Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

I just passed on the video. I've got no skin in this game. I'm not cutting or boxing my frame.
I didn't know you knew my grandmother!

 

Following this thread, I have a 35 Chevy 1.5 ton truck. Anyone know an easy way to upgrade to juice brakes? I'm hoping to keep the original suspension, if possible.

Shane

 

I don’t have a ton of high quality pictures of the chop but here are some I found.

 

Here is some axle information from Sid's. https://droppedaxles.com/chevy-dropped-axles-0 For the front you may be able to swap in a later front axle with juice brakes. That may work for the rear as well.

 

Thanks man! Those answer my questions

you’ve really turned that into a great hotrod !

 

Advice please.
I’m fabricating the B pillar in steel. I’ll install bear claw door latches. The original B pillar face plate has areas that are only needed for the original style latch.
Modifying the face plate by smoothing out a few areas will make fabrication of the B pillar easier. I’ve included pics of the original door latch to more clearly show how things were factory designed.

 

I’m not sure if these pictures will help at all jay, but I’m using bear jaw latches and most of the original inner door structure. My main concern was the body lines, I made sure those were good on the outside and then figured out where to put the sticker ect..

 

Recommend keeping alignment wedges and upper and lower rubber bumper recessed areas. Best choice for proper alignment of doors and avoid paint chipping issues in the future. This is what I did on my car and very happy with results.

 

I think I found a source for the door wedge rubber pieces and new rubber door stops. Since those parts are available, I’m agreeing with keeping them intact.
Cleaned up some stuff and took some inventory today. Found my original door wedges. These headlight buckets are kinda beat up. Are they 1934? I sure can’t tell.

 

Finished the initial mock up of the deck rain channel. My first attempt was a flop. This attempt taught me even more lessons but my results are satisfactory this time. VIDEO LINK HERE.

 

I wouldn't weld that in till the body is all aligned. it will be easier to get the body aligned if that isn't holding its shape and consequently trying to get the body aligned after may put a twist in the frame and throw the lid alignment off.

 

Totally agree. It’s sitting on the shelf waiting for the deck lid to be installed at a later time. Plenty of body work to do before I’ll touch it again.

 

regarding the door posts, I would leave the face plate as original as possible. run a square tube up the inside and leave the space for all the original rubbers and alignment parts. a full tube is not even needed if the face plate is welded to the outside , an inner plate welded from top to bottom and a rear plate welded to create a post. a triangle bracket from the back of the post, running along the belt line and up to the package tray area to reenforce the latch [simular to the original] really stiffens up the latch area

 

I ran some square tubing from the top of the wheel well to the back of the structure to support it

 

My 37 was a 1.5 ton originally, it had juice brakes. I'd bet that the suspension is the same on the 35 as the 37. I bolted a front axle in it from a '52 1/2 ton, no modifications to it at all.
It is pretty simple to run lines, the main thing I'd think you may run into is mounting a master cylinder. If you can find a donor truck, get the pedal and master cylinder assembly as well as the axles.

 

Cleaning up parts is very satisfying.

 

Those would be prime candidates for a citric acid bath. How did you do it?

 

My first guess would be that these parts were sandblasted in a cabinet. Nice work Jay!

 

Finished the exhaust on the jalopy. It stopped at the frame and was blowing in the rear tail pan and coming through the louvers.

 

Nice work @snoop74.

Correct. Media blasted those parts in my Skatblast cabinet.
Today I did a lot of fabrication. Used 1.5” square tube 14 gauge to make a B pillar. Only half way done. Had to narrow the top 14” to 1.25” by cutting a kerf and then squeezing it closed until it was 1.25”. Then weld it. The top half is done but I’ll add more to the lower 20” later.

 

@Jay Altemus nice work!

 

Thanks, jay did you figure out how you’re going to brace that inner structure

 

The B pillar will connect to the floor outer frame beam. That’s how it was done with wood and I have the original brackets for the A and B pillars. I must first finish the bottom of the B pillar.

 

X2 - you're doing a fine job Jay!

 

Just a couple of pics to show some progress on my hemi install prep...

 

nice!

 

Thanks brother! Now I can sit on my stool comfortably and begin to attach the trans adapter/spacer, torquing the bolts correctly. Replace the old seals and gaskets on the front pump and rear tail housing on my transmission. Slip the torque converter in place (3 clicks) and finally get that big ass hemi within my rails - we're talkin' a huge smile on my face for the ages!!!

 

It’s a long time coming but excited for the progress being made on that thing. When do you plan on having it all back together? Also are you putting the body back on after that or what’s the next step

 

My hopes on getting her back on the road is sometime next year, my 30th anniversary of ownership (purchased in 1995!) Crazy huh? Not going to place the body back on till I size up a new driveshaft, purchase the right electric fuel pump, bend hard lines for the fuel system, polish the entire center section of the Winters QCR (redo the brake lines on the rear as well), etc. Nice work on the rear exhaust system re-routing on your '35 - what's your next show that you plan to attend?

 

I bet parts were a lot cheaper back then haha. For some reason I thought you had all your lines ran. I thought the frame stuff was all good. I plan on polishing the intake on my car and replacing the valve covers. You polishing that section yourself? The exhaust was killing me lol. It wa blowing into the roll pan and the car was unbearable to drive. We have a local car show in my hometown Oct 26th then another smaller one the next town over. After November I plan on blowing the car apart and high build priming it and painting it. Then I’m going to finish up the interior.