Glad to finally be a member on this site. I've had my 1949 3100 for about five years now and I don't know what I would of done with out this site.
A little background, I was born and raised in North Central Illinois, about 1.5 hours south west of Chicago out in the middle of the corn and bean fields. I am 27 years old and bought my truck when I was 22 and have been slowly plugging away at it since. It's an all original 1949 Chevy 3100 with a running stock 216. Here's a list of things that I have done so far.
- removed body
- removed drivetrain
- repaired a few small bends in the frame
- needle scaled, primed and painted frame (brush paint rustoleum gloss black)
- all new huck brakes
- all new stainless brake lines
- new coker white walls
- new to me maroon steel wheels (came from a farmer off an old implement, beautiful patina)
- new king pins
- new tapered bearings
- LMC Truck 3" lowering springs all around with new bushings
- new gaskets on engine covers
- new aluminum radiator and hoses
- new spark plugs, coil and cables
- fully rebuilt carb
- flushed out the cooling jackets
- painted engine with dark gray engine enamel
- rebuilt u-joint
At this point, I had the drivetrain all reassembled and had the engine popping on gas in the carb. So I was confident it would run and I switched my focus to the body. It was extremely rotted but I'm a sucker for the patina and I was going to do everything I could to preserve the look.
I realized the cab was a little too far gone for my experience in sheet metal so I sold it. I bought another cab that was in a little better shape. I am still kicking myself for this. I ended up doing just as much work on the new cab than I would of on the original.
Being young and dumb, I bought the "better" cab without knowing enough of what to look for. Someone had done a total botch job on the floor repair using a combination of mastic and pop rivets and me, none the wiser, fell for it. I tore into the "better" cab and replaced all this.
- New front cab mounts
- New inner and out cowls
- New front floor pan
- New kick plates
- New cab corners
This is where I stand currently with the project. I am 95% done with the sheet metal work. I took the cab to be sandblasted to bare metal (there were six different colors of paint, the outermost being blue).
I'm still unsure of my path forward on the paint. I love the patina on the bed and front end but probably can't match it enough to make it look good. More to come on that.
I've had the engine running for 15+ minutes on a mocked one gallon tank and it runs great.
Working on some plans for home made bed wood. Probably going to cut down some marine grade plywood and use some tung oil on it and fasten it down with elevator bolts. I'm not going for the show truck look, just a good running, mostly original truck to get people's attention.
Anyways, I just wanted to introduce myself on here and hopefully get some replies/opinions from some of you all.
I've attached a few pictures to give you guys an idea what I'm working with. Looking forward to having conversations on the forums!
Welcome! 
