Chevrolet C8 1940 Cab 11 restoration, The Netherlands

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Folks

By strange coincidence I acquired a 1937 1 ton pick up frame last weekend..... Looking over the rear spring hanger of the C8 against my 1937 civvy frame and I seea lot of similarity.

Alex what is the width of the springs on the C8 you have... mine at 1 3/4 wide front and 2 1/2 rear.....

I have the steering shaft/gear box also ..... will need to go to the barn tomorrwo eveing to check it out....... it looks similar but mine does not have that pipe arrangement on top but a simple pipe plug. Could this haev been a crude fix for a leaking gear box and a cut int he arhces to facilitate refilling...?

Alex can you measure the frame tickness near the location of the muffler support bracket...... which again is identical to the CMP bracket.

My frame is 7/32 thick..... and my C15 a is a solid 1/4 or 8/32. The height of the 37 frame is 7 inches at the muffler bracket location and pefectly flat to the rear like a CMP. In earlier pictures of Alex's C8 where he is fixing the rear corners of the frame..... I seem to have the same bracket arrangements.

It seems the C8 and the civvy half ton frame had a curved in the frame above the rear axle..... the one ton I have is flat and straight as a needle.

I will have more pictures of the frame when weather permit..... I suspect more similarities will be found ....after all the CMP "pilot" were built on/of available civilian parts.

I will attach the few pictures I have... the engione which was the purpose of the whole quest.

Bob

[Bob Carriere]

Ran out of room....

...engine totally rebuilt never ran....

Also have the 4 speed tranny and bellhousing LH clutch opening of course.

The flywheel is also unusual for the original 216.... the flywheel is dished with greater mass than a typical 216 I am accustomed to...... looks more like a heavy duty arrangement I have seen on farm tractors where the clutch arrangement is recessed in the flywheel... in any event it is heavyyyyyy!

Will take some better pictures of my steering box this week.

Alex do the brake drum look similar...... it has original 16 inch rims and original tires were 6:00x16 or optional ballon tires at 7:50x16 ........ rear end is 4:11

Enjoy

Bob

PS..... frame was sandblasted and braked redone on all four corners.
......wonder if the beam front axle is similar........ is similarity exists than civvy 37 parts came be used in the resto of C8

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks for your replies guys. I cleaned the steering box a little bit and took some more pictures to add to the discussion.

Phil, this is indeed a rather simple steering box without the possibility of adjusting the angle. I compared the steering box and bracket with the bracket on my replacement chassis and all seems identical.....no new holes drilled or any kind of shims or whatever. At the dash end all seems to be stock(?).

I had another look and I think i can repair the arch bar without it hitting the filler for the steering box. Maybe the cut was done because it made it quicker to fit the steering box??? Normally the nose panels sit over this end of the arch bar, so access to the filler is only after disassembly of part of the nose or by reaching under the front lip of the fender.



I can't seem to find any modifications to the footwell panelwork, except for the extra space for the steering shaft and pedals...

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

Yes, I followed the last road trip you guys did in the Hammond Thread. Good job on the engine and frame! The frame does look very familiar, but measurements seem to be a little different from the C8 though. I seem to remember that Dave Pope found the source for the C8 frame.....made from two different civvy frames if I remember correctly (?)

C8 measurments: Front springs are 1 3/4 wide, rears 2inch wide. The C8 uses 1/2inch spacers in order to fit the rear springs to the "normal" spring hangers and shackle.
Close to the exhaust muffler bracket, the frame is 5 3/4 high and about 2 3/8 wide. The thickness is somewhere near 4,4mm....

I haven't had a chance yet to examine the drums. Maybe Dave, David or Mike can help out here?




Attached are two more pics of my steering box....

Alex

[David DeWeese]

Hi Alex,

My C8 has the steering box pictured below....looks like the same one as yours. I added that brass fitting and grease nipple to the lube port on mine when the seal failed and started to leak gear oil.

Here is a photo of my original rear brake system that was pulled from the C8.

Thanks, David

[Bob Carriere]

I must admit the steering box looks like it fits there, looks the part and David has the same so it must be original.

Too bad the arch was torched but a bit of welding and grinding can fix that.

Now as to the floor wooden board spacers dried up and panels shifted it may have resulted in the modified pedals and steering tube stretch mark. In my opinion not so unusual ..... in fact almost every cab 11/12 I have do have some kind of cut modifications or the metal has been stretched and worn to new dimensions. I suspect that over the 70 odd years it has been around the wooden spacers and other fasteners inside oval bolt holes have allowed some movement.....sagging..... body twist..... to the point where the holes have either been enlarged by rubbing or the owner got tired of all the squeeking that the cut the holes larger. I have the same problem on my cab 11...... any major maintenance where they had to remove part of the body it probably never got assembled correctly again.... my fenders have a series of extra bolt holes which I am not welding until I figger out which ones to plug weld shut. Even the whole floor plate assembly, the two side floor panels and the larger cross piece under the seats can be moved about 5/8 to 3/4 inch from one side to the other and forward and back if all your bolts/screws are loosened.......and the frame holes worn big enough.

According to factory pictures the whole cab 11 was assembled on a stub frame jig than lifted as one piece unto the frame with all the sheet metal fully in place........ partly explains why trying to reassemble my cab on the frame one piece at a time is such a nightmare.....Phil's solution was to assemble it all loose.... shake it in place.... then tighten everything fast before you sneeze.

Ah the good old days before automated computer controlled welders on assembly line...

On the brake assembly they do look different....similar technology for the time but different..... brake drums maybe the same with a special adapter for the CMP model .

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Alex

Getting the body panels to line up on Pat 11 and 12 is a job. As Bob pointed out put all the bolts in loose then tighten things up. I found a trick using bolts a nut and washer to do the alignment it is a lot quicker than using the actual screws.

Take a look at photos on http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/SheetMetalWork.html to see what and how did it.

Keep us posted your progress, going to be a great truck.

Cheers Phil