51 Chev

[BillM]

The rear tires Torchie? Yeah - pretty much need a hoist as I need to kind of "roll" them off toward me and down. They JUST clear the fender as they do.

I've been lax in updating here....rear end is squared and final fitted. I ended up fab'ing 1" lowering blocks to replace the 2" ones that it came with. Hopefully that will eliminate the need for the air shocks. The previous owner did say that they needed "a little air" to prevent rubbing....although he had no idea how much "a little" was....thanks for the help. The new driveshaft is in too.

Wiring is well underway, although I'm stuck waiting on parts again. I also needed the hood in order to check for rad clearance, as I've relocated the rad slightly. It came to me with a badly canted rad, so much that a mech fan could not be used. The PO had an 8" pusher fan in front of the rad...and I cant believe that it actually cooled it. I picked up the hood yesterday,
and have help coming tomorrow to mount it.

The glass is all in now, and I've installed a minivan rear window wiper motor in place of the stock motor. The local supplier of resto parts wanted $500 for the 12v conversion motor!!! $25 at the local Upull and it's in.

Here's a couple of quick update pictures.

 

[Torchie]

Good progress Bill.[cl
Glad to see you are posting about this one.
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[Old Iron]

Nice to see the updates on you ride [cl

[P[P[P

 

[I-R-POPS]

Nice!1 What did Chevy call that body style? Delivery?
It's coming right along.

 

[donsrods]

Glad you have figured out the suspension/alignment issues. Better to do them now than after the car is all done, especially with that much HP and fat tires.

Good looking car.

 

[BillM]

Well, as luck would have it, I finally got the hood, test fit it and it wouldn't close. I didnt see the car prior to disassembly for paint, but was told that the rad was on a severe angle. So much so that a mechanical fan couldn't be used, and as I'd said previously, it only had that small electric fan pushing. I stood the rad up during my reassembly, and then found that the hood wouldn't close. I very carefully cut about 1.5" off the backside of the inner hood brace and it cleared! I was pretty nervous cutting as it the paint was only about a week old. Several hours of hood hinge/fender/grille adjustments and it gapped and closes pretty good.

 

[DozerII]

Well done Bill, I would be nervous to cutting on that hood, pain is way over rated.

 

[dutch]

Nice work Bill [cl , not sure how I missed this thread....
building car is a challenge, but building cars someone started and left for dead halfway through is something else...
That body style is really good looking

 

[Torchie]

Beautiful, Bill.[cl [cl [cl
For those that asked about what type of vehicle this is I have always heard them called "Sedan Deliveries."
As a youngster I would still see a few of these on the roads being used by trades people.
Always wanted to get my hands on one.[ [ [ [
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[I-R-POPS]

Really Nice!![cl[cl[cl
I too would like to have one of that body style.

 

[BillM]

Knocking off some stuff on the 51. Bumper mounts, rear splash pan, taillights are all looking pretty good on the rear. The front bumper mounts are kinda butchered up pieces of @#$%, but I have to work with what's there....lol. The AC and some other parts I've been waiting on showed up today, so I'll have plenty to keep me occupied for a while.

 

[DozerII]

A guy 's gotta keep busy. [P[P

 

[BillM]

Still knockin things off the list, at my speed anyway. Pretty much finished off the wiring, had a little issue with the right signal/hazards/brake lights blowing a fuse. After a few trouble shooting steps to narrow it down I find the right rear signal wire UNDER the hood hinge bolt, WAY up under the dash....what are the odds.... The AC/heat is complete, except for the evac and charge of course. Vintage Air sent me two compressor bracket kits instead of the alternator relocate bracket I needed, so I'm waiting again. Brakes are bled, parking brake all setup. It's almost time to fire it up, once I get those last few pieces I'm waiting on. Here are some random pictures.

 

[soltz]

Coming along and looking good [cl
<<[P>>

 

[Torchie]

[cl
I've had two of these pop up for sale on my FB feed.
I've always dug them.
Looking great, Bill.
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[DozerII]

Those kind of electrical issues can be such a pain in the A$% coming together nicely.[P[P

 

[kenny c]

Looking great![cl

 

[I-R-POPS]

Such a sweet build!
If I ever find a Dodge delivery in decent shape that will be my next build.
Looking fine. [cl[P[cl

 

[BillM]

Thanks everyone. This thing is growing on me, but I'm not so sure what it will be like to drive. I've heard people say that a three window truck like my Thriftmaster has a bad blindspot....lol, I cant imagine how bad the blindspot is going to be in this thing!
Here's a couple of update pictures of the AC underdash completion, and then a mockup of the dash. One of the previous owners had (for some unknown reason) chosen to hack out the original dash face (it appears they used an oxygen lance) and had a 1/4" plate aluminum dash installed. They drilled holes in it and fastened a mid 80's vintage Camaro dash behind it. It was about as bad as it gets. The current owner loved the gauges I used in my truck, so we decided on them in a piece of subflooring that will get wrapped with the interior material. Anything would be better than what was in there.

 

[Old Iron]

I think the dash will look great.