The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts '46 Chevy 2-ton project.

Hello all! I just figured I'd come to the Big Bolts section and share my project with you. It's a 1946 Chevy 2-ton with a 12'-3" flat-bed with removable grain-body sides. I found it, a 1946 Chevy school bus and another '46 2-ton cab, front clip and various other parts in a barn in Shelby, Ohio. You can read up on the finding and bringing home of these treasures here: gallery

While just about everything on this truck is original and works, a check of the engine serial numbers says it's a 1950 216 from an unspecified source. All I know is, after an oil change, a coil and a fuel pump, it runs GOOD. No smoke, knocking or rattling! The tires look new and still hold air, even though it has sit since at least 1985 and the brakes, while rusty, are not frozen. This truck runs and drives! Well, at least it did till the line coming off the master cylinder popped! LOL

I replaced the brake lines and even got them bled (PB Blaster is wonderful stuff). Just a week after bringing it home, I took it to a cruise-in. Only problem I had was the thermostat wouldn't open and it got hot on me a few times. Most of the people there really seemed to like it though!

OK. Now my plans for it. This truck has been a farm truck it's whole life, so it's gonna remain one. Both the old gentleman I bought it from and my Dad are Massey Ferguson fans and I've been around MF equipment all my life so I decided to build this truck in a Massey Ferguson theme. It will be painted Massey red and grey with a 12" x 16" vinyl graphic of the original MF emblem on the doors.

Ultimately, that good-running 216 (that needs to find a home if anyone is interested) will come out and be replaced by the perfect-running 6.354 Perkins diesel from Dad's old Massey 510 combine. The Perkins will be backed with a IH T36 5-speed transmission that came from an IH Loadstar grain truck with a factory Perkins. I realize the T36 is not an O.D. trans, and it, combined with the 6.17 axle gearing, will limit the truck's top speed to just over 40mph, but the old '46 won't be driven on anything but local county roads and if I decide more speed is needed, then a Brownie Box or replacement rear end will be found.

Ultimately, I think this will make a really fun project and I look forward to working on it. I already have a good start just due to the extra parts that came with the truck and already having the replacement drivetrain on hand. I'll be sure to post any updates as they happen.

If anyone is interested, all the pics I've taken so far can be seen here: Pics

Take care everyone!
Brian

Brian,
The truck looked great for it's age. Just goes to show that if machinery is taken care of it will last a long time. Have fun with your project. I am sure you can get a lot of answers here if you come up with the questions.
Welcome to the Forum.
Harold

Looks like a great find....someday I want to find the deal of a lifetime like that. The $350 vehicles I buy are well.....$350 vehicles....as in worse shape than most people would even consider getting for a parts vehicle.

I'm sure you can find a home for the 216....whatever you do, do not scrap it. The inlaws are up by you so I would take a trip up there without question if you were selling it for scrap price. I'm sure you can get more for it than that though. There are still quite a few people that want original. I am going to keep the 216 in my '46 1.5 ton. (this was one of my $250 "parts vehicles"...locked engine and all)

Good luck on the project and keep us posted.

Tad

Dieseldude03: 40 MPH is about tops for my 46 COE and thats with a new 62 235. Those trucks don't have the shocks brakes and steering to go much faster. Your truck looks pretty solid,the barn find is what saved it.

Hello all. It's been a year now and figured I'd give you guys a progress report. Things are going slow but steady on the '46. It's too big to fit in my garage and the barn is all wood, so I was at the mercy of the weather for all my cutting, welding and grinding.

There have been a few changes to the plan, mostly the Perkins idea has been dropped. Was ultimately just gonna be too big (long) and expensive to make work properly. The little 1950 216 and 4-speed that powered the truck when I bought it found a home in another member's '46 1.5 ton, so things went well there.

I decided early on I didn't want to put a V-8 in the truck, but most any in-line engine would work, so long as it wasn't so long that I had to chop the cab or relocate the radiator. I ended up buying a good-running 250 I-6 out of a 1975 Chevy 1/2 ton, though ultimately I'd like to see a 4BT Cummins in there. For the trans, I did some part trading and scored a 1991 700-R4 automatic with O/D from a t-boned 3/4-ton van with only 18,000 miles on it! I fabbed up some engine mounts and modded the original transmission cross-member from my long gone '67 Camaro and set everything in place. The 250 is about 3 inches longer than the original Stovebolt engines, which didn't allow me to run the stock fan, so I had to break down and buy an electric fan.

The stock drum brakes are now powered by an 8-inch dual-diaphragm booster and dual-circuit master cylinder mounted to the frame under the cab with a universal street rod brake pedal assembly from Jegs.

I ended up removing the warped-up frame-stiffening plates from the frame and was greeted by holes in the frame big enough to throw a softball through! No biggie. When you live in the Salt Belt, you know how to deal with rust! Several days worth of cutting, grinding, cussing and welding, plus the addition of 200 lbs of 5/16ths steel plate and the web of the frame was repaired/replaced in the contour of the original stiffeners.

I just got the interior of the cab smoothed out and painted. Now it's just getting the dash and heater put back in, getting the wiring harness in place then sending the cab and fenders to my buddy for the final bodywork and painting.

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Looking good!!

Thanks bub! I'm trying! This isn't gonna be a professional restoration by any stretch of the imagination. Just whatever I can do out in my driveway with a torch, good angle grinder, a Lincoln 140 MIG welder and a little bit of fab and wrenching experience. Should make for a cool old driver when it's "done".

niiiiiice!!!!!!!!

Thanks. I got the new gauges and bezel installed in the dash panel today. Kinda flashy for a farm truck, but I think they look pretty good. I'm a fan of the vintage-style pointers LOL. Don't worry. I'll clean that bezel up a bit after I get the dash installed in the truck.

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hey, i think they look really good in that dash.......the old ones (to me) didn't fit into the dash style really well

My original gauges were pretty rough. The oil pressure gauge still worked but that was it. The numbers on the odometer actually dried up and fell off their wheels! LOL

Similar GMC trucks like that, mount the radiator on the FRONT of the core support, since GMC engines are about 3" longer.

Jim Carter has new guage decals.

I really see no way of mounting the radiator to the front of my core support with that horizontal bar there. Plus there isn't a flange on the front of the core support for the mounting holes. You can see the horizontal bar in question and the radiator mounting hole (the square welded nut @ 3 per side as viewed from the front of the radiator and core support) location in the pics below.

I appreciate your recommendation to Jim Carter (I've bought nearly all my parts through him) but as all but one guage was non-functional, including the speedo, plus the truck being converted to 12-volt, I elected to simply upgrade the guage cluster. Thanks for your insight though. I appreciate any guidence people are willing to give.

front view

core support

Nice job, RF wheel is a GMC. Find a friend who has a GMC and see how it is done, or I'll get a px on one of mine-let me know.

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. The shop has been working me like a borrowed mule! I'll PM ya my email so you can send that pic. Moving that radiator forward could be very beneficial! THANKS!

Hey Ed. I tried emailing you but the "postmaster" said your inbox was full.

It looks like you have made good progress on your project Dieseldude. With your permission we would like to add your truck and story to the gallery. If you are interested let us know!

I was out of town w/ grandkids for a while, get lots of junk mail, try again.

Also check your "messages" here on the forum, if you have a blinking envelope near the top of this page you have some.

Grigg

Sure. It'd be an honor to be part of the Gallery!

I started assembling the interior yesterday. Got the new headliner hung (which is a ball by yourself! lol) plus got the dash put back in and started installing the wiring harness. I pre-wired all the electronic gauges, buttons and switches plus ran leaders to the senders, HEI, horn and heater before putting the dash in. Good news is I'm not laying on my back inside that tiny cab doing that. Bad news is I have what seems like miles of wire laying EVERYWHERE. lol. I'll post more pics when I get them taken.

Thank you, you should have a PM from me with a few more questions. If you would prefer to communicate over email or phone let me know and we can get in touch.

Hi Ed. I sent you another email this past Saturday. I got a message from your carrier that you were screening your email for junk. I filled out the form for it to go through but have no idea if you got it or not.

Your truck loks great. It always helps when you have a solid truck to start with. I like the idea of doing it up massey style. Ive got a 51 ford f6. It used to be a rice truck. I pulled the bed installed a gooseneck hitch and brown lipe. I am working on installing a wench at the moment. I use it to haul a JD 4020 and hay mostly. I am partial to john deeres but can appreciate any classic tractor though. I just aquired a 52 1.5 ton and a 58 261. You will really enjoy the look on peoples faces when you drive that big rascal. Also with the OD I can hit 60mph in my ford pretty easy. The point being if the road is pretty smooth dont worry about being able to stop or how it will handle. The brakes are designed to stop 14 to 16000 lbs so youll have no problems stopping and if the front end is in good shape you should have no handling issues

Well I've been working overtime at the shop so I haven't made a whole lot of progress the last week or so. I DID get the dash and heater installed and most of the in-cab wiring done, other than the turn signals. Today I got the torque converter lock-up controller wired in. I snapped a couple crappy cell phone pictures before throwing the tarp back on for the day. It's coming together!

interior 1

interior 2

Dieseldude:
I am also working on a '46 6400 that was too big for my garage and has been getting worked on and "talked to" under a tent in the rain of Portland, OR, for a year. I rebuilt a 1959 235 that is about to go in, and the clutch and tranny are all set to join it. Glad to read of your progress. I couldn't download your pics for some reason and I am curious what you did on the dash, and gauges. Mine are not restorable so I am quite curious. Best of luck from a fellow Big Bolter, LevisPop

I am curious as to why you couldn't view the pics as they are just simple photobucket links. If you wish, I'll email them to you.

If you are trying to look at his pix in the post ... why not just click on the link in his signature line to the whole Photobucket. Then you can see them all.

Peg

Hi all. It's been a bit since I last posted but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! LOL. I'd been beating my head against the wall regarding the brakes on this truck. Namely, getting the original drum brakes to function with a more modern booster/master cylinder set-up. After much trial and error, I finally found a combination that works and works WELL. So much better than the original single-line master cylinder and hydro-vac did (at least while in my possession) and only for a couple-hundred dollar investment.

I also got all the under-dash wiring ran and tucked away nicely. Got the original Super De-Lux heater running with the help of a 6V resistor and the new 12V electric wiper motor courtesy of Jim Carter.

I had one of those crazy things that usually don't happen happen. While running the wiring under the dash I heard and felt quite the BANG come from somewhere toward the rear of the truck. After snooping around, I found the cast-steel "cap" that goes under the rear axle that the U-bolts go through to hold the axle to the springs had decided to shatter, and with enough force to snap off one end of those 5/8" U-bolts! I ended up torching off the rest of the U-bolts and drilling them out of that "cap". I was then able to clean up everything and weld it back together but with it being made out of cast steel, I figured it would likely break again when I tightened up the new U-bolts. I didn't even bother trying. Instead, I made some new "caps" out of 5" x .460" wall steel tubing (i work for the largest steel tubing manufacturer in North America) that I cut in half lengthwise and welded 1/2" plate with the required holes already drilled onto the tube halves. 4 new U-bolts and the rear axle isn't going anywhere until I say so!

After all that, I commandeered a trailer and finally got the truck over to my buddy Roy for the bodywork and paint! While he has it, I'll blast and paint the flat bed and give it's boards a good sanding and some varnish. I'll post some new pictures in a couple days.

It's getting close!

Got a few more pics for ya. My buddy Roy has been working on getting the body straightened out and under primer and is doing a pretty darn good job! These are just cell phone pics again but it shows the '46 is finally starting to look like a truck once more. The fenders here are loosely bolted in place and the hood is just laying on there so the lines don't line up perfect yet but, considering you're looking at the total of 3 different trucks (the original cab, the hood of the cab and front clip that was under the barn and the fenders from a 1.5-ton from Tennessee), I can't complain one bit and it shouldn't take Roy any time at all to get it squared away.

cab and hood

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Lookin good .

Ken

IT'S PAINTED! I think it turned out really well. Now I just need to finish putting the lighting back in, install the front bumper and finish the boards on the bed and it should be road worthy. Just in time to put it into winter storage! LOL

Painting the cab.

The hood.

Fender.

Headlight pods.

Pullin' the paper.

The bed.

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"AWESOME" !

Very nice! The lighter colored fenders are an interesting touch--different from the black you usually see. I like it!

Thanks. I painted it classic Massey Ferguson Red and Grey. Now all I need is a small Massey tractor to haul around on it!

Very nice job!! Keep us posted on your progress! "Keep-On-Truckin'!

One last picture before putting it away for the winter. Got the lighting installed, front bumper mounted and coolant up to snuff. My mom's garage (in the background) will be the truck's home until I can get a new barn built this spring. I just don't trust the old wooden one any more, though it will probably stand for the next 20 years... until the day I park the '46 inside!

Merry Christmas everyone!




-------> Until spring!

You can park it here. I'll make room!!

Well, mostly anyway. There's still a few minor shake-down items that need addressed like calibrating the speedometer and I'm thinking some type of simple wooden stake body for the bed but other than that it's on the road. I've taken it to a couple shows already and the public response has been very positive. I can say without a doubt this old Stovebolt draws more attention that my old 67 Camaro ever did!

So here are a couple of the most rercent pics, shot just the other day, along with a "before" pic and a link to the entire build from the beginning. Hope you like it, and yes, I know the front license plate is crooked. LOL

The Story

Before

After 1
After 2
After 3
After 4
After 5
After 6
After 7


All the Pics