Hi all, getting ready to start my 2nd build. Just bought a '31 Chevy pickup. Going to be looking for options, opinions, and info. Probably gonna build it as a fenderless lowboy. Here are some pics....I had to buy it because of the doors! Hand painted Mountain Dew logos from the '60s. It is super solid and everything is there. The guy I bought it from said the truck originally belonged to a local radio station and it was a promo vehicle in the '60s....that's why it has the Mountain Dew logo on the side. Let me know your ideas for the build. I might keep the straight six...but maybe a old caddy motor that my buddy has or a SBC. Anyway here are the pics I have so far. I will add more when I have them.
Not sure what you mean by NO Intro. I guess I am a forum dummy. Where should I have posted this and how do I move it? What is the politically correct term for a Rat Rod here so I don't offend anyone else?
go back on edit your first post and just remove the word rat...maybe try traditional hot rod? welcome to the early 30's chevy club. add buick motor and have fun that's my 31...
Looks like a great start. Check out Cactus1's 34 chevy truck build. It should give you some good ideas. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=371802 Here's my 34 Ford pickup build. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368357
Here's a few more pictures. It's a solid truck. Only real rust is the running board aprons and a tiny bit in the back cab corners. I just started another thread looking for diagrams, pictures, info etc about putting the cab back together. What does everyone think I should do with it? Restore it, hot rod it? IF I hot rod it should I do a fenderless lowboy, keep the fenders and running boards. Use the straigt six and go with a SBC? What do you think? Thanks!!!
Sorry about the sideways pics....they were right before I uploaded them. Anyone know how I can fix/rotate them on here?
PBRme....you said "add buick motor and have fun". I just found two running nailheads in my area...a 425 and 401. I was going to stick with the straight six thats in the truck now.....but I am very tempted to grab one of the nailheads. Alot more work, but would be alot more fun!
Welcome ... nice truck! What he meant was ... this is where you introduce yourself .... tell us about yourself first and then you go to the main board an post questions ... you will find out that you will find more helpful people here. Ryan explains it all in the STICKY. O and pick something other than a SBC ... it's been done to death ... jmo!
Welcome to the hamb. That's a nice truck too bad I can't talk ya into doing it full fendered. It will be cool either way. As for the engine a small block chevy done right would be perfect for your ride, and they are never done to the death. I have quite a few early chevy builds on here. John
Ghost28....Actually I am going to do it full fendered. Going with full fendered, 4" drop axle from a 48-54 Chevy truck in the front with parallel leafs, juice brakes, etc. Just picked up a '54 Chevy 235 straight six with an Edmunds 2 carb manifold which I am going to rebuild. Not sure what trans I will put behind the 235. Hope to have it done within a year. My '48 GMC (profile pic) took me 8-9 years....so I hope to have this done alot faster.
I'll be starting a new thread for the build....since I wasn't supposed to be doing this in the intro section anyway. Stay tuned and I will add the link.
Oh good full fendered. Talk to the moderators and they can move your thread over to the main area since you allready have it started. John
Nice little truck and just remember......it is a hobby and you can get great ideas on here and then some bad ones. Just stay true to what you want and stay focused Grommet
I like it with the fenders. Id almost put it back together as is but paint the fenders md green & put a t5 behind that 235.
sko_ford......I was also thinking t-5 behind the 235. I saw a few places that have adaptors. The truck was originally dark green. You can see the green in some spots where the black is chipping/peeling off. Someone brush painted black....I guess when they did the Mountain Dew logo. I was probably just going to sand the rust down on the fenders, etc and try to match the black paint with rustoleum and brush paint the fenders again to match the look of the rest of the truck. ~S
Good plan...no need for an adapter for that 235. Lots of tech here on the hamb on it. You need a bellhousing from a 56 - later car 235 (I think) and some very slight modifications to to the 235. I did mine...PM me if you cant find the tech.
snelson57....thanks for that tidbit about the adapter....I was going to do some searching on the topic today. If I can't find the info that I need I will PM you. Thanks!
The truck currently has a seized 1948 216 in it, originally should have been an early 194. Not sure what trans and bellhousing is behind it...either the original from the 194 or maybe a newer one that was put in when they dropped in the 216. I have the '54 bellhousing that came with the 235, which is out of a '54 Bel-air. I wonder if either of these bellhousings will work? I will have to get the numbers off both when I get home later.
Here's an update.... Haven't gotten too far with the build. Been busy collecting parts. So far I have the engine, a T5 tranny is on the way from Florida and I bought an S10 Rear. The wood kit for the cab is on it's way from the mid-west. Since my last update I changed my mind about a few things. For the engine, I decided to go with a new generation Chevy 194" straight six out of a 1963 Nova instead of the 1953 235" that I had. The guy who I bought this truck from had the engine and gave it to me for free. It only has 50,000 miles on it. I decided I would start with this engine and if I ever wanted more power it could easily be replaced with a bigger straight six like a 250 or 292 after the truck is built. I bought the S10 T5 tranny from a guy on eBay that "checks and cleans them up". I was having a hard time finding one in my area, so I went the eBay route. The rear I grabbed off Craigslist should work nicely. It was in a crashed 1992 2wd S10 that had 68,000 miles on it. The spring pads are the same width as the stock springs in the '31 and it is close to the same overall width. It should be an easy fit but I will have to mock it up and see how the ride height looks and check the pinion angles, etc. I finally found the rear fenders I needed on Craigslist. They were in CT and I am in PA. I talked to the guy on the phone and he was an older guy that seemed to be honest. I agreed to PayPal him the money plus shipping and some extra for taking the time to box them up and drop them off to be shipped. If they don't show up I guess I will be making a trip to CT to kick someone's butt. Hopefully he is honest. I bought a wood kit for the cab from autowood.net. It supposedly shipped out Monday 9/12 so it should hopefully be here soon. I am running out of spare cash so I will have to put off buying the front axle stuff for a few weeks. I am going with a 4" dropped '47-'54 chevy truck axle from Sid's. I am buying the whole front suspension from him including spindles, steering arms, steering links etc. Sid said this should be a "bolt-in" for my '31 and gives me more of a drop then dropping the stock '31 axle and gives me more and cheaper options for the front brakes. I took the motor apart this weekend to put all new gaskets, water pump, etc in it and get it cleaned up and painted. I will post some pictures later. Anyway, thanks for looking. I will add more once the wood kit gets here and I start re-assembling the cab.
PLEASE post some info when you get this far. I'll be looking for options myself on the same situation and have been wondering about this route vs dropping the stock one.
Forgot to mention in my update. When the guy gave me the 194 he also gave me a bellhousing out of a 1957 Chevy truck. It has the side transmission mounts on the bellhousing like the bellhousing from the '31. I am hoping the T5 will bolt up to this bellhousing. Does anyone know if it will? It looks like the correct bolt pattern, but I guess I wont know for sure until the T5 gets here.
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