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1950 Chevy 3100


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"Ol' Blue"

Owned by Mike Miller
"ch3no2"
Bolter # 25016
Issaquah, WA

Talking about this truck
in the DITY Gallery


 
20 September 2010
# 2821

More pictures of my old truck in Photobucket

From Mike :

Here's the scoop on my 1950 Chevy truck "Ol' Blue."

I had been looking for a 1947-53 Chevy truck for a while. I received a call from my parents saying they had found a nice running 1950 Chevy 5-window with great sheet metal in Ellensburg, Washington. The guy who owned it bought it from the original owner, off a farm in Prosser, Washington.  The truck had been repainted once back in the 60's.

My Dad (Mike) has been a car guy his whole life and spent 16 years of it racing Top Fuel Funny Cars for a living. So I trusted his judgment on the fact that the truck would be a good buy. Plus, my Mom (Shirley) fell in love with it and gave it the name it still goes by ... Ol' Blue! Needless to say, the truck was bought in 2001 for $3,700 (sight unseen by me).

My Dad's first funny car was ironically named Miller & Son. I say ironically because my truck was definitely a Father & Son project.

When I got the truck home, it had a huge farm bumper on the back that was used for bucking bales of hay which I removed two minutes after I got it home. I also tore out the carpet, removed the big ugly mirrors, and the spare tire bracket.

Soon afterwards, I lowered the truck to a presentable height. I took out the 3 speed column shift and replaced it with a Saginaw 4 speed with tall rear end gears. I drove the truck around this way for a few years or so.

Later on, I wanted to hop up the truck but I wanted to do it in a way that was different from the usual. I had seen plenty of trucks with small blocks so I knew I didn't want to go that route. I settled on the idea of hopping up a 235 the way it would have been done back in the '50s.  So in 2005, I took out the 216, transmission, drive shaft, rear-end and front end.

About the motor - The 235 was completely rebuilt in Yakima, Washington by Richard at Joe's Grinding. The engine was hot tanked, bored .025 over. The block was decked at .015. The head was milled .100 thousands for compression. We used Egge pistons and rods, and ground the crank .010 under on the main and rod bearings. We used an E-2 Howards cam, stainless valves, and cleaned up the exhaust and intake ports. Howards dual valve springs were used and the motor was balanced. 

A Mallory electronic distributer with polished Offy valve and side cover were installed. Buffalo Enterprises out of Arlington, Wa. modified the tops of the Offy polished 2x2 intake manifold to adapt the Carter-Weber carbs. A Finned Obrien air filter, which we modified to adapt to the carbs, was also used.

The truck has jet hot-coated Fenton headers. The exhaust was done by Easy Street Hot Rodz in Wenatchee, WA.  Easy Street also made custom rear blocks in order to move the 8" Ford rear-end into the center of the wheel well.

We also installed a S-10 5 speed adapted to the 235. A Fatman front clip with disc brakes was installed by Jim Preston of Cle Elum, WA. Coker Big and little powder coated solids with ring and caps were used and the truck was completely re-wired by "Get Wired Street Rods" out of Wenatchee, Washington.

I used black anodized AN fittings with black braided lines by Russell to plumb the truck. I had all the metal in the engine compartment powder coated by Cascade Powder coating of Wenatchee, WA. All the Chrome work was done by Paul McNally of Custom Metal Polishing out of Seattle, WA. 

In the future I would like to take my truck to the Nostalgia Drags or Bonneville and use it as a push truck.

Here are the details:

Wiring – EZ Wiring
Rear End – 8” Ford 2.70 Gears Front End – Fat Man Ford Mustang II IFS (1 coil removed)
Brakes – Front Disc, Rear Drum
Engine – 1958 Chevrolet 235 .030
Camshaft – Howards
Lifters – Solid
Pistons – Venolia
Ignition – Mallory Electronic
Coil – Mallory
Exhaust – Custom Dual Exhaust with Smithy’s
Headers – Fenton Headers …Jet Hot Coated
Duel Carburetors – Dual Carter Weber w/elect. Chokes
Air Cleaner – finned from Obrien Truckers
Manifold – Offenhauser...Dual intake manifold - with custom Phenolic plates
Wheels – 15” Solids with Rings & Caps
Tires – Coker Classic 6.7-15 front, L78-15 Rear
Oil Filter – Remote finned Moon
Valve Cover & Side Cover - Offenhauser
Transmission – S-10 -5 speed
Fuel & Oil Lines – Russell


Thanks,

Mike Jr.







-30-


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