'48 Chev extended cab

blkblk63ss

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
alaska gasser said:
[QUOTE="For all the money I've put in a car I still can't drive, I could have bought a Prius. However, it wouldn't have the same class!
Click to expand...

So true.

I am doubting being able to make the Aug. 7th together date due to the amount of bodywork still to go and drying times between all the primer / paint coats. Even so, when I dug out my front pan, I remembered Chevy screwed up on the design and I can't stand it. I was going to leave it for now , but just couldn't do it.







No clue why they left the big flat spot on the end of the passenger side. Made a quick pattern of the driver's side, found some metal the right thickness, welded it on and voila. Honest, it was welded all the way around after the photo.



Lookin like it should have from the factory.

[/QUOTE]
Fascinated with your skill,,, wish you had shown more in between fabrication .wondering how you did this .Do you use much bondo. .???
 
alaska gasser

alaska gasser

Well Known Member
Thanks. I made the filler piece close enough that the welds, once ground, were basically where the body lines belonged. A very thin skim of putty cleaned up the minor imperfections before primer.

After a few hours work (about 35) since May 29th, I finished the bodywork on the bed.









I also finished the bodywork on the cab last Saturday morning (about 200 hours) since May 29th and took it into work for primer.















A good friend of mine helped with the cab when he could. When he first walked in and saw it, he said "Wow! Every square inch of this thing has to be worked."
 
alaska gasser

alaska gasser

Well Known Member
It's been quite awhile, but things have been a little crazy since I last posted. I was working full time and then on the truck up to about 1-3 am every day until we left Alaska in October. (That also included packing, selling stuff, repairing the property to sell and finishing the Airstream enough to be roadworthy) After arriving in New Mexico, we started remodeling our new house and then found a 4,000 square foot building Nov. 7th that we remodeled in 5 weeks to open my wife's new quilting store. Prior to leaving AK, my camera died and we finally found the charger and were able to get the pic's downloaded, so here they are.

After blocking out the truck, I sealed it with DP90 and then sealed all the edges.







Back into primer.



Smoothed the front cross member also.



Smoothed out the stake pockets and joints.



Sandblasted the running boards for primer. They look better than they are due to lots of cracks and about 6 layers of paint.



Sandblasted the hood and shot it with DP40. It doesn't show up well, but both rear edges of it (right and left) were bent down.



I cut cork gasket material to help fill the gap between the inner support and outer sheet metal after I removed the remaining brittle bonding material that had been there. Then I "glued the cork in with windshield urethane and added an extra bead along both edges of the inner support.



I don't have any pic's, but that really tightened up the outer sheet metal. I then held a heel dolly on the inside of the back lip and beat the heck out of the metal using directional hammer strikes towards the back lip. This slowly straightened up the downward bends it had and kept the metal tight and from stretching and getting floppy again.

Then the whole hood was body worked, including the inside. I hate seeing a nicely finished vehicle and when you look at the inside of the hood, it looks like the surface of the moon.



After the final blocking, I moved the truck out to Brenden's shop. My buddy that I mentioned earlier that helped with the bodywork as I was quickly running out of time to get it in flat black and get out of Alaska before winter hit.











More to come.
 
P

Phil Reed

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 10
Looks great Eugene!!!!
Can you post some pictures of your house in Soldotna???? I just loved what I saw earlier.
 
alaska gasser

alaska gasser

Well Known Member
The plan when starting the truck was to build a rat rod and save some time and money on bodywork. That quickly changed to making the body smooth, but not super straight and shooting it flat black. Then drive it for awhile, work the bugs out, finish up the loose ends (make the trim around the windows fit, install power window mechanisms, install a hidden gas filler door, fully straighten out the body, etc.) Jackie always hated the flat black plan. One night at Brenden's he over heard her talking about the color she wanted to see it in. Once the truck was in black sealer again, he called and told me he would shoot it any color I wanted, mentioned how close to straight it really was and that he felt black wasn't the right one. He said he kept envisioning it in the color he heard Jackie mention. I went out, looked at it and agreed with him. I then borrowed color books going back into the 60's from another friend, took them home, gave them to Jackie and said pick a color. I had already chosen a dark charcoal for the interior and firewall as I wanted the dash and firewall in finish paint prior to assembly.








On went the exterior finish color, 2015 GM Laser blue. Jackie was really stressed and said she was worried she would not choose a color I would be happy with. I think it looks great.



Doors back on.





 
alaska gasser

alaska gasser

Well Known Member
Turning blue.



Bed on. It looks like a long bed, but it's a stock length short bed. One person mentioned it looks like a land yacht now. With the back fenders and running boards on, it looks a lot more proportionate.






Just after taking these pic's it started to rain and I couldn't resist the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
[/UR
Got the back fenders on and took it home to install the motor. Then back to Brenden's.
[URL=http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/JLHunter1969/media/Extended%20Pickup/Es%20Camera%20312_zpsvvr7nunn.jpg.html]

Many thanks to Brenden and Tom for all their help!! A truly great couple of guys.


Here is where my camera died. We got the front fenders and hood buffed and installed before the truck went into the trailer two days later to leave Alaska. I need to find the last couple pic's that are on Jackie's camera and then shove it out of the garage and get a few of it together here.[/URL]
 
pg409

pg409

Well Known Member
Eugene......................gave you a shot on the Canuck forum...haha
New Mexico gets snow................where is yours ?????
 
alaska gasser

alaska gasser

Well Known Member
Thanks. Hopefully be able to drive it next year as there is no spare time or money with getting the new business off the ground this year. I'm trying to trade my big enclosed trailer for something that I can drive this year and enjoy the great weather here.
 
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