46 Chevy

[enjenjo]

Did clutch heads work easily when they were new?

GM used them for some time, about 20 years. They must have been better than any thing else they had, but they finally switched to Phillips, and then Torx.

[idrivejunk]

Uh-oh. You'll find a way, I have faith.

[idrivejunk]

I see the pics now  

Those look nice, you whittle good.

Clutch head may have been better than Phillips.

[enjenjo]

You wouldn't believe how many types of screw drivers there are. This is not all of them, and no, there are not two Phillips in the picture

[papastoyss]

Did clutch heads work easily when they were new?

GM used them for some time, about 20 years. They must have been better than any thing else they had, but they finally switched to Phillips, and then Torx.

My '57 chevy wagon had quite a few clutch head screws in various places. I "terminated them with extreme predujice"

[enjenjo]

Spent the day saturday finishing stripping the cab, and adapting my cart to fit it. Today I took the last mounting bolts out, and lifted the cab off. I rolled the chassis outside, dropped the cab on the cart, and bolted it down, rolled that outside, and put the chassis back in the shop.

I sand blasted the panel over the windshield, mouse urine had rusted it pretty good, but I can repair it. There are no replacements available.

Tuesday the cab goes to the body shop. Tomorrow I start on the chassis.

[enjenjo]

I took the cab to the body shop yesterday. I still have the doors here, I am waiting on some parts for them.

Today I got a late start, but I decided to get the new steering box figured out. I am using a 79 Toyota 4x4 manual steering box. I found a deal on one on Ebay, basically core price, and it seems to be in really nice shape.

The original Chevy steering box is basically held in place with a clamp/bracket that is riveted to the frame. Two bolts hold the clamp together. In a bit of serendipity, there is a pressed in recess in the Chevy frame that mounts the bracket parallel with the center line of the truck which makes it a bit easier to set the new box parallel to the center line of the truck. I had to drill out the rivets to remove the original bracket, and clean the gunk out of the frame.  Once that was out of the way, I test fitted the box, and it fit with plenty of room, and the Pittman shaft even came through the original hole in the frame.

I came up with a multi piece bracket made out of angle iron for the start of the bracket. I took a piece of 3" by 3/8" angle iron, and cut it to the correct angle to hold the steering box in the frame. In this case, another bit of serendipity, it was right on 45 degrees. I cut one leg of the angle down to fit the new steering box, and transfer punched the mounting holes into the angle. The two outside holes intersected with the web of the angle, so I drilled two clearance holes from the side so I could tap the angle for those mounting bolts, and drilled the other two holes for a bolt and nut.

That is as far as I got today, I'll work on it again tomorrow. Ultimately there will be five bolts holding the bracket to the frame, using the rivet holes, two holes further back that are not used on this truck, there is a doubler plate there too, and two holes in front of the steering box that were used for a bracket for the brake line that is no longer needed. I will make reinforcement plates where all the bolts come through the frame.

[enjenjo]

I fitted the bracket and box into the frame, located it at the right angle, and drilled one hole to hold it in place. From there it was just a matter of adding tabs and drilling holes. Once all the pieces were tacked in place, I took it out and welded it up. I had to rework one of the bolt holes for the box since the clearance hole interfered with one of the holes to the frame. I tapped all the holes that needed it. There was one spot on the frame flange where I had to relieve it slightly.

[57larry]

you sure do some nice work Frank

[39deluxe]

Yes. Nice work.

[kb426]

Do you have 1/2 or a whole day in that bracket? Looks good.

[idrivejunk]

Every part looks top-notch to me.:mrgreen: It is a lot more fun to build stuff in a shop rather than a factory because you can actually make things tough enough.   );b(

[enjenjo]

Do you have 1/2 or a whole day in that bracket? Looks good.

Half a day in that bracket. but I had half a day in the first bracket, that went back into the scrap pile because it didn't please me. This one may get a rework too. It looks good enough installed, but I am seeing too much ugly looking at it on the bench. The owner likes it though.

I finished stripping the frame today, got it loaded up to go get blasted, and painted black.

[enjenjo]

Took the frame to the blaster yesterday, and the doors to the body shop. I have been cleaning parts to powder coat today, I have a batch ready.

Trying to figure out the disc brakes for the front, I still need to find the right wheel studs.

[kb426]

I'm very thankful for the internet. The sharing of projects to a guy who lives in the boonies is wonderful. Good progress, Frank.