'46 Chevy Shorty - Page 181

cadillackid · 10-15-2018, 07:16 AM

+1 for REHAB. Tacos are OK.. but man they pour NICE at REHAB
-Christopher

Tango · 10-15-2018, 08:14 AM

Hey Cadillac...like Guido, you are welcome here any old time. I will be happy to buy a round (or three) at REHAB any time you are in the neighborhood.

Tango · 10-15-2018, 06:27 PM

More roof stuff --- Short day again. Other stuff (aka; life) sometimes gets in the way. But I did manage a couple of small tasks.

Start with some crappy, hot rolled steel parts...leave'em in muriatic acid for an hour or so...rinse'em off thoroughly...grind off any remaining scale...then give'em a once over with a stripping pad...and wahlah!...

...shiny, clean metal emerges!

Do this 12 times and you have a set of upper roof deck brackets, ready for the next step(s).

ONWARD!

AIn't we got fun!

Tango · 10-17-2018, 08:59 PM

Another slow day --- All I got done today was some pencil work on more upcoming fabrications and threw some paint on the cowl. Took longer to mask it than paint it.

A little here...a little there...

ONW...well you know the rest...

Mountain Gnome · 10-17-2018, 09:10 PM

I ordered some pixie dust and it should be here Saturday.

I was going to test it using the same oil-based white gloss with and without, but wouldn't you know it, it went from highs in the mid 90°s to highs in the mid 60°s in about 12-18 hours.

Tango · 10-17-2018, 09:29 PM

Don't know where you are but we had the same thing happen here in Houston. Almost a 40* drop in about 4 hours. In fact the news said we will very likely set a record low for this date.

I HATE the cold! I can work in 110* heat all day but this damp chill makes my old bones ache.

Mountain Gnome · 10-17-2018, 09:37 PM

I'm now in Hotlanta for my buildout and to get some things stored here. You can keep your 90°+. Once bashed my radiator in Phoenix, AZ when it was 115° and I was out working on pulling it, unbending my frame, and installing a new one in full sun on blacktop, drinking 2 gallons of aqua a day. After that I blew a tire at midnight in the middle of the 100-mile strech of nothing on highway 666 going into CO, and with no available help to pump-up my spare, rode the steel rim the rest of the way in the morning, to keep my dogs out of the sun all day. Lovin' these 50°-70° temps, 'cept for paint drying, and testing the pixie dust in extreme (to me) heat....

Tango · 10-18-2018, 10:19 PM

Messin' with the roof again --- Started playing with the major roof rack elements today. Will no doubt be on it for a while.

Looks like I can drop it all down a couple of inches so there will be more cutting and drilling. Want to keep it as close to the peak as I can. Would love to follow the curve down the sides but that is beyond what I want to get involved in.

UPWARD!

Tango · 10-19-2018, 08:52 PM

Back on the brakes! --- Well...after a fair amount of head scratching and fluid dynamics computations I now have a new Hydroboost/Master. Abandoned the Corvette master after we (my real car builder friend & I) figured that it would never move enough fluid to get the job done. The Corvette master is a "go-to" for nearly any build, but...since I have massive disks front & rear that were both originally fed by big ass 1.5 in. pistons...we decided to go larger.

Took a lot of chopping & fabbing but this sucker should move enough juice to make the Stopper doohickies work now. Can't wait to try it out.

ONWARD!

Tango · 10-19-2018, 09:12 PM

Oh...and one little Seam Sealer trick to pass along.

If you have ever have to work with seam sealer, you have probably noticed the following.

1. It ain't cheap
2. It stains your skin...and...
3. Anything left in the tube goes south in a hurry. Like in a few hours.

I can't do anything about the first two, but...I did discover a way to keep from losing the balance left in the tube. After trying a number of "cap" type things, I gave up on them. Then (in desperation) I tightly wound some electrical tape (the stretchy kind) around the end of the nozzle, and...behold! I have now worked out of the same tube ($15 bucks) for nearly a month! Seems it seals it airtight enough that it does not go off.

Sweet!

ol trunt · 10-19-2018, 09:39 PM

Tango, more on the master cylinder. Like amount of fluid moved, pressure build, recovery aspects etc. Even with the antilock system on my bus I'm not comfortable with the time it takes to stop my bus. Yes, it meets all the distance requirements and all that but it still feels like I'm stamping on a rock when I have to stop quick. Jack

Mr4btTahoe · 10-19-2018, 10:44 PM

Personally, I'd run whatever master cylinder came on the vehicle the calipers came from or something similar at least.

For instance... if you now have 4 wheel disks with multi-piston calipers.. then I'd look at something from a new-ish 1ton pickup (chevy, ford, etc) as they all come with massive 4 wheel disks these days. First one I looked up was for an '08 3500hd silverado.. master cylinder runs a 1.45" bore and the reservoir is massive. Most also come with hydro-boost. I picked up a hydro-boost unit with mastercylinder used on ebay for under $150 when I 4bt swapped my Tahoe. Just a thought.

Anyways.. progress is looking good!

plfking · 10-19-2018, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tango

Would love to follow the curve down the sides but that is beyond what I want to get involved in.

That would look striking, I think......but totally understand not taking on that much work. I think I've done a pretty good job of reining myself in on a few things I've envisioned.

Ronnie · 10-20-2018, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe

Personally, I'd run whatever master cylinder came on the vehicle the calipers came from or something similar at least.

For instance... if you now have 4 wheel disks with multi-piston calipers.. then I'd look at something from a new-ish 1ton pickup (chevy, ford, etc) as they all come with massive 4 wheel disks these days. First one I looked up was for an '08 3500hd silverado.. master cylinder runs a 1.45" bore and the reservoir is massive. Most also come with hydro-boost. I picked up a hydro-boost unit with mastercylinder used on ebay for under $150 when I 4bt swapped my Tahoe. Just a thought.

Anyways.. progress is looking good!

I have to agree with this. As a master from a corvette is just not even close to the weight of the bus. New set up looks good. Good luck with it.

cadillackid · 10-20-2018, 07:50 AM

seam sealer.. I always tried to get everything I needed to seal ready so i could use up as much as possible.. neoprene gloves and my old work hoodie and a baseball hat.. first time i used it I had the bright idea to cape myself in a plastic rain poncho.. yeah we can all guess how well that went.. im not sure there still isnt plastic in the seams of that impala...

-Christopher

Tango · 10-20-2018, 08:17 PM

Howdy All ---

Jack...yes...bigger is better in this case. I am a huge fan of being able to stop all this mobile mass as efficiently as possible.

Tahoe...Agreed. The master is now actually a bit larger than either of the two systems that make up my disk system. It is a big Chevy unit that has a bore of 1.54-something inches.

PLF...Ya...I too have to reign myself in from time to time.

Cadillac...As messy & expensive as this stuff is, I try to be careful with it. Both in terms of getting it all over me and getting the most out of every tube. Just today I went back to one that has been open for well over a month. Was thrilled to be able to get a bit more out of it to secure my new doghouse seals.

Speaking of which...

Put the new, high tech, hi temp, silicone foam seal in place today on the doghouse. Used 3M seam sealant to adhere it. Should keep any nasty fumes outdoors where they belong.

Then...

...began laying on some heat barrier material. Will probably add some sound deadening over that.

ONWARD!

ol trunt · 10-21-2018, 08:54 PM

Hey Tango. As always, a handsome job. Its the attention to detail that I admire.

I was looking at the pics of the engine side of your firewall the other day and was again struck by how similar that part looks on our buses despite the ten year age difference. I've always been interested in parts interchange between makes and models. We are of similar age so I'm sure you remember when the big Sears catalog had fully a third devoted to auto parts. As a kid I'd spend hours pouring over the catalog seeing which parts interchanged with what cars. This was long before Hollanders became the junk yard bible. That said, and since I don't have a project going I decided to follow up on our cowl. Long story longer, That panel was introduced in 1930 to better acomodate the length of the original stove bolt 6. It was used without modification thru 1946. The visible outside cowl was used from '30-'33, redesigned a bit for '33-'38 and finally retooled for '39-46. The 1 ton and 1 1/2 ton frame was used during the entire period as were the spring hangers and leaf springs.

Without boring you more I'll just add that I followed the cowl, chassis and suspension through the '91 model and still found a few chassis parts from 1930 still in use. Jack

Tango · 10-21-2018, 09:23 PM

Amazing how many parts can "interchange" Jack. Bad news is, these days, even armed with super-computers, the morons at most parts houses don't have a clue and don't want to know. Without a VIN number they can't even track down lug nuts for a specific year, make & model (ask me how I know). Sad.

The most impressed I have been in a long time was the gal who answered the phone at Eaton Detroit. I called prepared to go through the usual long winded, no VIN number,"custom build" story but when I told her I needed new leaf springs for a "1946 1-1/2 ton Chevy Wayne school bus"...she didn't hesitate one second. She immediately came back with "The 160 or 195 inch wheelbase hon?"

I just about fell over.

Been a loooonnngg time since anyone I spoke with in the parts biz seemed to know anything about the parts they sell daily let alone anything this obscure. Nice to know there are still at least one or two that know their stuff.

Tango · 10-24-2018, 09:12 PM

More layers --- Added some sound deadening material...then laid some more heat insulation on top of that. Well..some of it.

1/2" thick foam sound deadener over the heat barrier...then...

...used up the rest of the heat material. Two additional layers on the side closest to the turbo and one extra layer next to where my leg will be. Wish I had a little more but I'm just too cheap to spring for another full roll.

Tango · 10-27-2018, 06:04 PM

Well...here's one for the X-Files --- After having my doghouse on & off at least a hundred times over the last year or so with nary an issue (sit in place...raise up...slide forward...drops in place)...it somehow magically changed size and would NOT go on! Makes no sense whatsoever. Plenty of room (till now) and never so much as the slightest hitch. At first I figured maybe the open end had somehow spread or gotten bumped in...but no. It was the part across the top that refused to cooperate. NO WAY that part could have shrunk that much from any temperature difference or been torqued out of shape. WTF! The seal and insulation are non factors. They are all well behind the offending metal areas.
I even had a builder buddy take a look to see if it was some form of stupidity/blindness/insanity on my part but he came to the same conclusion. The upper portion of steel was now narrower than the frame it had to rest on and ain't goin' on without some grinding.

I wound up taking off maybe 1/16th on each side and...plunk. Drops right into place the way it always has.

This one is going to haunt me a while.

So...with that issue resolved, I moved back onto the roof rack.

Front view of laying in some cross members.

And from the rear.

And yes...

...I'm gonna need more clamps while test fitting all the pieces.

ONWARD!

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