Projects 1948 Chevrolet fleetmaster

rained today, couldn't do much but went to the dmv to pay the registration fees and they gave me a permit that's good for 60 days to drive it to the dmv to verify. I have 60 days but still wont lag on it and take my time im still going to go hard on it. but still got to work hand crafting the running boards. when I say I built this car, I mean it I think I pretty much now had my hand in every single part of this car.





this is the before pictures, still forming it it looks good now =)

 

hand crafted hammer formed back plate and sill plate, I don't have metal forming machines. the sill plates alone are $245 at chevsofthe40s. 12 bucks total for the steel sheet


















and now I have running boards with rubber and sill plates. tomorrow morning mess with the carb before I go out for Halloween. that's all that's left after that Is the timing and im set =)

 

im going to put the Chevrolet print on them tomorrow. its galvanized steel, so has a layer of zinc oxide so it wont rust as easy or fast as the originals that the back plate is steel. also didn't show but I shot the metal under the back plate with rust inhibitor.
finally got to gasket up the transmission ball


doesn't show but I also put the cork gasket inside the ball housing that holds the ball to the transmission so its all set, im done witht this. quick question, done with the transmission but what kind of transmission fluid do I use?
took off my hood to the car. this is the hood to my 65




and this is the hood on my 59





so this is my canvas

going through ideas in my mind what im going to put but its a pretty big size I can put something pretty big on it, something cooler than what I did on my 59. ill be working on that at night now that it gets darker early that we set the clocks back an hour but during the day work on getting it running. will take me a week to paint and airbrush the bottom of the hood

 

was busy today, had to do scheduling with my trainer im finally going to get back to fighting again which is good but takes up almost 100% of my free time. i got 6 years training muay thai and submission wrestling. I start full time and hard the first week of January, should be ready and fighting again by march that gives me 2 months to finish my other two cars. its enough time, this one will be done soon, the 59 I need a month and the 65 2 weeks to repaint. I can do it, just going to be pretty busy these next few weeks but the cars will get done =)
did this today, doesn't seem like much but I got home late. but I needed to get this out of the way












looks simple but done right, waterproof board with upholstery adhesive and driftwood fabric I used for the door and side panels. tomorrow I will do the rewiring under the dash

 

I went today to check that gear oil and they had this weight, but half were standard and others were LIMITED SLIP, whats the difference?

worked on these today. all theyre missing is to mount on the door and bolt the little plate on the bottom of them but it has to wait till im done woodgraining them

 

Really coming along, and the kick panels and armrests turned out just as great as the rest of the car did. I can't wait to see the hood treatment you give it. Your attention to detail is something for us all to shoot for.







Sent from my SPH-L710 using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

thanks monkey*****. kickpanels were super easy, no tools just scissors and glue required its just getting the right shape to cut is whats the hardest to do but is easy if you use cardboard first to get the right shape. the door handles were kind of a pain, vinyl with a heat gun will mold and shape, fabric doesn't and theyre an awkward shape so they weren't easy. as for the hood, im still brainstorming over what to put on there that everyone would like. like on my 59, im looking for another trunk lid so I can swap out at times from all white to an airbrushed one and what I want to airbrush whether I do it myself of pay someone to do it is an image of the kids from the movie "the sandlot"

I don't care who you are or what kind of show im at, if youre a guy that image airbrushed on my trunk will make you smile. that's where im trying to go with the hood of my 48. so far what comes to mind is the little rascals or Charlie chaplin

 

put the toner on, let the print dry a few more days so it doesn't rub off when I put the toner on. tomorrow I clear coat






and thought I lost this but found it and put it on

 

Did you ever get a chance to put the link on how to do the woodgrain effect??? You have it down to a science, but the rest of us would like to see the DIY project please!! Looking fantastic by the way!!

 

yea I have a video its 17 min long but youtube only allows me to upload 10 min of video. I know a girl that said she might be able to snip the video into two videos 9 min long. if not then the other option is to do it again, but this time im borrowing a friends pro digital camcorder that he uses to film weddings. ive gotten so many requests I might do a series of videos showing every step starting from the beginning when I grind the metal down and prep it to final buff and put it on its own personal thread separate from this one. ill have it figured out by this weekend, if not I start that video series Monday when I woodgrain a new dash I bought to resell and other small items. but Ill have it done dimebag, with so many requests id love to help out that many at once =)

 

diggin these builds ....

and noticed the projects just keep coming =)

 

Wow! I am amazed with the beautiful woodgrain finish. Sweet!

 

Yes please do the video I've been anxiously awaiting.

Sent via Illinois Bell Telephone Company's Car Radiotelephone

 

x2 !

 

thanks guys, try to keep the threads interesting and with a lot of progress. is funny the guys love it, girls I know that check out the thread get bored out of theyre minds =b yea im on it ill have the woodgrain videos done soon, if I cant edit them into two videos ill just remake a series with a better camera and make its own thread its coming soon guys im redoing a dash im going to sell so ill film that one

and almost done with this, and the 59 is almost done as well and the 65 just needs repaint but already looking for my next build. looking at a few cars so far, all makes but only 30s cars. would consider a 20s but I don't know how hard it is to find parts for one. ill post pictures of cars im going to see this weekend in santa Barbara =)

 

clearcoat

 

What are you......some kind of master craftsman or somethun....?

 

man I wish=) im just a guy in his back yard really wanting to see his car come together. but thank you =)

I keep getting asked about the running boards, what metal and where did I get the rubber. well the rubber I got from this guy, tell him gallo 59 told you about him he still has the dimensions down on how much you need by length and width
http://www.ebay.com/usr/fowlowl
and the metal is just galvanized metal, galvanized because galvanized is rust preventative on the metal and itll get alot of moisture when it rains and you wash it that you cant dry out down there because its bolted down. you can get that at home depot or lowes for under 20 bucks a sheet and you only need one sheet for a 4 door 41-48. cutting out is the irritating part, make template with cardboard or paper and then cut out. to shape it just get body hammers and bang it down around the high sill plate edge and itll form to that curve.
I was at home depot and saw this. don't know how itll work or if it will work but its under 3 bucks a foot at 27 inches wide, youd use 3 feet and its wide enough to do all 4 doors and ud pay about 10 bucks for it all. but again its VINYL not rubber, mine is rubber. had a different feel and look, was more shiny and the ribs weren't that high, but its matting so it should work. I paid about 45 bucks for my rubber ones and personally like how they look better but this might work too




it seems like a low price alternative to having fallen apart ones, but if you can spend the extra money get the rubber ones but these look like they'll do if yours are really bad and want a quick fix. saw this there too thought it was cool so I got it, 9 bucks




also anyone in the riverside calif area, theres a place called water heater depot that gets all the overstock from home depot and lowes, and they sell for under 50% brand new stuff. came up on this tool box for $140 out the door and its the big one brand new in the box, look how big the drawers are and finally got a butcher top tool box I can put parts im working on like a workbench. im going to bolt a pegboard on it with a worklight to make it like a workbench









used the box to line the bottom drawers cause im putting in heavy stuff

check out how much they had this tool box, its the medium size one for $175 out the door. my small size one I paid more than $200 for but this one is huge

 

You've been AWOL for awhile. Nice Tool Box. Thanks for the info on the wrench and water heater outlet. I hope to see your Bomb around the local car shows soon.

 

yea bro I know, had a lot going on at the moment. getting ready to paint a friends 36 Pontiac, also was busy with a bunch of birthday parties of friends of mine a lot of them are piled on these last two weeks. but that's because valentines day was 9 months ago so it makes sense =b but im back, working on the ride again. when I redid the starter I put it back in without the shims thought I didn't need them. then I tried to start it this morning after I checked all the vac*** lines and was ready to start to do the timing again and the starter was just grinding away at my flywheel so I had to spend the day making new shims since I threw the old ones away. but tomorrow morning I retry again

 

well I got my polisher out, back on track here

sand, buff and polish, got these out of the way now

 

Whenever you see shims hold on to them because they are there for a reason. I hope you get it working tomorrow.
Peace

 

check out how the snack trays, outside windows and inside windows match

 

o I know that now. it sounded bad it was hitting hard on the flywheel. but its fixed now, back on track =)

 

and on my comp*** I took off and cleaned out the bulb and filled it

but the back had a leak so I used jb weld to make a sure seal along the back

that just pops right into the comp***, so I can mount it. bracket matches too






tomorrow after the jb weld dries I just fill it again and pop it in the comp*** and its done. and tomorrow try to start it again.

 

the screws have polish compound jammed in it so that's why it looks white ill wash it out tomorrow im done for the night

 

as for the dash, im done the only thing im putting on is the column flashlight holder and maybe a steering wheel spinner if I find a nice wood or bakelite one. i was organizing the under dash wiring right now and when I sit in it now and is starting to feeling cluttered like a miami taxi cab. i got the oil meter, spotlight handle, comp***, trico fan, rear view mirror and traffic light viewer all in one close and tight area and feels more cramped now. reminds me of this girl i know with all kinds of **** on her face she has everything pierced and looks like a Christmas tree so im going to skip on the pres-a-lite even tho i like those a lot, any cigarette stuff and any dash saint. if I find the super deluxe heater im putting that in, or a record player but those go under the dash not on top so itll still stay clean and simple.

 

so I go out there and open the hood, play with the distributor alittle and hook the battery up. I reach down to the starter and with a rubber dipped crescent wrench I hit the ****on on the starter. it just spun and then wound down. I was like great, now I put too many shims and its not engaging. so I go down there and take one shim off, tighten the starter and try again and same thing. so I go down there again and take them all off and same thing. so I was like damn I must have grinded away all the teeth on the starter or that section of the flywheel because of how hard it hit yesterday. so I went down there to take the starter off, took the flywheel cover off and checked the flywheel and it looked fine. took the starter off and put it directly to my battery and hit the ****on and it spun fine so I didn't know what the hell was going on.
it took me about 2 hours to do all of this and felt stuck so I thought I was going to need a new starter. I was making calls to find a new starter and had it sitting on my lap playing with it when I realized you don't just push the ****on but you push the lever to raise the teeth to the flywheel. hitting the ****on just spins it but you have to raise the gear to the teeth by pushing the foot starter pedal. so I went down there to put it back in. I felt stupid and wasted the whole daylight I had left. once in, hit the starter pedal and here it is now. remember its loud because its open header, but does playing with it alittle did make it sound alittle better

[youtube]OXZO4rVKldM[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZO4rVKldM&feature=youtu.be

put it in gear, my wheels are spinning back wheels are in the air up on the floor jack incase it popped into gear when I was trying to time it

[youtube]K7gGe7URJVk[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7gGe7URJVk&feature=youtu.be

that means tomorrow I drive it!

 

Great info!