The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1950 Chevy 1/2-ton Farm Truck: Frame-up restoration/modification

It’s 4 bolts John. Take it off and check. I have found that when I’m second guessing myself, there’s a reason for it. It was a total step backwards for me, but I’m not sorry I did it. I really should ask more questions before I end up getting myself in trouble. I was thinking earlier that there is so much knowledge here and I should take advantage of it more.
Unlike you, I’m more of a “go for it” guy, and I pay for that sometimes

I spent a couple of hours yesterday, attempting to bolt up my intake and exhaust. The Clifford intake looks great, but the bolt locations aren’t exactly accurate. After much fussing and enlarging holes, I finally just walked away from it. Besides, there was a hockey game I needed to watch.
The Oilers won 5-1 in case everybody or even anybody was wondering.
Back at it this morning for another hour and I finally have it
semi-bolted down. I need to fabricate two custom saddles to fit into spaces my fingers barely go.
Anyhow, it’s eye candy and it’s fun for me to look at.

That color really looks nice.👍

John

Those are some monster carbs! My little single barrel is feeling a wee bit inadequate. 😁 Wondering why the front half of the header points back and not down?

More gasoline than the engine can possibly use.

They are a pair of Weber 2 barrel carbs. I expect my motor to be making 320-350 hp and I don’t want it going thirsty.
I think the tube length is the same front and back. I wondered why it didn’t go down too, but it may look better when the exhaust is run.

Go oilers Go

350hp? I guess I missed that. What did you do to the engine to quadruple the output?

It’s a 292 block bored 0.060 over, making it 302 cu in, zero decked the block for higher compression, new pistons, higher lift cam, larger valves and hardened seats, larger springs, obviously new intake and carbs, and headers

I’ve been walking around piles of parts and moving parts because they’re in the way etc. After a back and forth with John (UtahYork) re: his misplacement of parts I have decided to do something about this sooner than later.
As we know, a dismantled truck has a bewildering array of parts, and takes up a lot of valuable floor space if you do what I have done, which is to sort of try to keep everything together. I’m going to spend some time in the next couple of weeks cleaning out and repurposing our hen house as a truck parts storage area.
I’m going to build some shelves, and have an area to store sheet metal, suspension parts, heater, door panels, seat frame and seat parts, radiator, core support and all the miscellaneous stuff ( you all know the list) I have taken off and will need again in about 4-5 years.
It’s really something I should have done when I took my truck apart. We all know we’re supposed to bag and tag everything as it comes apart (done that) But we also need a safe storage space to put all the big bits. We need shelves, and we need to be able to find our parts when it comes time to re-assemble.

A sound plan, Paul. I had parts in three different areas: front garage, back garage and storage shed. 20 years ago I only had the attached two car garage. As I built a shed for my lawn equipment and then a detached garage in the back yard, I migrated parts to different areas. It would have been better to pick one area and kept everything together.

Hen House?? Don't let them crap on your sheet metal or there won't be anything left in 4-5 years.

Hens are all gone Kevin. At the moment it’s dry empty storage with windows and power.

Power? I see a Man Cave in the future! 😁

Ha ha, my wife would argue I already have a man-cave. We built a 1500 sq ft woodworking shop so I could do a lot of the finish work in the house and have a place to run my business.

With only a 24’ x 24 garage that I share with my wife’s 2007 VW Eos. Just so I have room to do the bodywork, I rented a 5’ x 10’ Storage Unit and that is already packed with nothing but body parts. I feel your pain!

My new storage space, which as yet is full of nesting boxes, roosting perches and pine shavings, is probably 8’x 16’ x 7’ tall. Plenty of space to store sheet metal.

My wood shop was already choc-a-block with machines, before I decided I probably had enough room to dismantle and work on a truck. I had a small area for assembly and working on projects, which is now filled with a truck.

I started building an extension dining table yesterday and had to move my truck frame to get my pallet jack out, so I could move a shaper to get at my wood inventory. I also had to move my clamp dolly, and a couple of stacks of bee hive boxes to access the shaper, so I could access my wood. Fun, right? No wonder my wife thinks this whole thing is crazy. She wants a couple more pieces of furniture and my “shop is filled with that stupid truck?” I need another garage.

I finally got some time to build the shelves in my storage shed. I was actually forced into it by necessity. My wife has wanted a new dining table and in order for me to be able to work on it through the summer, I need to get my air conditioner installed in my shop. To do that, I needed to move a large pile of truck parts out of the way. So, on Tuesday, I tore into what used to be a henhouse, removed everything, scraped and vacuumed and on Wednesday I put some shelves up. Today was moving day, and I still have the
seat cushions and inner fenders to move, but everything is now in one place instead of being spread around my shop and pushed into odd corners. Even better, the parts that were put into 3 week outdoor storage 2 1/2 years ago are back in dry storage.

Looks good. 👍 Hopefully you can find a way to keep out the mice. I have a storage shed that has been overrun with critters for a number of years.

This August I hope to clean out, rebuild and double the size of my storage shed. One can never have enough storage.

John

Nice to have a dedicated space for your parts. That will narrow down the search.

The only thing the mice will find attractive is the seat, and I think I’ll strip the cushions down to the springs before I add it to the stash. I was interested to find out I had 3 different engine stands for a 292. Now I need to find two more 292’s to bolt to the extras.

In my continuing efforts to regain real estate in my shop, I spent the day making a dolly for my frame. I had a bunch of 4x4’s in inventory, and had casters and lag bolts. Out of pocket expenses were a perfect zero. I’m going to lower it some tomorrow. It’s not top heavy, I would just like the frame to be closer to the floor. It will fit in the dolly better too. It sure is nice having the frame on wheels. Moving it now is super easy.
After moving my drill press, I think I’m finally ready to start building furniture again.

I am in the “collecting inventory” stage again. With my frame somewhat squared away, I am buying IFS parts before getting back to work on my truck.
When I was looking for motor mounts I liked, I came across Paul Horton’s Hotrods up in Breslau Ontario. I liked what I saw, and bought one of their Mustang II Welder Series cross member “kits” They used to ship them as flat stock with laser cut slots where the bends happen, but have changed things up and now ship the two pieces of the X member already bent at 90 degrees. They get placed together and the open corners get filled with a weld bead. The mounts for the steering rack are laser cut, and the box section gets folded into shape, and the openings of the cuts get welded.
I opted for coil-over towers for my front end, and they are put together the same way. They send cardboard fitting templates to help with ride height cuts.
Once I have all the rest of my front end components, I can pull my frame back out and return to truck work.

No pictures, just an update. I have been busy in the shop, building a new dining table for my wife’s birthday. All the while, I’m thinking and strategerizing about my front and rear ends. Over the years I have collected a fair fleet of boats, boat parts and boat projects. I went through that collection and have started to de-fleetisize. I’m trading boats for parts I guess.
There are a lot of moving parts right now, but I’m close to an order and a Christmas-like delivery.

Paul, Are you going with a solid front axle or IFS on that new dining table? Sometimes it's good to take a break from the truck and utilize other skills. Woodworking, fishing, boating,... it's all good.

After a long hiatus, I’m back thinking about my truck. Actually, I don't stop thinking about my truck, but there is the thinking, and then there is the acting on the thinking. My current train of thought has been focused on suspension and braking. I have decided on using a Mustang ll front end, with coil overs and big discs. I’m not sure I need “big’ discs, but will probably spring for the 13 inchers. I like the way big diameter discs look up front, and they will no doubt give more stopping power, which is never a bad thing.
So that takes me to my rear end. I had been thinking about staying with a standard rear end, and was leaning towards a Ford 9”. Then I saw something on marketplace that sent me in a different direction. I found (and it followed me home) an independent rear end out of a ‘76 Jaguar XJ6. To my eye, no rear end sticking out of the back of a hot rod or resto mod, or really anything, looks better than the Jag unit. Parts seem fairly easy to come by. The center sections were built by Spicer so should be able to handle hp, Jaguar used Chevy hubs and it already has disc brakes. The whole thing is still enclosed in the cradle assembly it left the factory with, but in the new year I will be starting the tear down and replacement of bearings and seals before I start putting it back together to go under my truck.

I got out and started taking apart the Jag rear today. I wanted to get the stamped steel factory cradle separated from the guts of the rear, and as I got to work on it, I noticed part of that cradle sub-assembly was broken. Good, I don’t want it anyway.
I took the lower control arms off to make removal of the sub easier, and also removed all four shocks.
When I get back out there tomorrow I’ll put it all back together so it’s ready to place under my frame.

Here is a drawing of what I’ll eventually be dealing with

Am I correct in thinking that the actual axle shafts do the work of keeping the wheels vertical? I see the lower control arms, and those big aluminum cans into which the hubs go, but other than the axles themselves, there appear to be no upper locating links of any kind.

Looks inspired by the one year only independent rear suspension in a 1963 Pontiac Tempest. Where they just went one step further and made it double jointed (which is what GM should have done, but then the little Tempest Super Duty 421 would have embarrassed AJ Foyt in the new 1963 Corvette even more).

Tronman. I believe your assumption is correct, although it looks to me like the axles actually pivot around the u-joints at the pumpkin and serve as control arms. The wheels will be straight vertical only in one position of the suspension, with positive camber (top of wheel out) with the suspension unloaded and negative camber if overloaded.
This is similar to the early Corvette rear suspension (I'm only familiar with the '63), although that car has trailing arms that included wheel bearing carrier, lower control arms and the non-telescoping axle shafts acting as upper control arms with u-joints both at the differential and at the wheel bearing carrier. The Corvette IRS kept the rear wheels mostly vertical.

I agree that it appears that the axles are the upper control arms but it also appears that they may be equal length to the lower control arms (depending where the outer pivot point is) and therefore may be closer to maintaining the wheels vertical through the range of travel. I may be giving the folks at Jag to much credit but I think the simple swing axle set up that doomed the Corvair is probably not what Jag was trying to accomplish.

There would have to be u-joints at the outer end of the axles for the wheels to stay vertical.

On closer inspection of the photos I’m seeing u-joints there.

The Corvair swing axle setup doesn't tuck under. I know this because I duplicated the exact conditions that should have killed me and my passsengers when my severly overloaded Tempest station wagon's brakes failed going down a steep mountain road, brought the rear end around, yet I was able to keep it under control. Hence, we're all still alive. Like a Porsche 911, except that car didn't draw Ralph Nader's ire... the swing axle Beetles were actually far more dangerous in corners, yet all Nader had to say about them was how well built they were. Yes, I read 'Unsafe At Any Speed' in its entirety.

Anyway, the '63 Tempest IRS was the first thing GM ever designed with the help of a computer, and you can see its DNA in subsequent GM independent suspensions. Conceptually similar, yet significantly different from the Corvair control arms used in earlier Tempests. The Corvair relied on a spherangular bearing with barrel shaped rollers so the control arm pivoted on a shorter radius than the axles. The '63 Tempest IRS had axle bearings that didn't pivot, they're just great big regular ball bearings.

Back to the suspension at hand, yes I knew there were U joints on the outsides, contained within those big alloy balls. It's also obvious why they put the brakes inboard, as there's no way for the suspension to handle any twist from regular outboard brakes. Back when I was a mechanic, I recall not being hyped on that design.. :-D in terms of having to dismantle it to do the brakes.

If I had that Tempest today, I'd strongly consider getting the IRS cradle out of an Aztek or Rendezvous. Modern day geometry, my Aztek handles remarkably well and its rear end (that big glass hatchback is super heavy) is pretty similar to what my Tempest wagon had going on in back. I think I could put the original transaxle in there, the widths of it and the Aztek third member aren't very different. Then a front disc brake conversion and collapsible steering column and shoulder belts would net me a modern day, even somewhat crashworthy, one-off Tempest. A guy can dream.

Apologies for the thread-jacking daydream. I'll now return to thoughts of my big bolt school bus :-)