The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1950 COE - "The Next Build Begins"

After finishing the COCOE last spring and enjoying it all summer it was hard to see it go but it went to a good home. The new owner has posted a fun U-Tube video check it out. (Meet "COCOE")

For the last year or so as I was finishing up the COCOE I realized that I enjoyed the build so much that I had to start another one soon. I still love the quirky look of COE's and luckily, I had another cab sitting in waiting behind my shop. When bought the first COE for my first build the gentleman casually mentioned that he had another COE cab off an old wheat truck that I might be able to use as a parts cab. It was covered in blackberries, the doors were off and all the glass was broken out. So of course, I told him I would take it much to my wife's dismay. I felt that I was pushing the limits of my F-150 just hauling the first truck 450 miles home so I told him I would be back for the other cab. He said it has been sitting there for over 20 years a couple more weeks wouldn't be a problem.

Two weeks later we loaded up at 2:00am and headed out. When we got to Klamath Falls the seller had pulled it out of the blackberries and had it all staged for me. What a pleasure working with him. We quickly loaded it and we were back on the road arriving home just before midnight. It was a long day.

The next morning, I unloaded it behind my shop and that's where it sat for the next 7 years. But that's all changed now. I'm 6 months into it now and have a lot of special features in the works.

I am going to start from the beginning like I did with the COCOE and try to add post weekly so I can show the flow of the build.

Welcome to "The Next Build"

After following your COCOE build in the Project Journal forum for a few years, I was missing your updates. I’m thrilled that you’ve started another build that you’re going to share it with us bolters.

Good luck with your build and I for one will be following!

I really enjoyed your COCOE build and I’m looking forward to following your next.

John

So now what will you use to haul the Pantera around?

Once I had the cab in the shop and cleaned out all the bird nest, rabbit dwellings and beehives I cleaned it up enough to get a good look at it. I was pleasantly surprised. With the exception of some dents and a few strange cut outs in the floor that was I going to get re-shaped anyway it was very rust free. There was only one corner that needs some love but all an all it was probably in better shape than the last COE.

Now I just needed a chassis to put it on. At this point I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go with it. I knew I didn't want to do something as big as the COCOE again at lease not right away, but a COE cab needs to be special. With the last build my shop was pretty much full all the time and it was nice having some room to move. So, I was thinking time to downsize a bit. So, the search for a donner chassis began. I see a lot of guys use S-10 chassis for their COE builds but they seem to light to me. I looked into using an Astro van for the front wheel drive but decided that it wouldn't work for what I wanted. I was eyeing a late 70's 3/4-ton Chevy 4X4 that has been sitting in a driveway about a mile from home with lots of rust in the body and thought that could be had at a reasonable price, but I could never connect with the owner.

During this time, I was helping a friend install his transmission in his 1953 AD truck and mentioned that I was looking for a donner chassis for the 1950 COE cab that has been sitting behind my shop, and he said he would keep an eye out for me. About a month later he texts me that he was on his way to Arizona for a guy's weekend and one of his friends had a short wheelbase 1989 Book Mobile. It is on a GM P-30 chassis with a small block in it. Just like what I told him I was looking for. His friend assured him it ran and drove great and had low miles and his wife wanted it GONE! He had bought it at an auction thinking he was going to make a camper out of it, but his wife was not feeling it.

I told him I would take it sight unseen and that I would pick it up when they got back from there trip. Now I had a donner. I just needed to break it to my wife that we owned a Book Mobile. Good thing my shop is big enough to hide it behind for a while.

Oh, and Gord, I found the perfect thing to haul the Pantera. I get in and turn the key and step on it. It makes me smile every time I do.

That P-30 chassis looks like a great choice! Looking forward to seeing the project progress.

Welcome Back! A New Project Journal from COCOE

Please join me in giving a warm Stovebolt “Welcome Back” to our latest Project Journal contributor, COCOE.

If the name sounds familiar, it should! COCOE is certainly no stranger to these forums. Many of you will remember his previous masterpiece: a stunning dual-cab COE designed specifically to transport his Pantera and his family to the racetrack in comfort and at highway speeds. That build set a high bar for combining pure functionality with incredible style.

COCOE is back to share his second featured build with us, and it promises to be just as captivating. This time, he is tackling a 1950 COE mounted on a 1989 GMC P-30 chassis—a rig with a unique history as a former “BookMobile.”

While we know the bones of the project, COCOE hasn't yet revealed his final vision for this vintage hauler, and we can’t wait to see the story unfold.

Head over to the Project Journals to check out start of this build, follow his progress, and offer your support.

Welcome back, COCOE! We’re buckled in and ready for the ride.

I'm probably the only one, but I hope that Thomas short bus coach finds a good home. I'd RV convert that in a second! (No, I don't have a place to put it-and yes, the thought occurred to me)!

The day the transporter picked up the COCOE I moved the Bookmobile into the shop. It was time to start measuring to figure out what I had and what I was going to do with it.

I wanted a short wheelbase chassis so I could downsize a little after the last build. After measuring and walking around it for a day a plan started to form. working from the front axle back because I wanted that to fit the wheel wells of the COE cab and the rest I can put wherever I needed to, to make it fit the design.

First thing is too free up the chassis so I could figure out what fits and what needed to be relocated. Sorry Tronman this is one short bus that had its chance to be an RV, but those days have passed. It never ceases to amaze me how much work it is to get the coach off a chassis. It was three weeks of serious work and 5 trips to the scrape yard but with that done it is time to build.

And so, it begins. COCOE

Have you decided what to do with the back?

Phak1, I think this will answer your question.

After getting the chassis cleared, I pulled the engine and transmission so I could spot the cab. No matter what else I did with the rest of the chassis the front wheels had to fit the wheel wells of the cab.

I set the cab in place and blocked it up to the height I wanted then started figuring out where to put the engine/transmission. My first thought was to place it behind the cab in the bed and build a box over and around it. But by the time I spotted it there and figured out where the rear axle would have to go, the bed got longer than I wanted. At one point I even considered doing a stepped cab, but I wanted something smaller this time like a standard pick-up. Something easy to drive around and would fit into a standard size garage with only an 8' bed and more mainstream wheelbase. With the front axle set, I then measured my wife's F-150 to see how far the center of the rear axle set in from the rear of the bed. Then I measured 8' 5" from the back of my cab on the frame and went forward the 36" to the center of the rear axle to match what was on the F-150. I went 8' 5" for the box because I needed 1" from the front of the box to the cab for clearance and 1 1/2" for the front of the box and the tailgate each and that left 8' 1" inside so I could get a full sheet of plywood in it and still close the tailgate. I wanted the driveline long enough so the angle from the transmission to the rearend wouldn't get too steep and cause major problems. That told me the engine had to go under the cab if I wanted to keep the bed at 8'. In order to keep the cab at a normal height I needed to lower the engine (a small block Chevy) enough to fit it under the cab. I lifted the cab off the frame but left the blocks where they were and set it aside. Then I placed the engine/transmission that were still connected between the frame rails on carts and rolled them into place. I wanted approximately 24" from the tail stock to the center of the U-joint on the rear end. Once that was complete, I placed the cab back on the frame blocked up to the final height and jacked the engine/transmission up under the cab, so I just had enough room under the cab to fit an air cleaner. That gave me 12" clearance from the floor to the bottom of the oil pan at ride height. I also checked the elevation of the tail stock to the rear end, and the driveline would sit almost level. Liking where it was at and how it fit, I secured it in place.

From there I pulled the cab back off and got everything straight and in line so I could start fabricating motor and transmission mounts.

So your going to fabricate a pickup bed. Nice!

So, if you left the engine and tranny in its original position, would the cab would sit too high?

That is correct, I would have had to raise it about 18" and that would have made the first step to the running board about 30". I don't know about you, but my old legs don't go that high anymore. It also would have made it so it wouldn't fit in a 7' garage door.

With everything centered and a lined I started to figure out motor and transmission mounts. First thing I did was remove the bottom half of the stock motor mount off the front cross member and reconnected them to the top half on the engine. That gave me something flat and secure to build to. Then I welded a piece of 1/4" plate to the inside of the frame rail boxing them in for stiffness and a place to bolt the engine supports to. I used heavy cardboard (Ram Board) to make a templet. The motor and transmission set so far below the frame I ended up making cradles for both of them. I used 1/2" X 6" plate to go around the engine that would give it plenty of stiffness and 2" X 2" X 1/4" tube steel to cradle the transmission. I used the plate around the engine because wanted to keep the profile of the cradle as flat as I could so I would have room for headers and whatever else I needed to run down the frame rails.

Once I had them all tacked together, I secured them with clamps and set the engine and transmission back into place to check fit and alignment and marked them so I could drill them. I decided that I wanted to bolt the cradles to the frame rails instead of welding them so they could be removed if needed. Also, if for some reason someone wanted to remove the engine and transmission out the bottom they could without cutting the cradles apart. With everything double checked I removed the engine and transmission and finished welding the cradles and then bolted them in place and re-installed the engine and transmission. Then I set the cab back on the frame. That made it obvious that I needed to work out a plan for engine access.

That will be next, Thanks for following, COCOE

With the engine and transmission that much below the frame are you going to have issues with high centering when going over crested roads? I suspect th engine is close enough to the front wheels to be okay but the transmission mount is fairly far back. I know in my area there are some roads that crest over railroad tracks that are problematic for conventional semi trailers which have a fair amount of ground clearance.

WICruiser, I was worried about that too when I was laying everything out but after getting it all set, I have 9 1/2" clear from the bottom of the cradle to the ground. With a wheelbase of only 112" I think I should be ok, but if I encounter a real severe crest, I have a plan to deal with that too, but I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Until this point I have been working with the cab setting on blocks, but it was time to build a frame under it. With doing a tilt cab on my last build I felt that it would be the best option for engine access this time too. I learned a lot with my last build (somethings the hard way) but with this cab being only 1/2 as long I knew it was going to have to tilt a lot steeper to get enough room for good engine access. Like I said I learned a lot with the last build, like I wanted a better rotation point and a better landing point. It had to not only set firmly but it had to center the cab accurately when lowering. I had been studying suspension designs and thought I could use something similar to that as a pivot point. And for the landing point I could a tapered cradle that the cab could land in and be forced to center. I left enough room in the cradle so I could line it with rubber pads to keep it from raddling or squeaking. I had used dual hydraulic cylinders for my last build, but I wanted to look at other options for this one. I knew that the single cab was 1/2 as long and 1/2 as heavy so I didn't need as much force to raise it. Also, with the only ridged connection from the cab to the chassis was the steering linkage and I wanted to be able to tilt the cab without having to disconnect anything, like the last one. So, I worked on where to spot the steering box so it wouldn't bind when tilting. Everything else is hoses, wires or cables, all soft connections. Wanting to keep the profile of the frame flat and because I had a lot of it in the shop, I used 2" X 2" X 1/4" tube steel to build the side rails of the sub frame and the pivot points. Across the rear of the frame, I used a piece of 1/2" X 4" plate that spans the rear of the cab between the rails and it connected to the same bolt holes as the factory used. For the front cab connections, I welded 1/2" plates that extended out from the side rails to align with where the front factory mounts are. Between the 1/2" plates and the bottom of the cab I ran a piece of 1" hard rubber at the mounts to help with noise and vibrations when driving down the highway. At the front of the frame side rails, I welded a 2" piece of 1 1/4" pipe to the end of each rail and made frame stand offs out of the same 2' X 2" tube steel with 1 1/4" pipe that welded to the outside of the chassis and ran a piece of 1" pipe thru them to create the front pivots. At the rear of the frame, I built boxed cradles that hooked over and welded to the side of the chassis. They are very solid and keep the cab centered. With them lined with thin rubber pads I feel that they will help with noise and vibrations also.

For now, I'm just using the overhead crane to tilt the cab until I decide what I want to use as a lifting device. It also allows me to just pull the front pins and lift the cab off and out of the way to work on other things.

Next up rear axle placement and suspension. COCOE

Really awesome work - a lot of creative thinking going on with this one.

Looking at the steering gear picture it appears the pivot point and the steering gear joint centers are several inches apart. I understand the desire to not need to remove anything to pivot but does that mean the steering shaft telescopes to compensate for the change in length as the cab portion rotates?