New life for the '30 Chevy

[Old Stuff]

Gene that's some interesting detail on why and how they fixed that problem. Figures it was something simple. I'm not concerned a bit about putting mine in the back but it's always kinda fun to poke at the Pinto. LOL

I'm with you on the bigger tanks. Every truck I've owned since the late 70's has had at least 20 gallons (my '77 having dual tanks) with the exception of my '58. It has a Ford truck auxiliary tank in the rear and in between the frame rails but it's only around the 17 gallon mark I think. With an average of 12 MPG it's not too bad but I do like having the choice of where I fuel up at. I'm hoping/planning on the '30 making some long distance trips so a bigger tank is always nice- especially running out through parts of the country where stations can be scarce.

[Gene]

I like big fuel tanks. The 54 Dodge pickup I built years ago had a 26 or 30 gal tank behind the rear axle. It only had the rear bumper and a piece of tin "protecting" it, even had a rear fill behind the license plate!

There were a lot of vehicles with the fuel tank hanging behind the rear axle, the Pinto got a bum wrap. It issue with the Pinto was the tank was thin (thinner then normal) sheet metal, and was only a couple inches from the rear axle. On a hard impact, the thin tank was pushed into the rear axle and the upper axle link ruptured the tank. The only fires were when the rear axle was hot or a spark occurred between the tank and the hot axle. The fix from Ford was to install a piece of hard plastic between the rear axle and the fuel tank. The hard plastic caused the thin tank to bend more, and eliminated the chance of a spark, or the hot rear axle from causing the fire.

I doubt the rear frame on your truck is going to bend as far as the pinto unibody did on rear impact. \

In recent years, Chrysler had a recall on 20 years worth of Grand Cherokees because 6 or 7 Jeeps over a 20 year life span had a fire on rear impact. The fix for Chrysler was to install a rear trailer hitch to add more protection to the tank.

Its good to see you working on the old Chevy again. Gene

[Old Stuff]

Boxing in of the remaining rear frame portion of the truck has pretty much come to an end. Since I have been jumping around like a doctor seeing 5 patients at one time, it’s nice to scratch this one off the list.

After welding up the spring hangers some time back it turned out that I’d gotten them a smidgen too tight to the frame for the shackle bolts go in and be nutted up. (Coulda trimmed bolt and nut a tad but couldn't go there.) Quick work with a hole-saw to the frame provided a simple solution. Fast forward to boxing in the frame there, a small piece of 1 ½” pipe and one more party with the hole-saw made the access permanent through the boxed in frame- just to the right/out of the pic of course. (Of course that means I’ll never have to replace those bushings now…. Ha.)



Now I gotta start thinking about gas tank size and placement. Was thinking about right behind the cab between the frame rails with a new 17 gallon unit but am now leaning toward a bit bigger tank, putting between the rear axle and end of the frame. The truck frame, bed frame, and receiver hitch should be a decent buffer from going "Pinto" on a bad day.

[Old Stuff]

Nice Work!

Thanks Couper! Gotta keep pushing before it's time to hibernate! LOL!

[Couper]

Nice Work!

[Old Stuff]

Looking good!

Thanks Gene! I'm hoping to get as much done as possible before the cold weather jumps in and intimidates me! LOL

[Gene]

Looking good!

[Old Stuff]

Thanks JWD! finally getting to spend some more time on it. My '58 was getting jealous so I had to give it some attention LOL.That- in the form of swapping out the old split back bench for some brand new Procar low back buckets!
Best to ya!

[JWD]

That looks awesome Old Stuff!

[Old Stuff]

Might as well add this one.... (Big cheese-e grin)

[Old Stuff]

Some time back I did a wood mock-up for the flatbed. Thursday I picked up a small load of steel which included some 11 gauge 2” x 3” tubing and Sunday went to work.

This will be a bit shorter and way narrower than a typical flatbed but will still haul anything 8’ ft long and don’t have to push the receiver hitch out further away from the axle- a benefit since the primary functionality is for pulling trailers. Equally as important is that I think it just looks right for this build.

While happy with the initial overall look of the wood frame I figured it would likely be modified to some degree after drilling in to the details. Wanting to use pieces from the original truck whenever possible, I ended up narrowing the width a bit in order to incorporate the original stake pockets and flat bar (temp mock-up in the pic below)- continuing with the “steampunk/industrial/war horse” look. Clearance between the bed and the tires ends up at 1 inch ”after all is said and done. I can live with that.





I don’t plan on ever removing the bed- which is the perfect reason to NOT to weld it on…. LOL. I decided a simple bolt on would be in order. Two small pieces of 3x3 scrap angle volunteered to be cut up, drilled, and welded to the bottom side of the bed frame, becoming the attachment points to the frame rails with 1/2" Grade 8 bolts. Since I’m boxing in the rails there, I’ll tack the nuts on the inside to allow unbolting if ever desired. The added benefit is that the pieces of angle keep the bed tightly centered on the frame rails. *The right pic below shows some old wood "squares" that I used for a project some time back- these made it easy to keep things squared up. The 2 pieces of 2x3 close to the back of the cab have something special to come.......



To be continued!......

[Old Stuff]

Finally got the motor mounts done which was a huge mental score for me. I ended up using flathead rubber mounts which was simple and I hope works out well. Wouldn’t you know I started having wire feed issues when welding out the brackets (a whole ‘nuther story) so the welds aren’t so pretty but it the motor won’t fall out of the frame LOL.

It’s nice to have that done after hanging out there so long. With the wood blocking gone (that the motor was sitting on) I can now roll it around again if desired and hey- what a great place to store the engine/trans!

[Gene]

Sometimes minor distractions are good, it helps clear the mind. I think I'm in need of more distractions these days.
Looking forward to the bed building. Gene

[Old Stuff]

Working on the '58 has been distracting- ever had that happen??? Ha. I have been managing to sneak in a bit of time on the motor mounts and ordered the 2x3 tubing for the flat bed. Will get some pics up next week I do reckon.

Hope everyone is doing well these days.

[Old Stuff]

Well it's sneaking up on a month since I've worked on the truck- which hasn't happened since I started the build. Making me nuts. Been doing grocery money work (which is good of course) and misc other ignored/needed things around the house. I must say that is has been a bummer walking past it every day yet not spending time on it. I'm just glad to see it from the eating area (through the window) every day so it's not out-of-sight-out-of-mind...

Best to all and get to working on those hot rods!