1931 Chevy 4door into pickup.

[smallfoot]

Anybody that doesn't just sit back on his haunches and take in the amount of hand crafted magic on this one is probably blind....fine work Endi![cl

 

[DozerII]

Great job on the straightner and fuel line JB, you will be able to fire it up pretty soon.

 

[endicott_jb]

Thanks for keeping up with it guys. Yeah Dozer, should be able to fire up the little Mercedes engine pretty soon but it'll still be a while before I can cruise her around. She's a slow moving vehicle right now. Just trying to make sure I have everything right the first time. Nothing I hate more than doung things over and over again. Even though that's how it always ends up going. Anyhow, I didn't like where my fuel pump was sitting so I played around with it quite a bit today until I came up with a solution that isn't only functional but also more aesthetically pleasing. I didn't really want to use all too much rubber fuel line but when you need a sharp bend, sometimes thats the only way around it. Anyhow, now everything is permanently mounted and I can move on to the next task, sorting out the steering hubbub. Until tomorrow, here are a couple of pictures of the finished fuel system.

 

[endicott_jb]

With the holidays, getting sick for a week, and everything else life seams to throw at me, I haven't done much out in the shop lately. Today I finally felt well enough to try and accomplish things so I did. Got my chain tensioners finished finally. I went with a mechanical tensioner of sorts instead of the spring loaded deal and it works perfectly. There is a rod with 5/16 heims attacking the two tensioner arms and one going from one of the idler sprockets to a solid mount on the passenger side. Nice and tight now with very little play when switching directions. Once I had that done, it was onto fabricating a throttle assembly. I may have to bring the arm up just a bit to allow a cable to attach but I'm happy with the way it's looking and should work well to convert the pull of a cable into a push on the injection pump arm. Anyhow, here are some pictures.











Still need to find a pitman arm for the old stude box and then the steering will be fully finished but the chain bits was the big hurdle.

 

[Skip]

Can you back up and get a shot if the entire chain drive steering setup? I'm having trouble seeing it in pieces. Thanks!

 

[endicott_jb]

Sure thing bud. It's a bit hard to take pictures from under the cowl. In hindsight I should have made the dash bolt in instead of welded but you know what they say about hindsight. Anyhow, here ya go.









And this is how the chain goes down to the box around the oil filter.

 

[Skip]

WOW. Just WOW. Are you a millwright? That has to be the most complicated steering system I have ever seen. I've done similar chain drive setups to run a machine in a mill, but just so you can put the steering wheel on the wrong side. I am impressed. Your projects always blow my mind.

 

[endicott_jb]

Thanks Skip. I am not a millwright, in fact, I'm barely even a mechanic even though my job title at work is machinist. I'm just a crazy kid who tries to use what's available locally to make things work.

 

[DozerII]

Great progress JB looks real good. Glad to hear your felling better.

 

[joedoh]

I'm just a crazy kid who tries to use what's available locally to make things work.

I subscribe to that too! [cl


I like how you use the brake line as a steering tension indicator, if you start to lose your brakes, its time to tighten the steering!

 

[Gunzenrosa]

Dude. You make my head spin.
I've made to page 30 and I need a break.
The amount of work you put into this cruck is mind blowing.
Luckily I can follow along at my own pace which is somewhat slower than yours.
I think I missed what the Mercedes engine is, diesel 4 cylinder? If so I seen a video where a guy dumped used vegetable oil in the tank and ran the thing issue free. Now that would be something, filler up at McDonald's.
Anyhow very cool build. Lots of work going on here. [cl

 

[endicott_jb]

So the other day I decided that it was time to redo the overhead console. Once I had that done, I was sitting in the car looking through the windshield and decided I didn't have enough visible area so I cut the visor off and the top portion up about 1-1/2". Makes a world of difference. I still need to bend some sheet metal to fit but I've first got to get some more 18ga steel.

 

[smallfoot]

You'll appreciate the view later on! Like the console....[cl

 

[endicott_jb]

I finally got a bit of ambition over the last few days and have accomplished a bit. Got the windshield cut out cleaned up and filled in along with the windshield frame made. A lot of welding, grinding, welding and grinding to get it all looking like it should. Only thing left to do is fill in the lower corners and attach the hinge. Once that's all done I'll be starting on the bed. Gonna use 14ga for the bedsides, front wall, and tailgate. All will be one off specifically for this truck. So keep your eyes peeled for more progress reports.

And as always, plenty of pictures.










Heres with the frame in the cutout. You can see how the corners are still open. I have a plan for that.








Just some extra tidbits, the frame is made from 3/4" angle iron so it shouldn't bend too easily and I'm going to use a piano hinge along the top, make a handle to go in the bottom center of the frame, and make some brackets to keep it popped out like the old fords had.

 

[Gunzenrosa]

if you heated up the bottom piece of angle iron maybe you could bend it to fit the curve of the cowl. Of course you would need more angle iron to do that. Just wondering if that would work or not.

 

[endicott_jb]

I could have bent it to match the contour but I wanted the glass to be easy to cut and install. Otherwise, I would have pie cut the piece of angle.

 

[DozerII]

Looking really good JB, a couple three months and we are going to be getting antsy to start driving them again.

 

[endicott_jb]

Looking really good JB, a couple three months and we are going to be getting antsy to start driving them again.

Ive been antsy since the first snow hit in September. But Ive got a lot more to do on this one and Ive still gotta pickup the new spindle for the other. On another note, I won't be doing shows this summer. Found out on Sunday my mom is getting married next december which means I have to use all my vacation for that. I'm happy for her but I wish they could have set the date for warmer months.

 

[Skip]

I like the "harsh" contrasts between the original design and some of the modifications. It has certain aspects that remind me of an armored car. The squared off windshield frame fit into the softer lines of the surround is one of these. Fun to look at. [cl

 

[endicott_jb]

Got my windshield surround finished up. Looks pretty good in my opinion. What I did to keep it simple was cut a slit in the cowl and slid a piece of 18ga that I cut and bent to fit into the cowl and welded it in place. I've been using .025 solid wire lately and my welder likes it a lot more than the .035 that I had been using for everything. Finished up that and to keep myself going I started on the bed. I took some pieces of 14ga that I cut to size to work and used our big brake at work to bend the tops outward about 45 degrees or so. Cut another piece today to seperate the radiator and battery area from the bed itself. Tomorrow I'll start working on the tailgate. It'll be a bit more intricate than most but it'll look neat. And as always, pictures.









When I cut the back piece out I ended up warping the steel quite a bit so the angle iton is to keep it flat.