Projects Project Old Red II:'48 Ford F1 Build

I'm a little bit into this build now since I started the thread but just found my way onto this forum so I figured I'd start it here. I will date the posts that I made them so it won't be too confusing.

8-12-2012
A little back story on the truck. It's been in the family since the 60's, it was my late uncles truck.
Here is a picture of it pulling his race car back in the day.



After he passed away in the 70's my dad got the truck for a little while. It had 2x4's on top of a 327 SBC. My dad pulled the motor out for another project and the truck was passed on to my cousin. Another SBC was built, this time a 350 with a quadrajet on top. Sometime after this he parked it in the barn and it went way down hill. About 12-13 years ago my dad traded for the truck back. We had big plans but nothing much ever happened with it. A cheap paint job was put on it(the wrong shade of red) and a cheap interior kit was put in it, the wheels were added, but then it just mostly sat again. Until somewhere around 2007 when my dad gave the truck to me. Here is what it looked like when I took it over.






The first measure of business when I got it was to return it to its 2x4 glory. Along with a few over modern things like an alternator and a basic tune up. I also went ahead and sanded the wrong shade of red(more on that later) off of it and added some hot rod black.
After I got it running I quickly realized it was near undriveable at highway speeds. The old suspension was just wore out. But I still played with it for a year or so off and on before it just got too dangerous to drive. So I parked it and it has set pretty much all the time for the past three or four years in my basement.

This is what it looked like before I parked it.










One last piece of the back story, my uncle's prized possession was his 1966 Pontiac 2+2. It was/is a local legend, he had engine work done to it back in the late 60's that was unheard of for the area and it was a street racing king. Affectionately called "Old Red", he had the truck painted the same color. Also added a Pontiac tach like the one on the Pontiac.
Here is a picture of the car right after leaving my wedding in it last year.


So no fast forward to today. Last weekend while bringing the truck down to the shop to start work on I tore the transmission out of it, not sure what happened exactly, but it ate itself. Here the truck sits, not movable under its own power.





So onto the project! While I'd like to make a 100,000 dollar street rod out of it I just can't afford it right now. So I am going to get it safe and road worthy and enjoy it as the vintage look that it is. Here are some of the things to come/be addressed.

I have a better gear box to be installed
New shocks
Rebuild the suspension, tie rods, etc.
Redo the brakes, hopefully add disc to the front
Air conditioning
Aluminum radiator
Electric Fan
The wiring is a nightmare, gotta fix it, or redo it
Repaint er uh primer it
Loose the ugly wheels and add some more period correct steel wheels
Ditching the broke auto in favor of a 4-speed. The pedal is still in there, so why not??
Redoing at least part of the interior, gauges and what not

I'm sure there is more to come and much more that will come up as the project goes along! But the main key is by the start of the show season next year I want to be able to drive it wherever I want, and to drive it! Wanna finally get it done so I can drive the piss out of it!

 

8-19-2012

Picked up a couple of items at the swap meet.

My uncle's pontiac I mentioned earlier came with one of these vacuum gauges factory and I was always fascinated by at as a kid riding in the car so when I saw this at the swap meet I had to have it for the truck!



Also picked up some Por15 filler to fix a few pin hole rust issues in the floor board.


After I get them taken care of I'll order some Por15 paint to do the inside of the cab in.

 

9-4-2012

Finally got her pushed inside on the lift tonight.


I had never really looked underneath the truck on a lift, just from the ground, I knew it was pretty solid, but I am pretty dang impressed considering it spent about ten years of its life in a damp barn.





This is the about the only rust on it besides what is in the floor. Mostly just in the brace though, should be easy to kill and repair.





Shocked at how good of shape the wood is in under the bed floor. The truck has a metal bed floor in it, wonder if that is factory? Either way this wood is in great shape, pretty much ZERO rot anywhere that I can see.








Here is the floor pan rust, I've saw MUCH, MUCH worse on much newer vehicles. This is nothing!








Looks like a got a couple of oil leaks, I knew the tranny was leaking, but she is headed for the scrap pile anway!











Any tips or tricks for cleaning underneath the truck? Wanna knock all the surface rust off and then obviously paint everything with some anti-rust paint. Thought about a pressure washer but dang that is gonna make a mess in the shop. Any ideas??

 

Looks like its goning to be a good project.One of the first things I would get rid of is the wheels.Would be awsome if you could put the ones in the first picture back on it or something close to those.And love the 2/4 set up!!!! Plese keep us posted with pic on the progress.

 

Sounds like a good plan. One word of advise, lose the word "Rat Rod" and you'll be good to go. Traditional vintage builds around here.

 

Thanks!! Yeah these wheels have got to go. They were put on sometime mostly because at the time they had decent tires on them, but yeah I hate them. I have a set of stock steel wheels(actually have the beauty bands and I THINK caps with them too). Gonna paint them up and put them on. Should make the truck drive a ton better too with a smaller front tire. Then eventually I'm gonna hunt a wider rear steel wheel for it.

 

Done rat rod is just thrown around so much these days, but yeah its for sure a vintage type build. Old school all the way.

 

If there is a way to clean the under side of the truck without having most of what comes off go in your face I want to know also. I have two cars that have been waiting for me to get that job done. Out of sight out of mind attitude on that task.

 

Unfortunately the various bushings, shocks, tie rods, etc need attention first so I am gonna be spending a lot of time under the truck right off so I wanna get that done sooner than later.

 

I'm diggin this alot!

 

Did a little work on her yesterday, there is no winning situation for getting 60 years of road grime off the underside. Been scrubbing and doing the best I can, its not gonna be perfect but it will do. I just want something to prevent any future rust and to make it look decent so if someone were to stick there head under the truck it won't look too bad at first glance.

Here is a little spot I've got done, hit it with some self-etching primer, then I'll top coat it all with a rust paint of some nature.


Also about to start work on my "tool box" for the bed. Didn't want to put a tool box in the back, I wanted an old drink box but to find one big enough for what I wanted would have been very costly. Gonna paint this one up and then probably do some cool art work or something on it. Be a great box to throw valuable in for long trips that need to stay dry or locked up.

 

Hadn't done much to the old girl all winter, just hadn't had the time or motivation. But with taxes coming in and spring fast approaching I've decided to get back on this project! I'm dropping her off at my buddies shop next week and he is going to do some of the mechanical work on it I don't want/don't feel comfortable doing. So hopefully she will be cruisin' by warm weather!


I scratched the plans for the 4-speed, I found a killer deal on a recently rebuild Turbo 350 so I'm going to put that back in it. A four speed would have been cool but honestly I'd rather have an automatic. Picking that up today, more updates to come!

 

Very cool truck and a great history,,,please find some decent rims and and replace asap,,that's why your transmission went out,,the truck was embarrassed. HRP

 

Great story and picture's !!! Please keep posting.

 

cool start

lookin' forward to the updates

 

Haha your probably right!!! I've got a set of steelies put up, just haven't had a chance to put them on yet, they've got decent tires, but older tires. But they will be on it with hopefully some white walls before she see's the street again

Thanks guys!!

 

Made some small progress today.

I took one door panel off two or three years ago to work on the door latch and honestly I have no clue where its at now so I'm going to take the other one off and sticker up the doors, I really like that look. I have the metal panel for this side.

I'm a bit of a sticker freak, here is some more I finally got around to putting on it, I think they sum up what the truck will be rather nicely!



I dug the old tail gate out of the shed, I was going to buy a new one but that is money that could be spent else where. This one isn't too bad for the look I'm going for, its got that used look but it will work. I'm missing one of the mounts, gotta get another one. I'm thinking of welding it up or something, I won't really want it to be functional and I want to loose the chains.



I also tossed a little primer on the dent in the fender where the wife hit it a few years ago. Since its been in and out it had started to get a little surface rust there so I wanted to kill it. It looks like crap, but it was like 28 degrees when I sprayed it, it will get the job done. Plenty of time for body work later on.

 

Keep it up, the truck has a lot of potential to return to its former glory!

 

I will gladly take that gate and chains off your hands if you ever want to part with them!

She looks good and I like what you have planned for it. She would look way better with a SBF under that hood!!!

 

I'll be watching this one!

 

Looks like a good start. Keep the updates coming . My 50-52 mix !!

 

Thanks!

If it weren't for the family history that is the route I would go, but my late Uncle was a diehard GM guy so it just wouldn't feel right putting a Ford in it. Now if I ever did a complete restoration on the truck, it would get a late model Ford engine but as long as its like it is and carburated I'm gonna keep what I got. Plus its just extra expense I don't need between me and the open road

Thanks! Will do! I like the red/black color scheme on your truck, I really thought about doing my fenders in red!

 

The old girls not happy about being out in the snow, but that will all change soon! Parts lists are being put together, orders soon to be placed!

 

A 1957 to 1972 F-100 9 inch Ford rear end is a bolt in. It can give you a more highway friendly gear ratio and you still get to keep the old Ford pattern wheels.

Parts like brake shoes, brake drums, seals and bearings are a LOT easier to find and way less expensive also.

I have done this switch quite a few times and it is a great improvement.

.

 

Hmm good idea, hadn't thought of that, I may have to hunt one because the rear end is a bit of an unknown, works for now, but who knows how long! Of course I kinda feel like if I was going to change it I should go disc brakes......

 

Did a little tinkering, little figuring, and a little work tonight.

As far as figuring I'm trying to figure out a center console or some sort of dash extension. I've decided just to keep the bench seat, it looks good, and i'm old fashion, I like it. I've decided to build a center drop down piece on the dash to mount my cd player and eventually my ac/heat controls in. It will hang down from the piece you see below and then taper down as it goes to the floor to clear my foot and the gas pedal. Then at the bottom I'm gonna build in at least one cup holder on the floor and build it around the shifter(possibly) and stop it at the seat. I've have pictures of a basic idea I saw in another truck saved at work, I'll post them tomorrow.

I'm taking these gauges out, they will be in the dash.
Speaking of the shifter, I've though about ordering a Lokar, but I'm just going to keep this one, its what my uncle had in it, its a Hurst and already modified to fit, so I'm gonna keep it.


In this padded part, I'm going to mount a Moroso race car style switch panel with a push button start and switches I'll need for my fans, fuel, etc.
My old wiring is butchered so I figure the easiest way to simplify it is to basically start over with the engine side of the wiring. I've got an issue right now where when I pull the lights on driving down the road the engine dies, I have no idea what the cause of that is.

Check out this wiring!!

Don't get me wrong, not knocking it, when my uncle did this truck back in the sixties in the middle of no where north carolina you had to make work what you could make work. But I think I can use just a little modern technology and lessen the fire hazard!

My plan is to keep the key switch as the master power to the switch panel as a bit of added security, then the fuel and the ignition will have to be hit after that to crank it, so hopefully that will serve as a bit of an anti-theft. Plus the hole is in the dash so I want it to be functional. I don't want to smooth the whole because I'm trying to keep the original patina'd look in tact of my dash.

Also gonna up grade my cigarette lighter while I'm in there, hopefully I'll be running a lot of juice into my GPS riding the roads to shows!

As much as I love the patina of this old cluster I'm upgrading it with some modern auto meter gauges.


Here is another stray shot of that wiring I was talking about earlier.


When I originally started working on the truck back in '06 or '07 these yellow fog lights were the first things to go, I hated them. But now as I get a little older I realize how cool these puppies are! So I am going to get them cleaned up and hopefully they work, the wiring is cut(and was before I ever took them off) but hopefully I can add an extension to it and make them work. If nothing else I'll mount them for looks.



Does anyone know if they still sell the bulbs themselves? Do I replace the whole thing lens and all like a typical old style bulb?

I also started work on my box for the back.

The box had some sort of styrofoam in the bottom and the edges, I couldn't figure out what it was but I vacuumed most of it up, then I realized it must be some sort of foam sealer or something in the corners. So just to make the bottom of the box weather proof I shot some great stuff around the corners.



Now I know what your thinking, that looks horrible. But I'm going to line the inside of it with bedliner tomorrow night.

The hinges and some other spots on the box were pretty rusty so I decided to hopefully kill it with some rust treatment.

Before and after's, once it dries it turns it a dark color and its supposed to be good to go after that.





I'm going to scuff it down and shoot it in some good primer sealer tomorrow to protect the metal, then paint it. I'm thinking of maybe adding a period correct "Craftsman" sticker to make it look like a tool box. I may order a couple of cool vintage pad locks to use with it too.

 

Welcome to the F1 family! Good start on the truck. The steel in the bed is correct. The plate was laid over the wood sub flooring. The ribbed front panel tells me that the bed is all original and has not been repaired.
PM me if you want to sell the guage panel.

 

Good info to know! Thanks! I'll let you know if I decide to sell the cluster but for now the plans are to retain all the original parts I take off, "just in case".

 

This is what I'm talking about doing for my center console/dash extension. Well a more extended version of this, minus the extensions on the left and right.

 

Hadn't worked on it much over the past few days, long days at work make you lazy when you get home. Did do a little work last night.

I put the first coat of bedliner in my box, this Plastikote sprays really go and lays down nice. I'm gonna do another coat on it after this one drys good.




Got the outside of the box scuffed down, just gotta hit it with some cleaner and its ready to spray.



As for the paint I'm kind of going out on a limb and hoping my plans work out, if not, the box may be black in the end!
I found a plastikote color close to what I originally wanted to paint the truck, so I thought, hey this will be cool on that box! But after ordering three cans and test spraying one on something else its a little too purple for me even though its called a "red". So I've switched up my primer to a red to hopefully give it a little more redish tint. The plan is to prime it, paint it, and then hit it with a fine scuff pad to sand back down some of the "red" and make it look faded and old. Then I'm going to clear it. We will see how it works out!


Also in the early planning stages for my valve covers. As I mentioned before my uncle was a diehard Pontiac man, short of putting a Pontiac engine in this recreating a "Pontiac" is the next best thing I can do. They make Oldsmobile valve covers for SBC's, and a set of race looking Pontiac valve covers, but neither one fit the look I want. So I am going paint these valve covers(and the rest of the engine) Pontiac blue. I'm either going to add some old Pontiac decal's to them or maybe have them custom air brushed, haven't decided yet.