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

1951 Chevy COE
It Lives! "A Big Story Unfolds"

Hello Bolters, I'm a very enthusiastic new Bolter who just recently learned about Stovebolt. Better late than never.

I need to start from the beginning.

Back in 2018, I started looking for a large truck that I could convert into a cool car hauler. After looking for almost a year I knew I wanted a COE. I found one local here in Seattle and thought it was the one. It was a '50-something Ford dump truck that, in retrospect, was so rusted that I'm not sure I could have gotten it on the trailer. But not knowing better, I was all in. Made the deal and headed home to get the trailer and cash to begin the journey. When I returned, the fine gentlemen informed me that he decided the truck was worth another $500.00. Well, it didn't work out and five years later, the truck is still sitting in his yard with little left to rust.

It was time to expand my search. About a month later, one popped up on Craigslist in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It was a '51 Chevy COE and only a short 500 mile drive each way. I'm not sure how I convinced my wife that it would be a great adventure but I did. All and all it was a great two-day trip with a layover in Sisters, Oregon. The truck seemed very solid and was all there.

Back home Saturday night (I had taken Friday off work). That gave me Sunday to do some cleanup and assess what I had. That went well getting all the beehives and mice nests out and a quick trip to the pharmacy for a tetanus shot -- all was good.

After spending the day looking things over, I was convinced I would be able to bring it back to running condition. But my problem was, I wasn't interested in bouncing down the roads at 45 MPH. No offense to the guys that return their trucks to original. I love them, too, but I wanted a truck to haul my other car to the racetrack and shows.

I went to the internet and started looking at '50's COE's and what others have done to make them functional for my needs. From that I determined that, in keeping it in the Chevy family, I needed to re-chassis. The P-30 seemed to be the best option so the search for that began.

In the meantime, I set about removing the cab from the original chassis and to come up with a plan.

Here's where I'm going to stop for tonight, but I am five years into this project and will try to catch up to where I am as quickly as I can but in order.

Thanks for following,

COCOE
(Cab Over Cab Over Engine)

After I got the cab unbolted and ready to lift off the chassis it became apparent that I needed the ability to pick it up and move it around safely by myself. So while I was looking for a doner chassis, I started working on something that I could lift that much weight and be able to move it around.

A couple of years before this I had built a maintenance shop for a tug and barge company in Seattle. We installed a overhead bridge crane that I thought it was the coolest thing ever for a shop. I talked it over with one of the engineers at work and came up with a design that I could build for my shop. It has been the greatest set of helping hands ever. It will pick a ton and travel in all directions.

By the time I finished the crane a doner chassis kind of fell into my lap. My wife and I were hosting a Bar-B-Q for another car club that we are in and one of the members said he had a friend that had a motorhome with low miles that he has owned since new. Last winter a tree branch went through the roof and water ran into it all winter and he was looking to get rid of it cheap. The interior was destroyed but it ran and drove excellent. It was just what I was looking for in a doner.

I'm out of time for tonight but will post more soon.

I enjoyed the beginning of the saga, don't let us down. I was not much for the COE. Until the first time, I saw the potential. I went to a show in northern Indiana, which was my first meeting of the Stovebolt bunch. It is the other group that John is involved with. A couple had a beautiful COE but they had put it on smaller tires and had modified a bed to fit. Another I saw at James Dean's show near me had made one into a dual cab. I live in Indiana and he was on his way to Texas next. Good luck with your endeavors.

Got me hooked! Great story, COE and donor. I’ll be following!

Love the overhead crane, I used a bunch of them at my old job. Good Luck!

great story, and sweet project!!

I know that I have been throwing this out pretty quick but I have a lot of ground to cover to catch up.

After I had most of the coach of the motorhome cut away which took way longer and a lot more Saw-Zall blades than I was anticipating. I wanted to turn it around and back it into the shop and get it positioned where I wanted it before I removed the rest of the dash and was unable to drive under its own power.

Next step I needed to remove the engine and transmission so I could position the cab and figure out how to attach it to the frame. Once spotted I needed to check the clearances and verify it is all square to the frame. With that completed I was ready to turn my attention to the engine and transmission.

Now where was I? Oh, the engine and transmission.

Well, it was pretty obvious that a COE from the 1950's wasn't designed with the idea of a big block under the cab and raising it a couple feet just wasn't the look I was going for. So, the only place I could put it was behind the cab. But the problem with that is it cut into the length of deck I could put on knowing I needed a minimum of 16 feet to be able to have a functioning car hauler. Also, I wanted to build a roll back deck instead of a ramp truck or a beaver tail. Regardless that is the only place that worked for the engine. The good news was the frame on a P-30 is parallel channels and the original mounts worked great, so I didn't have to fab anything new just shift them further back and drill and bolt them up. I used a laser to shoot center line to verify the alignment.

That done the next step was creating enough length to the frame that I could get a roll back on it. I felt needed 2/3's of the deck to be forward of the rear axle and the pivot for the roll back to be aft of that. After another conversation with our in-house engineer (good thing he's a car guy) he assured me that moving the axel back on the frame with minor reinforcement it would be structurally sound.

After drilling out all the rivets in the leaf spring mounts and the sway bars, I hooked up the crane to pick up the rear of the truck and rolled the axel back about 3 feet. And with the help of the laser again I checked the alignment and made sure everything was square. Then I drilled and bolted it back to the frame.

That complete it was time to build a mock-up of the roll back to check my math and design. It was pretty rudimentary, but it was enough to know the concept worked.

Simply awesome. Thats going to be one helluva ride. Thanks for sharing.

Please keep up the narrative. You have a good audience -- old people with time on their hands -- I am speaking of myself.

Very interesting project!

With all the essentials in place I think it's time to share my original concept drawing with everyone. I know it's not a Dave Kindig original, but it gave me some direction and a much-needed goal to strive for knowing it is going to be a long process. Also, it was way easier to change things with an eraser than a cutting torch until I had the look I wanted.

While I was working on moving the running gear and spotting the COE cab, I was also looking for a doner truck or cab for the upper cab. I followed Craigs List and stopped and talked to several guys that had first series AD trucks sitting on their property between home and work that were covered by weeds or looked forgotten. All said they were planning to restore them, or they placed a greater value on them than I did. There were four trucks that I asked about back in 2018 and they are all in the same place they were then just worse shape. I hope they get saved. Eventually one showed up on Craigs List just outside of Portland, Oregan about 150 miles south of home. It was a cab only with some surface rust but by the pictures of it didn't look too bad. My son and I drove down on a Saturday morning to take a look at it. We found it was in just ok shape. The corners, bottom of the doors and the floor were for the most part gone, but the rest of the cab was for the most part solid. It was sitting on a pallet and the gentleman was very motivated to have it gone. We made the deal and he set it in the back of my pick-up with his forklift and we were on our way. A couple things that convinced me to purchase it and take on the metal work was that it came with a clean title and it was already off the chassis. After what it took to cut the motorhome apart, I was over that.

I got it home and wrapped a strap around it and lifted it out of the pick-up and kind of held it up in place where it would eventually go. There is an old saying that it was a face that only a mother could love, now I understand that. To look at two rusty cabs sitting on a mostly empty chassis it wasn't that pretty but I got excited.

First thing I did was cut the firewall out of the rear cab and start trying to align things to see how they would fit together. I would get it where I thought I wanted it and put a half dozen Teks screws in it to hold it in place. Then I would walk around it for a while and check it from different angles. Then I would climb a ladder and look at it from other angles and if I still liked it, I would open a beer and watch a little football and then do it all again. When I finally got it where I still liked it after beers and football, which took almost a month of weekends, I started building the permanent frame under it to secure it to before I started welding it up.

Working under both cabs trying to figure out how to support them while climbing around the engine it was time to call an audible. So, I decided to make it a tilting cab. By putting the pivot just behind the grill and it being so long to the back of the upper cab, along with it being elevated, it didn't have to tilt much to get stand-up access to the engine. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of this but there will be more to come. I wasn't sure what I was going to use to lift the cabs at this point, but I was leaning towards air bags. But for now, I just welded a lifting eye to the rear of the subframe and used the overhead to lift it when needed.

Next, I will be working on the cabs.

Interesting concept. I'm waiting to see how it all turns out.

Thank you all for following along with my adventure. At this point I'm about one year into this crazy build and I was still working through challenges. But just to add a few more to those I decided to double the footprint of my shop and add a loft for an office/storage in that half. It made for a lot more working room plus I added lights and insulated to all the wall interior and exterior and sheeted them with 1/2" plywood. Then I painted them white to help with lighting. So, the back round of the pictures with look a lot different. But the truck was always progressing slower during this but period but now I can get back on track.

Here's a picture of the back cab all welded up and working on what I want to do with the body lines. I will try to get a more in-depth post tomorrow.

No offense but that is one strange beast and you are going to get a lot of, what is it, or was it when it is finished? Love the narratives. Persevere. I know that I am not the only one rooting for you. But do be careful until all is secured.

Hello Cocoe,

I wish you were closer as I'd like to see your project and shop. Looking forward to following your progress.

Thank you for sharing your build and joining our community.

John

Thanks, WE b OLD, safety is always priority one, and I am planning on being around long enough to enjoy this with my grandkids. Hello J Lucas, I think I have about 3-4 months before I catch up to where I am at then thing will slow down drastically. But until then stay tuned.

Now that I have the cabs where I wanted, and the tilt frame is complete I started looking at how to access the upper cab. I didn't want the grandkids to have to crawl through the front cab and more I didn't want them to have to crawl over me to get in and out. But I wanted them to want to go to races and car shows with my wife and me.

I had been thinking about how to do steps up to the upper cab, but they just didn't look right. I thought it looked like an afterthought. Since I had to rebuild the bottom of the doors and the corners anyway why not extend them down a bit to help balance things out. I didn't want to go too far or it would defeat the purpose of the tilt cab and access to the engine if it was too low so I had to come up with a compromise and some kind of steps.

The doors required a bit of work. I had to extend the corners and then figure out how to blend the doors and the A pillar to the back of the front cab and make it look like it was designed that way. While I was doing sheet metal work I decided to fix the driver side cowl that was rusted out also. I couldn't find a patch panel for a COE so I pieced one together.

The other thing I wanted to incorporate into the rear doors was to carry the rib that runs under the windows on the front cab back through the back cab. I know that on my original drawings I had it running diagonally up to meet with the upper cab. I laid it out with tape and decided that it just didn't look right. Then I laid it out running straight back and I liked it a lot better, and it broke up the flat area of the extended door.

From here it's time to get all the ideas for the steps out of my head and on the truck to see if they work. Coming soon.

Thanks for following, COCOE (Cab Over Cab Over Engine)

As I said in a previous post, I've had all these ideas bouncing around in my head for access to the upper cab. At first, I was thinking about running the doors lower and putting toe holes behind them but that would have made it all but impossible to get to the engine. I'm hoping that I don't have to do much to it being a totally stock and a good running engine and transmission with only 38k miles on it, but things seem to happen.

I spent a fair bit of time on the internet looking to see if someone else had come up with a solution to my challenge. But all the COE crew cabs I found had flat floors. The extra 22" step to the best of my knowledge is a pretty unique thing.

Before I started working on the doors, (previous post). I knew it had to be a two-part solution. I could only add about 11" to the doors and still get under the cab with it tilted comfortably. That left me 40" from the floor to the bottom of the doors. That would require at least 3 steps maybe even 4. Plus, I had to be able to remove them or somehow get them out of the way to access the engine.

My first thought was to build a set of steps almost like a ladder and put it on a receiver like a trailer hitch that would slide in and out. But that left the underside of the back cab and frame exposed. Then I looked at somehow extending the steps from the front cab back but still needed to pick up another foot in height. This seemed doable but the weight of it would make it imposable for an old guy like me to remove it by myself. So, I needed to figure out how to fold it down or swing it out of my way. Folding it down still left it in the way, so I opted for swinging it. The weight and the length meant that whatever the pivot for them had better be stout and I would still have to support the other end from sagging when someone stepped on them or even just from bouncing when driving down the road.

I had planned on using a 2X6 tube steel to run around the perimeter of the rear deck, so I installed the piece across the rear of the cab and re-installed the front fender and step on the front cab. This gave me the boundaries for the back stairs.

Then I started on the mock-up. I ran a string line from the front fender along the running board back to the front of the deck to establish a straight line. Then I grabbed some clamps and a bunch of pieces of small square stock and started piecing it together. When I finally got it to where it looked like it was going to work for the stairs, I went to work on how to hinge it on one end and support it on the other. The original steps on the COE cab needed to be supported too (the acetone can filled with water wasn't a long-term fix). I remembered I had a piece of "T" steel from a building that we had Demolished laying in the back corner of the shop. The legs on it were 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick. I inverted it and made an "L" bracket out of it and bolted it to the frame. One side would support the step from the front cab when it landed from being tilted and the back stairs would pivot onto it when they swing into place. On the back end of the stairs, I welded a "C" channel to the tube steel at the front of the deck and to that I welded a piece of 1/2" plate vertically with a 1" pipe welded to the other side to receive a pin. That would create the hinge for the stairs. From there I could fab the frame for the stairs and tie them into the ones on the front cab. I was pleased with the way they turned out and they functioned well.

At this point I wasn't sure how I wanted to skin or cap them until I got further along with the rest of the truck. That challenge solved for now on to the next. The roll back.

Tks for keeping us in the loop. Your fabrication skills are good. Looking forwards to the next post.

I am starting to get the image. Somewhat like those semi trucks with the extra windows above the windshield. Persevere.

Ok, now on to the roll back. Back a couple posts I attached a couple pictures of a mock-up of the roll back frame. It was a quick mock-up I built out of wood just to see if my concept was sound. It was a simple design but left the bed pretty steep for loading low riding cars. I thought about it for a while and came up with a way to have hinged removeable ramps. Then I could load the car on the ramps that would lay almost flat on the ground, and you could drive the car on them and as you raised the bed it would align with the bed so you could finish rolling the car on to the bed. Then lift the ramps off and they became part of the deck.

At this time, we were in the throes of covid, and most businesses were closed or if not, steel prices were out of control. So, I inventoried what I had in the shop and came up with the final design. I used some C-channel for the main rails and some tube steel for the arms that raised and lowered the bed. I boxed the last 2' of the channels with 1/2" plate and drilled a 3 1/2" hole through it and ran a piece of 3" schedule 40 pipe through it and welded it all around both sides. Then I slid a piece of 2 1/2" pipe through them with a piece of 3" pipe as a spacer to keep it all a lined.

On the lower end I again boxed the frame and welded a piece of 4X6X-1/2" angle vertically to hang just below the frame and sleeve it similar to the ones on the top end. I couldn't run a continuous pipe across that end because of the drive line but I added extra reinforcement to keep it from twisting as I assembled all of these pivot points. I also drilled and taped all of them and installed grease zerts to keep things moving.

On the back of the deck instead of installing a roller like most roll backs, I welded a plate to each side of the truck frame to make a trough and on the bottom, I have a plate welded to a pivot. As the deck comes up and slides back it rotates to stay flat with the deck frame. This "U" shaped trough I left enough room around the deck frame to line it with Teflon panels and added grease zerts to lube it.

Originally, I had planned to use an electric winch to operate the roll back. Thinking if I was able to raise it and gravity would be enough to lower it all I had to do was to control the speed coming down and I could do that with a power in and power out winch. Well, I had everything in place and took it for a test run. Everything worked great. It came up nice and square and I rode it so I could keep an eye on everything to make sure nothing was hitting anywhere or hanging up on something. Well then it was time to lower it. Even with me sitting on the top and bouncing up and down it didn't budge. I had to install a block on the frame just behind the cab and run the winch cable through it to pull it back down. When it got about 2/3 of the way down gravity took over. I was glad I wasn't riding it back down when it slammed down. You could say it startled me, but in reality, it scared the poop out of me it come down so hard.

It became very clear to me I had to be able to slide the deck forward and back under tension both ways. So, I tried to take the cable and routed it around the winch with 3 to 4 wraps and then back through the block and to the deck. That way it would roll on and off the spool at the same rate and stay under tension. Well, that didn't work. As the lift arms came up the apex of the angles would change, and one side would tighten up and the other side would loosen. I worked on this way too long and even tried to come up with some kind of tensioner like on a serpentine fan belt, but it just wasn't happening. Finally, a light bulb came on in my head and I ordered hydraulics for it. And since I needed a pump for that I included a set of cylinders and a diverter value for the cab. With a little more minor fabrication and routing of hoses it worked great, and it is a lot more reliable than I think the cable system would have been.

Next up is finishing up the back deck. Thanks for your continued interest. COCOE

For the rear deck I went back and forth on what I wanted to use for decking material. Metal would be easier, require less supports and maintenance, but wood would be cheaper, easier to replace and most importantly to me was to give it a more custom look. I looked into several exotic woods like oak, Ipe and teak but in the end, I planned on using the truck to for hauling other cars and not just for going to shows, so I went with 2X6 fir tongue and grove car decking. It is readily available and I could get it in 16' lengths so I wouldn't have any intermediate joints. This told me what I needed for a sub-frame to support the deck.

In the area between the hoist rails, I wanted to be able to easily access the hydraulics. So, I built a frame out of 1" tube steel and covered it with 12 ga. Sheetmetal the same as the removeable ramps at the back of the deck. At the front I welded a piece of 1/2" plate across from rail to rail to mount the winch to and it also added a lot of shear to keep everything square. That left two small areas not covered between the rails and I covered them with some 1/8" plate I had laying on the floor of the shop.

On the outside of the rails, I started by completing the 2X6 tube steel perimeter that will stay fixed and the hoist will operate inside it. At the front corners I couldn't decide if I wanted to do 45 degree angles or Radis corners. I mocked-up one each way and looked at them for a couple weeks while I was working on other things. In the end I decided on radiuses because there isn't any other sharp corners anywhere on the truck and they just fit better. For the tilt deck I welded 1 1/2" X 2" tube steel held down an 1 1/2" so the wood would flush out with the center to the C-channel hoist rails at 16" centers and a 1 1/2" angle on the outside edge along the 2x6 tube steel perimeter. I held the angle 1/2" off the tube steel so it wouldn't hang up. Then I welded a couple short pieces of 2"x2" angles below the edge angle to the tube steel for support on the edges when going down the road and the deck would land on them. That got me to where I was ready to install the wood but I didn't want it to get beat up so I will wait on that.

I had taken the cab off the frame while I was working on the deck so it was easier to get around and I wanted to paint the bottom of it. It sure is nice having a bridge crane to do all the heavy lifting.

I still have quite a way to catch up to where I am at so stay tuned and please your comments would be welcomed, and I have thick skin so don't hold back. But I reserve the right to use or not use any suggestions. Thanks, COCOE

Amazing. Thanks for sharing as you go along. Good planning and fore thought for sure.

Are you going to fill the radius corners with a vertical piece wrapped around the outside edge? I was thinking that a recess like you have on your second photo could be a nice protected spot for taillights, keeping them from being damaged. I'm Impressed by your work.

Thanks for the replies and encouragement, it's nice to know someone is following along. KlHansen, it's hard to tell by the picture but the radiuses are at the front of the bed, I ran the back straight to keep maximum width of the bed for loading. I have a plan for the taillights stay tuned.

I am very fortunate to have a, not only understanding wife but one who is into classic cars and going fast. My shop is only about 50 feet from the house, just far enough that the noise and smells don't carry into her space to much. Also, she loves to quilt, and her sewing room window looks right at the shop. That way she knows where I am and if it gets to quite for too long, she comes out to check on me.

Last but not lease, shop time is bonus time, life's other commitments come first, and she is at the top of that list.

COCOE

Thanks for the saga and pictures. My shop is a large 2-story garage that I build to get the junk out of the yard and my '54 which I have had for 43 years.

Your comment about your wife checking on you, I would tell my wife the same thing but she never came out. This was in the days that I would spend 2 or 3 hours out there working on it.

My wife is also a quilter--and a darn good one! We both fully support each other's hobbies. Our running joke is, "We have an agreement--I stay out of her sewing room, and she stays out of my shop! As long as the bills get paid, no one asks any questions. Life is good!"

Very nice project, keep up the good work!!👍👍 I never let my wife know what I spent on my 53 until it was done by then it was too late to gripe about it.🤣😂

Ok, WE b OLD I will try to pick up the pace. But I don't want the story to catch the truck until I'm done so you're just going to have to hang in there.

With the deck in place, it was on to the exterior facade. I wanted the cab to somehow blend right into the back so it all kind of flow from front to back. I started by taking some tube steel and welding it to the deck perimeter where I wanted an access door. I wanted it so that it would line up with where the front wheels of what I was hauling would be so I could get to the front wheels and get the straps on them. I'm too big and old to be trying to squeeze in between the car and the sidewalls. I left them long so I could cut them to length when I figured out the final shape.

I worked my way around the deck putting 1 1/2" X 2" tube steel about every 4' or at each start or finish of a transition. I turned then so they would flush out with the 2" deck rail. When I finished working my way around both sides and the front, I stood next to the truck and reached over the side to see what a comfortable height was to work over hooking up straps to the rear wheels of a car being hauled. That gave me a starting point for the slope of the sides. Then I welded a 20' piece of 2" X 1/4" flat bar across the back end of the 2" X 6" deck rail sticking 20' up in the air that I could bend down to the shape I wanted. To keep it from kinking at the first sharp radius I clamped a piece of 12" steel pipe to the top of the frame rail so the flat bar would bend around it in a nice tight radius. From there I worked my way forward until I got the shape I wanted and tied it into the radius at the front. With the first side complete I did my best to match the other side. The front I ran flat except where I stepped it to not block the rear window.

When this was complete, and I had the shape down I needed to infill the frame to have something to attach the skin to. I welded 1" X 1" tube steel to each side of the 1 1/2" X 2" tube steel and added more 1" X 1" tube steel between them at 16" on center flush to the exterior face. This would allow me to install plywood between the 2" vertical post and not encroach into the hoist space.

Below the deck I continued the radius on the front corners, and I decided I wasn't going to try to build the under-deck toolboxes myself. So I went through the different manufacturers catalogs and figured out what sizes would fit the available spaces. If I used 18" tall by 18" deep boxes it would still give me good ground clearance and fit between the exterior face and the frame. It worked out I could fit three 18' X 18' X 24" and one 18" X 18" X 60" boxes. That would give me plenty of storage space, so I framed those areas in and built arched wheel wells at the rear axles.

With that done I was ready to start skinning the exterior. COCOE

Are the two cabs connected so passengers can talk between them?

Yes, it is totally open from front to back. It steps 22". The upper cab is open from about 2" below the window to the floor.

Did you ever think of being a YouTuber and filming this and making money to finance it?

Rick's Toys, I'm allowed in my wife's sewing room as long as I don't touch anything. She does come into the shop on warm summer days thou. I have a refrigerator in there that keeps beer just above freezing and she loves super cold beer on hot days. This also gives me an excuse to keep it well stocked.

Southertruck, back some years after my youngest kid graduated from college and was on her own, I started talking with my wife about getting a classic car as a hobby. She thought it was a good idea. It would keep me out of trouble, and I would spend less time on the golf course. Well funds weren't unlimited but if I got something that needed some light restoration, I could make the available dollars go farther. I found what I was looking for and brought it home to start working on it. Not wanting to upset a good thing, whenever I needed to buy expensive parts, tools or supply's I would talk to her first. She never stopped me from buying anything but occasionally would ask me to wait a month or two to set money aside for it. About this time, she was getting more and more into her quilting and having the same dilemma with needing to involve me with her purchases. We talked it over and came up with a plan to each get an allowance every pay day. I wasn't large but enough to cover incidentals and if you wanted something larger you needed to save for a while. We each opened our own hobby accounts and in the 15 years I've been enjoying this Hobbie we have never argued about money spent on our hobbies. I can't say that for time spent on them, but we always work through that. Sorry I got so long winded on this. My wife and I have lots of cars friends that we have made over the years and watched them struggle through this. And too often it ends poorly for everyone.

Enough with the Dear Abby stuff time to get back to the truck!

After saving my allowance for a couple months while I was working on the framework I had enough to buy the sheet metal for the skin for skinning the rear deck area, I wanted the sheet metal to be thick enough to keep it from oil canning but thin enough that I could wrap it around the radiuses. I had some small pieces of 16 ga, 18 ga, and 20 ga, in the shop so I started experimenting to see what would work best. Just like in Goldie Locks the 16 ga was too hard, the 20 ga was too soft but the 18 ga was just right. Their happened to be a sheet metal supply house right by where I was working so I gave them a call and they had what I needed in stock and better pricing than anywhere else I had called. That Friday I picked up 6 -4' X 8' sheets of 18 ga. sheet metal. When I got it home and unloaded them in the shop and seeing how floppy they were, I knew handling them by myself was going to be a problem. I thought about it that night and came up with a plan. I took a piece of 5' long 1" tube steel and welded an eye in the middle and then threaded a piece of heavy nylon rope through it and tied a 3" C clamp to each end. With this hanging from the bridge crane, I could put a clamp 18" from each end of a sheet and it would hang straight, it was easy to move it around and it would hold it in place while I was welding it up.

I started at the front of the bed because I knew getting around the radiuses was going to be the hardest and most time-consuming part. When I got all a lined with the 2X6 deck rail I spot welded the end of the sheet to the vertical rib that formed the window step at the front of the deck. I knew that this sheet was long enough to reach around the radius and to the door opening without having a splice in it. Then I worked my way around the corner shaping it one rib at a time with clamps and strong backs and spot welding as I went.

As this was going on I was also finishing cleaning up the bottom of the cab and painted it. To do this work I had to lay it on the side away from the truck. When finished I stood it upright and set it on horses where I could finish striping the old paint and get some primer on it. That made it a lot easier to see what needs to be done as far body work goes.

With the cab in primer and the sheet metal in place I needed to put the cab back on the frame so I could line up where I wanted the half oval trim from under the windows on the cab. I first talked about this when I extended the doors on the back cab and continued the trim from the front cab. This trim is a special shape. It's kind of 1/2 round and half square with round corners. I played around with my sheet metal break but had no success recreating the shape. Then I found a short piece of 1" electrical conduit in the scrape been and thought maybe if I cut this in half and flattened it out it might work. I ran it through the bandsaw and laid it on the welding table and started flattening it with a 2 lb. sludge hammer. I had to work it back and forth gently as not to dent it up too much. I worked it a little then I would hold it up by the truck and eventually it matched pretty darn good. Now all I needed was another 80 feet of it. It took me several days to get it all shaped then it was time to start installing. I laid it out carrying the lines on the cabs all the way back to make sure they were parallel and then started at the front again welding them on. I had to do relief cuts coming around the radiuses but for the most part it went well. A little clean up with the 4 1/2" grinder and some body filler and they will look like they grew there.

Time to start some body work.

Yes, Indeed! Let's consider moving this *excellent* thread (except for the Dear Abby stuff) to the Project Journals? This is an excellent example of what a project journal should be.

NEAT project! Keep it coming!

I wish I knew how far you were on this, I would have stopped by before I moved over to Montana! I may be back over there around Thanksgiving, and might have to come pester you one day or evening and check it out in person!

I looked at the bed and all could say was WOW!!!!!

When I finished my last post and attached pictures, just for grins, I checked the date stamp on them. I brought the truck home in August of 2018 and the date on the pictures when I completed the sheet metal was May of 2022. So, at that point I had been at it for almost 4 years. The good thing is, I still look forward to every weekend I know I am going to get some shop time to work on it.

Now on to the body work. The timing worked out well with it being May the warmer weather was coming, and I didn't have to try to heat the shop to help with cure time on things.

I first pulled the cab back off the frame and set it on the horses again to make it closer to the ground and easier to work on. Also, so I could get to the front of the bed and the back of the cab.

I started filling along the edges of the accent molding above and below it and any splices in it and the sheet metal. I would let that cure while I did the same on the cab. Then I would start sanding. When I had one sanded, I would add filer again in the low spots and sand on the other while that cured. I went back and forth for what seemed like months until I was happy with it. Also, when I welded in the new corners in on the upper cab, I lowered them the 11" to a line with the bottoms of the Doors. This left the step in the back of the cab for the frame a mess. I keep looking at it while it was setting on the horses trying to decide how to clean this up and not look like a garbage. My first though was to cut the sides straight and cover it with some kind of grill. After I got it all cut and cleaned up, I liked the more open cleaned up look. So, I decided to kind of highlight it instead of hiding it. Digging through the pile of material I have leaning up in the corner of the shop I found a piece of 1 1/4" X 1/8" angle that was long enough to wrap around it. With the corners rounded on the cab I had to make relief cuts in it and wrap it around them. Once I had it shaped, I temporarily bolted it up and tack welded the relief cuts. Then I pulled it off so I could fillet weld all the cuts and then I ground it smooth. When it was all cleaned up, I hung it in the spray booth and painted it so it would be ready to install latter.

At this point the rear deck was ready for paint, and I began to concentrate on the rear of the cab because I knew it needed to get painted before it went back on the frame, or I would never be able to get to it to paint it on the frame(I'm sorry I don't have pictures of it at this stage but I either forgot to take some or with all the body work and sanding, the shop was a such a mess I was too embarrassed to let anyone see it).

I pulled the truck less the cab out of the shop so I could give it and the shop a thorough cleaning. I needed the shop extra clean because I was ready for paint and the truck was no way going to fit into the spray booth, so I was going to have to paint it in the main shop area.

I think I started painting over the 4th of July weekend and the date stamp on the pictures of it being done are August 28th. With priming and all the different colors and currying times in between, it was a slow process.

But being the middle of summer and warm out it helped the paint cure out nicely without having to blow heat on it and by the air movement dust around the shop.

Thanks for following and don't be bashful let me know what you think. COCOE

Sorry but I'm on a different computer and I can't post pictures to go along with this, but I will shortly. COCOE

Here's the pictures to go along with last post. I'm better with a welder than a computer.

I admire the work you are doing and the ability to provide a narrative and visual evidence of the continuing project.

Very nice project!

I have only seen a few of these brought back to life, but my favorite is one built by Dale and Diane Gerry here in Canada. They did some beautiful work on my '35 Maple Leaf, and let me take a close look at theirs.

https://dalegerry.com/gallery-display.php?catid=1&galleryid=18

WE b OLD, thanks for the continued support and encouragement. I hope to have another post out this weekend and You Tube isn’t in my future.

ddean, what a beautiful truck. They did an amazing job on it.

COCOE

Love these stories. You like typing more.than i.do.

With the paint on the back of the cab and the bed it was time to re-install the cab on the frame. As you could see in the pictures I went ahead and painted the rest of the exterior of the bed because it was ready, but the cabs were still ruff. I needed to replace both corners on the front cab, weld plugs into the old gas spout holes and plug weld all the old holes from mirror and anything else. Thier was also some minor dents here and there to take out plus addressing the seam where I married the cabs together.

I also cut some plates out of 12 ga sheet metal to fill all the areas in the floor of the front cab that had the removeable access panels to make it flat. I bolted these down because I intended to carpet the floors in both cabs and if I need to get to anything under the floor, I could get to it by tilting the cab or a lot of it, I could reach with just swinging the steps out. The floor in the upper cab I replaced flat when I was building the sub frame for that cab.

I was trying to get all the sheet metal and body work done so I could prime it one last time before paint and I wanted to paint the interior with the exterior.

wow!!!! that will be one bad asss ride !!!!

Your vision is coming together nicely. Great work!

After completing the body work on the cab, I tried getting color on it but by this time winter had set in and the shop was too cold to paint. I tried spraying but it cured out so poorly I decided to hold off until spring. I have heaters for the shop but with still working full time I don't like spending the money to heat it to 60 degrees for just the weekend and I have plenty of other things to keep me busy until it warms up.
So, I started sorting out the rest of the miscellaneous sheet metal to prep for paint.

I decided to start with the fenders. They have a rubber mat that covers the back half that was all cracked and missing chucks out of it. I tried finding replacement rubber for it but had no luck. New parts that are exclusive to COE's are hard to come by there was such a limited run. My next option was to try to make some from scratch. After several failed attempts to make some and looking online at what others had done hoping for inspiration it was clear this wasn't a unique problem. The predominate solution was to fill the 10, 3/4" holes that held the mats on and paint it. I had decided that since I had to plug weld the holes where the turn singles sat on the top of the fenders since I was doing something different with them anyway, so I started welding and grinding them smooth. My though on the turn singles was to French them in below the headlights. You can see the location in the last picture I posted today.

It's nice to have separate areas in the shop for body work, the main area with the bridge crane for fabrication and a spray booth with a good down draft system in it to paint and not have to spend too much time prepping an area to paint in every time I want to paint a piece. Plus, with the booth smaller than the fab area heating isn't as much of an issue.

My plan was to get as many pices ready for paint while I was waiting for warmer weather and then start painting color.

Now on to the next piece of this giant puzzle.

Is the second cab up high going to be a sleeper or is it for passengers?

It is for passengers. It will have a bench seat in it so it will seat three people.

The view will be great!

You'd have to be pretty short to sleep across an AD cab.

Even without painting color I had my winter dance card full just prepping pieces. Some days I would go out to the shop and look at the pile of pieces needing to get cleaned up and prepped for paint and just couldn't motivated myself to start sanding on those days. I needed to build something.

One of the things bouncing around in my head was skinning the steps. I still wasn't sure how I wanted to cap them, but I knew I was going to cover the risers with sheet metal. I also had to box in where the latches were going that would keep them from opening while driving. When I built the doors for the back deck, I ordered some latches that are like the ones that come on the toolboxes I planned on ordering for under the deck so they would match. In stead of just ordering the two for the doors I got four so I would have two for the steps and they would all be keyed the same.

The next time that the "I don't want to sand today" hit me I built access ladders to get into the doors on the deck. The openings are narrow enough that it's hard to crawl through and my jumping in them days have long passed. I built one for each side, so they were handy when needed. I used 1" tube steel for the ladders and welded a 1/8" plate to the top with a hook in it that would set over the 2"X 6" tube steel that formed the permitter of the back deck. That would keep it from sliding out on you and the bed would still operate inside it. Then I needed somewhere to stow them. I looked at securing them to the deck but wherever I put them they seemed to be in the way. Then I thought about hanging them on the inside of the walls on the back, but I was afraid that they would interfere with the deck when you raised it. So, with the deck all the way up I held the ladders up on the inside of the doors to see if they cleared the deck. As long as the hooks on the ladders where up and high on the doors, because the deck didn't go that high, I had plenty of clearance. So, I made some hooks for the back of the doors that would force the ladder flat against the door and hold them secure when bouncing down the road. Plus, they were always convenient to get to there. Enough putting it off, time to get back to sanding and prepping. At least the pile is getting smaller. COCOE

Next up was the hood. It had a small crease across the crown of it that looked like it ran into the hopper on a combine back when it was a farm truck. After sanding it to bare metal I worked it out with hammers and dollies until it was ready for a little filler. More sanding and into the booth for priming.

Next up the steps. These had the same rubber mats like the fenders had but I didn't have the option of just painting them. I decided I could kick that can down the road until I had to decide how I was going to cap those and the back steps. First, I had to take them all apart. They are in 5 pieces counting the tops. Most of the bolts were badly rusted and I was going to replace them all when I reassemble them. So, after fighting with a couple, I just got my big breaker bar and twisted the rest off. That made for short work of taking them apart. I saved the rubber top pieces because they are backed with a 16 ga. plate and I was thinking I may want to try to re-cover them. Then I started sanding and sanding and more sanding. There are a lot of surfaces on these and it's almost all hand work. But finally, all the pieces were ready for primer.

By this time, I was ready to build something again. I had been thinking how to do the taillights and I needed somewhere for the license plate and back up camera. If I attached them to the frame, they would be too far under the deck to be able to see them clearly. If I hooked them to the deck, I had to come up with a way the electrical would roll out and retrack with the deck and it all wouldn't get crushed by the deck coming down. What I came up with is a parallel bar system that welded to the frame on one end and hung from the C-channels on the deck on the other end. When the deck slid back and down it would slide along the channel staying plumb and become a post under the ramp when the end of the ramp landed on the ground. There is a post under each C-channel, and they are tied together and cross braced. Over that I built a tube steel frame and covered it with a piece of 1/8" plate. Then I cut out where the taillights were going (I had ordered the lights earlier knowing I needed to see how they would fit and mount). The recesses for these are deep enough so they flush out with the face of the plate. In the middle of the plate, I took 1/2" tube steel and created a Chevy Bow Tie logo that the license plate would fit in, and I could mount the backup camera above or get a license plate ring with a camera in it. Then into the booth for priming and back to prepping more parts for me.

By this time spring was just around the corner but I still couldn't rely on 50-degree temps at night, so I wasn't comfortable with painting final color yet, but I had a lot of hidden parts I intended to clean up and paint. All of the inner fenders and cowlings from under the hood along with the radiator out of the doner motorhome that I planned on using. I didn't feel the little original one from the COE that was fine for an inline 6 would work for a big block. All I had to do was figure out how to fit it under the hood and not interfere with the tilting cab or the steering and brake linkage.

After I had these pieces all cleaned up and sanded, I hung them up and sprayed them with raddle cans and let them dry for however long it would take in the cool night air.

Over the winter I had picked up the wood car decking for the back deck. It was left over from a project I was working on. I ran a DA sander over it and picked out the best pieces. Then I cut and fit them into place.

I forgot to add this earlier but on one of my "I don't want to sand days" I had installed 1/2" steel plates at the front corners and at the mid points along the side of the rear deck. Also, I installed the 1/4" steel plate a crossed the back end of the deck that would land on the ground when it was tilted. I drilled a 2" hole an inch and a half in from the outside edge of these to be able to hook the straps that hold the car in place to when hauling. I looked at recessing slide tracks into the deck but after checking out what the towing companies were using this was the favored method. I bring this up now because I had to cut and fit the wood decking around these.

After I had it all fitted like I wanted, I numbered all the pieces and pulled them out on the first sunny day and laid them out on sawhorses in the driveway upside down and sprayed them with a black full body stain. As soon as they were dry enough to roll over, I sprayed the sides and the tops with an extra heavy coat of the stain to seal them well. By Dark they had dried pretty well but since it was supposed to be sunny the next day also, I covered them with painters' plastic to keep the dew off and left them in the driveway overnight. First thing the next morning as soon as the sun was hitting them, I uncovered them. By about 1:00 they were dry enough to handle without screwing them up, so I brought them into the shop and laid them in where they went. I bolted them in the following weekend.

I'm having trouble adding photos so I will post the ones for this post next.

Now on to the radiator. COCOE

Pictures From Last Post.

this truck just blowes my mind, love it !!!

The radiator had some challenges. First, I had to make sure it didn't interfere with the steering or the brake linkage. Then it had to fit under the hood without getting crushed when the cab tilted forward. I also had to fit it in between the pivot for the tilt that is tight to where the grill will set and as tall as it is, it is going to have to hang below the front clip to fit under the hood. One thing I had going for me was since it came off that frame (the motorhome) the original mounts and width of the radiator fit the frame rails perfectly. I hooked it up to the bridge crane so I could let it hang and adjust it to where it would fit without having to wrestle it. It weighs about 80 lb.'s and is very clumber sum. It was too tall to fit under the hood if it sat on the top of the frame rails in the original position but by working it back and forth between the frame rails I could set the mounts on the bottom flanges of the frame rails, and it would clear the hood, set in front of the clip and behind the cab pivot, not interfere with the steering or brake linkage and if it was braced to set plum still give me almost 3" clearance with the cab fully tilted. That is sufficient room for routing the upper hose and mounting fans and a shroud. It sticks above the original cowling a little, but I can live with that.

I have to say the way it fit was more luck than good planning.

After I was sure it, all worked, I drilled the frame rails and put rubber spacers under the mounts and bolted it up. Then I took some 1" tube steel and made some braces that bolt into the original holes on the radiator and back to the frame rails to hold it plum and secure.

By now the outside temperatures have stayed above 50 for over a week and looks to continue, so I'm going to cut this short and start painting.

With warmer weather and a booth full of pieces hanging from hooks and setting on anything I could find that would allow me to get primer on them, it was time to start painting again.

First, I had to sort out what order I wanted to paint in. I decided to sort by color and where they went. The logical way was to start from the bottom and work my way up just like in the order I was painting the rest of the truck, and they will go on.

I also had to finish painting the cab inside and out that I paused on last fall when it got too cold.

The vast majority of pieces were along the bottom, and they all get painted black. I started with the fenders because they go on first and then build out from there. Next was the steps and that pretty well limited what I could spray this first go around.

I will let these cure out for a week and install them next weekend and if I have time paint the next batch.

I had time left that weekend so I also got the first color on the cab so I wouldn't have to paint next to the finished pieces.

The following weekend everything seemed to have cured out nicely. It wasn't ready to wet sand, but I was planning on doing that once everything was assembled just in case something got damaged and needed to be touched up.

I started on the passenger side because that's how they came out of the booth, and I decided to assemble all of that side before starting the driver side. That way I could correct any miss steps I made in sequencing so I wouldn't make them on the other side.

Earlier I had ordered some rubber cording to go between the cab and the fender. I chose to use rubber instead of the cloth that the factory used thinking it would hold up better and I'm not too worried about points for originality. I used 3/16" bulb cording and I like that size. It doesn't distract from other things, but you can see that it's there.

From there I started putting the steps for the front cab together. I had wished I would have kept the parts for the passenger side separate from the driver's side, but I hung them in the booth all in one big group and with-it being months since I took them apart and prepped them for paint it took a while to sort them out. I'm glad I had lots of pictures of them before I took them a part. Once I had the passenger side together, I went ahead and did the driver's side while it was fresh in my head how they went together.

When the steps were on and bolted up the back steps were just a matter of putting them in place and dropping a pin in the hinge. I'm still using a 3/4" metal stake as a temporary pin until I get some stainless rod for the permanent ones.

With the passenger side together, it was on to the driver side. After having the other side as a learning curve and the front steps already together that went quick.

Now with space opened up in the booth time for more painting.

The next group of pieces was the grill, ladders and the taillight/license plate piece. I had put off prepping the grill knowing it was going to be a lot of hand sanding and after the steps I needed a break from that. I was lucky it was in really good condition as it only had one small ding in it and that was a painless repair.

I had been trying to decide what color I wanted to do the grill. I spent several evenings online looking at options. I didn't want to spend the money on sending it out to be chromed but I did want it to contrast with the other pieces around it. The fenders where black and I planned on the hood being gun metal gray. I got it all primed and decided to wait and make that decision latter. I went ahead and painted the taillight piece and the ladders.

While those were curing, I decided to paint the last color on the top of the upper cab, the silver. When I was spraying, between coats I held up some test panels of the other colors (black and gun metal gray) that I had sprayed earlier and liked the way they contrasted. So, I figured what the heck I have paint in the gun and if I don't like it, I can always change it. I went ahead and sprayed the grill silver.

What do you think, should I leave it or change it?

Looks good to me. . You tire me out just reading what you get done but don't stop. We are all anxious to see the finished product.

I cannot stop staring at that double stacked cab. That is a thing of beauty.

Will the passengers in the upper deck get their own set of dash gauges to look at?

That's confidential information, especially the speedometer. Maybe a video screen so they can play DVDs. Gotta keep customers entertained.

Sorry Otto, no gauges up top. I cut the dash in about half and rolled it forward. My plan is to pad it and cover it so no one will smack their head on it.

Klhansen, I can nether confirm or deny the DVD at this time. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I was trying to get a new post out tonight but I put a long day in the shop today. I will try tomorrow. Thanks all for following. COCOE

Is that going to be the truck's name? Cocoe?

No, I haven't come up with a name yet. It varies from day to day depending how thing go.😁 The COCOE stands for cab over cab over engine. I just made it up to us as my avatar name.

After posting the last chapter in this seemingly endless novel I went back through my equally endless seeming file of pictures and saw somethings that I did early on that I think deserve a mention. One was mounting the fuel tank. The original motorhome had two tanks one 80 gal. that went across the rear of the coach and a 30 gal. that sat about midship on the passenger side. With being a roll back the large tank was out but even with just the little tank I should have at a minimum a range of about 300 miles, and I felt that would be sufficient. My plan was to reinstall it pretty much where it was originally at but all the supports for it went away when I was cutting the coach apart. But when I was building the rear deck, I laid out where it was going to set and welded some predrilled pieces of tube steel between the frame rails and the 2 X 6 perimeter of the deck. When done with all the welding in that area and before I installed the wood above it, I rolled it under the bed and raised it into place with the bridge crane and bolted it up. I had ordered a locking gas door for the side of the truck that was actually for a Jeep CJ, and it fit right over the fill spout and worked well.

Another thing was moving the steering box. Originally it sat about half in and half out of the front of the left fender and I didn't think that was a good look. So, after taking some measurements I figured I could cut the mount lose from the frame and move it back about 6" weld it back on and it would clear the fender. Then I just needed to shorten the Pitmen Arm and get the geometry for the steering linkage to work, and it would all be good. After Santa brought me a nice new chrome steering column for Christmas, I hooked everything up and it all work as I had hoped. As a bonus the angles were right, so it didn't bind when the cab tilted.

The last thing for this post was the master cylinder. I was going to use the original one off the motorhome and it needed to line up with the brake pedal box. I built a bracket off the frame out of angle iron and bolted it in. Again, the rotation of the cab tilting wasn't enough to affect it. When it tilts the brake pedal go's down but not far enough to bind or start compressing the master cylinder. Once the master cylinder was in place and confirmed it would work, I ran new lines to tie it all together and added an extension to the rear axal that I moved back.

And by the way I did get some more painting done. The hood is ready to install and some dash pieces.

Ever since I finished painting the steps, I've been working on what I wanted to put on the treads. The original's had steel plates backed rubber and I knew that I wouldn't be able to duplicate that. After spending some time looking at other options, I decided on polished diamond plate. I started calling around checking prices on it and I was starting to re-think my choice and maybe look for other less expensive ideas.

Then one day when I was wasting time on the computer looking at Craigslist and not playing solitaire, I saw an add for diamond plate just what I needed and at a very good price. It was left over from someone else's project. I contacted the gentleman and was there with cash before someone else could snag it.

I got it home and started fitting it on the steps but didn't like how it kind of rattled and was very noisy when you stepped on them. I know we put rubber silencers under equipment at work all the time so I thought I would give it a try. I had a little rubber stripping left over from the fender cording that I put under one of the pieces to see if that helped before ordering more and if it took the vibration out and quitted it down. It worked great. So, I ordered enough self-sticking 1/16" by 2" rubber striping to line the tops of all the framework for the steps and screwed the diamond plate over it with self-drilling screws.

It was a good weekend. I felt like I was making progress.

You get my vote. I.like it

wow!!!!!!

Looks great! Good choice,

After I got all the steps covered it was time to start finishing the rear deck area.

When I built the walls around the rear deck, I used 1 1/2" X 2" tube steel at the transition points to hold the flat bar at the top from twisting and for any added strength needed. I keep these at a maximum spacing of 4' on center. From their my carpentry background kicked in and I added 1" X 1" tube steel at 16" on centers flush with the exterior face of the 2" X 6" deck perimeter tube steel and the 1/4" X 2" flat bar that forms the top of the sidewalls. I know I went over this earlier when I was sheeting the exterior, but this is why I used 1" tube steel in the intermediate areas. I wanted a clean look on the inside too and not interfere with the hoist. I used 3/8" marine grade AC plywood cut to fit with no joints between the 2" tube steel. Before I secured it in place, I primed it on all surfaces to seal it with a primer that was compatible with the paint on the truck because I want to carry the exterior colors around the inside of the deck too. I made some test panels to ensure that it worked before I did this. I haven't got to finishing the paint here yet but it on the list.

Here are some pictures of it all fitted before I screwed it into place.

You have good vision and skills to match! Looking good!

Thanks for the continued support following and the encouraging word. It's appreciated.

With the rear deck area all secured in place I shot it with one more coat of primer to balance out the substrate. At this point I was up ageist the cooler weather again so color may have to wait till spring, but I have lots of other thing I can stay busy with.

I had ordered under deck toolboxes while I was working on the rear deck, and they showed one Saturday while I was in the shop. My wife came out and told me I needed to come out and sign for them. I was kind of puzzled by this thinking she could have just done it but when I saw the boxes I understood. Two of them were fine but the third one looked like it had been dragged behind the truck to my house and I live a long way from town.

The UPS driver was kind enough to wait for me to reject it and apologized for how it arrived saying it happened before he got it. It wasn't something that I needed right then, and it wasn't going to hold me up on other things, so I sent it back and they replaced it in about two weeks. In the meantime, I installed one to see how t looked and it fit just like I had wanted.

From there, there was no more putting it off, it was time to start tackling the pile of doors. This may take a few posts, I have some big ideas for them.

Who did you get the toolboxes from and what brand/model are they?

I was looking for a toolbox to go under the back of my 3/4 ton flatbed a couple of years ago and gave up after finding only stupidly expen$ive options.

Hi Biil,

I used Buyers that I bought off Amazon. Your right they aren't cheap, but the quality is very good other than the one that was beat up, but they replaced it right away with no question asked. I thought about fabing them myself but when I added up all the parts and materials plus the time it would have taken, mostly the time I decided to just buy them. I'm glad I did.