Inliners International Forums General Discussion Truck Talk 1940 Chevrolet Coupe Build!

Great! That's got to be exciting! Keep us posted!

Progress from today was good, then bad, then good, then bad again. Haha. We started out the day with it running fine and we just roared around town listening for things to tune up and fixing them. Grandpa took off to go hunting around 2:00, unfortunately I couldn't because I need to get ready to go. He'll be back tomorrow though. After he left, I took it out to go see my high school metal shop teacher who was a big fan of the project. It sputtered and died on me shortly after leaving the shop. After pushing it back down the street I realized that the carburetor bowls were empty. When I tried to pull the big bolt out of the top of the carburetor thinking I could put a funnel in it to fill the bowls I promptly turned the wrench the wrong way and stripped all the threads out of the hole. I swear, sometimes I wish I had a different brain... After a few choice words and some failed attempts in screwing in the bolt, I mixed up a batch of JB Weld and slathered it on there. I'll try to re cut the threads tomorrow morning. I also put some over a hole in the welds on the exhaust manifold. Fingers crossed that both of them will hold!

I'll get back on it in the morning! In the mean time, take a look at our new shift knob and key chain!



Thanks!

Pete

Pete here's how you tune that thing.
Jimmy Tune Up

By the way I had an old shop manual out today and the valve lash on a stock GMC is .012 and .020.

That is so cool! Love the blue flames! Haha!

Great! Thanks a bunch! I ought to get an old GMC shop manual. I have one for Chevrolets, but I don't think it ever quite set in that if you put a GMC engine in a Chevrolet, it's not a Chevrolet anymore. It's a Chevrolet with a GMC engine in it. Need two shop manuals.

Well, that does it for the Christmas Break marathon! We got lots done and had a heck of a time doing it! On our last day together we cut new threads in the JB weld on our carburetor and screwed our cap back in. The threads turned out to be some oddball type, 11/16 - 18 or something, but the 5/8-18 we cut allowed it to get started, then it just cut it's own threads from then on. It is sealed up good for the time being, but I will almost certainly do it right when I get back. After that, we blew all the fuel lines out and pulled the gas tank to clean it and replace the fuel gauge sensor. After dropping the tank, I realized that it was surprisingly light. The tank was empty! All this fuss and I just ran it out of gas! Again, sometimes I wish I had a different brain. Anyhow, we put our new gas tank sensor in, which still didn't fix the gas gauge problem (I'm beginning to think that the actual gauge is broken), put a gallon of gasoline in and started it right up! Whew! It was just out of gas! Problem solved! Don't you just love those moments? You feel so stupid for running it out of gas (and breaking everything you touch when trying to fix it) then you feel so relieved because it was just an empty tank all along. Haha. Oh vintage automobiles, you bring out the best in all of us.

For now, I'll leave you guys with this picture. Taken only an hour or so before my "moment of genius", while the car still had gas and was running strong! A grin from ear to ear. At long last, "She's a runner!"



Sorry for the late update. I just finished my first week back in school. Looks like it's going to be another rough semester. Bring it on, I can now rest assured that our '40 Chevy runs and drives!

Start the count down until Spring Break! 55 days until March 17th!

Thanks again and happy Martin Luther King day!

Pete

You guys did a great job in a short time. Now you can join the rest of us and drive it around a break stuff. The cars that are not yet finished are under construction, The rest are under destruction.

Haha! That's a good one! You ought to start a book of those!

Well, gramps and a friend have been busy on the car since my departure. They were able to fix the infamous fuel gauge, which just turned out to be a burnt up wire inside of the gauge itself. Then they were able to undercoat the car! It is now rust-proofed for even the most brutal winter that California can throw at it. Haha. It's a little overkill... Lastly, they bought 3 (the 4th is on back order) hubcaps, so now the lower end has a little shine! Either way, gramps has just been ironing out the bugs and running it around whenever he's got time. So far, lady luck has been treating us well during the break-in process, but I'm sure Murphy's Law will kick in at some point here. We're just enjoying the time while we can.

No pictures for now, but I'll post 'em as soon as I get 'em!

Thanks!

Pete

Man, You left the keys with old guys? They'll be hauling old women around with hair bluer than the car. You'll never get the old people smell out of that thing. I guess he deserves to have some fun in it. After all it was his '40 Chevy memories that caused it to happen in the first place.

I'm back! I know I said previously that Spring Break (March) would be the next Chevy fun-fest, but like usual school and grades got in the way of that. Anyhow, now I'm back for a brief Summer break! I've been home for 2 weeks and have 3 left before I go back for Summer School (then a Co-Op building old Detroit Diesel Engines in the Fall!!!)

I've been using the Chevy as my daily driver for the last two weeks and I have to say, up until about 4 days ago, it was doing real well! It ran okay (besides a big flat spot when you put your foot into it) and did fine putting around town! We put a set of Zenith adjustable main jets (available at CarbsOnly in L.A.) in it about 4 days ago and that's when the problems began. After fiddling around with the tuning myself for ages, we had a friend of ours (who used to be a GM mechanic) take a look at it. He tightening up the bolt holding the points from flopping all over the place and had the motor running like a song in no time! Better than ever! Before leaving, he did add that the distributors on these motors were lousy and that ours was getting pretty warn out. Sure enough, the next night after the car was cleaned, prepped, fluids topped off, jankey tachometer installed for the 2 hour drive to San Jose for the Bay Area Inliners International Annual Picnic & Car Show, something changed in the distributor and the car started running like a one-legged cow again. It was too late to do any more tuning, so grandpa and I admitted defeat and loaded it on the trailer for the Car Show. That kinda ruined my whole "cars are meant to be driven! No trailer queen here!" rant I had worked up for the Picnic. Anyhow, I did put up a sign at the show that said "Need Mallory Distributor!" and within 30 minutes of arriving I already had one bought from one of the many nice people there. That's where we are now! Waiting on a fancy new distributor to arrive in the mail. For now I'll have to be content with hitching rides from grandpa and the parents in their new-fangled machinery. What a bore! :-)

Real quick, because I know I've written way to much already, I have to give a shout out to all the nice people from the Bay Area Inliners for giving me such a warm welcome to the club. This club has treated me so well I cannot thank you enough for letting me take part. It's more than just an automobile club to me, it's like a second family!

Thanks all!

Pete

Are you bringing it to "Rappin' to Minden" on June 7th? That's the Northern Nevada Inliner show. We'd like to see the '40, and you too. Did you get the point style or the electronic Mallory?

We will see! I'd sure love to! I've got a week and a half then to fix the Chevy which should be plenty of time.

Alright, I've got some questions for you guys pertaining to the Mallory, and another distributor (Pertronix Flame Thrower II). Here goes: Our friend from the Bay Area Inliners sent us a Mallory Duel Point Distributor AND a Pertronix Flame Thrower II distributor (I was under the impression that the Pertronix deal was a bolt-on electronic ignition for the Mallory; I was wrong. Turned out to be a whole other distributor.) I personally would like to use the Mallory for nostalgic reasons, however I need help (1) adapting it to fit the GMC and (2) converting it over to electronic ignition for reliability purposes.

My first question pertains to fitting the Mallory to the 270 GMC engine. In the instructions (Pictures 2 & 3) they do not mention anything about how to hold the drive gear to the distributor shaft. Do we have to drill a hole through and press a pin through like the collar above it? Any crafty tricks to keep us from screwing this up?

My second question is about the Mallory conversion to electronic ignition. Ours is the duel-point "Double-Life" model. Can this conversion be done with these distributors? I've heard of it being done with other distributors, I just was wondering if anyone has done this with a Mallory?

Anyhow, for now I'll live with the new-fangled Pertronix rig because it is something we can just bolt in and run. It's already set up and ready to go. The Mallory will go in eventually but for now, I need my daily driver back!

1. Full Kit


2. Distributor & Gear Instructions


3. Drive Gear Instructions


4. Spark Plug Installation Instructions


5. Degree Key Instructions


6. Installation - Page 1


7. Installation - Page 2


8. Original Box & Stickers


Thanks and it's good to be back!

Pete

Pete there ya are was wondering when you'd show up again!

Chevy and GMC distributers are the same. The double life has 3 lobes to run two sets of alternating points so each set does half the work and last twice as long. That may make it harder to convert to electronics. If there is no hole on the shaft you'll have to drill one. Depending on what your cam is made of you may want to use a bronze gear. In my opinion the dependability issue with points and electronics is a toss up. When electronics work it is superior and needs little attention. When it isn't being superior you are stuck where you are. Carry and extra module.

Thanks for posting the pictures. I've never seen the instructions and the little red thingy is interesting. I assume it is used to hold things in place while setting the points. I am finishing up converting a double life for a Pontiac V8 to use on my Chevy 4 cylinder. I'll just use one set of points. I really like the looks of the old Mallory 2 piece cap units. I am running a Mallory unilite on my GMC. It has left me on the side of the road twice.

Thanks for the info Beater. I guess I'll just stick with the old points then. Makes my life a whole lot easier!

Today was a good day. Not only because we got a bunch done on another car my dad and I are working on, but because we got a bunch done on the Chevy too!

My plan for this evening was to just swap the old distributor for the new Pertronix "Flame Thrower" distributor to see if how the car would run. It should have been a bolt-in deal. However, when I dropped the new distributor in, the dang thing was so huge that it wouldn't even come close to being able to fit without major modifications to the side cover. (Should've seen that coming!) After that, I stared at that pretty Mallory Distributor for a little while and finally decided to go ahead and hack it to bits.

First off was drilling the hole to fasten the drive gear on the distributor shaft. It was nerve racking, but my little setup (pictured below) did a pretty good job of holding it level and steady.

Secondly I had to chuck the whole distributor into the lathe to cut a place for the clamp to mount. Again, very nerve racking because I only took off the cap and rotor! Everything else was flopping around!

Then, without too much hassle, the distributor slipped into place locking into both the cam shaft and oil pump! No sweat!

Today was a mechanics dream. The normal problems were encountered while trying to assemble bits, however nothing went catastrophically wrong! No "one step forward and two steps backwards." All steps forward today. I love it!











Thanks!

Pete

P.S. I thought I'd throw in this lovely letter we got a few days ago from our neighbors. They were sure happy with me tuning the Jimmy after midnight! Hilarious, because they were the ones that decided to live next to a farm!

Good work.
That note is priceless! You need to invite them over for supper. They might become more understanding. Maybe not.

Nice work Pete!
My closest neighbor is a mine/gravel operation about a mile away.I can hear the noise from Highway 50 four miles away. Noise is relative. I love people who move to the country and bitch about dirt and noise and hunting . Last month a dirt bag dirt biker came about 1 1/2 miles past the NO TRESPASSING signs. He had a helmet cam and evidently the shots I fired(not in his direction) came up on the sound track. He assumed that I was shooting at him and went to the law in his county, the line is about 3 miles from here. They wanted my county to charge me with assault with a deadly weapon. I told my side to a deputy from our county . He visited the dirt biker and told him that he had videoed himself trespassing and if he returned he would be arrested. He said he knew I didn't shoot at the guy because there were no holes in him. I love my county! I don't need neighbors I have no social skills. A rancher friend here got complaints from new neighbors when he started bailing hay at 4 AM. It has to be done that way here to keep some moisture in the hay. They kept complaining about everything so he built new pens as close as he could get to their house to use when he weened his calves. He did it one calf at a time for weeks and weeks. How big is your farm? Maybe a flat track around the inside of the fence would be fun.

Great stories! I love it when the accused people come back to thumb their nose at the complainers! Good for you!

Our vineyard is just under 6 acres. Pretty small however, it and the house were here before California even became a state! Grandpa has owned it since the 70's. Over the years, housing developments have creeped in and surrounded the place. We now get complaints about dust, noise, sulfuring etc. regularly. The only difference is here, the law is NOT on our side! What used to be a small town has now become a medium size city, and we are in the middle of it! The battle continues, however during legal hours I always love to burn a few hot laps around the vineyard in a junkyard VW I got when I was 13 (which is the only car that consistently will start up and run around here!) It's good fun! Not as good as weening calfs though! Haha!

Well, all that good luck and "mechanic's dream" bull crap yesterday came back to bite me today. We got the rest of the distributor hooked up and tried it out. No spark. We pulled the distributor and put it in a distributor tester to find that the 60 year old points had corroded and messed up the contacts. A little points filing and the distributor went back in. Spark now, but not in the right order. Back out with the distributor to check that we were actually lined up with TDC on the number 1 cylinder. We played with that for a few hours until I realized that we had mistaken the TDC bead in the flywheel for the clutch bolts! Haha, watch for that! 7 TDC marks on the flywheel is bad! Back in with the distributor for the millionth time. Still not fixed. Check the condenser - cracked! Replace with condenser from old distributor. No difference! Fiddle with TDC distributor alignment some more. Finally, we gave it to our friend (the retired GM mechanic) to put back on his distributor tester for further testing. Now I'm going to stay up all night thinking about it. Woohoo!

Well Beater, I was really hoping to be able to say, "Count us in for the Rappin' to Minden" show next weekend, but I can't get it there unless it runs and I'm sure not going through the shame of trailering it again if we don't at least try to drive a little ways. No promises yet, but know that we're trying!

Thanks!

Pete

Pete, After what you and your Grandfather have done I am confident that you will have it running. It's got to be something simple but sometimes that's the hardest stuff to find. Are you running 6 or 12 volt? 12 will require the right condenser and a ballast resistor I think.

Pete, you have inherited your Grandpop's never say die attitude of his generation, so I agree with Beater, you'll have your '40 running again soon I bet.
And, yeah, we have the same farmer problems in south Jersey as you as more and more acreage is consumed for housing.

Thanks guys, I'm sure we'll get it eventually. We may have a completely different distributor, but we'll get this sucker to run sometime in the next 100 years! Thank you for the encouragement!

We spent another day in the shop today jacking around again. Same problem. Tests fine on the distributor machine, but acts erratically on the car. We threw the old original distributor back in the car to see whether another problem had popped up since we started messing with it, but the car started up and ran just fine. There's something wrong in that distributor and we'll find it eventually!

The plan for this evening is to send it back home with our retired GM mechanic friend who will throw them in his distributor tester to compare the degrees of ignition on each of the distributors. Maybe that's the problem! Or maybe the gear we have on the Mallory has the wrong ratio and is spinning the distributor out of sync with the engine.

The possibilities are endless!

Thanks!

Pete

Well pete did you get it running? Are you headed to minden?

Rappin' to Minden is tomorrow and I don't have the trophy made yet!

I hope to make it next year and to the convention next year

speak to your neighbour nicely, many years ago I used explosives to cut fire wood, & found out my neighbour was suffering from War nerves. Every time I did a shot , he thought it was a hand grenade. After that I would tell him when I was going to do it. we became friends, he even came wood collecting. So long as he was prepared for the noise he was ok. He died recently in a nursing home with dementia reliving the horrors of war(many ex servicemen do) Not a nice way to go, even in his last days he had no peace, battles end , scars of war last forever.

I'm sorry guys. I was not able to get the Chevy running. I still haven't! We cannot figure out what's wrong with the distributor. The Mallory is still over at our friend's house. I haven't heard from him lately, but don't really want to push it because he's doing this as a favor.

I've only got a few days left of my vacation before I have to go back to school for the summer. It ain't looking good for the Chevy as of now. Maybe our best bet is to throw one of the Pertronix electronic ignition kits into either the 216 Chevy distributor or the original 270 GMC distributor (whichever is the least worn out) and run it for now! I'm at a loss for what to do. That Mallory sure has us stumped though.

As for the neighbors, none of them leave their names or any sort of contact information for us. I wish I could come and talk to them or show them the car! They might lighten up if I did. ccjowett, that's a great story. I'm glad you two were able to work it out! War nerves are a scary thing. At least now he's in a place where he won't have to relive those nightmares.

Thanks!

Pete

A Pertronix unit s not a ba deal at all, especially if you have a spare module in the glove box. Will you have another break at the end of Summer?

Pete , I've had pertronix in my 216 for about 12 yrs , NO issues

Pete , I've had pertronix in my 216 for about 12 yrs , NO issues

It's nice to hear good things about the Pertronix. Seems like a solid rig.

Well, we finally got the Mallory back from our friend who found nothing had changed. We threw it back in for giggles and of course it didn't work. We finally gave in and threw the complete Pertronix distributor in. We had to beat in a spot on the side cover (which was painful) for it to fit, but now with the distributor in, it's not noticeable. The car runs good now! I'm just a little sore about ruining the whole "Period Correct Hotrod" deal. At least it runs!

Well, I'm back in school again! At least the weather is a little better this time around. I do have a little break at the end of summer, Beater! I've got a week off, thankfully! How much is going to get done on the Chevy is questionable however, because Grandpa will be up in Idaho for the annual trip and in desperate need of a Co-Driver (other than the dog) for the long journey back to California. Also, I am going to need a few days of that to get back over to Byesville, OH in order to start a 5-term Co-Op (similar to an internship) rebuilding big diesel engines for Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing in the Fall!

At this point, Christmas is looking like the next big Chevy fun fest! I'm sure now that it's running a little better however, grandpa will take it out for a spin every once in a while. It really is a fabulous car to drive. I wish I could have showed it to you all.

Thanks again, guys! You're the best!

Peter Gray

Old Chevys will be around forever. The time for a young man to spend having fun with his grandfather is limited. It sounds like an easy choice to me.

Don't get rid of the Mallory it is something simple. I have an undented side cover you can have when you figure it out. Are you sure you have the right coil and condenser? Does it have 3 or 6 lobes? If it has 6 you can run it on one set of points. Some of them take a condenser for each set of points.

Big news folks! You wouldn't believe the trip that Grandpa Jim and I got to take just a few days ago. He and I were missing each other and were looking for an excuse to get back together and decided to sign up last minute for an event called "The Great Race" put on by Coker Tire, Hemmings Motor News, Hagerty Auto Insurance, Reliable Carriers and many other classic car-associated companies! The Great Race is an annual time-trial event for Pre-1972 vehicles which this year traveled along old Route 66 from St. Louis, MO to Los Angeles, CA. In short, it's "the trip of a lifetime you can take every year!"

So, 2 weeks ago my parents trailered our 1940 Chevy to St. Louis, grandpa flew in from California and I flew in from Ohio (where I've been working as an Engineer for Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing between school semesters at Purdue University in Indiana.) And we set off on the trip of a lifetime! Nine days traveling over 2400 miles! Most of which on the old Route 66!

The picture below shows our stops!



I am so proud of our 1940 Chevrolet because it made it all the way without a single break-down of any sort! The only failures was a nut coming loose on our generator mount causing the rear end of the generator to wobble slightly and the window crank falling off from the bumps - which I popped back on immediately!

The first few legs of the trip were a cake-walk! The weather was mild and the roads were nice all the way through until we hit Amarillo, TX. I was the driver, and grandpa was the navigator. Then it started getting hot. Really hot. Once it got up over 100, grandpa begin having internal pains, heart problems, trouble breathing, and had to step out to ride in the Support Truck (with A/C!) He stepped out for 3 days from Gallup, NM to to San Bernardino, CA and re-joined me for the final leg from San Bernardino to Santa Monica to take the checkered flag!

I hated to have to run without him, however those three days were the hottest days I had ever braved. Gallup, NM to Flagstaff, AZ was toasty - pushing it's way well over 100, however the leg from Flagstaff, AZ to Lake Havasu, AZ was downright flabbergasting. 119 degrees Fahrenheit in the tiny high desert town of Oatman, AZ almost put me in my grave, but the old GMC "Buzzin' Half-Dozen" didn't even stutter. It even towed a broken-down 1939 LaSalle uphill for a while then down the interstate at +60 MPH! (trying to bump-start them) Lake Havasu to San Bernardino was also near 105 which is just ridiculous, but Ol' Blue still fired us down the interstate at +80 MPH for around 20 miles when we were threatening to be late for a checkpoint! The temp gauge never once nudged over 190, the car ran dead smooth at idle and like a Raped-Ape at full throttle after it's daily tune-up to accommodate for the near 7000 foot elevation chances we experienced.

I have some big thank-you's to issue to the guys on this site and all the people in this club, because without you I wouldn't have been able to build what is now my most proudest masterpiece. That hopped-up 270 GMC torn from the clutches of a junkyard in Springfield, OR making an estimated 180 HP and 300 ftlb of torque would have never come to existence without all your help.

What I have to thank you the most for, however is a side-effect of this project. The memories my grandfather and I have made working on, and driving, this car - which will last a lifetime. My Papa's years are numbered and it's been really tough on the both of us with me being gone so much lately. The odds of me returning to the West any time soon are very low, so any time we can spend together is cherished. This experience is one that both of us will take to our deathbeds.

Thank you.

Way to go Pete. I'm glad you all got to finish the trip.That is really cool! Thanks for letting us watch you and your Granddad build that thing. It was fun to watch.

I've been on old 66 from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier though not in one trip. We made several trips from Amarillo west and home again. Most of them included at least one breakdown. One was with my brother in his '39 Ford when he was 18 and I was 13. Several were with my son in his '54 Stude. One was with my dad in a '52 Dodge pickup pulling and big trailer loaded with our worldly goods. There was one in a '48 International K Model farm truck. I'm planning a Texas trip for July right now but it won't have an old car involved. Put me on the road and I'm a happy guy.

Great trip Peter. We went from Chicago to Santa Monica in May of this year and know all the spots you mentioned. The weather was much nicer than what you had to handle. 3 couples driving a '62 Stude wagon, a 1956 Chev sedan and my 1965 Malibu. But all were V8 cars. Doing that with your grandfather will be a lifelong memory. So glad the car worked real good for you.

Somehow I missed these posts about the trip. Great experiences you can't take away! Glad that you shared it with us.

I just noticed this myself...Congratulations Peter on a great trip and I'm sure, fantastic memories with your Grand Dad. Just outstanding!

Thanks for sharing
Paul