The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Completed Journals 1951 Chevy COE Car Hauler on a P30 Chassis

After a summer filled with family, yard work, car shows, white water rafting and a four-day cruise with the northwest Pantera club, I still found a little time to make some progress on the truck.

Last time I posted I was working on the wiring. I am really glad I went with the aftermarket wiring harness. I was able to work on it when I could find some time and with all the wires being labeled where they go, I could pick up where I left off without having to retrace where they came from or go to. I was able to finish all the wiring and get the gauges installed. I also ran all the wiring for the stereo and cameras to the consul and installed the plugs so when I complete the upholstery on the consul, I can just plug them in and drop the stereo into place.

With the wiring finished I started sorting out how I was going to plumb all the wet lines. I needed to get from the water pump to the radiator, from the power steering pump to the steering box, the transmission lines to the cooler and back and last but not lease fuel lines from pump to tank. The fuel line was just a matter of re-running the rubber lines on the ends of the original hard line that ran down the frame rails. For the water lines I had a model of how to run them setting in my other garage. With the Pantera being mid-engine it has hard piped water lines running under the cabin in a tunnel with rubber hoses on each end to complete the connection. Panteras were notorious for overheating from the factory but with repositioning the radiator, upgrading the fans and re-configuring them that's been resolved. So, I decided to copy what works. I ran parallel 2" stainless steel lines under the front cab, and I am tying the ends in with rubber hoses. I ordered new hoses for the power steering, transmission and what I need to finish up the water line and expect them this week so I can finish that up.

One more thing. When my brother and sister-in-law visited us from Iowa with their oldest son and his wife who have been following my progress on Stovebolt, they were looking forward to seeing it in real life. I am fortunate to have a good size shop but when you walk in through the door the truck is kind of overwhelming. I am used to it because it was just a cab when I started, and it has slowly grown and I never really thought about it, but when I was looking though some pictures that my wife had taken it hit me how big this thing is. Granted my sister-in-law is not a big lady but it still gives you an idea of the scale of it.

Stay tuned, the post may not be coming as fast as when I started but I'm still moving forward.

Thanks, COCOE