Projects 1948 Chevrolet fleetmaster

I think its gonna be a fun ride and not far off. I can't remember, what exhaust are you doing on the car?

 

So how was the drive. Did you crack a bottle of Champagne for it's maiden voyage?

 

Lookin good! What did you fill the compass with? Thinking you don't want it to freeze or explode from expansion in the sun...

 

so its sunday, today was the day. still just alittle sick and hung over, I still managed to get up and start to work on it. started around 2pm. did some prepping, moved stuff and cars out of the way, opened the gates, connect the battery and then gave it a shot. started up, but had to hold the foot on the gas. id put it in gear and when id start to let the clutch out it would jump about an inch forward and then shut off.

out of all the cars I have he has a thing for the 48, likes it the most. so I made sure hed be here and in my back yard when I try to drive it for the first time. didn't tell him what I was doing I wanted him to be surprised cause it turned on, and even more when he saw it drive. I didn't tell him but he saw me struggling and asked if I ever drove a standard old car before. I said no, then he said ill show you, I learned in one of these. its what I was waiting for, response I knew id get. I know I built the car, so I should be the first to drive it, but I let him have this one. ill be fine being second =)

he popped it in first and off we went =D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03y3pzHnrLA&feature=youtu.be

he only kept it in first gear, remember the timing isn't done right yet so that's why we were going so slow and sounds like that. made it to the gas station to put gas for the first time =)





he was one happy guy, was loving it so I wanted my turn after we got back home. it felt good, thumbs up and smiles from the neighbors and everyone at the gas station and the cars that would pull up next to us. and everyone was staring, my dad said its because you never see these cars on the road so theyre a sight to see. it felt really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YU7t0BH8us&feature=youtu.be

we got it back and parked it. a friend of mine hector that lives a block away heard me turn it on from inside his house and drove over. he saw me messing with it so stopped to help and check out the car, he knew It was the first time I drive it. he called another friend jermain that knew about 216s and had him come over and take a look at it. did a nice job, did the spark wires and some adjustments and now it stays on without me stepping on the gas to keep It on. he said not till I hook up the exhaust to the manifold, and swap out the dist for a HEI will I be able to really fine tune it so its my goal for this week. after that he said it will be running fine.

so then it was my turn, had nobody to record but still drove it around the block for myself, MY first time, still wasn't driving perfect but felt great! there were two cops that had a guy pulled over and saw me, just stared as I drove by and gave me a knod like yea, nice =) cops in my neighborhood don't sweat old cars, theres a BUNCH here just in these 5 blocks that make my neighborhood. i did the count once a list it was 23 old cars here from chevys to fords to rat rods to mopar muscle and we all know eachohter and help eachother. they've seen me drive my 59 with no front end on just a motor and radiator and still just pass me by, or my 65 with the hydraulics and pass me by just knod and say whats up. and my friends drive theyre cars with no plates or registration because they know were either testing the motor or brakes or something and let us.

so I had my fun, time to put it away for now since I have work to do to fine tune it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYZ2YEEN6w&feature=youtu.be

the first day I got it home





and now after the first time I drive it











first time I drove it, felt great =D

because they helped me with my car, I helped them. they bought this car from a guy 2 streets down from me its a 66 galaxy 500. that's all we do around here Is old cars, God I love that. needs to be built but we got it =)













http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQJwzbIOe54&feature=youtu.be

good day today, drove my car for the first time but im not done yet, have some fine tuning

 

cool to see it cruising!

 

Well done mate you must have been so proud to see your dad drive her down the road, I'm still a long way off that stage with mine but I know it will be a great feeling when you move under you're own steam. All the best with the project and I hope you have a lot of happy times cruising around in the future!


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That is great man, good for you!

 

thanks guys, running rough but running. sunday im focusing the whole day to just get the timing in perfect and get it running fine. been busy with holidays but back on the car

did some wiring today, it was fun actually. I was worried I had to figure out what wire was what on the headlight plugs the low and high beam wire and tail lights but realized the plugs came already matching wires and labeled so it all came together just fine. started with the engine compartment the headlights and turn signals.
ran the wires and wrapped them up after I ran them to make it look clean. I know its not the cloth covered original wires, but im building a daily driver street car not a show car so itll work for me. im just glad im now all 12 volt and all new wiring



on the turn signals I pulled out the bulb sockets and took the old rotten wiring and redid them with new wiring but same connectors












and connected the headlights and theyre ready to go







and grounded. I used the extra green wire I had cut off to use as ground wire, grounded the headlights and turn signals



now all lights are done, wires ran and wrapped and looking nice and clean. the red wire is the alternator to battery wire



now the rest of the wires going to the engine compartment from the fuse box are these, I wont use them so ill tie them off and tuck them away out of sight but keep them if I ever want to use them for other things like accessories





but these I will use and will run them and hook them up, its the last wires I need to hook up to completely have the engine compartment and front end rewired and done





ok so I have push pedal start, so I FIGURE I wont need the solenoid power wire right? no solenoid my foot is the solenoid it does the job when I step on the starter pedal to both engage the starter to the flywheel and push the power button to spin the starter.

and im using a one wire alternator which I already ran to the positive cable on the battery and bolted on, and the harness came with a clip that goes on the side of the alternator that one wire is a hopper and the other is for the power gauge and im guessing that's what the alternator power wire is for right? if so then that I understand. but what is the alternator exciter? where the hell does that go? what is it for?

and I know where the ignition switch start goes on to the resistor then from the resistor to the positive side on the coil then to the distributor, but what does that coil positive wire go since the only wire going to the coil is the ignition wire

any help?

 

Hello mate, as far as I know the alternator exciter goes to your battery light on the dashboard, it excites the alternator into working (sorry I can't remember for the life of me how haha but it's to do with 12v feed to the light and what would be the earth from light goes to the exciter lead and is 12v also and when they become unbalanced as engine is running it starts charging or something best to check google lol), also be careful about the starter switch that's just a floor mounted ignition switch it might not be able to take starter current, does you starter motor have a solenoid built in? If it does the floor switch would power the solenoid which switches the big thick battery cable to the starter and would be fed from the ignition key so it only works when the ignition is on. Hope this helps and I'm over in UK so hopefully our cars are wired the same as yours!!! Good luck keep us posted! Jason.


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Also the ignition should be wired like this... Positive from ignition switch to coil positive, coil negative connects to your points on distributor (as does the king lead) then distributor earths it through plugs making spark!. You may also have a condenser (little can with wire) which stops interference on radio. Also if you have a tachometer this will connect to negative side of coil to work. Again I'm over in uk but principle is the same I'm sure!


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You need a 2 -5 watt 12 volt light bulb to "excite" your alternator.
The wiring goes like this- + 12 volts from your switched side of your ignition switch (the one that goes off to your coil positive) goes to one side of the light bulb, the other side of the light bulb goes to your "excitation" terminal on the alternator. Because your Chevy didn't have a gen. light (this is what the light bulb above will show you), you will have to fit one somewhere. Make sure the light bulb socket you use does not have one side of it grounded, otherwise you will have to isolate the ground side of the socket. (Maybe mount it on a piece of plastic or wood).

 

So happy for you, and delighted that you've resurrected this old Chevy into such a beauty. My grandparents had a fordor '48 so much like this one, and I recall riding in it down 71 Highway from Kansas City to the Ozarks and back.

 

Hi, how did you get on with the wiring, hope all went well.


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It was cool seeing your friend behind the wheel, I'm sure he got a huge kick out of it and you got to enjoy a spin from the passenger side, which will probably be pretty rare. Nice job so far, you're close to dialing it in it seems. Thanks for the video clips and keep up the great work, buddy.

 

I've been pre-occupied with other stuff for a while but had to check in on you.

It's alive!

Nice to see it. So much nice work done in my absence.

You are my hero.

 

thanks guys, been busy with holiday stuff but managed to get a day or two put in on my car. focused on the wiring. ok so I got all of it rewired I finished right now tonight. whole front end, tail section, dash (switches and all), and engine except for the alternator and amp gauge, still figuring that out. did a lot of altering to get the old stuff to work with the new wiring









that was the dash light housings. put this to use



gas tank wired





took me a while to figure out what went where on these. found some wiring diagrams and to help me





new brake switch



will only take me 5 min to wire it all up and finish it up, all done and wired up. the headlight switch and other switches took the longest but got them wired. tomorrow ill finish the wiring and hook the battery up.

 

found this in the trunk, thought I needed new one but put in the work and made it nice again



































new bulb in it, wired up and ready to go. since I was in there took windex to my window moldings to clean it up





holidays slowed me down but I still manage to get some time in on the car. now that its pretty much done rewiring all that's left is the timing or whatever the issue is with the popping and bogging out

 

It's really coming together.

 

thanks, yea it is but wasnt able to get on it till now because of the holidays. but im back on it now. holidays were good this year, family and friends, loved ones. gave myself a Christmas present went to the raiders/chargers game with my brothers and cousin









saw this out there when we were tailgating



for Christmas got gag gifts like tequila and condoms and clothes from my family but one of the gifts I got was they filled my toolbox with new tools, damn perfect gift I wasn't expecting that =)







but now after new years im back on track, back to work. went to home depot, for just alittle over a dollar I got some rubber hose







cleaned these up



and sewed up a sleeve for the hose







polished

 

took front seat out to get access to front seat



and got this on

 

now ready for some dressing up. I had an antique Victorian vanity mirror that I ended up breaking so I got the ornate it had on the back of it and jb welded some studs in the back to mount on my seat. so after drilling some holes heres what it looks like now











same with these, I bought an old 30s dresser drawer just for these, the original brass ornates it had on.





same thing, put some studs in the back, drilled some holes and mounted them





I know theyre not gm or original on the car, but they are vintage/antique and original, older than the car that's for sure so its not like im using something I got from michaels or home depot. will finish up Saturday, alittle more dressing up im doing

 

The awesome just never stops.

 

That's pretty nice. A little old timey bling.

 

thanks, nothing too big but personal touches to accent it. went to truck and car shop today. I did the wiring under the dash and when I hooked up the battery the battery started sparking on me so after all the time I spent wiring I got mad because I was at a dead end so I worked on the seat. I disconnected the headlight switch and the sparking stopped so I went and got new switches



and got a glovebox







and after switching the switches, its alive





















wiring all done, now I can focus on the last and only thing left, the timing and the car is done!

 

thanks guys, was up late last night and up early morning making this. its a 1920s baby car seat but im putting it in my 48. I had it just laying and rusting away so I remade it just to get it out of the rain and dirt

















2am

 

Crap, that's some fantastic work!!

The 2 chrome pieces for the hold strap on the back of the front bench, are those old phono plug plates like for a guitar? Or are they the actual things, whatever they may be called?

You do more work than I've done in years, boy I'm a sad case.

Awesome job!

 

thank you, I love classic cars so I love what I do so it comes natural to me. and the hold strap is actually factory, it was standard on a lot of pre 50s big cars because around that time there were as much dirt roads as there were paved roads, so it came standard all of them. you can kind of see the plates on this



it was commonly known as the "ohh shit" bar, as in it was used when you had to hold on tight when you were off road

again thanks. this build pretty much calmed down now not too exciting due to no more drastic changes just minor things because the car is almost done. I guess ill have to bring it back to life with pictures of pretty and sexy girls in it and posing for it, im on it you guys wont be disappointed

 

First, what an awesome job you've done on your car! Second, you were oh so close on the oh shit bar.......there are 2 straps back there to hold on to when you need to pull yourself out of the car, or if the ride gets a little rough to steady yourself......but the velvet rope on the back of the bench seat is for holding a heavy blanket folded over it.
In case the mother in law or the kids get cold in the back seat.

 

yea Frankie im making the straps but the material but I have yet to find the material that comes close to what the original looked like



I might just make it out of some other fabric but ill have it done this weekend it should take me a few min to make.

and is that what the bar is for? its what I was always told it was since I first got the car, from everyone actually. thanks for the info, makes sense and I always want to be correct. now i can go find a cool antique blanket to accent it =) but why did it stop in the late 40s, I don't remember seeing it in 50s cars anymore