Scruffy49

I have a Ranger axle and rear ABS going into my 49 B1B. Parts were free, ought as well use them. 230 engine swap for now, keeping the top loader 3 speed. Static drop period low rider, fender skirts, 2 tone paint, the whole nine yards. Ranger bucket seats, generic floor mount console, wood strip headliner, aged copper laminate door and kick panels. Have fun with it. That's what old trucks are for.

Pull and toss the original rear axle. Get one out of a Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Ranger, S10, Dakota, etc. If you aren't going for a stone stock 100 point vehicle, update whatever you can. I'm currently keeping the 230 and 3 on the floor with my old 218 as a back up block. But if I get a smoking deal on a 302 or 351 Windsor, all bets are off. If I decide to make my B1B have a tilt nose, the 318/727 out of the Sweptline could go right into the PH. The Sweptline can sit and rot until I get a front mount dizzy equipped engine for it, and I'm not pulling the 413/727 out of the RV to stuff into a half ton. I have a bad lumbar spine, my shoulders are shot, and I wake up every morning with my knees on fire. I'd rather crush a rig with a rear mount dizzy than deal with it these days. I'm 41, don't see how the OLD guys on the forum manage somedays.

My USA 49 B1B has similar markings. It's assembly line inspectors crayon. If you like it, be careful working around it, if you don't like it, when you acetone scrub the firewall clean... it will be gone for good. My truck is getting a full color change, so away it goes. Firewall looks like it is coated in asphalt, have to clean it before I can paint it. Edited because "fumble fingers" hit caps lock, need to pry that button out of my keyboard.

If that 54 was closer to home, I'd be on my way to get it. I could use a heavier duty truck. Monstrous pecan harvest in a month or so... and it happens every other year. Give's me time to get a truck like that going again and back earning its keep.

That works too. I like it.

You should realistically see 16-18 with a 318/727 in a Pilot House. My 69 Sweptline (and dozens of other on that board) usually gets around 11mpg on a good day, much less on an average day. You want a 4bbl intake off a 273, a 450 cfm carb, and a light foot to get decent fuel economy. The current crop of aluminum 318 intakes are all the wrong sized ports, they are spec'd for 340/360 big port heads, and most 318s had small (teeny tiny microscopic) intake ports. I plan to pull the perfectly good 318/727 out of my Sweptline and toss in a 413/727 or a Ford 352-390/C6 combo. Won't own a rear mount dizzy engine anymore. Even the 262 V6 in the 85 C10 is going to be swapped for a 292 straight 6 to get rid of the rear mount dizzy. Hate them, whoever designed that system should be burned in effigy, his descendents sterilized and lobotomized, and when they die spread their ashes as fertilizer to purge such defective genes...

One of my friends owns one of those Paul. I'd buy it in a heart beat if the price was a bit more realistic, which would be about $1400. That car needs a lot to be made correct again.

That truck made the Colorado Sweptline Cruise this year. Paul, hit up Pacific Fabrics, they usually have bright blue marine grade vinyl that would look great on your bed cover. Flat black to match your tires would look good as well. Now you need a couple Huffy Cranbrook beach cruisers in blue and cream on the lid... You did say you have grand kids if I remember correctly (my photographic memory is now about as accurate as an early Polaroid that was stored improperly)...

Nice starting point. If the chassis, axles, springs and such are in decent shape, run with it. If not, C4 Corvette stuff is within 1/16 inch of drilling a few holes in the frame and bolting the parts on. 1/32" shim stock on each side of the frame will get you spot on perfect... That's according to the Art Morrison chassis guys, used to work down the road from them, measurements taken off my 49 B1B truck.

I like that. To the point I may do that to my bumper instead of sawing it off and using just a filler panel under the tailgate. Have to see if it can be straightened before I make my final decision in it.

Late model swap?

I've got a core 6v with the wide pulley if you need it. Last time had it checked (2008 or so) it was working, now, no idea. Truck hasn't moved under its own power since 1994.

Hmmm, that yellow building looks an awful lot like the St Regis Montana area, did you guys pull in and see the trout collection? Or see all the marijuana plants in the ditches through that area? Literally a generic weed around there, it has gone native. How did the car like coming down the hill from the Wild Horse pull off, across the Columbia River at Vantage, and then up Ryegrass? Those two hills are notorious for destroying tractor trailers. Be glad you aren't back in west TN yet, been raining almost 24 hours now, Shelby County smells like dead fish. Had friends roll out yesterday, said it poured until Little Rock, but was at least drizzling all the way past Fort Smith turn off from I-40... If your schedule allows, lose I-5 at Kelso-Longview WA, cross the Columbia into Oregon and follow 101. Seaside is a nice little town, Astoria is very interesting (don't stop, the car will insta-rust), you'll go right past Fort Clatsop (Lewis and Clark's winter lodgings). If you have to make up time, wait until you've gone through Tillamook before hooking east to I-5, you want to avoid the "Pornland" (Portland) metroplex at all costs if the car won't clear 80 mph comfortably with room to spare. FYI, it is illegal to pump your own fuel in Oregon, don't even try unless the attendant is scared that he will damage the car. And a LOT of stations have strange pricing, they are priced per liter, as the state tried for the last several decades to become part of Europe (failed miserably, other than the blatantly rampant communism)...

Supposedly was done with the swap to 12v, whatever year that was, 54 or 55... Can't remember right off hand, pulled a 3pm to 10 pm shift yesterday, have a 7am to 1 pm shift today. Almost too tired to read the screen, let alone the Bunn book that has the info.

I get them locally. 25 cents a pop. Stainless, the only thing I hate more than chrome is flat black sporting red wheels and wide whites... over done, to death and then some. It was fine when it first came out, but the neo-greasers have worn that look (really that whole scene) out.

I've been following it. I want that car, but even with a town job, I'm too broke to even think about taking it off your hands.

Early winter this year. S'posed to be a chilly 77 for the high here Sunday, low of 54... This time of year, that is arctic temps compared to normal. And it has been raining all morning. Not good, have some motorcycle forum friends in from out of town, tent camping...

Nice car. I had to look up the actres online, I'd never heard of her.

Because the Screaming Chicken and the Commonaro are the same car. Just different trim kits. The T-top (Berlinetta trim package) was a factory option on later years of that body style, I owned one. Hated the car almost as much as the engine it had in it (aluminum head 350). Every time it was foggy, I got soaked, the t-top seals leaked.

Perfect hole fillers, kind of spendy though, you can beat this price elsewhere...http://www.jpcycles.com/product/970-666 Have fun with it, if you are building a surf wagon, you can go tacky as a Tijuana taxi and it will still look right.

Hemi and T5 should be a good bit lighter weight. A LOT less metal in the block. I had a first gen Hemi in a sand rail, rear mount, adapted to a Porsche transaxle. Fun while everything held together.

Hope you have a good turn out, the south east version was a flop. 3 motorcycles showed up, no Pilot Houses, no cars, no Sweptlines, not even the local C10 guys who live 30 minutes or less away. Yesterday was alright, we ran up to Dixie Gun Works, I priced my cannons and Gatling guns (decor only, the main house is 1840s built and survived the War of Northern Aggression intact), got the experts to check over my 12g cap lock doule barrel muzzleloader (make a new stock, put back in service)... other than that, they just want to eat at Botulism Bob's or Ptomaine Ptommy's and tinker with a misbehaving bike. Almot glad my town job is interfering, although I was semi-retired (not by choice) when the get together was planned...

My 49 was going to go 4x4 but the running gear got stolen, 84 Ramcharger chassis and complete running driving power train. So instead I'm building a low rider out of it. Period correct low rider, no hydraulics or air bags, or similar goofy garbage. Just decent paint, clean wide whites for show use and clean 15 radials for normal driving (full wheel covers for the 78 Dodge truck rims). Hardwood interior, aged copper interior trim... pretty much what my Grandpa and I had planned to do to it when it was still sleeping in his barn. One of my younger brother's daughters (triplet red head girls, I really feel for him) will end up with it. Can't trust my stepson with it, he's kind of defective... just how many Amp or Sparks energy drinks does it take to get a D.U.I. anyway..?

Stock? Aw man... If that was mine it would have 440, 727 and C4 Corvette suspension... kidding, but I'd love to drop both my L6s in the pond and run a V8. Top speed on my truck as built is 53 miles per hour, wound up as tight as it can go w/o breaking anything. The original truck 218 snapped its crankshaft in half back in 58 or 63... the replacement 218 has broken rings, and the replacement 230 needs a ton of work to be "right" for my build tastes. I'm kind of the forum oddball, my 49 B1B is undergoing a static drop, getting fender skirts, Spring Specil style paint and a bunch of other period low rider touches... It is already slow, might as well be low...

If memory serves, a fully dressed 218 with truck bell and top loader 3 speed comes in just under 1200 pounds. Or just a touch over. I do know for a fact that the assembled engine was right at 950 pounds, 2000# capacity scale hanging off a forklift.