Great looking truck. I kept looking for the line that said you gave up on the daily and swapped places with them and drove the Ford home with the daily on the trailer but it appears that it was a good thing that didn't happen. Unless it is documented that they are recent I'd replace the belts and hoses while I had it apart and be done with that part.
Funny thing... I had a dream a few nights before I left that my truck broke down and I had to tow the daily home with the new old truck. Thankfully it wasn't an omen of things to come. I fully plan on using this as a truck. Just need to make sure it's reliable first. And thanks! I'd planned on changing the belt since it squeals (if I'm adjusting, I might as well replace at the same time). Hadn't thought about the coolant hoses!
What a brute. I actually really like those mirrors over the small round mirrors that are on my truck. Just can't commit to drilling holes in the doors to mount them...
Well, it's been a month. I lost a few weeks over the holidays, but I do have a new radiator and new tires. The radiator is in, and once I pick up a new upper hose, I'll be back in business on that front. Rims are at the powder coater, and once I get them back, I'll get the new tires mounted.
Free White. Or PF-719-G5R S/G White I wanted black rims because @Chris's 59 looks real tough with the black rims and tires. I put some black wheels and rims in front of the ones on my truck to see how they looked. But my 'Christmas truck' didn't look right with black rims. I'm not crazy about the red and white two-tone, but it'll stay for now.
I was originally going to paint my rims body color, but cheaped out and went black instead of having paint matched. I am glad I did, I liked the outcome. If I had your truck, I would have done red or white.
The black was a good call. On another note, do your mirrors install in the same slot that the stock round mirrors do? I'd like to track down a set of rectangle extendable trailer mirrors, but I don't want to drill more holes.
Yes, same bracket that little stock mirrors attach to in the slot on the door. I just sold a set...I will keep an eye out for another pair. There is non extendable, regular extendable (what I have) and really long extendable that went on big trucks. They could be easily shortened
Now that you mention it, I recall that you had a set for sale. Damn. There's a set on eBay, but the mirrors are trashed and the guy wants (in my opinion) stupid money for them.
I've had a lot going on in my personal life, so once again, cars have taken a back seat. Of course, now that it's June and nice weather is finally here, I'm scrambling to get my list completed and get on the road. A week or so ago, the phaeton got booted out to live under a tarp, so the 59 could occupy my entire garage. The last time I drove it, one rear wheel locked up for no apparent reason. I wanted to go through the brakes anyways, so last weekend I stripped all the lines, and last night I started pulling the brakes themselves. I want to get parts powder coated before I rebuild. Noticed that my truck has a taste for corn on one side... And I finally ditched the oversize (and way too wide) mud tires. Freshly mounted 6.50x16 STA Super Traxion tires going on as a replacement.
Bringing this thread back up. Life's been busy. I've been working on reducing the amount of stress in my life, and part of that is reducing the number of projects and requirements that take up my time. July was a lot of family obligations on weekends and getting some personal life items settled. Spent August renovating a property I owned, getting it ready for market and getting it sold. Here we are in September and it's already starting to cool down. As I was going through the brakes on the truck, I noticed that the passenger side spindle seemed to have a lot of slop. Everything got yanked apart and I discovered that the lower bearing cup on the Dana 44 had broken and a new cup made out of weld. Machine work had not been done, so of course the bearing wasn't holding steady. Pulling apart the drivers side revealed similar damage and repair. Out comes the front axle and it's off to the machine shop to be properly repaired and machined. So as I'm tinkering away on other projects and cleaning up and organizing the garage, I'm planning what comes next. Well, you know what they say about idle hands and the devil... Next thing I know, I'm scheming with my buddy Keith over at Binbrook Speed Shop. Talking about a short bed conversion, dropping in a 324 Olds motor, etc. That kicked off my quest to find a suitable short bed for the pickup. After a month or so of looking at different trucks and negotiating with guys on price, I finally found a suitable candidate. Last weekend, Lauren and I made the 1,200 km roundtrip to Ohio to pick up a 58 Ford F100 short bed. It's a pretty solid truck with a ton of parts and will be a great foundation for the evolution of this truck. The plan is to swap the 4x4 gear and big back window cab off my 59 onto this short bed frame. An Olds 324 will get dropped between the rails for power along with a few custom touches to the front sheet metal. Hoping to start posting more regular updates over the next few months as the ball gets rolling!
Yep. I'm going to build it totally stock except for the crate Chevy 350 and billet wheels. Then I'll jack the hell out of it and put big super swampers on it. Guess no body in the 60's ever needed a hauler for anything. No shops ever built shop trucks, no race teams ever needed a hauler. Thank god we have you to save this forum with your threads about 'Is Pate going to get rained out?' 'Identify this bumper' and 'Everyone needs a gate'. If I'm the Kettle, then you're sure as hell the Pot.
Well, until a moderator tells me otherwise, I'm going to keep updating this thread... Been hard at work on this project and making some headway. First off was the front axle. After talking to some machine shops in my area, nobody wanted to tackle the repairs it needed. The fact that the closed ball is angled on both X and Y axis's was a cost killer for the repair project. I located a closed knuckle front axle on eBay that seemed like it would do the job. Aside from having 3" spring pads instead of 2", it was dimensionally the same as the axle that came under my truck originally. Shipping from Utah was a bit pricey, but I needed it, so what can you do. Currently working on replacing the spring pads, and changing the shock mounts to match the original axle. A new ring and pinion will also go in before the front axle is buttoned back up. The rear 9" came out and got torn down. Lots of metal shavings, which isn't a good sign. However, I had planned to upgrade to 31 spline after market axles and I have a 31 spline Equa-loc 3rd member, so no big deal. I had it blasted to get rid of the grime and old paint. The axle was beat up pretty good, but it came out from under a truck, so what I can I expect. New coat of paint has it looking much better. Just waiting on the new axles before I slap it back together. The Oldsmobile 324 went to the engine shop to get freshened up. The emphasis is going to be on reliability, so nothing crazy with regards to horsepower or internals. Making the swap to #10 heads for breathability and will be going with a vintage 2x4 Weiand intake with two Rochester 4GC carbs on top. Chrome valve covers, motor mounts, fan and a chrome extra-capacity oil pan will round out the 'show' for the motor. The swap to the short bed chassis is also going on. My sister, her boyfriend and I pulled the front sheet metal and cab off the 58 F100 at the storage locker and brought home the frame, running gear and bed. I stripped the front running gear off the 58 and swapped it under the 59 frame. Similarly, the rear axle is pulled from the 58 and will be going under the 59 frame. I also pulled the bed off the 58 frame in preparation to move the gas tank out of the cab. Once the 59 is a roller again, I can get it out of the garage, pull the front sheet metal and cab, and get the 58 frame into the garage. Motor and transmission mounts for the Olds will be next on the list.
Made the truck a roller again and shoved it outside. Brought the shortbed frame inside and got started on swapping the Olds in place. I really wanted to retain as much of a factory install appearance as possible. Both the Y block and Olds are front mounts in stock form, and spacing the Olds motor to provide the radiator spacing seemed to indicate that the transmission mounts were going to line up pretty closely... I ended up swapping for a slant pan bell housing, which is shallower. I reversed the stock transmission mounts, drilled two new holes in them and a few new holes in the stock crossmember, and bolted it in. I also picked up my rebuilt Rochester 4GC's from my carb guy and test fit my 2x4 manifold just for a mock up. Pretty happy with how things are looking! (My drill must have walked back slightly on passenger side transmission mount hole. It's about 1/4" too far back, which has the motor sitting slightly off centre in the frame. Annoying, but fixable). Next up will be modifying a stock Y block front engine mount to fit the Olds. Measurements say it should work just fine with some tweaking.
Suggestion: CAREFULLY remove those choke covers, wrap them in bubble wrap, and place them in a steel lock box just waiting for a numbers-matching dude to find you. Replace with normal (non-Oldsmobile, non-Cadillac) covers. The chokes won't function correctly without the missing modifier rods anyway. The normal choke covers don't require the rods. Jon.
Not sure I fully understand what you're after, but the internals appear to be normal integral hot air chokes with a coiled strip?
Dropped by the engine shop last week to supply a few parts for the build. It's progressing nicely and should be ready for a fire up this week as long as I can get my act together with a few remaining parts (linkage for the carbs being one). Basically everything has been gone through. Nothing particularly fancy with this motor - heavy duty cleaning, new frost plugs, hardened seats, new valves, bored cylinders, new pistons, rings, crank and rotating assembly balanced, rebuilt rockers, decked, new cam...
I haven't been keeping this thread updated as much as I should. Things have been progressing slowly on multiple fronts... Frame is almost ready to go to the blasters to be cleaned up. Once that's done, I'll shoot some paint on it and start re-assembly. Made a final decision on colours for the truck. It's going to end up blue with cream accents, very similar to how this one here looks. Engine should be buttoned up this week or next at the latest. No pictures of it with the 2x4 Weiand intake on top, however, it is in paint... Once I get it home, it'll be getting these old chrome valve covers that I picked up from my buddy Martin, a chrome breather cap, and chrome air cleaners. Eventually, (most likely next year) I'll be chroming the oil pan and the front motor mount as well. Speaking of the front motor mount, I've been whittling down the stock Y-block mount to work with the Olds. This picture was during mock up, but I've almost finished the modifications and will post once complete. I'm constantly surprised at how easily the Olds is fitting into the stock Ford frame. The closed border has been playing havoc with some aspects of the build. I had @NealinCA go through an F100 steering box for me. From the pictures, it turned out beautifully, however, it's at my buddy's house in Buffalo and I won't be able to get it until the border opens back up and I can cross. Very excited to get this piece into my hot little hands! Also have a chrome pitman arm to go with it.
Don't you worry. It'll get done! I have full intentions of a chromed back country camping rig, despite how silly it may be. I know the 4x4 truck aspect pushes the envelope for the H.A.M.B. a little bit, but I'm hoping there's enough hotrod and custom touches to give it a pass. Pretty much all 60 and earlier parts, hotrod motor and transmission, chrome...
Been following along. My Dad had a black F-250 4x4. 292 holley 2 bbl and 4.56's in both ends. And yes they were a stud! Great trucks. Your olds powered one is gonna be Cool!! Lippy
The Jalopy Journal
