The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1952 Chevy COE - "From Legacy Gallery to Project Journal to DITY G"

1952 Chevy COE
From the DITY Gallery to the Legacy Gallery to Project Journal closing out in DITY

We started Paul's COE story in the DITY Gallery, and from that info, we made a Gallery story and it's is a very good read of its beginnings detailing what inspired Paul to want a COE.

So, as you have read hopefully, this pretty sharp looking Advance Design Cab Over Engine Chevy is somewhat a "Stovebolt family" project. First discovered by ODSS Member Mike B on a Craigslist, John passed the link on to Paul Fritz who was very much interested in getting a big old truck. He had been to Stovebolt HQ several times and seeing the "fleet" he wanted to give it a try.

There was so much and we at HQ were actively involved in bringing this truck alive. It began as the first Big Bolt in the Project Journals. Hence the title.

HandyAndy maintained the picture trail in the Bolt Bucket and we think many on ODSS member chimed in on the first fire-up of this old truck. There is some neat video of the '52 driving down the lane at HQ.

This truck was the first one to arrive at Homecoming ... and last to leave, ah ... well, it didn't leave, actually. It stayed here a good while as Paul got her up to speed.

Have a few pictures (from the Bolt Bucket).


The stories unfold below.

Enjoy.

Peg

Thank you guys for all the assistance with the 1952 COE. I have no name yet. Working on it. Thanks to all (too many names to remember) who pitched in to get the engine running. Remember to check the pictures and video.

The following parts were removed and replaced: plugs, cap, rotor, wires, battery, fuel and vacuum hose on carb making a successful tune up and a beautiful sounding running 231 engine.

There is a lot of work to get the Big Bolt ready for tags and insurance. As you all know, the requirements for registration are photos of front and side views showing at least 80% or more completion. We are steadily working on one task after another.

At the Homecoming, I was able to pick up a spare parking brake assembly which was sandblasted, cleaned, and painted. It is ready for installation because there is very little shoe material remaining on the original one.

The parking brake was the only way to stop after slowing down in 2nd gear. What No Brakes?? Are you crazy driving a truck with NO BRAKES?

Yes we are and had a lot of fun doing it.

Work that has started: parked in John's garage, jacked up and placed on jack stands. Removed the tires and wheels and removed the rear brake drum screws to prepare to remove brake drums.

Last weekend, loaded tires and wheels with the tractor / bucket onto John's trailer in preparation to take them to Big Ed's Tire Shop in Leonardtown for breakdown.

The next day I planned to meet John early in the morning to pick up the trailer. Of course it was pouring down raining from the crack of dawn.

We manged to get hooked up anyway. Arriving at Big Ed's, the sky cleared long enough for us to off load the tires and wheels. There were six tire and wheel assemblies off the Big Bolt and three extra tire and wheel assemblies that John had out back. The extras would allow us to pick the best six after tires removed and wheels sandblasted.

After off-loading the tires and wheels, returned the trailer to John's.

The last few evenings this week, I have been researching parts, sandblasting and painting the rings from the wheel assemblies.

Wouldn't you know getting in a hurry makes for mistakes -- small runs in the paint. Thanks for sandpaper.

Next item in order of progression is to remove the brake drums and check the wheel cylinders, shoes, drums, master cylinder and Hydrovac.

Looking under the cab, I found a vacuum hose on the Hydrovac broken. Think the broken vacuum line and the left rear brake dragging had a lot to do with not having brakes during Homecoming weekend.

Plans are first to make the truck safe to drive. Second is to install safety devices such as mirrors, door latches, turn signal and tail lights. Third, build an original type wooden stake body bed. Fourth, tag and insure. Fifth, drive it like it was stolen.

Will report on progress. Welcome any questions, suggestions, input.

To get the truck to run, (Paul we need a name for the truck) my team of Wrenchmen started with the ignition side of things. First a new battery, then new coil, plugs, wires, and dizzy cap. Once it initially fired I could tell the previous owner didn't drive this truck much if at all. First sign of that was the fact the idle was set to about 2000 RPM. This truck was screaming!

Also the vacuum advance is not working. Once this is changed then we can really get it dialed in.

Once we got it to go, we tried to make it stop (yes I know we did the order backwards, but hey its Homecoming!)

Add fluid and bled the brakes we find the Hydro-vac unit needs some work.

As it sits unnamed truck will start up and go, stops sorta.

Paul came yesterday and he helped us get all three fields mowed. John re-arranged the pole barn so Paul could do some work in there on un-named truck. We had a big storm come up fast, so everyone went lickety split (except me; I was just watching) getting all the mowers, Gators and trucks away - or out from under trees.

Enjoyed the rain storm via the garage with a Devils Backbone - except me - I had gum. Then those two went back out to work on the truck. John or Paul will have to fill in the details. Since the storm brought a cold front, I went in and turned up the heat -- and did dishes.

Thanks for the start of the story. Hope to get something going on this soon.

Paul documented the rebuild of his old Corvette, so we think he'll do a great job detailing this big old truck as he restores it.

Great story Paul...

Mike B

cool story! I love going and getting old trucks and dragging them home, whether mine or not!

Okay, I got a few more images and two videos uploaded. They are cool. You'll have to go the picture trail in the Bolt Bucket.

I think it was Paul's first drive in the truck after the Wrenchmen had it running. I don't think it had brakes



A good video to see what goes on at Homecoming.

Man I fell in love with that truck.

Besides needing get to be a little bit of a contortionist to work on it once it came back to life it wanted to GO!!!!

It sure had brakes later! Me and Billy were following behind with Sweet driving when he decided to lock 'em up. They were SMOKIN'!

nice truck, I would call it topflier 2 or topflier stud
or Mr. Green... just dont call it Johnson..

It's been a month. Any updates?

Yes, Paul was here just yesterday and had quite the chat about all he has done. He's gone much of it written on his phone. He's going to work on getting the details in here in the next few days.

I had a chance to do some research on my truck and here are some of the details I have come up with:

Advanced Design Truck Identification

1952 Chevy 5100 Utility 2 Ton, Cab Over Engine (COE) Truck
VIN: 5214VP11112

The following information determined from the VIN

52 = 1952 build year
14 = Assembly Plant Baltimore, MD
VP = Model/Series/Wheel-base 5100/VP/110
11112 = Plant Production Number first truck built at a given plant received the number 001001

Details:

Engine: 235 later models
Rear Axle Gear Ratio: 2 speed
High 6.13 to 1
Low 8.10 to 1
Transmission: 4 speed Manual
Type: Selective Synchromesh — second, third, fourth
Speeds: four forward — one reverse
Gears: spur — first and reverse Helical — second, third and fourth
Gear Ratio: First 7.06 to 1; Second 3.58 to 1; Third 1.71 to 1, Fourth Direct, Reverse 6.78 to 1
Tires: 8.25-20-10
Weight: 2 Ton Utility
GVW: 14,000 — 16,000
Wheel Base: 110 inches
Electric System: 12 VDC Generator


Previous Life: Wrecker/Tow Truck in accordance with paperwork from seller

~ Paul

It has been a while since I have posted but I have spent some time on the truck.

In addition to removing and replacing the parking brake on the 52 COE, removed the tires and wheels and took them to Big Ed’s Tire (in Leonardtown, MD) to break them down.

Picked up the wheels and prepared to sand blast them with a special nozzle on the pressure washer and sifted playtime sand.

Had some success with this procedure, however the sand feed hose got water in it and failed to draw sand. Back to the drawing board once again.

For years I wanted a two stage air compressor and a blast cabinet so for my gift to me for Father’s Day 2016, I purchased both the air compressor and blast cabinet. Now the fun begins blasting the parts removed so far.

After removing the tires and wheels, the next major step was removing the brake drums.

Front drums were easy. However the right rear was stuck big time. After several hours of beating the drum, we decided to spray some penetrating fluid into the small holes in the drum. After several minutes, we hit the drum with a big hammer and it moved. Several more hits and the drum was free.

Looking at the brake shoes, they appear to be new shoes, very clean.

Next we installed a pressure bleeder system and applied pressure to the brake system. After allowing the pressure to set over night, we discovered the rear cylinders were leaking.

Removed both rear cylinders from both rear wheels and in the process of rebuilding them. Front wheel cylinders check out very well.

Check the master cylinder and hydrovac, both show signs of leakage. So in the process of removing and replacing them.

Brake lines look new with some black paint on some areas.

Plan to remove both the master cylinder and hydrovac this weekend and check to see if rebuilding or getting new one is the best way to go.

Plan is to rebuild the entire brake system. Found s source for new mater cylinders with no turn-in, ordering this weekend.

Still working on what to do with hydrovac -- rebuild or replace.

The paint on the rims is very tough having some difficulty blasting with pressure washer. With all the problems with blasting, made the decision to take the rims to a sand blasting shop. This will allow more time for other projects.

Note: Took some time off over the Father’s Day weekend to go to Deals Gap on the North Caroline and Tennessee border with my 2006 Corvette Convertible and drive the Tail of The Dragon (318 turns in 11 miles). I survived the Dragon. What an experience!

Here's some more into on the Tail from Wikipedia. Interesting! ~ Peggy

Will get some picture links in soon.

~ Paul

Here's the latest...

Work on the COE has been delayed for a higher priority; work on my 1966 Corvette 427/425 coupe. With only a little over 200 miles on the rebuild of the engine, it developed a ticking noise that sounded like an old manual typewriter at 1500 rpm. Unable to determine the source, I decided to drop the oil pan and check the main bearings.

Found the number 1 and 7 main bearings scored. We thought of possible two causes: (1) defective bearing material and (2) some corrosion debris from the engine block that was not purged correctly and got into the lubrication system and scored the bearings. Why only two bearings? Don’t know.

To ensure no other damage, we pulled the engine out of the 'Vette for a complete cleaning and rebuild. To expedite the rebuild, I sent the block and heads to the machine shop.

Put it together take it apart...

The machine shop was slow on the machine work. Eventually, I received the block and heads back from the machine shop, reinstalled all the accessory components and installed the complete engine (minus the oil pan) back in the 'Vette. For some reason we decided to fill the cooling system before installing the oil pan. Hurray for my friend Zach’s thinking to fill the cooling system before installing the oil pan... As fast as we poured water into the radiator it leaked on the deck. What a mess we would have had if we had installed the oil pan first.

We checked the engine for the obvious places for leaks. No joy. So now what?

This happened late on a Sunday afternoon. Decided the next step was to purchase a fiber optic camera to see inside the block and heads for any obvious problems.

It was very dark inside the block and difficult to see. However, we did find a spot that appeared to be the impact point of a piece of solid lifter. Possible causes: (1) broken lifter many years ago that weakened the wall of the block; and (2) removal of large amounts of corrosion, combined with the weakened wall, resulted in a crack when the heads were installed.

We determined this to be the source of the leak.

Put it together take it apart... again ...

We are getting good at the putting together and taking apart routine. This is not good because NCRS was celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1966 at Warrick, Rhode Island 17 — 22 July 2016. My '66 was registered for the 50th anniversary display and as a NCRS Zoro Arkus-Duntov Mark of Excellence Awardee (One of 1,003 restored Corvettes to receive this award).

Well... we didn't make it. Engine still not back from machine shop repairs. This is the second time in two weeks we had to pull the engine.

Hopefully the cold method of repairs will hold. The cold method of repairs goes back to early 1920 car engines. Engine block and heads should be returned the first week in August.

The next hurdle to overcome will be getting the engine installed, running and detailed in time for "Corvettes at Carlisle." The car has been selected to be in the Delaware Valley Chapter NCRS Gallery XVI, 25-28 August 2016.

So with all this going on there has been little time for the COE. I did order and received a new master brake cylinder, new wheel cylinders for the front and rear wheels, new brake hoses and new brake lines for the rear wheels. Had some time to remove the four rear wheel cylinders and loosened the hydrovac and master brake cylinder in preparation for new parts.

Tuesday night, I finished the sand blasting and painting of the second front brake drum. Only the second rear brake drum to sand blast and paint.

Need to check with the sandblaster to get an estimate of time to complete the sandblasting and painting of the wheels in order to get tires mounted. Before I can install the wheels must install the brake cylinder, hoses master cylinder and hydrovac.

All this takes time. The hot humid weather working on the COE and the up keep of the corvettes have kept things interesting.

And there's still grass to cut, laundry to do and that oh-so-pesky Jay Oh Bee that keeps getting in the way ... (but making all this possible).

Thanks for your interest.

I've seen so many slammed COE's that I really dig 'em still looking like a semi - so awesome! Eagerly awaiting your next report.

Jesse,

John works with Paul and his attention has been diverted temporarily to the 2006 Corvette -- major problem, right before a show. We thought we'd see him this weekend to work on the COE. He may wait until it's almost 100 degrees again (LOL).

Stay tuned!

Peg

Just wanted to wrap up this story. As you may have figured, this truck started out in the DITY Gallery. Since it became a group project, it was moved to the Project Journals so folks could follow along. It was partly in the ODSS forum with it being in OR there for a bit and then making its appearance to Homecoming 2016. So, since it's a *mostly completed project," it goes back here to the DITY Gallery.

We'll see if we can get Paul to give us a little of "then what happened" ... have a number of years to cover.