COE My 41 Coe build

I have secured a donor for my 41 Chevy Coe, it is a 2001 Chevy 3500 cutaway van cab and ch***is. It is a running and driving truck that hit a moose, it has the sheetmetal messed up and the windshield is broken out.

I am thinking about trying to mount my cab on the frame as is with as little mods as possible. It has an 8.1 vortec with a 4L80E transmission. About 125K miles.

I am trying to find out what I will need to keep and what to get rid of as I am going to try to keep the factory ECU and everything else needed to run the engine and trans. Dave

 

You might want to look into a new stand alone ECU and wiring harness....most newer rigs have all the systems tied together(engine, drivetrain, body, dash, etc) if you start unplugging stuff it all shuts down...

 

Any recommendations of which ones would work best for me?

 

Find yourself a wiring diagram for your particular vehicle and learn what info (sensors) the computer needs to operate. Things hadn't gotten to integrated yet in 2001 so it should be fairly easy to figure out.

 

Thanks, I will start the search. Dave

 

DIY is relatively easy if you swap EVERYTHING over... (motor, trans, ECM, BCM, cats, o2s, gauge cluster, etc.... Essentially, I had to figure out how to wire an auto trans cuz the donor Vette had a T56 and extend 72 wires in the main harness about 5 feet....

 

Lots of companies make standalone harnesses, I'd guess $700 on up to the sky...

 

Well I have everything and would like to go relatively inexpensive. I am not trying to make insane hp, just a dependable hauler. Would I have to use the OEM steering column and gauge panel? Dave

 

Yup...

 

Here's about where my steering trials and tribulations begin... I had to shorten my stock Corvette column..

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1941-ford-coe-build.919826/page-9#post-8280326

 

Looks good! Dave

 

Cost is relative....what's your time worth? Myself, being an electronics *****, would need a year to figure all those sensors and gizmos out, And still not be happy with it.
A friend bought an ECU/harness for his 4.6 Ford swap, cost around $800 I think. He had it running a couple days later.

 

It will hopefully be a year before I start on my Coe. All I can do now is think about it. So I was thinking about the order of operation that I would follow. I will need to do some rust repair on the doors , cab corners and floorboards. I am thinking I will have to widen the fenders as the front wheels will stick outside if I don't.

What are your thoughts? Should I bring it in and do all the heavy body work and fender widening before trying to remove it from the original frame and installing it on the donor frame? Dave

 

I would get it set on the new frame first that way it at home and get it all squared up. Then start with the body mods. You will have the body on and off a couple of times to do clean up and paint most likely. As far as the winding of the front fenders. I’m not familiar withe the 3500 van that you are using. My C30 crew cab dually front work with out widening the fenders. I also ditched the dually front hubs and wheels for singles.

.

 

Does making this change move the tire in/out, or do the wheel/hub changes cancel each other out?

 

Interesting! By replacing the dually wheels and hubs how much did that narrow the front end? Do you have a measurement of the stance after that? That would be a simple fix for my problem. Dave

 

I didn’t change to get more room, just to have a better choice of vintage looking wheels. The tires set in almost the same spot. But again it opens up for different back space and or off set.

 

Well I missed the year by one year. Yesterday and today I dismantled my coe, it went pretty good. Now I am going to put it aside for the summer. I am not going to use the 41 drivetrain, it is a babbit engine, 216 or 235 I don't know. If anyone needs coe drivetrain parts let me know. Dave

 

The cab came off today, my friend came by with his tractor, we backed the trailer up to the truck, never took it off his trailer, lifted the cab, I drove the truck ahead we sat the cab on a cart I had built. Chained the tractor down again and he drove off.

 

Good to hear progress is being made! My 42 Ford is just sitting, but my 51 is coming along, bed is almost all made now.

 

I now have the cabs off the 41 and the 2001. After many measurements I don't think I will put the engine under the cab but will put it behind the cab. Dave

 

Good call

 

41 cab off. 2001 ch***is. There were supposed to be pictures but I must be doing something wrong.

Would cutting a bit of coil spring out of the front suspension give a better ride since I will be moving the heavy engine aft.

 

I'd wait until I had the truck completed before I tried to adjust ride height by cutting springs.

 

Good thought!

 

If you cut coils off a coil spring you INCREASE the spring rate.
The vehicle will sit lower but have a stiffer ride.

 

I have tried to source airbags for the front suspension with no luck.

 

Cut up the wrecked cab of the cutaway van yesterday and took it to the dump today. They wouldn't take it unless cut apart. Tried to include a picture but no luck.

 

Yesterday I removed the 8.1 and trans from the cutaway van and just set the coe cab on the frame for fun, at first glance I'm happy. I will try and take pictures today and see if I am able to attach them. That engine and trans are one heavy pair. Dave

 

Finally got around to boxing the frame in the area where the engine and transmission mounts will be located. Located the trans mount and drilled for mounting pads.