The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1941 Chevy Truck Restore Project

Ok, my dad and I just brought home our 1941 Chevy.

The engine turns over by no compression in three of the cylinders. My Dad's half brother's Uncle bought this truck originally and it has been in the family ever since. He passed away and it ended up in my Uncle's hands. He does not know how to turn a wrench and faced with the cost to pay someone to restore it agreed to let my Dad and I have it and "restore" it.

It spent its life on a ranch in Kansas as a work truck. It has an old Motorola radio in it that I have not identified its year but who ever installed it did so like it was meant to be there. It has an aftermarket heater installed that was very professionally installed. The windows are great, no cracks. The odometer reads 200,000 and change miles.

I cannot identify the engine. It is an inline 6 with the number BA682343 stamped on the tab behind the distributer and none of the well none sites have helped identify that number.

My questions of the day are. Should we attempt "Original" or since I have a complete Chevy Blazer drive train engine to rear end should we go hotrod?

What kind of engine is in it now? The title of course does not have the VIN as that did not exist back in 1941 but I did confirm that the VIN number on Title matches the number on the engine block leading me to believe that it might be the original engine.

Welcome to the Bolt. You have a cool old truck. That body style has always been one of my favorites.

As far as what you should do with it, it ultimately depends on what you're looking for. If you're into the hot rod thing, then go that route. There have been a few minor modifications done already that I noticed. You could leave that stuff on there, and basically restore it "as is". Or you could remove that stuff and go strictly, 100% "correct", original. In the end, it's up to you. It's your truck, and there are no wrong answers.
Good luck with whatever you decide, and keep us posted.

PS I notice it has one of those vacuum operated "wolf whistles" on it. I had one of those as a kid on one of my vehicles. I had not seen one of those in years!

Welcome to the Stovebolt. Thats a very nice worthy looking project you got there. Good luck. Lets us know if we can help.

Well, more progress on the truck. We have the new V8 and tranny ready so it was time to disassemble the body and get the old 216 out of the truck.

Well, It has been two years since I joined the group. My father and I have taken the truck down to its skeleton and making progress to build it back up. This is a 1941 Chevy Half Ton. Great Uncle owned it. We are not restoring it, but doing a sort of resto mod. I have kept a photo diary. You can view here. http://s1191.photobucket.com/user/MortgageLaw/library/1941%20Chevy%20Truck

It now has new brakes, disk front, drum rear, new hydraulic clutch, power steering. We are using a 5,000 mile 350 crate engine, muncie 465 4 speed. drive train out of an mid 80's era CK10 pick up. We intend to tow a 4000 lb smoker with it. http://www.smokinacesbarbeque.com/photo_gallery.htm

I do competitive BBQ and cater occasionally.

Any comments or criticism is welcome.

Old trucks and good BBQ. It just don't get much better! Photo's show your doing a good job and it looks nice. Thanks for sharing.


....the club I belong to just did the "car show" for the Blue Ridge BBQ fest held in Tryon, N.C. Ever heard of it? Whew, BBQ galore!

thanks, Achipmunk

Hi, did you sell the original motor do you know what year it is?
casting number? I hav a 41 1/2 ton might be interested in any original parts u hav (engine). your project looks good.

Thanks
David

VCCA member

Crash,

I have all of the original drive train from my 41. Including matching title to the casting number on the block. That is engine, transmission, and rear end. All springs etc. I kept everything you can see in the pics. The engine would turn and you can see from the pics we actually labeled the plugs as we were firing it and it fired as well. Problem with the engine was compression. It needs a rebuild.