Stovebolt.com Forums The Parking Lot Welcome Centre The DITY Gallery 1941 Chevy 1/2 Ton (AK) Truck Project

It started a little over a year ago. My father-in-law asked if I wanted to help build/restore a truck. I have always been the do-it-yourslf type for the most part. So site unseen I said yes.

This is what we started with: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/1Before.jpg
Teardown: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/3Dissassemble.jpg
Bare Frame (alomst): http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/4OldChassis.jpg

We decided to turn it into a street rod (I did not know what that really mean at the time).

Decisions, decisions... Being an engineer by trade, that meant research, research, and more research.
We decided on a SBC 327 so we found one from a '64. It is now 0.040 over, 9.5:1 compression, 270H comp cam, balanced, Full MSD ignition, EZ-EFI, ect: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/IMAG0103.jpg
It also has a TH-350 that is built up just a little.
Rear from a 93 Ford Explorer, perfect fit with explorer springs and fabed brackets (oddly a 3.27:1 ratio :D: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/11RearEnd.jpg

TCI IFS: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/18FrontEnd.jpg

Exhaust, Drive shaft, Shocks:
Currently have a rolling chassis that runs {and sounds pretty good} (~63MB MP4 File): http://s1296.beta.photobucket.com/user/catfish_fry/media/2012-11-23_20-22-09_573.mp4.html
I was little worried about the idle quality based on what I was told about the cam selection but...

Chassis with Cab: http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/20Rolling.jpg

We are now in the process of body work and finding replacement parts. This is where the real work begins (not that it hasn't been fun thus far).

With a year of work behind us, it has been very much of a learning experience so far. I am sure the learning is just beginning... I hope to have a drivable rig by the end of this summer?

Thanks for looking and I hope to keep this updated as we move forward.

Thad

Welcome to the " bolt ". Always great to have another Art Deco truck in our midst. I am interested in how your EFI system performs. My 327 is pretty close to yours in spec, except for the Edelbrock carb setup. When you get her on the road we will need to compare notes.

Bodywork??? It looks great the way it is.

Welcome to the Stovebolt. Had an Art Deco back in the mid 80's and let it get away. Yours brings back memories.....but yours, even now, looked better than mine!!!
Good work your doing.

Nice!

I like that 41-327 nice set up

Very nice

John

Man, what would be really cool is to research that decal on the door and restore it over the paint job. So you'd have a custom rod with a nostalgic reminder on the door.

The painting on the door is from a local electrical contractor. The funny thing is I know a contractor who says his dad used drive that truck when he worked for that company... Small world.
I doubt it will get restored at this time?

Well, not much going on right now. Trying to decide on body parts... replace the cab or spend many hours fixing it? That is the question...