Hello All!
I am so excited to say that I just got a 1948 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton. I have attached some photos.
It is a 216 with a 4 on the floor transmission. It is still 6V.
The truck was able to start and drive up into an enclosed truck which brought it to Cape Coral, Florida all the way from Bakersfield California.
I was told it did not have brakes... So the first thing I did was put it up on jack stands and went through the truck.
I did the following:
1) Put the truck on jack stands
2) Oil Change
3) Replaced the starter (the old one would spin, but the gear was not locked to the shaft anymore)
4) Radiator fluid flush / change. The fluid inside looked brand new and super pure. Almost like they had never run the truck after the restoration.
5) When I removed the wheels, the tires still had the nubs on the road contact surface. So this truck really wasn't drive after the restoration.
6) The drums all came off with no effort. The wheel cylinders and brake pads all looked brand new, however some of the cylinders had leaked badly and saturated most of the brake shoes.
7) The drums themselves had no wear on the friction contact surface. Again, almost like they are brand new. The drums had been nicely painted along with the entire frame / chassis. But the brake fluid had eaten some of the pain around the edges of the drum.
Now comes the interesting part... The rear end and front end did not look like the pictures in my shop manual. 8 lug front, 8 lug rear. The rear end has a very large ratio, I think it is 4.5:1 based on my yoke / wheel rotation investigation. My rear end has a casting number of 3682126.
I can't find the brake drums for the front or the rear. I can't find the brake shoes for the rear which measure out to be 2 x 12.
I ordered the front brake shoes and wheel cylinders for the standard 1/2 ton and they worked! But if I needed brake drums, I was told... that I would have to find used ones? I don't like that idea.
The master cylinder is not from a 1/2 ton. It looks the same, but has a slightly bigger piston diameter. I must have a lot of 3/4 to 1 ton parts on this truck. The funny part is... it looks so original. No fabrication / welding that doesn't look stock. I don't know what happened here.
The previous owner has not communicated with me after he received the money. So.... I need your help to figure out what has happened.
Somehow I found Tom Langdon. He has been very very helpful. He said he would help me change my trans over to a T5. He told me that I need a new rear end.
I have contacted a company called GEVO's rears and gears
http://www.rearsgears.com/ He is going to build me a 1968 chevy rear end with a ratio of 3.73. He will build me a 6 lug version that is 6 x 5.5 with complete drum brakes.
This means I will need 2 new rear wheels. I want to maintain the stock look. All my wheels are 8 lug. Does anybody know where I can get some real chevy 3100 wheels that will accept that nice chrome center hub cap? Will those wheels match my front wheels?
Can I easily change my front wheel hubs over to the 6 lug version so I don't have trouble finding brake drums? I could also then have matching front / rear wheels?
I would like to keep the 216 because it runs really smooth... like brand new! I guess I will run it until it dies and get a 235 later. I really like the old stuff, so I don't want to change it too much.
Tom said that 3 carbs on the Offenhauser is too much... I agree, however, the engine starts and runs really smooth with great throttle response. No black smoke. It doesn't seem to be running rich at all. So for now I will keep that together as is. Maybe I will go back to the stock single carb since the previous owner did send the old single carb intake along with the truck.
Right now the drive line is a major concern. I don't want the engine to be screaming at high RPMs because I have a 4.5 rear end. My thoughts right now are to stop trying to do the brake job on the rear I have and just wait till the new 3.73 rear end shows up. Then I will need to weld on the perches and install it. I hope I don't need to do a lot of modifications to install the T5 that Tom is finding for me. I guess then all I need to do is get the drive shaft worked out.
I really hope to be on the road soon and start enjoying this truck with my 5 and 3 year old sons and mom! They love ice-cream... and this is our new ice-cream transportation!
Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it!
Best Regards,
Jameel
