Raoul Ross Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) While I'm waiting for parts for my trailer, I wanted to get started on the truck that's gonna pull it. After that I'll build something to put *on* the trailer but first things first. I wanted to build the '50 Chevy as a Sunoco truck around the '63-'64 timeline and I wanted to put a 348 truck motor in it. I looked around the interwebs for pix of a 348 truck motor and was quite surprised at what I found. What sticks out to you as you look at these 2 pix(the first one is actually a 409)? Look at how tall the water pump is! This was done because the normal 6 cylinder engine was of course taller and the fan was centered in the radiator. The W motors were much shorter so GM had to come up with a way to get the fan more centrally located in the radiator and this was their solution. Looking at the 409 pic, the centerline of the waterpump shaft appears to be pretty much inline with the base of the carb.... this is what I tried to replicate. Man what a job this became. The engine I started with I got from ebay and was touted to be the one from the AMT '62 Bel Air. On with the fabbing! Edited September 17, 2022 by Raoul Ross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) First thing I wanted to do was lose the Car trans and put a 4-speed floor shift truck tranny in. Yea I know, it's a Ford Top Loader but it *looks* more like a truck trans. Cut off the one and glued the TL on. Pretty close, close enough for a work truck! Ha! Next was tackling the Water Pump. Evergreen to the rescue! Stock pump. Pretty close, a little too far out but I adjusted it here and there. Edited September 17, 2022 by Raoul Ross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) While I was in the painting mood I put together the engine stand and SBC from one of the AMT garage series kits. I also wanted to see what the MM 2074 Dunkelblau paint was gonna look like. Painted the engine major assembly. Now back to the 'fun'. It's insanely hard to get pulleys to line up. I needed to extend the crank pulley and make it line up with the water pump pulley... and I haven't even gotten to the genterator! Made a nose for the water pump pulley, which got shaved off more and more as I was worried about total length and fan blade-to-radiator gap. Moar to come! Edited September 17, 2022 by Raoul Ross 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) So now that I've gotten the crank and water pump pulleys snugged up as far as I can, I need to mount the generator... somehow. The 2 pix at the top don't really show how but there must be a bracket connected to the exhaust manifold somehow. This is where I started. But it's obvious this solution is gonna be a LONG reach. It'll hafta bolt to the front of the head if there's to be enough room for plug wires and have access to the valve cover when it's time to change a gasket/adjust valves. You can't be pulling the generator just to do that! Also looking at the 1:1 pix at the top the alternator sits pretty high anyway. Filed a flat on the bottom and glued a square piece to the bottom. I'll glue the gen to the top of this piece and shape it to fit the head. At this point the realism is slipping and I just wanna get this done. I did a couple mockup shots of the carb and air cleaner setup 'cause I wanted to see how they looked. I know it's a single 4 BBL (meaning it's actually a 409) on a 2x4 manifold but it won't be seen anyway. Tomorrow I hope to the generator mounted and wait for a belt kit I ordered. Edited September 17, 2022 by Raoul Ross 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 Great work fabricating the water pump and pullies. One thing that caught my eye looking at the 1:1 engine pictures. The first one has a standard Carter 4 barrel and the second one looks like it has a two-barrel carb. My knowledge of the details of this engine in a large truck application is beyond limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 19 minutes ago, espo said: Great work fabricating the water pump and pullies. One thing that caught my eye looking at the 1:1 engine pictures. The first one has a standard Carter 4 barrel and the second one looks like it has a two-barrel carb. My knowledge of the details of this engine in a large truck application is beyond limited. Thank You David. The 409 truck engine had a 4BBL and the 348 had the 2BBL, it's the only way to tell them apart visually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Raoul Ross said: Thank You David. The 409 truck engine had a 4BBL and the 348 had the 2BBL, it's the only way to tell them apart visually. Thanks. I any knew that that they had used the 348 in the larger trucks and I guess the 2 bbl. makes sense in that application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted September 19, 2022 Share Posted September 19, 2022 Really nice engine work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLHCAHZ Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 Amazing detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted September 21, 2022 Share Posted September 21, 2022 Nice work fabricating the brackets! I never did like floating engine accessories. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chevy II Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 Nice detail work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 On 9/19/2022 at 7:00 AM, slusher said: Really nice engine work! On 9/21/2022 at 7:03 AM, FLHCAHZ said: Amazing detail. On 9/21/2022 at 7:24 AM, David G. said: Nice work fabricating the brackets! I never did like floating engine accessories. David G. 31 minutes ago, Chevy II said: Nice detail work Hey! Thanx a lot Guys! RL is gettin in the way right now so I haven't had the time to work on this. Hopefully this weekend... I'm excited to this project done so I can move on to the race car for the trailer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 When last we visited, I was having an issue mounting the generator. Getting RL out of the way for a while I've takin this back on again. Looking at it from a early 60's garage mechanic point of view I tackled it like somebody back then with a welder and some fabricating skills would. First, make a bracket Paint it up and bolt it on! Watch out for wet Paint! heh While I was so inspired, the belt tension adjustment bracket needed to attached to something. Looking around the 'shop', a piece of flat iron is welded to it and bolted to the back to the water pump. Nut/Studs provided by Pro Tech and attached using this nifty Jewel Picker/Placer that somebody on this site pointed out, Werkt the Treat! Finished the plug wires and mounted the air cleaner and oil fill tube.... calling it Done! Next up is fitting it onto the frame and working out possible firewall/fender clearance issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) Pretty cool truck 348 gizmology mods. Always nice to see somebody sweating the mechanical details. Edited January 13, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippi Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 That 348 is looking nice. It will look sweet setting in the business end of that AD truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Great work on the engine! David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Ross Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 On 1/12/2023 at 8:34 PM, Ace-Garageguy said: Pretty cool truck 348 gizmology mods. Always nice to see somebody sweating the mechanical details. On 1/13/2023 at 5:59 AM, Zippi said: That 348 is looking nice. It will look sweet setting in the business end of that AD truck. 10 hours ago, David G. said: Great work on the engine! David G. Thanx Guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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