1949 Chevy, Viper powered

Been working on this since November '09, drove the checy into the garage, was flat black, pretty basic, nothing fancy, '79 chevy truck 350 SBC with a 350 Turbo attached to it. No gimmics or anything modern in it, just carbureted automatic, had a 80's camaro posi rear end under it, stock front straight axle converted to disc brakes. I am building it to be a daily driving 10 second show car. Started by tearing it down to the frame, narrowing and boxing the frame, mustang 2 IFS, 4 link rear, all on bags. I WAS looking at putting an LS3 with a T-56 in it, but came across something better. Bought a wrecked Dodge Ram SRT-10. Cammed and catless had 565 wheel HP, and 4.88 rear end gears. Used the motor, trans, rear end, brakes (15 inch front rotors, 14 inch rears). going to use the seats and adjustable pedal assembly as well, but i am not that far yet. 305/25/22's on the rear, 245/35/20's up front on KMC Nova Chrome wheels. here is how she sits now, while i am in Iraq for 4 months working. Hoping to finish it up by september. Black and red leather interior, and either corvette red or ferrarri red paint outside.

Cool truck Looks good in between the frame rails, even tho it is a dodge LOL JK . Think God you did not put a ford in it LOL . Really tho looks good, wheels look good too.

Thats on its way to being a fine looking, running pick-em up,
unusual for sure,,, :) keep the pictures coming,

Remember to make sure you can get a decent radiator to help cool that HP. You want to use something with at least 2 rows of 1.25" tube width. It's going to be one wicked truck when it's done but don't make the cooling system an afterthought.

Thanks for the comments, I am pretty sure it will be getting an Afco radiator, custom built with the 2 inch water necks for the Viper to keep it cool, already have the 3000CFM push fan. I don't think too much is an afterthought on this beast, i own just about everything i need to build this truck, owned it or had it on order before i even picked up the '49! My goal was to have the thing together and driveable by April (minus paint, just road testing), but got sent to Iraq til July, so now i am aiming for September, with paint. Most of the things i do not have are cosmetic, or things i have to fit something else before i order what i need. I have a list of all of that. This is my first street rod, but not my first car. In the background of one of the pics you can see the yellow nose and red body of a dirt late model. Built many of those and raced them as well (from 14yrs old to 26yrs, 28 now). Too many summer trips to Iraq (racing season) and kinda let that go to the wayside, needed a new hobby that involved cars, so this is it, and sad to say, its way more fun, even though i don't get to rub fenders and sling it sideways every weekend! Anyways, here are some pics of the Motor mounts of how i got that thing shoved in there, the left side had to be special to allow the steering to clear it, and the motor mounts stretch all the way down to the bottom lip of the frame so i don't have to worry about stress cracks in the sidewall of the chassis. In the middle of them they are also poly urethane mounted. Also attached some of the boxing of the frame, frame was also narrowed behind the cab about 8 inches to fit the tires without widening the fenders. All of it was jigged while doing that too. Very nice Mustang 2 front from Fulltiltstreetrods.com. Dad owns a fab shop, so i can build about anything, everything you see i have done on my own, only things i forsee needing assistance on are final body work (sanding/blocking/paint) and electronics/wiring. Going to have custom headers made by Stainless Header Mfg, as the eshaust manifolds on the Viper are very restrictive, and they come out right on top of the frame rails.

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Originally Posted by sunsetdart

Remember to make sure you can get a decent radiator to help cool that HP. You want to use something with at least 2 rows of 1.25" tube width. It's going to be one wicked truck when it's done but don't make the cooling system an afterthought.

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I own just about every part to finish the truck besides stuff that i have to fit other parts then buy the right part. Talked to Afco about a radiator, custom build to fit and capable of cooling the beast. Here are some pictures of the Motor mounts and boxing of the frame. Done every bit of work myself, dad owns a fab shop and i have been welding and building stuff since i was 6 (28 now). And i am an engineer, so i can design most anything i need thats "special". the motor mounts go from the top of the frame to the bottom, so i shouldn't have to worry about stress cracking of the boxing plates. Boxing plates are 3/16, and motor mounts are 3/16 with poly mounts stuffed inside. Notice the left motor mount had to be fabbed to clear the steering shaft clearance. Mustang 2 IFS is from Fulltilt, with a few modifications by me during install for strength. Having a fab shop we see a bit of everything and I know where the weak points are from having to fix cracks and re-enforce other peoples builds after they drive them and they break.

Sorry for the dual posts... they weren't getting approved for days at a time, thus i thought they didn't get posted. Oops.

1st picture: Stripped, ground, wire wheeled the entire frame, welded nuts into every mounting hole that would be used, and painted the interior of the frame rails with primer.

2nd-4th pictures: Welded spreader bars across front and back, removed cross members (besides center), replaced one bad section of frame near front steering box stock location, primered inside of rails and began fitting boxing plate in 3 pieces per side. Used 3/16" plate for all boxing plate, cut straight pieces, marked to fit, cut with plasma, ground smooth, primered inside of plates, tack welded into place.

5th picture: With 2 front sections of boxing plate, radiator crossmember, and front suspension crossmember fit and tacked in place; placed frame on steel table and created jig to hold it in place, level and straight to narrow rear of frame for wide tires (305/25/22, didn't want to widen fenders). narrowed rear of frame 8 inches, 4 on each side, strung, centerlined, squared, everything necessary to ensure straightness. Welded new rear cross bar in place.

*more to follow. Some pictures missing inbetween these steps because the file is too large and shrinking it would take away what happened between them.

1st picture: From front, mustang 2 cross member in place, radiator cross member in place, front plates in place, frame narrowed in rear, all done while in jig built from steel table.

2nd picture: bed mounts moved out to retain same mounting location on bed with the narrowed rear frame.

3rd picture: Left rear boxing plate fit and tacked in place.

4th picture: Frame reinfoced inside where stock crossmember was located, note that is is also where the frame was notched to narrow the rear section. This is all behind the cab, front bed mounting holes are still in stock location. Frame was rusty and thin/pitted where the original cross member was located, necessitating the reinforcement being added, but also helps reinforce the notched section of the frame.

5th picture: Center Frame boxing section installed, tacked into place.

All pieces were primed inside, tacked in place in the jig, and most stitching was done in the jig as well.

Skipping some pictures because they are already shown above, of the frame fully welded, ground, re-welded, ground, and then sanded smooth to appear as a clean tubular frame.

1st picture: Left front suspension and tire bolted up.

2nd picture: right front suspension, Wilwood hubs, 2 inch drop spindles, tubular A-frames.

3rd picture: front suspension and 15" cross drilled, slotted rotors from 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10.

4th picture: Front tire/wheel, 20x8.5 wheel, 265/30/20 tires. Showing brake rotor and caliper (mocked location) installed. Have to fabricate mounting brackets for the calipers to mate up to the Mustang 2 spindles.

1st picture: Narrowed the rear end from the Dodge Ram SRT-10, 6 inches out of each side to keep the pinion centered. Its a Dana super 60, 35 spline axles, 4.88 posi. Tubes are straight, and 3.5" OD, 2.5" ID, heavy stuff, so easy to narrow. Axles were shipped to Moser for shortening. Rear end was with in 1/32" of 12 inches.

2nd picture: V groove and centerline prior to welding of narrowed rear end housing. After narrowing welding and grinding you can't even see where it was narrowed, inside you can't even feel the cut line (no weld inside). Came out as straight as it was before i cut it. The heavy straight tubes helped that a lot, most rearends have swedged tubes or thin wall and makes it so you need a kit to line up the bearings. Cost me $242 to have the axles shortened, everything else was done by myself (not my first rear end narrowing job).

3rd picture: Because of narrowing the frame to fit the wide tires, 4-link had to go inside the frame, picture shows brackets welded to the fabricated crossmemeber. All of it fits under the bed with no modifications.

4th picture: Motor, Trans, and Modified X-member installed. The beast of motor/trans combo left little room to make it a true "X". The bars are parallel and tied into the rear cross member. Trans mount, drive shaft loop, rear cab mount (another cross member) will all be tied into this, plus bracing added. Motor mounts are located in previous posts.

5th picture: This is how she sits until i get home in July. Motor mounted, cab off, though it has been on and fitted since the motor was installed.

Have to mount the air bags, air tank/compressor, battery, fuel system, build a fuel tank, add a crossmember behind the rear end (air bag/Fuel tank mount), fabricate a panhard bar or Watts linkage, and a hand full of other things before i tackle getting it running and move to the interior and touch up the rest of the body and build a new firewall, all kinds of fun stuff!

Looks great! Keep up the good work on this unique and cool build. That thing should really scoot with a v10!!!!:cool:

Don Jr.

A nice cool build and some thing so different . Been a while any thing to update on the Truck .

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Originally Posted by bluestang67

A nice cool build and some thing so different . Been a while any thing to update on the Truck .

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Still in Iraq for another month, have all kinds of parts sitting in the garage at home to finish it when i get home next month though! Dad has worked on it a little bit, but nothing drastic has changed, so no new pictures. I will up date quite a bit when i get back home!

Have a bit of progress, sorry for the lack of updates, i will try to do better. Been hard at work since my return from overseas.

More progress. Modified the cab mounts and fabricated some rear cab mounts since the driveshaft runs right through the original center mount. New firewall, new floor, new drive shaft, lots of hours in fabricating all that sheet metal to fit correctly and look correct. the firewall and setback was all done completely off the truck, just the "measure twice, cut once" method, and it all turned out correctly. Floor was done mounted to the frame, because i had to square the cab up and mount it then put the floor in. Was about an inch out of square. Truck had a drivers side impact that had been repaired previously, so might be the cause of it being out of square. Pretty interesting stuff. One cab mount you could see through, so it got cut out and replaced. Made a makeshift jig to hold the cab in place while changing the cab mount out. Every task that should take 5 minutes, takes hours. Coming along though.

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Did some more work. Slow going. I'll try to keep it more up to date, even these pics are a few months old.

Just looked through this thread, and you're building one amazing truck!! One question, in the second and third pictures above your panhard bar is quite short. Have you looked at the arc that the bar travels on full travel of your suspension? Maybe the suspension is tight and won't move much? Regardless, you're doing some great work!

Amazing work......love the stance that you are giving the truck......Great fabrication.

Dan

The panhard bar is set up so that when the truck is at ride height, the bar pointed down, about the same as its pointed up now. Its on air bags, i measured the arc, calculated it in, its all free and clear, nothing will rub or hit. I'm going to drive it before paint, so if it does, i will just modify it. made it once, can make it again. Was limited on my options with the way the rear is set up, so i ended up with the bar shorter than i wanted. Oh well, not building a road racer or drag truck, just nice driver (thats fast). working now on getting the drivers door to fit. The cab is tweaked so the door is out of square, gotta build a bit of a jig to use the porta power to get the door frame squared up.

passenger door or course fit perfectly, and thats the one i put on first, such high hopes when i went around to the other side...

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Originally Posted by RadRidesByDan

Amazing work......love the stance that you are giving the truck......Great fabrication.

Dan

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That stance is with it lowered, not ride height, but it looks sweet. Should be about 6 inches from the ground to the bottom of the fenders at ride height. its about 2.5 inches when its lowered.

Man, this thing is smokin! You will definitely have the only one like it at your local rod run.

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Originally Posted by toofast_28

The panhard bar is set up so that when the truck is at ride height, the bar pointed down, about the same as its pointed up now. Its on air bags, i measured the arc, calculated it in, its all free and clear, nothing will rub or hit. I'm going to drive it before paint, so if it does, i will just modify it. made it once, can make it again. Was limited on my options with the way the rear is set up, so i ended up with the bar shorter than i wanted. Oh well, not building a road racer or drag truck, just nice driver (thats fast). working now on getting the drivers door to fit. The cab is tweaked so the door is out of square, gotta build a bit of a jig to use the porta power to get the door frame squared up.

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My concern would be binding the 4-link by the panhard pushing the differential to the side as it flexes. Seems to me that the ideal would have the panhard bar level at loaded ride height, then any movement up or down would be coming back to a center, no stress position. It'll probably be fine.

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Originally Posted by rspears

My concern would be binding the 4-link by the panhard pushing the differential to the side as it flexes. Seems to me that the ideal would have the panhard bar level at loaded ride height, then any movement up or down would be coming back to a center, no stress position. It'll probably be fine.

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Moves 3/16 total, side to side. Rubber mounted 4 link on each end. Im not worried about binding. it'll be straight at ride height. Going to get a sway bar on it too. No room cause of the bed, and the way all the mounts are made, to get the panhard level at ride height. If i were building a track car i would redesign it all to be optimal, and if its not to my liking, i can change it. I've seen much worse panhard designs. Seen lots better too of course.

Yeah, you've got it covered. Just caught my eye in the photo being a short bar at an angle. Rubber mounts wil take the movement OK.

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some more work. Gotta modify the radiator inlet and outlet to make it work. Passenger door fits like a glove, made new running board mounts to make room to run the exhaust on top of them (adding a diagonal brace after the exhaust is placed). Side exit exhaust tip installed, more work to come on that to mitigate heat issues.

I was looking at the photos and I thought about a hot foot. Then I read the text about more work on the side exit exhaust work! Sure looks like a nice truck.

Finally got it set on the ground to see how it looks. running boards are in the stock location, but it looks like they run downhill (in comparison to the cab and frame) Not sure if i will change it or leave it. Would have to remake all of the mounts if i level them out. I'll see how everything else goes together... Sits a little higher in the rear than i wanted, but i didn't want to channel the frame and have the rear end stick through the bed, i think that looks worse than it sitting a touch high. Should be a good driving height, i plan to drive it, not be a garage ornament.Attachment 51044Attachment 51045Attachment 51046

The boards did have a weird angle stock,,,,, a bit of extra work but levelling them with the cab is worth it! Ride height and stance look great, sure is some nice old tin!!!!

Will be following this build bad ass best of luck love the detail work.

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Originally Posted by Pro fleetline

Will be following this build bad ass best of luck love the detail work.

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This guy hasn't been around in a year, don't know what happened to him or the project.....

I'm still around, still working on it. bought a house in the middle of it all, so thats been sucking the money away upgrading the new shop!. But there's progress being made. Exhaust and fuel system and a few others details are complete. I'll update more often once i get back to work consistently on it.

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Originally Posted by toofast_28

I'm still around, still working on it. bought a house in the middle of it all, so thats been sucking the money away upgrading the new shop!. But there's progress being made. Exhaust and fuel system and a few others details are complete. I'll update more often once i get back to work consistently on it.

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Great to see you're still around! Slow progress is still progress, right?

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Originally Posted by toofast_28

I'm still around, still working on it. bought a house in the middle of it all, so thats been sucking the money away upgrading the new shop!. But there's progress being made. Exhaust and fuel system and a few others details are complete. I'll update more often once i get back to work consistently on it.

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Kewl!!!! Glad you're still at it!!!! I still have a V-10 Ford laying in the corner I want to do something with someday, anxious to see what all you have to go through to make the Viper engine work!!!!!!

PS---Ain't no time limit on building a Hot Rod, they always come out better if you let them age a little during the build process!!!!!!!

Very nice! Love the fab work! That stuff seems to fly by! I am in a slow stage with my van also, Wiring, Fuel system, More wiring and did I say wiring?
Keep up the beautiful work. Did you say what the color scheme is going to be?
Mark