I received the parts from Ogden Chrome today. WOW!! Is all I can say. Here's a before and after shot. It's actually hard to take a picture because of the shine. Now to get the hood painted so I can put the pieces on it!
I'm very happy with the results. As you all know, chroming parts gets expensive, but I can't praise the customer service at Ogden Chrome enough. They answered all of my questions when I took the parts to them and they stand behind their work. If any of the parts had been damaged in shipment they would have taken them back and fixed them at no cost. Fortunately, all the parts arrived safely. I think all of the parts I had chromed/polished (with the exception of the dust caps) are reproduced now and it would have been cheaper just to buy the reproductions but I wasn't sure what their quality was. I've had to buy a lot of parts for this truck simply because I didn't have the original parts, or what I did have was not repairable and honestly, a lot of the reproduction parts aren't that great. In fact, I broke the reproduction headlight switch trying to install it the other night. I guess I just wanted these highly visible chromed parts to be the best quality as possible.
Old parts re-chromed just look right. As an aside, those lugnuts. Are the left side nuts lefthand threads? I am pretty sure the lugnuts are the same from the early 1930s through the late 1960s, as Ford seems to have gotten that consistency right. (Not so much regarding the small block accessories, as we all know). Just tickled to see your progress.
Thanks Osage and you are correct, the lugs on the left side are left-hand threads. I bought both the front and rear lug nuts from www.joblotauto.com .
Question for you guys, do I need to put some sort of fender welting between where all of the various front clip parts bolt together?
Awesome job on the truck!!! Quick question, you obviously have many hours into it. I have the opportunity for one just like it and would like it to be an over the road driver. To do it again, would you find a donor chassis and mount the body on that?
That's a good question Bigfrank. HOTFR8 may be able to answer your question better since he did a frame swap. For me, I like this F4 being on its original frame and axles from an aesthetics point of view. Once I drive it with the 302/AOD I may be able to answer your question better. It will be interesting to see how well it drives and how rough the suspension is going to be. I'm not sure which would be easier, swapping the original axles for newer ones, with disc brakes, and a modern engine/transmission or swapping the entire chassis. Sorry I'm not much help to you. On a different note, I worked on the hood yesterday, trying to get it ready for the painter and man what a can of worms I opened up. I got the hood off craigslist and really hadn't looked at it much in the past few years. It had been primed already but it had a few extra holes on the side and it looked like someone had mounted a hood ornament on it at some point so I wanted to fill those in. As I sanded through the primer to get to steel to weld the holes up I discovered someone had gone filler happy. This surprised me because the under side of the hood looked really good; why would someone put 1/8 to 1/4 inch of filler on it? So now I'm in the process of removing the filler so the body guy has a clean slate to work with. Man this is a messy job.
Hi Volt, Not wanting to take away from the work you have done. A chassis swap to a later chassis was easier for me as I updated to the Cummins 6BT and that gave me every thing I needed to have the vehicle engineered in this country for registration ( brakes steering etc). Depending on what you want you have two options. Look for a chassis from a later Ford or do as HiVolt has done and either way it should end up a nice driver. We can already see the truck in this topic is going to look good.
Thank you for replying HOTFR8; I knew your insight would be very good in responding to BigFrank. Your truck and the one I'm restoring represent two points of the spectrum on how these trucks can be built. Both have their pros and cons but perhaps the best way to enjoy these big trucks at comfortable highway speeds is with a frame swap.
Not always true. Some times an original frame can be just as good as a frame swap. It will be very interesting to see how you find yours to drive when finished.
Got a little bit of an update. I've been trying to plug away at the truck putting some of the bits and pieces back on it while trying to get other parts prepped for reassembly. I tell ya what, working on a freshly painted vehicle is nerve racking! Several dash bits are back on, the headlight buckets are painted, the door latch mechanisms have been soaked in EvapoRust and I've been combing through the pieces making sure I have everything. A few things have put a damper on the project though. 1) there's a coolant leak somewhere that I've got to figure out and fix, 2) the master cylinder is leaking, and 3) the hood hinges bought off ebay years ago have issues (one of the lift supports is cracked where it mounts to the firewall and one of the studs that mounts the side hinge broke). I'm trying to determine what I want to do with the hinges. I have another set from the 52 that was purchased but not that the hinges are reproduced I'm wondering if buying new would be best. A friend of mine bought some new hinges last year and man they work great. On a positive note, the last bits to be painted are at the painter's shop so I should have everything next week. I also put the nose shiny bits on the hood earlier this week.
Looking good. Spotted one here being restored and it has been in the works for many years now. The cab is a much brighter red than yours and will have black running boards, guards - fenders. If I get a chance in the near future I will post a photo.
Whoever took out the dents on the nostril chrome sure did a fine job. You gotta be tickled to be to the point where putting stuff back together around freshly painted surfaces makes you nervous. So nice!
I'd really like to see pics of the truck you saw. Ogden Chrome is responsible for the dent removal. They did a really good job.
It may not be easy to get photos but next chance I get I will try my best as I know it will add to your topic here.
Do any of you have the ash tray components you'd like to sell? I have the cover, but I need the bracket that bolts to the dash and the part the cover attaches to. Please message me if you do. thanks Dave
Here are few more updates. I have the hood latch and wind deflector installed on the hood. I hope it fits correctly. I moved the radiator forward to the 6 cylinder location but the wind deflector is for a V8. I have most of the dash put together and I installed the transmission cover last night.
Looking good! I'm not familiar with that wind deflector, can you measure back from the front to make sure it won't hit the radiator?
Hey Johnboy, I have to take the front clip back off so what I plan to do while it's off is to mount the hood and then see how it fits. Without the fenders and such being in the way I should have a good view of where the wind deflector is in relation to the radiator. One of the reasons I'm taking the front clip off is it appears I didn't get the cab adjusted well when I put it on the frame. As I was installing the transmission access panel and the panel that fills the gap around the steering column and pedals, I noticed a couple of things: 1) the brake pedal scraps the filler panel and the shifter isn't centered in the transmission access panel hole. A friend is coming over the Saturday to help me out. It looks like the cab needs to move to the right and back a little bit.
Just a thought here, isn't there any way you could just loosen everything and with your friends help shift the cab? Can you look up from underneath while someone lowers the hood slowly, It will either close or be off the amount the core support moved, I think you would see it right away. However you do it good luck, with how your truck is looking I'm sure you will get it just fine!
Johnboy, to be honest, the front clip isn't fully bolted on right now. I simply put enough bolts in it to hold the panels together to get the truck back to my house. Plus, I don't have any welting between body panels so they all have to come off anyway.
I got the cab "squared" away this weekend. Man those rear cab mounts are a bear! I was glad I had help. Not sure I mentioned this before, but I noticed some coolant drips under the lower radiator hose a few weeks ago so I rented a coolant system pressure tester to help me find the leaks. They were not easily found but I believe I narrowed it down to one of the heater hoses that attaches to the water pump and possibly a tiny pin hole in the lower radiator pipe I made. I bought a new section of heater hose and installed it last night and I plan on taking the lower radiator pipe to a radiator shop to have pressure tested to hopefully pin point the pin hole.
I have a few more updates. The rear cab mount bushings are in and the cab position is adjusted. An ashtray has been purchased (Thank you Charlie!) and installed. The inner fenders and grille are reinstalled, permanently this time. The horn has been mounted. I've been working on installing the AC and heater hoses. I'll need to mount the Evaporator before I can complete the hose installation but I have to make a mount for the Evaporator. And the hood hinges have been installed. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.
Good to hear all went well! The pinholes can be a bugger to find, good luck. That ashtray looks new in your great looking dash!
Thanks Johnboy. The local radiator shop was able to fix the pinholes in the lower radiator pipe. I know one of the managers there and he said they tested it to 20 psi and no more leaks.
So I discovered I'm missing another part. Looking at the pictures of the hood a few posts back, those with a keen eye and knowledge of the these old trucks probably noticed I'm missing the safety latch on the hood. When I was installing the panel that contains the hood latch mechanisms I noticed the bracket for the safety latch but I wasn't sure what went there; well now I know. Do any of you guys have an extra hood safety latch in good condition I could purchase? I assume it has a spring and such with it?? thanks again for all of the help. David
I was able to get the hood and front clip back on the truck this weekend. Man that was a job! There's like 72 bolts holding all of that front clip together and to the truck. Makes me wonder how Ford accomplished that task on an assembly line, but I'm making progress. Also, as I feared, the wind deflector in the hood does hit the radiator. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture. Now I'm on the hunt for a wind deflector made for 6 cylinder applications and I still need a hood safety latch.
Bummer, as a plus the front clip on there sure looks great! Would this one fit your F-4? http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-49-50-51...-1-F1-F2-F3-/191962317295?hash=item2cb1d881ef
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