Project

Just how exciting can plumbing a brake system get? Turns out, not all that exciting. Here’s a video update where we show you how we plumbed this non-original brake system and why we did it the way we did. You’ll also get a look at a Lokar e-brake cable kit designed for this early truck.…

Here’s a video update from where we left off last – mods to the brake pedal and re-installation of the fuel tank with what it took to make it fit. https://www.johnaustinmotorworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Brake-pedal-and-fuel-tank.mp4

After a couple of delays and setbacks we’re making (frustratingly) slow but steady progress on the ’50 Chevy pickup. At this point it feels like we’ve mostly crested the hump of undoing and redoing old work and can begin to move forward with the actual task of assembling the truck. There will be some inevitable…

The ‘old’ clutch package that was bolted to the flywheel was in question due to some linkage geometry issues. And, well, it was used, and unknown, and had to come out anyway because of our transmission input shaft swap with a different spline count. As mentioned in the last post we found rust inside the…

When working on projects like this ’50 Chevy pickup it seems like we spend more time waiting on parts that doing the work on it. And it’s not like we order one part at a time. Usually it’s in batches to save both time and money on shipping. Consequently, we hop from task to task…

Believe it or not, the original Corvette carried one flavor or another of the the infamous Chevy 235 cubic inch, inline 6 cylinder engine between 1953 and 1956 and Chevrolet crammed it into every truck between ’54 and ’62. While it didn’t earn any marks in terms of performance, its selling point was durability. The…

Diff: Short for Differential… Actually, let’s talk about the entire rear axle. No, wait. On second thought it’s time to address the complete drive train from the engine back – including the rear suspension. Here’s what’s going on. When the truck came in we noticed some funkiness with the rear axle – location, tire to…

Marketed by GM as “the cab that breathes” this 1950 Chevy 1/2 ton has not one but two cowl vents. The ‘Cowl Ventilator’ is a hand operated scoop of sorts that pops up in front of the windshield to allow gobs of fresh air to flood inside. If that’s not enough, a second door on…

This is a tough one to write about because it’s clear someone had put time and effort into a clean and tidy wiring job. It was nearly complete. They had gone to lengths to hide much of it – which is totally legitimate in the car/truck building world. Much of it was covered in an…

When the ’50 Chevy pickup first arrived at the shop we found that some work had been done to upgrade the brake system but a lot was still missing. A new dual reservoir master cylinder (much safer than the original single rez setup) and shiny vacuum assist power booster were loosely bolted to the cab…