Thread: My rusty/ratty 48 chevy truck build (w/ pics)

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I finally thought to take some pictures of the painted dash




....and the second "dash" (ignition, headlight switch, wiper switch and dimmer are in the seat base)


Oh yeah, wiring is a pain in the butt!!!! I used an EZ harness. It would have been easier if I mounted the panel on the firewall....like they suggested, instead of under the seat. I had to "adjust" darn near every wire to make it work that way.

I have been patiently waiting on an update.
Under the seat will pay off it just looks cleaner that way.
Nice work.

This weekend, I swapped out the power steering box for a S-10 manual steering box......no squeeling belts for me!

....and added dual filament light sockets to the original running light housings. I now have running lights AND turn signals up front without disturbing the farm fresh look.

Neither mod was all that exciting, so I didn't document it with pictures.

NICE nice! I love the dash, plain, simple, sweet! In my area those 47-54 Chevys are $$$$$$. I'd love to own one someday though! Perley

Nice to see a fellow truck builder, even if it is a chevy! Seriously I like those old Chevy's, especially the front grills!

Here are some updates on the truck....

I am using the old add-on turn signal swith that came with the truck...it was designed to use add-on turn signals instead of interupting the brake lights.

...my tail lights only have two filaments, but I need 3 circuits. I am happy with the look of the rear and didn't want to add seperate lights for the blinkers.

I am not 100% happy with my solution, but I added a couple of strips of LEDs inside each tail light housing....in the shape of a "< " on the driver side and a " > " on the passenger side.

....but the lenses distort the pattern and it kinda looks like a starburst semi-circle when they light up instead of an arrow.

I tried moving the LEDs closer to the lense....and I do get a better pattern on the turn signals, but also get an ugly shadow when I light up the filament for the brake lights (only about 2/3 of the tail light looks lit up).

My dad's idea for a fix is to glue little pieces of hose over each LED to tunnel the light up to the lense (so it just makes a dot instead of a startburst).

Here are pics of my turn signals.



With the lense removed. The arrow is made from 2 LED clearance lights from Wally-world.



These were the left overs from the clearance lights (some cutting required)



I made a bracket from a piece of jaguar XJS chrome (I recycle)



I re-used the OLD turn signal switch that was in the truck when I bought it (spray-bombed of course). The wires are pulled through a piece of un-shrunk heat-shrink tubing. Looks nice and it was damn near free.

This was my solution for the brake switch. I mounted a mid 80's GM switch in the top, rear surface of the S-10 brake bracket and then addwd an arm to the back of the brake pedal. The you hit the brakes, the lever moves up...and off of the switch. (I should have taken pics while the whole assembly was out.

I realized I need more switches (electric fan and hazard lights), but didn't want them mounted just anywhere. I squeezed them in my new "seat dash"



It was a tight fit trying to fit them in the switch panel that was not designed for any extra stuff. I made a cardbodrd template that was the same size as the switch and used a center punch to find a spot where the switches fit.






It worked great!


__________________

The dash-dash now has idiot lights. The outside ones are for turn signals, the inner ones are oil pressure and water temperature.


Wiring that stuff up.....sucked!






....But it cranked on the first try!!!!!!



New glass is next. The stuff showed up on Friday, but I took too long on wiring to really get anywhere.

Its looking great! Thanks for the progress pics!!!

I have glass that I can see out of !!!!!

With any luck, it will be "finished" after this weekend. .....and ready for louisville and frog follies.

I need to:

1) seat the front windshield a little better (the center rubber doesn't rest on the metal divider yet).

2) Install side windows.

3) make some simple door panels/armrest.

4) make a shifter boot.

5) quickly plug some of the holes in the firewall.

6) install some of that bubble insulation.

7) Install wally-world carpet.

8)take pictures for insurance

Nice progress on the truck, If you dont mind a suggestion when you get that
far. I had a 52 which I had the strip of seam on the hood removed and filled.
Its makes for a much cleaner look when its smoothed. Just an opinion

Man, what a hot nasty weekend for working on a truck!

I started out by making a ton of plugs for all of the holes in the firewall.



Yes this was fresh, clean metal a day earlier. 100% humidity sucks! I welded them in from inside the cab to preserve the 60 year old dirt on the firewall.

Then I installed bubble wrap.


Then installed most of the carpet. I still need to cut pieces for the firewall. I also attempted to make door panels, but the clips I had were too short and didn't really work.



Dad didn't want me doing burnouts on the concrete, so we rutted up the yard One set was mine, the other was his!

I went ahead and snapped a few more pictures...including one of the blinkers for whoever that was asking.