Kechi 1949 3100 4.3 4L60e

[joedoh]

thanks fellas, its always nice when the garage is totally empty and ready to clean. I am selling this one cheap (shoulda called it Penny!) so not much else NEEDS done, but the longer I keep it the more will get done, bumpers, bed wood, gauges etc.

next? I think I will help a friend with his body swap, then around january I will start a two pronged assault on the shop (wiring, insulation, then HVAC) and I have the parts gathered to do a really sweet 47 3100, I have a black cab, black bed, black hood and chrome grille to go with some nice yellow fenders. I have a ridetech air bar rear setup and some front bags too, and those foose 20s. I have been doing mostly hot roddy style trucks with rake and larger rear tires etc but I think one laying flat in the driveway might be fun. need a chassis donor, a local car lot has had an interesting one for a couple months, I might hit em at 50% and see what happens.

 

[Torchie]

Great job.[cl
Can't wait to see the next one. [P [P [P
Torchie

 

[BillM]

Good luck JD, I'll be watching for the 47 build thread.

 

[joedoh]

thanks fellers.

I put the hood on and sure as taxes the brake booster sprung a vacuum leak. so the hood is back off.

story time.

my daughter flew in for thanksgiving, super surprise, a bit of the "christmas with the kranks" totally last minute and we hadnt planned the big celebration because of all the new property work (coughcoughmoneyworkcough). but it was great, small and great, love that girl. my middle girl even came, she has been suffering from myparentssuck-itis like they all get around 19-22.

anyway. since it was a small thanksgiving I didnt have a lot of prep to do like normal, I saw a nice pair of 52-54 wing doors for sale, they kept popping up in my feed, priced high but no rot, clean everything and the glass was good. I sent the guy a low offer, said I dont really need them but would hate to miss them if I ever did. no response. its ok, happens with last ditch offers, and at least I shot my shot.

so monday, another set of doors in my feed, not so nice, broken glass. funking with the door latch on kechi so I offer what a good used latch would cost me for both. a couple minutes later, ding, "ok come get em" and a number to call.

but the name he used was different. it was the first guy, from thanksgiving. who has two thumbs and 4 doors? THIS GUY

I WANTED to have kechi rolled out and for sale. the guy who asked me to build it is ducking me though, I can take a hint. another friend asked me to set up his truck, so if nobody minds I will just append it here. just mounting body and pedals, bumpers and running boards. nothing groundbreaking.

pitter patter, lets get at er.

as usual I cut the frame right behind the core support mount, the front clip comes off in one big chunk, and on a first gen the hood stays with it!

I cut out the firewall chunk for the pedals, he wants to run a clutch and T56 eventually. not keeping the wiring harness which I think is A DAMN SHAME

should be a quick hit, planning to be done before christmas, should be possible with no radiator/glass/rust repair/interior/engine/suspension work.

 

[Burgerman]

Ducking out on Kechi. Dang Joe. I like the quick work you're making with that gen 1 donor.

 

[DozerII]

That really sucks, the guy orders a truck done to his specs then backs out.

 

[BillM]

That really sucks, the guy orders a truck done to his specs then backs out.

I'll say. There are a lot of dreamers in this world, hopefully he will come through in the end. Here you go again making quick work of another one. I'll be watching!

 

[Old Iron]

So what's the price tag on Kechi gonna be?

 

[joedoh]

OI it really depends on what I do to finish it, if I put wheels on and gauges in and bed wood and replace the cracked side glass and at least do the brakes if not the steering up front, thats a lot different than just finishing the LED tails and rrrrrolling it outside. I may try the latter first, then the former.

if you are asking for yourself, shoot me a pm.

 

[joedoh]

finished stripping nicks frame.

changed out the bad booster, no more whistle and great pedal.

wired up high beams and installed second horn.

adjusted tilt of drivers door cab side latch, had to deepen the slots with a die grinder to get the screws out, but success! door shuts with a finger now. woot!

made the 37 car tag light fit the 37 truck housing

put them on the truck and noticed the right side was lower than the left. I guess that is how the brackets are made? shoulda made my own sheesh.

wired them and more problems, the grounds are bad in the right side harness.

fixed alignment.

nick is bringing his 54 saturday so I will use tomorrow to shorten and bolt down the seat, install the wipers, and maybe some other stuff too.

 

[Torchie]

Wow. You are a one man production line. [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[BillM]

Wow. You are a one man production line. [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

You can say that again! You move so fast you make my head spin.

 

[joedoh]

thanks, I get in fits and spurts for sure. I got the tag in and got the tails working, this is just park light, look at the glow! I love these 37 lights.

nick dropped of his 54 and picked up all his s10 leftovers.

I finished the blower mod, used my heat gun to wrap the square hole to the round pipe.

got the seat posts and carpet edge strips installed.

put the e clips on the wipers arms. if you havent put an electric wiper motor in, let me tell you how much fun this is, the arms get plastic inserts then you put them on the posts, then a plastic washer, then an e clip. you do this by mashing your hand between the wiper motor and the cowl vent mechanism, by feel. this picture is looking up from the floor in a position only a phone will fit. the motor actually points up at the sun about 30 degrees from horizontal. they send 3 e clips because you are going to lose one trying to get it in.

this is the top part of the air director. usually it attached to the S10 dash (with all the vent tubes) and smashes to the HVAC box when the dash is tilted in. but I have to attach it with screws. trimmed it till it fit in the dash and added the defrost hoses.

fits well, the open hole is for the eventual face vents to be piped to. right now it points out the radio hole, so that works for now I guess.

here is a shot of the blower installed. with more planning I could have cut a hole in the factory fresh air plate and had fresh air for the blower! defintely on the next one. the cardboard glovebox still fits!

and an overall. I got all the drivers side wiring tucked and the fusebox/light switch installed, on the passenger side all that is left is the heater control wiring.

getting there! need to decide if I want to cut that bar between the speaker and the ashtray so the s10 gauges can go right there.

 

[Burgerman]

Like the 54. Nice dash and air work. Vote for cutting and install S10 gauges.
[P

 

[BillM]

Those tail lights do look awesome Joe. Thanks again for posting all your work, I'm just about to fight with my wipers so your timing is perfect once again!

 

[Torchie]

5 lbs of stuff in a 3 lb bag for sure. [ddd
Looking good.[cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[joedoh]

I decided to put the gauges there, but I didnt want to cut the dash. the problem wasnt the gauges, which were thin enough, but the plastic cover was shaped to the s10 dash. so I cut a wedge out.

I squeezed it together gently and used some glue to hold it to its new shape. only cracked in one place, because I was impatient.

while I was waiting... the passenger wiper arm (internal) I had shortened a little more than an inch. well for whatever reason on this truck it was too much, it parked fine but there was more swing than available travel so it wasnt getting a full sweep (like 90%) on the glass. I thought about it. for like an hour. and for the next two hours I took out the e clips again, took out the passenger arm, found the piece in the trash I cut out, cut it in half and added it back to the arm. It really came down to, I wouldnt want to have to replace the wiper transmission and arm after it grenaded a few years down the line, and whoever buys it wouldnt either.

after that popped in the old gauges (for hole fillers) and assembled the rest of the dash

I have the speaker grille/ashtray in with velcro so you can pop it out while driving but honestly it looks fine with it in, you can almost see everything through the grille anyway.

only a couple more things! glovebox, some bed stuff. really working out nice.

 

[lowbudget50]

Looking good!!!!

 

[soltz]

Really turning out nice

Looking good!!!!

Under statement × 2 [cl

**[P**

 

[BillM]

Fantastic idea to hide those gauges in there. Keep them coming!