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`41 Chevy Truck Project

This is the project: a 1941 Chevy pickup. It started in "sort of" original condition: 6-cylinder 216 engine (rebuilt in 1977 and then parked for 35 years), original 3 speed transmission, torque tube rear end. And some not so original: early 50's rear fenders, heavy duty (custom?) rear bumper, welded-on spare tire rack. With a lot of maintenance, it probably could have been driven more or less as-is, but I know it wouldn't be very practical that way. With 90 horse power, a wildly sloppy shifter, a solid I-beam front suspension, and geared for a top speed of 50 MPH, this would drive more like a tractor than a modern truck. I don't think the transmission even has synchros. It would be fine on the farm, but it's not something that I would want to dive in traffic.

My plan is to replace all of the drive train and suspension, to bring it up to more modern standards of driveability.

History

I didn't buy this truck. It has been in my family longer than I have. That alone makes it special. I am told that this truck belonged to Sacramento Box and Lumber Company back in the 50's. My grandfather was a foreman at the lumber mill, and this was his company provided truck. When the mill closed in 1965, he arranged to keep the truck.

Sacramento Box Lumber Mill in Woodleaf CA, in the 50's

Growing up, I remember this truck always parked somewhere around my grandfathers ranch... out behind the garage, in the tank-house, or maybe in the barn, but I don't remember it ever running. In the 70's, my grandfather gave the truck to my cousin, who was in high school at the time, and an aspiring mechanic. He rebuilt the essentially stock engine, and was driving the truck around Oroville in 1977. But it's not an easy truck to drive, and after the novelty wore off of driving what was even then a very old truck, he found himself driving much newer vehicles and leaving the old truck parked.

Decades went by, he tried to get his own kids interested in the truck, but no luck. Eventually I (maybe foolishly) decided that I wanted to take this on. He told me from the beginning that this truck has no antique value. This was a serious work truck in its early days, and had many modifications over the years to where it is of little interest to collectors or restorers. But to me, that is fine. It means I dont have to feel guilty about making changes and upgrades.











In March of 2011, my cousin brought the truck down to me in Fremont, and so began my adventure.      

Goals

Usually I see old cars restored as either hotrods, or as original antiques. But my goal is to make this a functional pickup truck again. Something that is reasonably easy and fun to drive, and looks more or less original. The whole point in an old car is to have something fairly unique. Something that you dont see every day.

These are some of my goals:

• Reliable
• Easy to start and drive
• Modern handling (for a truck)
• Modern brakes (even ABS if possible)
• Low emissions (most old cars stink! Literally)
• More or less "stock looking"
• Still capable of hauling half a ton
• Cant break the bank
• Fun to build (a chance to use all those tools in my garage)

To meet these goals, all of the drive train and suspension will need to be replaced. There have been vast improvements in all areas of engine, transmission, steering, brakes, etc. to where keeping any of the original mechanics does not make sense. I thought about doing a whole frame swap (S10, Dakota, or similar modern truck chassis), which in theory, upgrades everything in one big step. I eventually decided against this for two reasons: 1. This seems to me like kind of a kludgey approach, and 2) this one BIG step may be beyond my abilities. So I will be adding new pieces to the original chassis.

Engine

Original 216 Engine

In the spirit of keeping it "original" looking, and to best fit the engine compartment, I am going to keep an in-line 6 cylinder engine. The Chevy 230/250/292 series engines are of the same basic design as the small block Chevy V8, in terms of technology. Even many of the peripheral parts are interchangeable with the very popular SBC engine (starter, flywheel, oil filter, etc.), which will help with parts availability. This engine series was made from 1963 until 1989.

There are more modern in-line six engines (Toyota had a nice one in the 80's Supra), but for my purposes, a 60's Chevy should be the easiest and least expensive approach.

Transmission

Original 3 speed transmission

I am one of those odd-balls that likes manual transmissions. It is partially that I am in full control of the gear selection, and partially the novelty of driving something that fewer and fewer people are capable of driving these days. Everyone else puts a TH350 or R700 automatic in there trucks, but that's not for me.

I do want to take advantage of the most modern 5 speed designs, so I wound up selecting a New Venture 3500 transmission used in late 90's Chevy trucks. This will bolt right up to the 230/250/292 six cylinder engines (as well as the SBC V8), so it should be a straight forward upgrade. One thing of note is that modern transmissions (of any type) are MUCH bigger than the original '41 gear box (which is laughably small) so clearance will most likely need to be added to the floor pan, frame cross members, and maybe firewall.

Another thing to consider in the selection process is that modern five and six speed manual transmissions are very long, and usually have the shifter located way to the back, intended for long sports cars with the shifter between the seats. The old trucks had the shifter on top of the transmission, only inches behind the bell housing. The NV3500 was built for a truck, and has the shifter located towards the middle of the transmission, about 4 inches farther back than the original 41. This will allow the shifter to come up through the floor, without interfering with a bench seat.

Rear End and Rear Suspension

The original rear end in this truck was the old torque tube design, where essentially, the drive shaft held the torque of the rear wheels, instead of the leaf springs or other suspension parts. This design disappeared in the 50's and rear ends have not changed much sense. Replacing the rear end is relatively simple. Most any rear end made in the last 50 years will work, you just need to find the right width (about 60 inches from hub to hub). Other considerations are the wheel bolt pattern, and strength (largely measured by ring gear size). I also wanted to find a rear end new enough to support ABS sensors, thought I have not been successful in that. Rear ends have gotten wider over the years, and anything new enough to have ABS is too wide for my truck.

I have read the the leaf springs also need to be replaced. Apparently the design of the springs had to change to support the wheel torque, though I dont see any obvious difference just looking at them.

Front Suspension

Emissions

You rarely see any car enthusiast talk about smog equipment in a positive light. Emissions equipment is always bad, pull it off and throw it away. In California, vehicles older than 1975 are smog exempt. My truck and engine are older than that, so legally I don't need any smog. But every time I get behind a 70's or older vehicle in traffic, even one that looks nicely restored and maintained, it usually smells of gas fumes and exhaust..  

Catalytic converters, introduced in the early 70's, made a huge difference in hydrocarbon emissions, and I think are worth the extra cost and effort to make a car clean running and, well, not smell bad. I plan to do as much as I can on my 60 vintage engine, to bring it up to (down to?) 80's or 90's emission levels. This includes PCV, sealed gas tank, carbon canister, EGR, and of course, catalytic converter.

There are issues with a catalytic converter, they are easily damaged by an excessively rich mixture or poor running engine. It might require fuel injection to get the fuel control necessary, but still, this is one of my goals.