. Keep sending us info.

 

[Gastrick]

That's a neat project with some quality craftsmanship fuel.

 

[Unkl Ian]

Pretty cool stuff.

I would suggest machining a radius on the inside corners
of the Brass radius rods,to eliminate potential stress risers.

 

[bob w]

I'd think twice about using brass for suspension members. Suggest you compare the strength of the brass with 7/8" o.d. .156 wall steel tubing, which is what would typically be used. Nice project overall with a lot of quality work in it.

 

[50Ford]

Looks awesome so far, Keep it up.

 

[ratty46pickup]

You guys are sure doing some great work there! Looking forward to seeing more progress. I also really love the hinges!

 

[Dogfather]

Hey Folks any Progress on this here Build 2008 was a long time ago?

 

[Bamamav]

He hasn't been back since 4-22-09, so we'll never know....

 

[Dogfather]

That's a shame would have like to see it's outcome