The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Completed Journals 1950 Chevy 3600

Fenders and doors are now installed. I need to do some work on the Altman door latch adjustment and insdie door handle connections.

I anticipate doing some paint touch up/repaint before moving on to more electrical and glass installation but at least now it looks like a truck again.

Running boards were installed without too much paint damage to the rear fenders.

Rear lights were installed and after some challenges (mis wiring, etc.) are working. Installed junction blocks on the inner front fenders and wired horn and front parking/turn lights.

Now working on prep for doing a final once-over paint coat before moving on to glass installation.

I've not got to my wiring yet, but I'm sure it will be an adventure for me. Exciting to see your project moving along.

John, after all the work you've done so far, the wiring is going to be a piece of cake. There's what, eight circuits on a '46 pickup?

As meticulous as you work, it will probably take you all weekend!

Completed the "final" (I hope) painting of the truck. Now on to interior and electrical efforts.

I had a strange surprise, I had an accumulation of fluid under the seats that was leaking through the drain hole onto the transmission output shaft/u-joint. Apparently the '90's vintage Chevy seats I installed have a fluid reservoir associated with the passenger air bag system I did not realize. When I removed a bunch of the extra junk under the seat prior to install I opened that fluid reservoir to drain onto the floor. At first I thought I had a transmission leak (puddle on the floor under the truck) but finally determined it was the seat leaking, totally unexpected.

Another reason added to the list of why I hate modern cars. Leaking fluid from the seat. Good grief!

When I disconnected the tubing I thought it was just an air pressure type connection but apparently the system required fluid that was less compressable to sense weight on the seat. In retrospect I can understand why it was designed that way but it sure was not expected.

As an engineer I can appreciate the design involved with modern vehicle systems but I am very much an old school car person so as much as I understand the potential of modern systems (like electronic fuel injection) I choose to use an old fashion carburetor.

Just a quick update.

The front wheel studs (original) were 1/2" where the rear are now 9/16" due to the install of the 14-bolt rear axle. I have the front hubs at my local machinist currently being resized for the new 9/16" wheel studs.

Once the new wheel studs are in place and hubs reinstalled I am planning to pull the trigger on getting tires for the "new to me" 16" wheels so that the truck could actually be driven down the road. The current wheels/tires hold air but their age and the multipart wheel construction is not something I want to trust even for a short drive.

Hoping to get the parts I need to install the window related parts back in the doors today via UPS but not sure when I will get them installed.

I am in a holding pattern on anything external on the body pending my son making a trip to WI from AZ to see if he can salvage my paint job. Although I think I need to remove the grille as I forgot to install the clip nuts on the lower cross bar that attach to the lower shield. I can not see anyway to get them in place without at least removing the hood latch plate and maybe the entire grille.

My son, a more professional painter than myself came home for a week to "fix" my paint. After sanding, repainting, wet sanding, and buffing the paint looks pretty good (and shows all of my body work failures).

I was going to attach a video he took but the file size is too large. I will need to see if I can resize it.

On to more details like door internals and windows as well as exterior trim parts.

Still hoping to have an initial road test before winter sets in.

We'd love to see the video, but you'd have to post it somewhere (Youtube?) and include a link here.

I love the way the 3600 looks with those giant wheels and tires.

Is that all your corn in the background?

That is not our corn, we own an old fram house on about 3 acres surrounded by farm fields that were part of the original farm.

I will see if I can load the video to U-tube or somewhere and post a link here.

Hopefully this link will work for the video of the paint job. The link was not working so it was deleted.


Still needs a fair amount of work including refinishing the rear bumper.

Link didn't work for me.

Nor me. "Video unavailable"

Sorry, it originally worked for me but now it does not so I need to determine what I did wrong. I will edit the post to remove the link and post a new link when I have it sorted out.

Let me try to post a link again: https://youtube.com/shorts/dQ2kPG7Q4BI

I think previously the problem was the link was not considered public, hopefully this time it is viable for anyone who cares to watch.

Looking good

The video works and your truck looks incredible! Nice work.

I'm glad the video works now and that it doesn't show the body work problems that are apparent when you see it in person.

I'm glad my son was able to fix my previous paint job and get it looking as good as it does. Overall I am pretty happy with how the project is going but it has been a long slow process (going on 4 year now) and I have a ways to go before I consider it done enough to transition from a project to a daily driver (that still needs things done over time).

HA HA HA. 4 years is just a flash. I'm at 10 years, although I was on the road after 9.

You truck looks very nice. I noticed a few dents on the back of the cab, but overall, you did well.

Four years might sound like a significant chunk of time, but for many of us, myself included, it's barely a warm-up. I've been pouring my heart, soul, and probably a small fortune into my build for six years now, and I can easily see at least another year, if not more, on the horizon.

Life, as it often does, has a funny way of throwing curveballs, and each one seems to present a new project or an unexpected delay, ensuring that the light at the end if the tunnel keeps its distance and the journey of perfecting this truck is far from over.

Geez, you’re all killing me 😂 I’m only two years in and still have a non-roller.
Your truck looks great. I sort of like the presence of war wounds that have been acquired from 70 years of work.

Thank you all for you kind words and confirmation that my time to date is neither unusual or problematic.

Paul, I remember those days when the frame was out for blasting and painting. Pretty hard to manuver around the heavy stuff much less find space for all of the bulky stuff (cab included) when you are at that stage of things.

As noted life does throw curve balls, right now I am in process of refurbishing our master bedroom that has sidelined truck progress. There is a bit more urgency to the bedroom project as sleeping in the dining room does include some challenges.

I rented a storage unit to house my parts because I couldn’t maneuver to do any work, and I didn’t want to leave anything outside in the elements.

Yesterday was a milestone day as the truck made its first trip down the road. I made a trip around the block (so to speak) which for me is about 5 miles.

The good: The engine ran well and the transmission shifted through all the gears. The speedometer calibration went well. The engine oil pressure, coolant temperature, and charging voltage all were good. Driving down the 2 lane country road at 60 mph wasn't scary, steering, and braking worked fairly well (see below). Both the interior and driver's side rear view mirrors seemed stable (not excessive vibration). It may have been the excitement of actually driving it but the interior noise level didn't seem too bad.

The not so good (not really bad but): The engine idle speed was high (like 2,000 rpm) but was able to be adjusted down to 6-700 after the drive without any problem. The steering wheel is off center when driving straight (need to adjust my drag link). There was a tendency for the rear brakes to lock up if I hit the brakes too hard - I suspect I need to investigate how to modify the system to avoid this problem when the bed is empty.

I need to retrain myself to remember that the truck does not have self cancelling turn signals.

A post trip inspection did not reveal any new concerns. I need to complete some loaded (engine load not necesarily truck load) miles to breakin the engine and probably need to do some carburetor calibration work (seems pretty rich). I need to get the toe in checked because I do not trust my tape measure technique. And I need to make a trip to the gas staion as I have a low fuel warning now, this will help me know how much fuel is left in the tank at low fuel warning and then calculate how much of the 16 gllon tank capacity I can actually plan on using.

Nice! Sounds like the truck is running great. I got goose bumps reading about your experience. I hope I have the same when it comes time for my first drive. Congrats!

Great news on the maiden voyage! Any chance there's at least a still picture or two to see?

Sounds like your "not really bad but" issues aren't big or serious. On the rear brake early lock up, did you install a proportioning valve to manage front to rear brake bias (I haven't gone back through the earlier post on your brake upgrade to check)? If you did, but it a set valve (not adjustable), you may need to investigate installing an adjustable proportioning valve so you can manage the brake front/rear engagement.

Looking forward to more on your project.

Sorry, I keep forgetting to get pictures as the truck is these days.

The brake system (power booster and proportioning valve) are from a '90's S10 that is not adjustable so an adjustable version is one of the items on my list of things to install.

I took a second test drive to fill the fuel tank and now my idle speed is too low, engine stalls at all the stop signs, so adjusted again after this trip. I noticed more noises this trip but I am not sure they are new or just being noticed. The fuel tank took 13.4 gallons to fill and automatic shut off on the pump didn't work well so spilled fuel over the rear fender. I am planning on 13 gallons of fuel consumption between full and low woth 1, maybe 2 gallons of fuel available at the low fuel warning level.

I remembered to check engine rpm at 60 mph this trip and it is 2100-2200 rpm so in the expected range (4.10 ratio rear axle, NV3500 5th gear overdrive).

The engine (383 SBC) seems really strong and pulls well from low rpms.

For general driving without a load 1st gear is not really needed as starting in 2nd works fine.

Fuel pressure is reading 6 psi which is higher than I would like so I may install a regulator to drop it down to 4 psi. I think the Holley inlet needle should be able to handle 6 psi but it is getting too close to the edge for my comfort.

I need to get my driver's door window problem resolved so the window can be installed and do some testing of the heater system as the weather is not going to stay warm much longer. I also need to install the door seals I received a while ago but not really looking forward to removing the doors for the installation.

I'm hoping to get some miles on the truck before winter sets in and compiling a list of items that require my attention during the winter months.

I went out and grabbed a few pictures. I do not have access to the photo editor I typically use but I think they should be okay.

A fine job of the pictures and your truck! Love seeing it.

After the doors on my truck were adjusted, I drilled a hole the same size as my small phillips head screwdriver to use as realignment pins. I’ve had my doors off and back on, a few times now and the alignment is spot on.

Gdads51, thanks for the compliment on the pictures and the truck. My wife asked if this meant I was done with the project but I assured her that I have a long ways to go, just not stuff that is as obvious as the exterior and paint.

Phak1, thanks for the tip on a door alignment pin.

In process of collecting parts (master and adjustable proportioning valve) to revise the brake system and hopefully resolve the rear wheel lock up condition. I am planning to use a 1.250" straight bore master with the front brakes directly connected to the master and a 2 port adjustable proportioning valve in the line from the master to the rear brakes. It may require a little creative brake line work to connect everything and have it look decent but I do not expect it too be difficult. I'm hoping to be able to dial in the proportioning valve before winter.

It has been raining here a lot lately and I do not have functional wipers at this time so between the brakes and the lack of wipers the truck has been parked.

I am planning to add heat/sound deading materials to the interior of the cab before I install a head liner, sun visors, etc. (none of which I have at the moment).

I need to sort out why my interior light does not work. I know the harness I installed is setup for the light to be controlled by door switches (which I don't have) or the headlight switch but what I have now is a power lead (I think) going to a small rocker switch that replaced the original, feeding the light using the light body as the ground.

I found that my low beam headlights were not working but high beams were. I traced the problem to the foot operated high beam switch and found that when I mounted the switch the connector body had contacted adjacent bolt heads the pushed the electrical portion of the switch out of place. Once I pushed the electrical portion of the switch into place everything worked so I added spacers under the dimmer switch to provide clearance. I still need to aim the headlights.

I adjusted my drag link to get the steering wheel closer to centered when driving straight. I still need to get the toe in checked/adjusted.

My winter project list seems to grow everytime I think about what needs to be done.

I'm hoping I can Rain-X my windshield until I figure out what I want to do with my wipers.

People probably get sick of me saying this all the time but I use RainX on all my vehicles - even the ones with working electric wipers. I actually disconnected the useless vacuum wipers on Der Bismarck and use RainX only.

Thanks Otto, I have seen your comment previously and if it was only the wipers I would probably try the RainX approach but given the brakes I don't want to trust it on wet pavement.

Oh ya, fix the brakes, first. I don't even like driving modern cars in the rain if I can avoid it.

I installed a straight bore (1.250") master cylinder and adjustable proportioning valve into the rear brake line from the master replacing the S10 parts that came with the pedal assembly I modified/used.

I still need to get some experience with the adjustable proportioning valve before considering its setting finalized but at least now I can press the brakes resonably hard without locking up the rears. I may consider changing the valve setting if/when the truck is loaded to increase the rear brake pressures.

I ordered a few parts to finish out some of the exterior and to work on the interior. I plan to install Peal and Seal aluminum faced sound deading material (not what the home improvement stores sell it for) before I install a headliner. I also plan to get the door seals installed and the doors remounted prior to installing sound deading material in them (they are heavy enough already).

Most of this is going to be winter project work while I am keeping the truck off the snowy and ice covered roads.

I took the truck for its first longer (only 10 miles) trip to continue to shake out operational areas that need attention.

No real surprises with the engine coolant temperature stabilizing at approx. 180 degrees, charging voltage stable at approx. 14.7 volts, engine oil pressure about 60 psi intially at 2000 rpm dropping to 40 psi after everything got warmed up with idle oil pressure approx 20 psi. The need to do some carburetor calibration work continues to show up with a slight hesitation when accellerating from idle and tendency to run-on when shutting down (idle is a little high - 750 rpm) and the perception that overall the calibration is rich. The engine has a lot of torque and easily runs down country roads at 60 mph (approx. 2100 rpm) with a lot of pedal left if there ever was a need for more speed.

The braking performance was good although I didn't make any attempts to stop quickly.

I turned the heater fan on breifly and the cab seemed to warm quickly but it was about 50 degrees outside so not surprising.

I have an appointment to have the toe in checked/set as it is currently set using a tape measure. It must be fairly close as it drives fairly well but the steering wheel does jump around a bit on uneven roads.