The Rat-Lander

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Dilldog

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Spokane, WA.
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Dillon
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Wilke
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KJ7LVO/ WRQL275
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So I have been tossing around this idea for a build for a while, and well a few other members here encouraged me to make a build thread. Now first off I will say this isn't 100% an overlanding build. I will end up using it for my version of overlanding (that being taking roads less traveled and exploring), but on to the details. Or maybe some story is in order...

The people who know me know I have always been an old school hot rod kind of guy. Now that doesn't always mean chopped tops and flatheads, what that really means is having respect for tradition but not bowing down to it, and always doing what you want and not doing the popular thing to look cool. However I do have big love for the aesthetics of cars from the 40s and 50s and well flatheads are cool. One of my dream builds has always been a diesel powered 40s GM pickup. I started one with my dad but due to a nasty divorce we never did anything and the P pumped 12valve 6BT that was to power our pickup was sold.

Fast forward a few years and its the winter of 2018. I get word that one of my uncles has died, this was a weird time for me. I didn't know this uncle very well, but had an opportunity to get to know him a bit before his passing. I didn't really feel grief in the traditional sense, I was more pissed off that family politics had kept me from spending time with him. At the memorial service I got a big surprise, a 1979 Corvette. It floored me, I mean the Vette needed TONS of work, but still its a freakin vintage Corvette. Mega cool.

So here we are in 2020, I haven't done a single thing to the Vette. I love what it stands for, the uncle I never knew but who I was very much like. But honestly, its not my aesthetic. I ended up going through a whirlwind summer (I think we can all relate to this feeling), spent time in hospitals, and quit working as a Caterpillar truck engine tech. So now I have 10 years of tools and experience and nothing to use them on, except a Corvette. Now at this point I start thinking about the aesthetics, and how little I like the C3 body style. What's a boy to do? As fate would have it my dad calls me up and says he is getting rid of the last of our ill fated 40s pickup project. 3 weeks later I have a cab for a 1949 Chevy 3600 pickup in my shop.

Then things get really interesting, I start day dreaming and this idea forms. Lets build the Corvette, but turn it into the most bitchin shop truck ever. Lets combine my love for 40s aesthetics, with the cool old school sports car engineering of the Corvette, and diesel power it.

So the build starts, a body swapped 1979 Corvette with a 1949 Chevy pickup body, running a 4BT Cummins. And lets just put this all on 33s because that's the biggest tire a C3 chassis will clear...

Yeah, you can take your "rules" and walk out the door. I have work to do.
 

Dilldog

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Spokane, WA.
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Dillon
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Wilke
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KJ7LVO/ WRQL275
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Started making a game plan for lifting the body off of the Vette today. Found some rust in the metal part of the body so now I don't feel so bad about ripping off the body. Here's a few photos of what I'm working with.
20201129_142900.jpg20201129_142834.jpg20201129_142842.jpg
Oh and the parts that will turn this into my dream build, the Cummins B series GM transmission bolt pattern flywheel housing, with a torque converter adapter no less.
20201129_142852.jpg
 

Dilldog

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Dillon
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Wilke
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I'm going to have to see how the cab sits on the frame. I would like to maintain the Vette fuel tank instead of running the in cab fuel tank from the pickup. The issue there will be that the Corvette fuel tank is on top of the frame right at the back, where I would want a bed. A lot of this is going to be on the fly. Right now the idea I have is for a wood decked flat bed, with a rack that will hold the canoe.
 

Dilldog

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nice, i like one-offs. a friend of mine has a '49 too, but he's building a rat truck.
back in the early 80's me and my dad built this for the local bog pit
View attachment 178929
as a teen i had a 71 F250 that i blew the rearend on. so i "borrowed" my mom's '74 Hornet (without asking.....) and proceeded to grenade the 232 in it. as part of my punishment i had to buy her Hornet ...with the the blown motor included.
well as a teen, in my mind i have a truck with a running motor and a blown rearend, and now i own a car with a blown motor....so i managed to shoe-horn the 390 outta my ford, into the hornet. and was. it. ever. fast....for about 6 months, the 390 twisted the body up pretty good. when you opened the doors they would drop half an inch

check out this '46 chev crossed with a .....prius
View attachment 178932



so did my dad. we pretty much finished up his '49 a few yrs ago
first time i ever worked on a flattie, actually pretty simplistic. the plan was to get it ok mechanical first, then detail it up. but he enjoyed driving it so much, we didn't get a chance to detail it as he passed earlier this yr.
View attachment 178933View attachment 178934View attachment 178937View attachment 178938View attachment 178936View attachment 178935
My first flathead was a 1948 Pontiac Torpedo. It was a straight 6 car that I built a straight 8 for and swapped.
 

Dilldog

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Well as luck would have it some of my plans fell through today. I was supposed to be working on a buddy's Freightliner but he had to grab a load and rip out of town. So I had a bit of time in the shop.
I fired up the heater, cranked the music and started some house keeping. My shop is never a total pit but I really wanted to get some parts consolidated and organized before making the pile bigger.
Finally on to the tear down. I got the Vette on stands ripped off the wheels, pulled the hood and got the radiator out. Loosened up the front frame extension and the rear impact absorbing bumpers, pulled the #3 body mount covers and started soaking things down with penetrating oil. While the oil was soaking into the body mount bolts, brake master cylinder bolts and steering shaft bolts I pulled the seats to use in the 49 cab. Got all the cables and wiring pulled from the Vette cab and broke the tires off of the Vette wheels so I can get them out to be blasted and powder coated. Then I started on body mounts. First body mount broke the nut plate free of the body. So I will most likely need to cut out most of the body mount bolts.
I figured that was enough damage for a half day and went inside to put up Christmas decorations with my wife.
20201206_141210.jpg20201206_144410.jpg20201206_144422.jpg
 
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Dilldog

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Got a little more work done. The body is completely free of the frame, I just need to figure out how to lift and move it now. The passenger footwell body mount was extremely bad, thank you SnapOn Flank Drive for biting and holding. The passenger side engine body mount was a bear as well. Due to the proximity of the fiberglass body I didnt want to use a torch and heat the nut, and I wasn't able to really get anything in to cut the bolt. So I worked the nut back and forth keeping the threads lubed with oil until the nut loosened up. Then to get the nut the rest of the way off I ended up running a die down the bolt to clean the rust from the threads. On the rear mounts, well saws all solves all.
20201213_132426.jpg20201213_132411.jpg20201213_132739.jpg20201213_143133.jpg
 
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Dilldog

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Short little update. I haven't done any actual work on the Rat-Lander, with the holidays I've been a bit busy. I did however find a buyer for the Corvette body. Hopefully shortly after the first of the year I will get my dad's tractor out here to lift the body off of the frame and onto somebody's trailer. Once the body is off it will be much easier to run through the drive train and suspension.
 
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UgotWheelz

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Great way to make use of what you have on a fun project! I don't know much about diesels but have seen allot of Hillclimb and autocross trucks on Vette chassis. Will you need to box or reinforce the vette frame to handle Diesels torque?
 
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Dilldog

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Great way to make use of what you have on a fun project! I don't know much about diesels but have seen allot of Hillclimb and autocross trucks on Vette chassis. Will you need to box or reinforce the vette frame to handle Diesels torque?
The Vette frame is plenty strong, I'm more worried about the rear differential being strong enough. But this is one big reason to go with a 4BT rather than the 6BT, the second is weight. A moderately built 4BT will get you to around 300HP (stock they are only 140hp), well within what the Vette will handle. Also a 4BT is about 750lbs, roughly the same weight as a big block Chevy so the handling wont be thrown off after I swap in big block front springs.
 

Dilldog

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So another no real progress update here, just to keep things from dying. The holiday season was honestly a kick in the balls for us, some more medical expenses means the 4BT will have to wait. I will be pressing on with the small block I already have. Next weekend I get rid of the body which will free me up to do more exciting things. Also my wife gave me the go ahead to grab a welder of my own so I don't have to borrow my dad's all the time. That will show up here in the next few weeks, but I do have a lot of work to do before I need a welder to fab up body mounts and repair the front cross member of the Vette frame. So I may hold off on that as its currently not needed for progress.
 
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Dilldog

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Progress is slow, but its happening. Got the body off of the frame today and loaded on to the buyers trailer, so I didn't even have to deal with tripping over it in my shop, perfect. After that my dad and I set the 49 cab on the frame. I'm going to need to cut out the firewall and make a new on to clear the engine, its insane how far back the engine sits in the frame. The proportions didn't look super awesome, but I'm hoping a set of 33s will change that. Worst case I can always chop it so the cab looks like it belongs better. But who knows, maybe once the hood is in place and some other body stuff is done it will look good. Anyway, on to the drive train stuff...
20210109_165746.jpg
 

Sparksalot

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Progress is slow, but its happening. Got the body off of the frame today and loaded on to the buyers trailer, so I didn't even have to deal with tripping over it in my shop, perfect. After that my dad and I set the 49 cab on the frame. I'm going to need to cut out the firewall and make a new on to clear the engine, its insane how far back the engine sits in the frame. The proportions didn't look super awesome, but I'm hoping a set of 33s will change that. Worst case I can always chop it so the cab looks like it belongs better. But who knows, maybe once the hood is in place and some other body stuff is done it will look good. Anyway, on to the drive train stuff...
View attachment 183063
There’s a guy in my area who put a 1940 dodge pickup on a late model Durango chassis. He dealt with engine setup back as well. Mainly because the taper of the forward portion of the body. The end result was fantastic.
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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I'm going to have to see how the cab sits on the frame. I would like to maintain the Vette fuel tank instead of running the in cab fuel tank from the pickup. The issue there will be that the Corvette fuel tank is on top of the frame right at the back, where I would want a bed. A lot of this is going to be on the fly. Right now the idea I have is for a wood decked flat bed, with a rack that will hold the canoe.
@Dilldog, the frame is not the right configuration for a truck unless you want a low rider. If you want to use it, it could be done by using a flatter tank that dosent stick up above the frame wells and the truck bed sits level with the top of the Vetty rear frame wells.. Something like an early Mustang tank. The truck will make a nice low rider.
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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My first flathead was a 1948 Pontiac Torpedo. It was a straight 6 car that I built a straight 8 for and swapped.
I had a 49 club coupe with straight 8. Best cursing car I ever owned next to my 58 Edsel station wagon with a 360 big block police interceptor engine that pulled that big thing 128 mph ALL DAY LONG. I was the freeway terror of the day. LOL