1940 Chevy Pickup

Frame Rebuild

(click a picture to see a larger view)

I found a local restoration/speed shop named Hops Speed Shop in Jefferson, GA.  I stopped by and chatted with Keith a couple of times and decided to let him do some of the work on the chassis.  He cut off the unneeded parts, sand-blasted and painted the frame.  I chose to not powder coat the frame because I'm not building a real show truck and painting it was about a third of the cost.  The pictures below show the frame right after the painting.

 

One of the running board brackets still has to be attached, along with the cab mounts.

 

Front End Suspension

I decided to go back with a Mustang II IFS front-end kit.  After doing some research online and in some magazines, I found that there are a handful of manufacturers and a large number of distributors across the country.  I found pricing that also varies greatly from $1,300 to $2,400+ for these kits.  Depending on the type of restoration your doing, one of the more expensive, "flashy" front-ends might be more suitable.  Since my truck is not being built for show and will be mostly a weekend driver, I chose one of the less-expensive models that I found, which should work just fine.

The one I chose came from Southern Rods in Greer, SC.  Southern Rods sells a wide variety of hot rod and street rod parts.  They OEM the IFS cross-member kit from one of the manufacturers.  They wouldn't tell me which one because of their agreement with them.  It should work fine for my truck.  I did find that some of Southern's  parts lines leaned more towards Ford parts instead of Chevy, but they might be a good outlet for certain Chevy parts that I might need down the road.  The following pictures show the front-end kit and the parts that come with it.

One thing to note on this kit is that it does not come with boxing plates, as mentioned in the Installation Guide provided by Southern Rods.  Apparently, the instruction sheet is a duplicate of the manufacturer's instructions.  If you purchase it from the manufacturer, they would include the boxing plates.  Southern Rods does not include them.  This is one of the things that they say helps them keep their pricing lower, which is understandable.  I would have preferred to have gotten everything that I needed up front or at the very least, had instructions that were accurate.  This kit is far from being a special front-end, but hopefully it will work fine for my needs on this truck.  I decided to go with the standard height spindles, instead of the 2" lowered option.  I prefer the standard height look better than the lowered version.  I also purchased the upgrade for power steering.  It was only a $40 option on the kit. 

Unfortunately, Hop's turned out to be a bust.  I feel like I did okay on getting frame cleaned up and painted.  With the installation of the front-end kit though, it was different.  He charged more than double what I was expecting and then didn't fully complete the job before I decided to pick up the frame and pull the plug on Hop's.  It also appeared that he didn't have a good grasp on fully completing the installation and getting everything lined up correctly, so I got an uneasy feeling about him.  At the same time, while he was working on the front end, I chatted with multiple people locally that had either dealt with Keith directly in the past or had heard stories about other people's dealings with him, and the verdict was not good at all.  So, big lesson learned...do more homework before getting someone to work on the truck.  I did make a couple of good contacts through this process though, so all is not totally.

 

Rear End

After doing some searches online and reading through posts on the Stovebolt web site, I found that a rear-end from an S10 4WD would work as a replacement rear end on my truck.  I hope that this is true because I called around and found one at Hulsey Truck Parts, Inc. in Gainesville, GA.  Luckily, this was only about 10 miles from my house.  This was my first visit to Hulsey's and I found that they have an extensive supply of truck parts for just about everything that you can imagine.  Johnny was very helpful with answering my questions.  He also let me take a close look at his '32 Ford Coupe and '32 Ford Pickup that he restored himself  a number of years ago.  They looked really, really good.  Johnny also supplied me with the shackles, emergency brake cables and a compatible drive shaft that should work once we know the proper length.

 

The rear end came from a 2004 S10 4WD Pickup and the drive shaft came from a 1996 S10 Blazer.  The gear ratio of 3.73 should work fine with the transmission that I'll be going with (700R4) once I get to that part of the setup.  Since the coupling on the end of both the rear end housing and the drive shaft matches, it shouldn't be too difficult to get the drive shaft modified to fit.  The following are some pics of the rear end and drive shaft:

 

 

My brother and I got the rear end degreased and cleaned up, then we repainted it.  I also installed new pads and rotors because the old ones were shot.  Here are some after pics:

 

 

 

Tires and Wheels

As you know, there are tons and tons of tire and wheel options available.  After doing some exhaustive research, I finally decided on my tire and wheel options.  When choosing a wheel, there are several pieces of information that you need to know before making a selection, besides the obvious.  I didn't know much about wheel specs and with the help of some web sites and a couple of online buddies, I was able to find the details.  I found this diagram on one of the web sites and it was helpful.  It shows some key measurements for wheel construction that may be helpful for some (click the picture for a larger view).

I chose to go with Cragar S/S Super Sport wheels.  According to Cragar, this wheel is the "most popular design in custom wheel history".  It was created originally in 1964.  I like the classic look.

Cragar has a large number of distributors, both retail stores and online.  After checking multiple online sites and pricing at a local store, I decided to purchase them from www.jegs.com, located in Delaware, OH.  They stock the model and size that I needed and could ship within 1-2 days.  The following are the specs on the wheels:

 

61 Series S/S Super Sport

  
 

Part Number

 617934
 

New Part Number

 17273602B
 

Rim Size

 17 x 9
 

Bolt Pattern

 5 x 4.75
 

Offset MM

 -13
 

Rear Spacing (back space)

 4 1/2"
 

Weight

 40
 

Load Rating

 1580
 

Lug Nut Type

 E/T

For the tires, I went with the Bridgestone Potenza model tires, size 275/40R17.  Based on input that I've gotten from others that have restored a '40 pickup (Thanks Bruce!), this size tire should work fine on my truck.  I've been going to the Gainesville location of Firestone for a number of years and never had any problem with my tires from them.  Fred Adams is one of the managers there and he's good to me.  I also found a number of good reviews on these tires, with the exception that they are not good for traction in snow.  Since I live in GA and I wouldn't be driving this truck even if it was snowing, this won't be a problem for me.

Here are some pics of the tires and wheels, right after I washed them.

 

The Rolling Chassis

After some good work by Andy and his crew at Resurrection Auto Body, the chassis is finally sitting on all four wheels.  Here are a few pics that I took while at his shop: