The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk I've got rusty nuts... and bolts

My bolt comes home tomorrow, well rather, to my shop where she will reside until I get her back to road worthy.

About a year ago I started a search for a flat fendered jeep as a Sunday cruiser, rust and all. As in all great searches, I let everyone I know or did business with to keep their eyes open. As I'm talking to a fellow jeeper and someone contracted to build out a new facility for my business, he pipes up that he has a '49 Chevy 3100 he has lost interest in. Long and short, the orig owner was his neighbor and made his own 'shine (yes shine in socal) and ran it up to Montana and Alaska during his earlier years. He had a love afair with the truck and purchased any spare part he could (I have five sets of NOS gages, axles, hubcaps, axle shafts, three transmissions etc) because he was going to drive this until his final day.

He did.

While his daughter bought him another "new" truck, he wouldn't drive it and left it on the street; instead taking the old girl every chance he could.

His neighbor approached the family after his death inquiring about the truck and they told him "George" would have wanted you to have it. So he did. With the intention of building the car for his son's first driver, he rebuilt the front end (all with parts already in the camper of NOS bearings etc) and did brakes, but a divorce turned his son on him for a period.

He lost heart in the project.

As he is telling me the story I can't help but think "George' would want this truck back on the road. So tomorrow begins the day that I work towards that end. A driver. It is the case of, "it ran when I parked her".

George's hat and coat still hang in the back of the cab... George is along for the ride, I guess.

Photos and stupid questions to come by the dozens.

Check those coat pockets- - - - -a good shine recipie might be stashed away somewhere! That's how we made out pocket change at Tennessee Tech back in the late 60's, driving a load of white lightning to Knoxville or Nashville!
jerry

That there is a better-than-average story, New Guy. Welcome.

The best part of the story, shine related, is the front turn signals.

The second owner was hanging with George in George's garage one day and noticed one turn signal on the front was perfectly placed, yet the passenger side was quite askew. He asked George.

"George, were you baked when you put the signal in?"

George's response was to fall off of the shop stool he was sitting on, laughing so hard that the 85 year old man almost soiled himself (but he didn't spill his drink). He had been caught; he was baked at the time.

That turn signal will stay askew forever.

We will be looking forward to hearing more on your adventure that starts tomarrow. Good luck and Welcome!
Mike

sounds like a cool old truck with a great story behind it.and it sounds like old george would be proud. welcome hope to hear more about your truck soon

It's back to a case of....If only they could talk!
Welcome to the 'bolt Battery guy!
We look forward to your next installment!
Jock

Have you seen the Chevy factory in cab lunch box holder? I have one...

She is home to my shop. A buddy and I unloaded the contents of the camper. Holy heck, there was literally three pallets worth of NOS items. Berrings, new exhaust, two front ends drum to drum, axle shafts, four carbs, 14 hubcaps from different years, transmissions, door and windshield rubber, door handles inside and out... it is daunting. Going to start to catalog the parts and part numbers in the coming weeks, but literally, there is enough here to build a second truck.

After pulling off the camper and contents, we put it up on my lift to look at the underside. All in all, pretty good condition despite being 60 years old. After getting the tires back on the ground found a siezed waterpump. That is on order from the local autoparts place (the "old Chevy shop" down the street was double for the same part). Pulling sparkplugs and dropping oil today. On Wed she'll fire for the first time in at least a year or so.

We have a ton of photos, but the higher source took the camera with her today. We'll post 'em up soon.

I just got a '50 Chevy going that has been sitting since 1973. I took my time, rebuilt the fuel pump and carburetor, cleaned the fuel lines. Oiled the cylinders good, found that I had a couple stuck valves so I got those freed up. Once I was sure everything was free I turned it over by had and kept oiling the cylinders and also the valves / valve train. Then I drained the crankcase and put in fresh oil. I put the battery in and it turned great and after a few turns was making good compression. Then I checked the points and cleaned them. Once I was sure I had good spark, everything turning free and a remote gas tank hooked up to the fuel pump. It turn over a few times and fired right up. Lots of stuff in the air, mouse nest blew out of the breather pipe. It actually ran pretty good. Once it got up to temperature it smoothed out and now runs great. So, just passing caution to you. If you spend the time you can make yours run, just take your time and make sure everything in is order first.

good luck
Don

Thanks for the heads up, Don and others. She was parked a year ago after a run around the block, so I was ahead of the game and not starting a 20 year old shut down.

Well, today was stealth. I didn't want Wed to come, have everyone over at the shop awaiting the firing and not have her hit... and I'm glad I cheated.

A bunch of maintenance, tons of oil, a battery, some ether and she ran. Smokey, but she ran. I killed the ignition almost immediately when I realized that the throttle was stuck wfo. After lubrication and some manual manipulation, I now have a carb to rebuild. So, tomorrow is spent at the "historic" truck place spending way too much money buying the carb rebuild kit (the stuck throttle is both carb and linkage). I have four extra Rochester carbs to rebuild, so I may do two just for the heck of it...

Still awaiting photos from the higher source.

She runs and well. Need to adjust valves as the intake on #3 is making some noise, but other than that and a carb rebuild, she is pretty smooth, strong, the steering is tight and brakes great. Took her around my industrial complex a few times and had a bud with a Model A come over and give me his thoughts.

I'll dump fluids again after the tune up and valves (tech here was great on the subject as was Deve's), pull the hood as the hinges and springs are falling apart and it is a death trap and then get her ready for her first street cruise.

Found that I have six Rochester B's, two carb kits, more door handles of various years than I know what to do with, a complete dash ready for plating, three steering wheels...

The cataloging of parts keeps on coming. Trying to bust out 10 parts bins a day, but with well over three pallets of parts it will take months.

Neat story... can't wait for the pictures :-)

Finally got around to photos:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Adventureseeker714/1949%20Chevy%20Truck/DSC02349.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Adventureseeker714/1949%20Chevy%20Truck/DSC02351.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Adventureseeker714/1949%20Chevy%20Truck/DSC02353.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Adventureseeker714/1949%20Chevy%20Truck/DSC02373.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/Adventureseeker714/1949%20Chevy%20Truck/DSC02375.jpg

Her first big drive on streets is Sunday. Should be fun, going to show her with my friend's Model A truck at a local cruise and coffee.