Projects 1948 Diamond T pickup tow truck project journal.

No pics, but I wired in the "Painless" courtesy light set today, mounted the air filter, installed the fuel pump, and opened the package of stuff from Obsolete Ford Parts that was setting on the porch. Good news, bad news.

Turns out, I ordered the wrong tail light. I thought 33-34 Ford passenger car were the same as the later pickups (I have one new stainless tail light for a 40's era Ford pickup, and thought I was getting one to match it), but no. So, that has to go back, or on the shelf, and I'll get the right one. That's the bad news.

The good news is, the stainless Ford pickup tail light stands will work PERFECTLY, with two correct lights, as will the neat little stainless wire covers. The courtesy lights are also good. I thought once about scrounging door jamb switches, under dash lights and so on, but by the time I went to the U-Pick yard, spent a half a day in the cold finding and pulling some, it wasn't worth the 30 bucks from Auto Zone. Wnen the doors are opened, lights go on all over the interior. Neat.

The fuel pump, another Auto Zone find, was perfect. It's an 80 psi unit, to replace the 15 psi (for a TBI engine) one in the tank I have. It was an exact fit in the tank bracket, and will feed the LS motor with the correct pressure and delivery. I need to figure out a return line connecter, as the lines from the tank are flare fittings, and the lines to the LS engine (I used the fuel lines from the Silverado donor truck) are the push connecters) but the tank is mounted, sending unit wired up, pump wired, and supply line done.

One little problem, when I wired in the brake light switch, the brake lights don't work, but the turn signals do. Damn, I thought I had that old Guide turn signal wired correctly. Evidently not. Back to the drawing board.

 

Brian, Your build is coming along great. The interior looks mighty comfie to me ! Keep up with the update reports.

Dave

 

I figured out what was wrong with the turn signals. Turns out, I mis-labeled the leads, and had the brake light and flasher wires switched. Hence, no brake lights, and the rear turn signals were "hot" all the time with the ignition on. Simple fix, after I pulled the switch, took it apart and traced the wiring out again.

The interior lights look pretty neat, I think. I still have to wire the dome light up, over the rear window. It will operate with a switch on the dash, I wanted it separate from the courtesy lights. I'm going to put a cargo light on the outside of the cab, over the bed, and it'll be switched with the dome light.

Brian

 

...nice work; here's another shot of the first truck posted by hotfr8

 

BLIZZARD PREP! Well, not really. Unable to figure out how to make a headliner in the Diamond T, I made some trim panels today that go over the doors, and over the seat back. These will pinch the edges of the headliner in place at the sides/back of the cab. They and the headliner itself will be leather to match the seat, the headliner glued directly to the roof, which will be covered with a Dynamat like insulation. It should look fine, be easy to do, and I won't lose any valueable headroom in the tiny cab.

 

Hard to believe it's a month and a half since I posted last, but it's been almost that long since I worked on the truck. Getting the roadster ready for Cobo Hall, and the ensuing fiasco getting there, left no time to work on the Diamond T. Today, the sun was shining, I felt productive and went out to the shop.

I got fuel lines run, and connected to the tank. From the engine, it's the '01 Silverado lines from the donor truck, complete with their push to lock fittings. At the fuel filter, I used an adaptor from NAPA (these have O-rings, like the lines on the power steering hoses) and 3/8 line back to the tank, and compression fittings to connect. The return line is 5/16, so that also required a pair of compression fittings to connect to the '93 Chev van tank. It certainly LOOKS like it'll work!

I was going to hook up the trans cooler I'd bought, but found the '05 trans has push to lock fittings, which doesn't jive with the flare fittings on the line I bought to make cooler lines from. So, I swiped the flare fittings from another 4L60 trans I have, and got that done. The cooler will mount under the spash apron, which should be fine even without a fan. I have a couple of 10" cooling fans I could use if it needs more air flow. I also installed the new coil (I'd broken one lifting the engine), and put the vacume line from the intake to the brake booster. Lots of little things to be done.

I made a new dipstick tube (the original one for the 6.0 LS was rusty), pulled the started and installed that. Then, I swiped the trans filler tube from the other trans, shortened it, and installed that.

Then, I decided I needed to mount the radiator, to finalize the mounts for that, and to mount the engine oil cooler. I pulled the grill shell, and mounted the radiator (it's the radiator from the '93 van, turned on end). When I tried to put it back on the truck, I discovered that the front sway bar and the lower tank of the radiator occupy the same space. Cripes, I'd mounted the sway bar with the radiator off. So, I pulled that, and with it pulled forward a couple of inches, there's plenty of room. I just have to make an extension on the frame brackets for the sway bar.

I'm planning on having ALL the bodywork done, and the truck ready for primer as soon as the weather warms up. I heat the shop with wood, so I can't paint in the shop untill it's warm out. Another month and a half, and I should have it in primer, and ready to block out. In the meantime, I need to run brake lines, get a new pitman arm and idler for the front end, and get the thing running.

Pics when there's something worth of photos!

Brian

 

Love this truck!

 

Any photo updates ?

 

Man, this thing is going slow. I should stop posting for a while, untill it's painted and together, then over a week or so, post every day so it looks like I get something done! Actually, I HAVE been getting things done, it's just that there are so many things to do, it's sort of overwhelming.

For instance, just mounting an oil cooler took two days, and involved a lot of re-engineering. Due mainly to the fact that I didn't take a couple of things into account while fab'ing up a couple of brackets, which put a couple of important things (like the radiator, the sway bar, and the tie rod) in more or less the same space. It all worked out though, to see how, just click here:

http://flynbrian48.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/its-the-little-things/

More as it happens.

 

Got more done! Two days in a row of progress, must be I've gotten my second wind. Maybe going to Cobo got my creative juices flowing, maybe I'm out of my slump, who knows, but it feels good.

Anyway, today I got the exhaust pipes started. I cut up an OEM GM "Y" pipe that the donor van provided, the two short chunks of headpipe from the 6.0 with the 02 sensors in, two flanges from "Muffler Man", and got the headpipes done. This stuff is stainless, so it'll last forever, or at least untill I'm done with it. These mate to some late model GTO manifolds that I had to use as the truck manifolds dumped right out on top of the frame rails. Not quite block huggers, but close. The 02 sensors are plugged in, so that'll be good to get it off the trailer at the muffler shop to have the rest of the exhaust system bent up.

I stopped at my buddy's salvage yard and picked up a radiator surge tank from an '03 Silverado, and a pair of plastic inner fender liners. I got the tank mounted on brackets I made which bolt to the head and the coil pack mount. It's about 3" above the top of the radiator, so I can fill the radiator completely and have plenty of expansion room in the tank. It's ugly white plastic, but painted black, with a strip left white for a sight gauge, it'll look suitably "truck-ish" My goal is to make the 6.0 look like it's a factory installation, black plastic, satin aluminum, plastic wire looms and all. I'm not trying to make it look like something it's not. It's a truck.

The inner fender liners I'll trim down and mount inside the rear Auburn Speedster fenders, to keep road crap from flying up and packing the bed framing and fenderwells. They'll be perfect.

So now, I can fill the radiator, the trans, change oil, dump some gas in the tank and see if this bad boy will start!

 

In hindsight, I should have must made new running boards, as opposed to straightening, lengthening, and filling the originals. But, I can say I save them. As soon as the weather improves I can start the long process of priming and blocking everything out so I can get the truck in color and put together. It's coming along!

http://flynbrian48.wordpress.com/

Brian

 

IT'S ALIVE!! Fired up instantly, everything works! Link to the YouTube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DaI-HGNvfk

I'm still smiling, and it's not just from the exhaust fumes in the garage either!

 

After getting truck running a couple of weeks ago, starting to disassemble it for paint today seemed like a step back. Had to be done though, so I got busy and pulled the box apart and got it off the chassis. Now, the fun can start, if it ever warms up enough to actually start painting!

 

It's been so long since I got anything done, I forgot I had a build thread! The truck is now wearing epoxy primer, the body work is almost done, it starts and runs, and hopefully will be wearing color soon.

It's really great to see it (almost) one color, the vision I had of it is exactly like the way it looks. Except, it's primer grey, not red, but you get the idea...

I'm thinking that good things take time, and this should certainly be good, it's sure taking a lot of time!

Brian

 

Yeah, but its definitely gonna be worth it.

Really dig the bed.......errr......box.

 

Looks like you are making good progress Brian. Keep the progress pics coming!

 

Worked a little on the Diamond T. The body work is DONE and ready for high build primer and blocking. The goal is get the thing painted and polished by summers end, then this winter I can finish up assembly, get the interior in and get the thing done.

Here's the link to my blog, detailing the latest installment.
http://flynbrian48.wordpress.com/
Brian

 

Looking good Brian. Glad to see the Diamond T progressing! The trim on the tailgate is a nice touch.

 

This is the coolest "real" truck thread on here I too really like the tailgate treatment, and is the hood ornament orig to the truck? I love it!

 

Actually, the hood ornament is a casting by my buddy "Crafty B", that I made a little more, ahem, "antomically correct"! It's a replica of an Auburn Flying Lady, which I think looks right with the Auburn Speedster rear fenders and Auburn inspired dash.

Thanks for the compliment!

Brian

 

Brian, Great progress. Looking forward to reports as you complete this awesome BUILD !

Dave

 

Is he selling them by chance ? If not he should !!

 

Well, it's going slowly, but I am getting primer on the truck. Epoxy primer, Feather Fill, now 2K urethane. Blocked out the Feather Fill, and a double wet coat of 2K, then more blocking, and I hit it today with what I thought would be the final coats of 2K. Mixed up one batch (2 guns worth) and shot that, no problem. Mixed up a second batch and started shooting, and almost immediatly noticed the pattern seemed to be getting smaller, and the primer looked "dry".

What the...?

Turned out the primer was rapidly turning into jelly in the gun. AAAARRRRGGGHHH.

I had opened an unopened, but old (?) can of catalyst, and I THINK the reducer I grabbed for the this second batch was acrylic enamel reducer, not urethane reducer. Whether it was one or the other or a combination, I don't know, but the end result was a plugged gun (took an hour to clean) and a quart of wasted primer.

So, no more progress untill Monday, and I'll head back to the paint store and get another gallon of 2K and the RIGHT reducer and fresh catalyst, and try again. Aggravating, because I wanted to have it ready to paint next week and get color on it.

Those with good memory will remember I pulled the same trick while priming the '36 "Fordillac". It's disheartening to start repeating past errors, rather than come up with new ones...

 

Finally, I'm DONE priming Diamond T sheet metal! Finished fixing the HORRIBLE gel-coat on the 'glass rear fenders today, I think they'll be OK. I primed all four fenders, and wet block sanded down to 320, everything looks great. I'll shoot a guide coat and hit 'em again, but I think I'm done!

Now, I have to count up my sheckles and see if I have enough money for gallons of red paint.

 

I have color! It's been a long time coming, but there's color on some of the '48 Diamond T pickups sheet metal, as much as I can do at one time, and it looks GREAT! By the end of next week, it'll all be in color, and then the fun of putting it together for last time can begin!

If you want read more, and make my blog look more active, click on the link below!

Brian

 

Our Fire Department purchased four (4) in 1947 and used them through 1969. Here is one that is restored,. The original engine was replaced by a REO Gold Comet OHV six and it runs good.
Normbc9

 

I painted the fenders today, and it wasn't as trouble free as the first stuff. When I hit the tailgate with the first coat of color, it fish-eyed like I'd never seen. I though maybe the prep solvent hadn't completely dried, so I washed the tailgate and hit it again. Even worse. I ended up using another gun (I started using my new one) and everything went fine after that.

Turned out the problem was the new gun has a brass screen filter in the pickup tube, and it evidently was shucking bits of cured paint causing the fish-eyes, because without the screen in, it didn't happen. Lesson learned.

I have a few in the clear on the right front fender, but I think they'll sand and polish out.

 

Outstanding! That truck is going to be awesome. Cant wait to see it all done.

 

Looking good Brian, you are definately in the homestretch now. Cant wait to see it all painted and assembled!

 

It's getting hard to move around the garage with all that tender, freshly painted sheet metal! I'll have to move it all outside to paint the cab and box, and I'm pretty clumsy. I don't want to scratch anything up and have to re-paint.