I figured I’d share some pics from my '49 Chevy pickup project. I acquired the truck in fall '04 as a partial trade on my racecar. The truck body was sitting on a late '70’s Chevy shortbed 4x4 frame when I got it. It would have been a complete nitghtmare to make it work, so I acquired a '49 3/4 ton chassis from Ohio. I chose a 3/4 over the more popular 1/2 ton just to be different. (Some pics are better quality than others)
The truck when it came home:
The 3/4 ton chassis:
I restored the chassis first, and honestly it needed very little. I sandblasted, epoxy primed, and painted it. I repacked all the bearings and installed new brakes. I then went to work on the drivetrain. The engine you see in the chassis pic is the original '49 216 cu.in. straight 6. I disassembled the engine to find that it had a wiped main bearing…not good. The 216 is inherently weak due to the fact that it uses poured babbit rod bearings. I didn’t feel like re-shimming the rod bearing every time it started knocking, so I decided to find a different mill. Everybody puts 350’s in these trucks, so again, I found the need to be different. I acquired a '54 Chevy 235 “Stovebolt” straight 6.
After the teardown:
I took everything to my engine builder, B&L Racing Engines in Collins, NY, to have all the machine work done. I had it bored .080 over to 246 cubes, had the head shaved, ported, and polished, and had the rotating assembly balanced and weight matched. I also installed an oil filter. The engine wasn’t originally equipped with one. I tapped and plugged the original oil passage from the oil pump to the main oil gallery. I drilled a hole in the side of the block into the pump passageway below the plug I installed so all the oil exiting the pump would flow out the hole. I then drilled another hole in the side of the block into the main oil gallery above the plug I installed. I then acquired a remote mount oil filter assembly and plumbed it in between the 2 drilled holes. Now we have filtered oil 
Here it is during assembly:
Here you can see the drill marks in the crank from balancing:
Oddly enough, Chevy actually produced a Hi-Performance head for the 235. I successfully tracked one down in Washington state. It raises the compression ratio to 9.5:1 and has a better overall chamber design.
This is what a lo-perf 235 chamber looks like:
Here’s the Hi-Po head, look close at the chambers to see the difference:
I also acquired an Offenhauser 2x1 aluminum intake, Carter YF carbs, vintage Fenton cast iron headers, and a Langdon’s “Bulldog” cam. I put chrome wherever I could. I also had Wizard Cooling build me a custom aluminum radiator to keep this thing cool.
Here’s the engine fully assembled and installed in the restored chassis (ignore the camera date):
I actually have a sound clip of it running. Don’t listen to it through laptop or other small speakers, it sounds like ass if you do. It helps a lot to turn up your subwoofer if you’ve got one.
http://media.putfile.com/235-2
My old man said “I’ve never heard a 6 cylinder like that before” lol.
I also installed a '64 Chevy 3 speed OD tranny when I put the engine in. This way I can keep the “3 on the tree” shifter and have overdrive to help out the 4.57 gears.
After I finished all this I went to work on the body. Here are a couple pics of the cab sitting on the unrestored chassis.
You’re not supposed to be able to see through the passenger side kick panel:
Needless to say it needed a lot of sheetmetal work. I replaced the cab corners, outer cowls, kick panels, cowl fillers, rocker panels, and part of the floor. The truck came with a shortbox, but all the 3/4 tons were longboxes. I ended up buying all the pieces and built a brand new box for the truck. I don’t have any updated pics of the body at the moment. But as it sits right now, the box is on the chassis and I have most of the filler work done to the cab. There are still a few dings and dents to straighten but it’s almost done. I still have to finish the doors, fenders, hood, running boards, and inner fenders. I hope to have most of the truck done by fall '07.