1948 Chevy Update for October.

Fat Cat · October 28, 2007, 10:44:11 PM

Well this have moved along slowly on the Chevy this last month. Because of family and school obligations I do not get much time during the week to work on the car. A couple of the weekends this month I spent at swap meets looking for parts. So it has been the last 2 weekends that anything could be done to the car. Last weekend I took the body off the frame and removed all the old suspension.

I did that because there were a couple of areas on the rear of the frame that looked suspicious. One of them being a really bad repair in the past. It only took a few hours and same minor torch work and the body was off and setting on a dolly.

On Sunday I took the frame over to my work and used our industrial sandblaster to remove all the paint, grime and rust from the frame.

Once cleaned there were a couple more surprise areas that I had not noticed before the undercoating removal.

Here is the bad repair I spoke of earlier. Not only was it nor completed, it was also crooked in both directions and incorrectly shaped. What they had done was use a pair of front frame horn to repair the left side rail.

So I spent yesterday and today making a new section of rail to replace the above part.

Continued below...

Fat Cat · October 28, 2007, 10:58:05 PM

On Monday this last week I ordered a Welder Series corossmember kit for a Mustang II front end for my car. There were a number of reasons for doing this. It was time saving, the cost of materials was not much less than the cost of the kit and it was a time saving because I did not have to cut all the parts out. A few guys on here had talked about how good their parts are and when I talked to Enjenjo about it he said he had used one and was real pleased with the results. So I ordered one. On Tuesday I was informed it was shipping and on Friday it was dropped on my porch. So Sunday I started putting things together.

The parts are laser cut and can be assembled with a square, a welder, and a few clamps.

The top of the hats come in 2 pieces and need to be spaced up to be welded. The surround for the sides of the hat come preformed and only need minor tweeking to be welded to the top section. Each piece has alignment marks that allow for assemply much like that of a jigsaw puzzle. I had both hats welded up in about 45 minutes. Some time this week I intend to get the crossmember itself welded up.

All in all I am really happy with the fit, finish and cost of the Welder Series parts. For $214.78 plus shipping I have a crossmember that is every bit as comparable to a Heidt's or a Fatmat for about a 1/3 of the cost.

Fat Cat · October 28, 2007, 11:07:35 PM

Another part that I did not get with the car was a dashboard. I have never been to fond of the stock dash in a 1946-48 Chevy. So I had been trying to decide what to do with it. One thing I considered was to take a stock dash and fill it in and make it look different than stock. Another idea I had was to get a dash out of the same era Pontiac. The Pontiac dash looks much better in my mind. So I started looking for one. The only problem was I could not find one in good shape that did not need some chrome work. So I decided to let fate work things out for me.

As fate would have it last week Enjenjo had a guy bring him a car to strip for parts. I happened to have a really neat looking dash in it that will look great in the car with only minor work to it to make it fit.

Crosley.In.AZ · October 28, 2007, 11:46:44 PM

looks good so far.. a few surprises are always there.

the mustang II kit.... buying / shipping that in from Canada involve extra taxes - duties - fees ??

GPster · October 29, 2007, 12:00:32 AM

With the body off of it and the frame clean now is the time to "Pro-Street" it. I've got an S15 rear end that is only 53" wide and it would probably be strong enough if you stay on wet roads with slicks. George is having the same problem with logs on his cabin as you are with frames on your Chevy. The hollow is coming to the surface. GPster

enjenjo · October 29, 2007, 09:47:15 AM

Quote from: "Crosley"looks good so far.. a few surprises are always there.

the mustang II kit.... buying / shipping that in from Canada involve extra taxes - duties - fees ??

No. Unless you use UPS. Paul knows how to ship to the US, trust him.

Crosley.In.AZ · October 29, 2007, 09:02:14 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"
Quote from: "Crosley"looks good so far.. a few surprises are always there.

the mustang II kit.... buying / shipping that in from Canada involve extra taxes - duties - fees ??

No. Unless you use UPS. Paul knows how to ship to the US, trust him.

kinda what I wondered about... I've heard some stories about UPS and fees.

I had some Hughes Performance T-shirts shipped from work to a fellow in Winterpeg Canada years back. Since the package was from a business some sort of "handler" got involved and of course it involved 'more money due' at the delivery end.

fatcat......... keep us updated on progress. Perhaps a project journal here at the RRT?

Fat Cat · October 30, 2007, 05:21:22 PM

Quote from: "Crosley"looks good so far.. a few surprises are always there.

the mustang II kit.... buying / shipping that in from Canada involve extra taxes - duties - fees ??

The parts were shipped via Canpar. With the shipping ans handling charges the grand total to my door in 3 days was $239 and some change. All in all I was quite pleased with the product and the customer service I received.

Fat Cat · October 30, 2007, 05:24:07 PM

Quote from: "GPster"With the body off of it and the frame clean now is the time to "Pro-Street" it. I've got an S15 rear end that is only 53" wide and it would probably be strong enough if you stay on wet roads with slicks. George is having the same problem with logs on his cabin as you are with frames on your Chevy. The hollow is coming to the surface. GPster

Nope not going to happen. This car is going to be a cruiser. I am going with a 230HP small block with TPI and a 700R4 with 3.73 gears in the rear. I am hoping to pull around 23-28 MPG out of this thing on the highway. I do intend on going with the 2" wider rear fenders so that I can get some extra rubber up under the fenders. But this one is definitely a cruiser.

I also don't know if I mentioned it before but this car will be fully suspended on coil springs. I intend to do a triangulated 4 link on the rear with coil spring so that I can get a nice ride like that of it's bigger brethren the Oldsmobile and Buick. But I am dreaming of a Cadillac ride quality

48builder · October 31, 2007, 12:25:13 PM

[quote="Fat Cat
I also don't know if I mentioned it before but this car will be fully suspended on coil springs. I intend to do a triangulated 4 link on the rear with coil spring so that I can get a nice ride like that of it's bigger brethren the Oldsmobile and Buick. But I am dreaming of a Cadillac ride quality[/quote]

I agree on the coil spring ride. That's why I made mounts on my '48 to use the Z28 trailing arm and panhard bar suspension. I just hope it works when it's done!

Walt

sirstude · October 31, 2007, 04:33:48 PM

Too bad you are so far away, my spare 41 Olds (Chevy sized) has all that coil spring rear setup in it already.

Doug

jaybee · October 31, 2007, 04:49:36 PM

Good project, nice update. Can't wait to see what you do next.

Fat Cat · October 31, 2007, 06:46:08 PM

Quote from: "sirstude"Too bad you are so far away, my spare 41 Olds (Chevy sized) has all that coil spring rear setup in it already.

Doug

That's Ok Doug. I have a 1977 Chevyt Malibu rearend that is already setup for coil spring that I have been hanging onto for about 15 years. I plan to use that one and build a set of crossmembers to hold things up.

Danimal · November 07, 2007, 06:28:58 AM

Nice dash. That was just at my place a few weeks ago. I wondered where it would end up.