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

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Winters coming Buddy, better get some glass on it.

truck looks amazing, great job. i am about to start on my 50 and am doing a frame swap and i was wondering, how far off of the fram is your cab? also did you lower the suspension at all? how tall are your tires? thanks in advance and again amazing truck.
-mike

Originally Posted by mazer78

truck looks amazing, great job. i am about to start on my 50 and am doing a frame swap and i was wondering, how far off of the fram is your cab? also did you lower the suspension at all? how tall are your tires? thanks in advance and again amazing truck.
-mike

I'm not sure exactly what measurement you want, as you may not do yours exactly like mine. This pic shows the front cab mount and my tube subframe (green horizontal piece). I have a 1x2 rectangle tube frame under my floors. Tube is verticle the length of the rockers and horizontal going across the truck in 3 places. I fabbed frame mounts that line up with the 3 crossmembers (6 mounts for the cab, 2 more for the radiator support). Mounts are aftermarket CJ5 jeep. The cab is securely attached.


As for suspension, the rear is stock height, the front has a coil or so removed (don't remember exactly how much is gone).

Tires are 27 inches tall on front (255/35/20), 31.5 inches tall on rear (275/55/20).

thanks, that helps a lot! i also forgot to ask you, what type of radiator are you using? thanks again.
-mike

Originally Posted by mazer78

thanks, that helps a lot! i also forgot to ask you, what type of radiator are you using? thanks again.
-mike

It is a toyota minitruck radiator turned sideways. The overflow tube is pinched off.

It is kinda on the small side, but I have a big fan and a decent fan shroud. Worked great except the time at Goodguys Bowling Green when the switch crapped out.

The show season is starting up.

Dad took it to the Bunny Run in Jackson, TN last weekend (Friday only).

Hope to see you guys out there somewhere.

The rust and the ride height has played hell on my front fenders. I came up with a new band-aid. I made a reinforcement.

I didn't think there was enough solid metal to weld to, so I screwed the fender to the brace. A little acid will knock the shine off of the screws. Right now it looks like it was hit with one of those jeweled stud kits off of TV.

Bowling Green was hot and humid, but we still had fun.



I parked next to a really cool little modified on Saturday afternoon. Simple, neat car.





For shatzandgiggles, we drove it to the show and shine judging tent.

Judge told me that that the car with the absolute lowest score wins rat rod.... They didn't call my name as a winner. I guess that is a good thing.

Sent off our registration form for the Street Rod Nationals. Gotta make sure we are there for the last good one.

The truck just might be sporting a "shit ain't right" bumper sticker.

We are seriously considering driving the 48 to the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week! .....leave the street rod nationals and head west.

It will be around a 4,000 miles round trip.

I have to do some work in the next month if it is going to happen. I need to figure out how to install a bigger radiator and get rid of the vibration I have at highway speeds (driveshaft related I think).

Bonneville would be a site to see!

Got a new-to-me driveshaft installed. ...most of the vibrations are gone. Need to re-balance tires now.

Also ordered a Howe radiator. They had a two core aluminum the right size. I hope it shows up this week.

The big new aluminum radiator is about 75% installed.

I had to modify my previous mounting brackets for the thicker radiator.



And move the mounting location for the grill supports



And section the heck out of the hood latch piece. I added 2 3/4 inches and had to clearance for the filler cap. Not completely happy/done yet.



I also added a cap to the top to hide the radiator and retain the fan.

Flipper I think I will be doing the same very soon. My new radiator is suppose to be here this week sometime! My biggest worry is if I can fit a fan in there somewhere! There seems to be a lot of room in there for an electric setup, but the front nose is off a the moment so we will see once everything is here.

Got it together enough to drive yesterday. Man, that Howe radiator can get rid of some heat! It does an excellent job of cooling the water. The downside is I now have what feels like 10 times the hot air getting blown back towards the cab....some of it is finding its way into the cab.

This radiator came with instructions to run a 22-24lb radiator cap. I have a 20lb cap on it now (what I had at the house). The radiator hoses swell up big time. Will a standard hose take this abuse?