my 47 build

[tttuba]

What a pain in the rear to put on the stock front bumper. Is it under tension on purpose? took me all day to modify the brackets and then install the bumper. Pics following of the completed job.

[tttuba]

Was busy this weekend. Mounted the bed back on the truck, got the hole cut for the tank filler, Got the rear lamps on with the correct brackets. And mounted the bumper on again. This time brackets going down. Can anybody tell me should brackets be down or up? When they were up with the box off they looked to high. Now they are down with the box on and they look low. I still have to plug the hole from the tank out the cab corner.

[solidaxel]

The rear bumper is in the right place.
Did you remove the overload springs?

[tttuba]

No I thought I would leave them on for a while. The plan is to get everything the way I want it mechanically and with the proper parts then tear it all down to paint it. That way I know I have the right parts when I put it together. I haven't made a decision on the overload springs.

[tttuba]

So I went to mount the grille today...in the pic above it is just sitting there...Prior to this it was bolted through the front splash with the old bumper which had home made brackets. OK so I couldn't figure how it mounted so I looked online. I found that the grille I have was only good for about the first year and a half. I cant find anything on how to mount it except an article on Jim Carter parts site which says there is an additional brace that goes from the grille to the frame. I cant find anybody who has the mounting hardware. Also they say the front bumper was more rounded like a car. It has more holes.
So here is my question........
Do I have something a bit more rare and how do I get the hardware to mount the grille properly?
Pictures of what I need to get would be appreciated

[tttuba]

Well I figured out the grille and the front bumper issues. Front bumper brackets had to be "modified" I beat the crap out of them to bend them to work. Pics later.

[lazypineapple]

I also moved my tank on my 52 to the 47 location.
My new tank (from chev of 40s) had a 1/8"pipe fitting hole on front side of tank.(outlet) Up high.
And a drain on lower front inner corner.

That in cab tank you have isn't a AD tank. Because they filled in the passenger side.

Nice truck
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[tttuba]

One of these days I am going to get back working on this, Been waiting for good weather and have been working a lot of overtime. Good for the paycheck but not good for the play time. Still glad I have a job just don't really want the overtime so much. Will post more pics when I get going on it again.

[wuss721]

What sending fuel sending unit did u use and does it work with ur stock gauge. The gas tank looks like the suburban one
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[tttuba]

I called Jim Carter truck parts and they were very helpful in telling me what I needed. I told them I wanted to relocate the tank back to the original position and needed a sending unit that worked off of 12v. They found the one that would work. I told them I wanted it to pick up the gas from the top of the sending unit as I didn't want to chance a gas leak due to rusting lines or bottoming out the truck. Unfortunately I don't remember which one it is. If you were to call them and they cant help you I will dig through all my old e-mails and see if I have the receipt somewhere with the part number. The one thing I had to do was modify the pick up tube and bend it a bit because it was too long. It already had an angle in it and just had to bend it a bit more. Also had to reattach the filter sock as you have to relocate it further up the line. The tube has to stick further into the sock to help with the length. Hope that came out ok and you understand what I am trying to get at there. It works fine with my stock gauges that I had reworked for 12v. If you need that, there is a guy in Oregon that does that and advertises on e-bay.

[tttuba]

I see it has been a while since I posted this. Since then I have located an original bumper, brackets, splash shield, and grille. Cost me more for shipping than the parts but they were tough to find. Now I know how everything was supposed to work and what was the correct bumper and splash shield. Unfortunately the front splash shield needs some work. I had a local guy splice the two together to make a good one. It makes a difference. More picks to follow.

[NEWFISHER]

Looking good so far. I need to get a sender for my suburban tank....next project
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[tttuba]

so here are some more pics. You can see the difference in the aftermarket filler and the original style and I also bought a license topper for the rear plate. Also the bumper for the 47 is different. This is the correct bumper. It is not flat. It is curved over the top and bottom

[tttuba]

took these last weekend before i got sick AGAIN. Darn Flu.
had to mock up the bed just to see how nice it will look and to make sure I got the right one.

[tttuba]

took the bed apart now to repair and put back together. Have new ceossmembers to save me time.

[tttuba]

Sent the sides out to the blaster a week ago and got them back Saturday morning. Spent the weekend welding up holes and cracks and put the in epoxy primer so they wont rust. Now need to go through them and do the body work on each and then put it back together.

[Highsider]

Your pictures and narrative are entertaining and informative.
Thanks for going to the trouble for us.

[tttuba]

Found this on e-bay mislabeled as a 38 Dodge front bumper guard. I knew better and got it CHEAP. It only fits about a year of GMC bumpers. Wont even fit a Chevy bumper.

[focusedontheprize]

The truck is coming along nice. You have a great base to work off of, I noticed your gauges look in great condition too, did someone already refresh the interior before you bought it?

[tttuba]

I actually bought refurbished ones from a guy in Portland. He has them on E-bay. Only issue I have is I cant get the temp gauge to work. I think I have the wrong sending unit.I also found out AFTER I bought them that 47s had a slightly different mounting tab placement. I made it work.

[tttuba]

Now here is something you dont find much anymore....had the rear fenders stripped and found some old lead work. Now I know these are probably the original fenders. The lighter grey is lead. The rest is bare steel.

[Zach B]

Looks good. Do you know if the shocks were suposed to be outside the frame rail or inside the frame rail originally? I have yet to get a tank for my 47 chevy so I can't really tell. One 47 chevy I worked on had them on the outside of the frame rail but on mine they are on the inside and it looks to me like the gas tank would get in the way. It's hard to tell what is suposed to be where when your truck has been modified into a flat bed.
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[tttuba]

Mine are on the outside and I think that is where they are supposed to be. The rail is a C channel and to mount them on the inside would mean building something to bring it out. I don't think they made things that difficult back then. They were into the easy cheap way.

[Zach B]

Thanks. As I don't have a tank it's hard to tell where anything is supposed to go in the way of shocks.
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[tttuba]

here is a picture of what it looks like with the bed off and the tank installed. You can see will not work with shocks on the inside.Anything else you need let me know I might be able to help.