1940 Ford big boy seat base

[Terry Lindsey]

I just joined the group and was hoping for some help. I’m in Southern California and building a barn find 1940 Ford Big Boy truck. I’m trying to make it look original and want to use the in cab fuel tank (new) but really need a diagram showing measurements of the seat base or seat riser. Hopefully one of you can help. This will upset some of you purists but here goes: When I bought this it was sitting on a chopped Excursion chassis and in pretty bad shape. Once dismantled I realized the chassis was junk and tossed it. I located a rollin chassis for a 1955 Chevy 3100 complete with running drive train and brakes for cheap. I decided to see if I could fit the Ford onto it. Obviously I had to do a few modifications such as body and bed mounts, fire wall mods for the steering column and brake/clutch pedals, etc (still doing this by the way), but all in all, it’s working out. My biggest concern was the difference in the wheel base on the Chevy vs Ford. The Chevy is 5” longer. I considered shortening the chassis but that would have entailed altering the driveline, exhaust (already installed), brake lines etc. My cheap solution was to simply fabricate a filler extension for the running boards. It actually is coming out pretty good. This will not be a show truck by any means. It’s just a project and a challenge to see if I can pull this off. I’m teaching myself how to weld and do bodywork as I go and getting better and better as I progress (thank god for YouTube). I’ll even paint it if I live long enough. I’m 71 and retired so this is just a hobby and enjoying the challenge.