1937 chevy truck 3/4 ton

[joakwin]

went to the man mall 50% off
and picked me up some front suspension off of a 1998 s10 blazer

it has new uca's, and new ball joints in the lca's
new brake pads, and the rotors have some rust but that's not a big deal
I have to put new bushings in the lca's but that's not a big deal with a press

$145 out the door

I'm going to heat wash the lca's next week

one step closer to getting my frame into a rolling chassis

 

[joakwin]

the start of the trans cross member and the trans mount

 

[joakwin]

the motor/trans is now bolted in to the frame

I got one of the lower control arms cleaned this week
I need to take the other side apart so that I can stick it in the heat cleaner

 

[joakwin]

The axle I have with 2.73 gears is too wide

The other axle I have with 3.08 gears is 2 inches smaller

Looks like I'm going to use that

I cut the leaf spring pads off of that axle tonight

And will work on welding the new mounts onto that axle tomorrow

 

[Old Iron]

Good score on all the front end parts.
[P[P[P

 

[earthman]

..............[P

 

[joakwin]

I have the axle floating on the lower link bars now

need to get the frame on wheels so that I can set the driveline angle

I measured for my driveshaft and I think its going to end up around 43inches long

my uncle gave me a driveshaft from a 78 caprice, that I will have to get cut down

I sent a few emails to driveshaft shops local to me
waiting to see how much its going to run

 

[joakwin]

I got the joy of driving one of my older brothers toys
55 belair with a vortec carb 350 with a 5 speed

 

[soltz]

Nice Chevy, wish my older brother would let me run his toy
As for the shaft if it's just a shorting thing DIY, it's not rocket science
The project is coming right along. [cl

 

[endicott_jb]

You're gonna like the 3.08s more than the 2.73s. Especially if you wanna spin the tires every now and again. The 3.08s will definitely keep your rpms lower at cruising speed as opposed to 3.73s which will be great for fuel mileage.

 

[joakwin]

The trans has a 2.95 1st gear and with those 3.08's
take off will be a 9.08, alittle on the low side but it should be fine
3.42 would be a 10.089

My brothers 55 Belair has a 2.95 1st gear with 2.73's in the diff and the car weighs 3200 and it moves nice on the street with that carb vortec 350

My brothers other toy is a 55 210 gasser
He has a 454 in it currently with a tunnel ram
Doug Nash 5 speed no od, and a ford 9
He had a high reving 427 in it but blew that up and is rebuilding
I havnt drove this gasser yet

 

[joakwin]

this weekend I'm going to the man mall to try and pick up a used Silverado under hood fuse block
the yard has a 50% off everything sell right now
and with the extra spots in the fuse block, I'm going to use them for the chassis
lights and whatnot
stick the fuse block inside the firewall



the front suspension is 100% cleaned now

I put the suspension in the heated parts cleaner and let the heat works its magic
and its ready to go onto the truck for mock up
the lowers need new bushings and it could all use a coat of paint
but paint will come after I'm done with the fab work

my goal is to get the trucks cab back on the frame and make the mounts for that and get the frame into a rolling chassis
and finish the motor mounts
and if I have time, start on the steering rack
my goal for all of this is 18 September
I have left side hip surgery on the books for 29 sept@ Camp Pendleton in San Diego
I'm pretty much building this truck with one bad hip and one repaired hip
but I have wanted to build this truck since I was a young boy
so nothing is going to stop me,
maybe slow me down for a bit
November is when I will be able to slowly get back into building the truck again
I built the front half of the frame 4 weeks post op from my right side hip surgery

 

[akatao]

good idea maxi fuses and relay mounts wish I did it

 

[joakwin]

got the idea from a tri five web site

http://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37085

seems simple and a tune on the computer to turn off the vat

lt1 wiring charges 75bucks to turn off the vat in the ecu program
and they will turn off the emission stuff and whatnot if you want

 

[joakwin]

Found a gu6 g80 rear axle with disc brakes and a sway bar from a 2wd blazer this morning at the man mall

Gu6 is 3.42 gears and the g80 is a locker set up

But I got out to the yard about 9:30 so it was starting to get hot

I'm going to try and get over to the yard tomorrow or next weekend

And the yard has a 50% off right now till the end of the month

 

[joakwin]

I picked up some lug nuts from autozone
and bolted some temp wheels on the front end,
the frame clears the ground by 7.5 inches

I picked up the castle nut I needed for the lower ball joint from the junkyard
and I got a new electric fan for my daily 05 vw golf
and I pulled the fuse block with wiring pig tails for each connector from a 2001 gmc Yukon, $55 out the door

 

[jamesgs4]

nice! keep at it and you will make your deadline

 

[joakwin]

Spent 2 hrs on the truck tonight.

 

[joakwin]

I have the cab sitting on the frame

I have to square it up to mark the holes
I have some 1 inch thick rubber that I plan to use as the cab mounts

Probably going to use 3/8's bolts to hold the cab onto the frame

Going to drill holes on the top of the frame rails and weld the nuts in.

 

[joakwin]

I picked up a steering column from a 88 gmc jimmy and a s10 steering center link for $31


and I found a 4 banger s10 with a manual pedal box
I'm going back to the man mall tomorrow morning to pick that pedal box up

took me a hr to pull the column and center link and I went to the yard afternoon and it was kind of hot and I wasn't about to start with the pedal box

plus I want to work on the truck tonight, so I can wait on the pedal box