Projects 1949 M47 pickup. Basement barn find!

Went back to the garage last night and found out that I did indeed have two front pads on there so i swapped them out.
I disassembled the other side and a couple springs were broken so I went ahead and bought new springs all around for the brakes....i know youre not supposed to re-use them. I was being cheap. but now I will just toss new springs all around in the back and everything will be fine! I painted everything and left it all disassembled until the new springs arrive on monday.
Next step is going to be to make an adapter for the single pot to dual pot brake master cylinder mount and then its off to the races for plumbing and bleeding the rest of the brake system. then ill start in on the welding. I have been dragging my feet waiting for the temps to get warmer. I will be working with metal more when I am welding and that just sucks the cold out of your hands like crazy. thankfully the temps hover around freezing after mid next week. I will be able to get more done each time I go when its warmer.

there's an upholstery/window shop at the end of my street and I have made friends with the guy that owns the joint. he's in his late 70's early 80's and has forgotten more than I will ever be able to know. He loves my dog so my fiancee goes and sees him with our dog at least once a week. Today I popped in to say hey. I am gonna try my hand at upholstering my own front seat on the truck....at least for now. BUT the good news is that he can cut flat glass windshields and he's more than happy to help me out with it so that will be great. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find a local spot, and I am glad its someone I "know" that can do it.

to keep this entertaining....here's the car he's currently working on in his shop.

 

That's a great thing to be on friendly terms with old skilled guys.

Regarding the brakes, don't discard the old springs until you've got everything put back together. The kits for some cars do not come with every spring, so you may have to reuse one or two.

 

Just remember BOB. Big on back.

 

Went back to the guys place that I pulled the truck from. He's been kicked out of his place and has to vacate by April 15.....if ya read back I would have missed the truck if I hadn't grabbed it before Xmas. Well he's got three floors of the building filled with junk. I spent 7 hours today with a friend sorting and trying to pull out vintage/antique pieces he could sell in the next month to make a bit of money as his rent is increasing by triple and he's on a pension/fixed income. He's also having to move into a studio apartment....so he will only be able to take a very small amount of his stuff.

I didn't find much....maybe $1500 worth of stuff worth selling, but it was a good time. And I'll help him move all that stuff and he will appreciate the cash.

All that said, while digging I found a pic of the Mercury he took back in the 70's in the field it was sitting in before they dragged it into Montreal tacked up on his wall so I pulled it down and I'll add it to my collection.


Going into the shop tomorrow morning because I'm working a late shift and gonna do some more work on the brakes.

 

Ontariariario!! 1969...neato...nothing like treasure hunting...

 

Spent a few hours in the shop. Replaced all my rear drum brake springs. It took taking apart and putting back together the brakes five times to get both of them right. I kept messing up the brake adjuster on one side and it was hanging the parking brake up. But finally I figured it out.

Then I pulled the 6v generator off the truck. Took it apart, And put a 12v body instead of the 6v body. The ends are the same for 6v and 12v just the coil windings are different. This was the last step in converting it to 12v!

I drilled my frame to mount a 2 pot master cylinder from a 67 mustang. The OG was a single pot master cylinder. The original mount for these is three bolt holes and this one is two. I'm not sure why folks buy an adapter plate when you can just drill the frame and it's a direct mount with plenty of meat.

Good night in the garage. Going to replace front wheel cylinders and start plumbing in the brake system.

 

Been busy on other projects but finished enough of them that I was able to get into the garage today. Plumbed in the whole rear brake system. Gotta go grab a tee for the front circuit and the brakes will all be done and ready to go.
Also still have to clip it too the frame, but I want to paint it first. Still too cold to paint but didn't wanna stop doing stuff.

 

thanks!
life has happened and I have just been diddling around on the truck since I finished the brakes.
I removed the entire front axle yesterday to take it to my other shop where I have more tools so I can install new king pins.
I also dragged my shitty mig welder down to the garage with the truck. this week I will be starting to cut and patch in the repair panels I have for the front cowl corners and front floorboards.
i had ambitious plans to have this done by may 22 for a show, but I dont think thats reasonable anymore. I am moving to a new apartment on the 14 and thats gonna definitely take time away from the truck.
I do want the truck on the road ASAP though so this thread will get more regular updates very soon.

 

I started to dig in on my truck cab today. I have two front cowl corners to replace so I obviously started on the one that was in the worst shape.


I have a replacement piece that replaces the whole corner. So I cut it conservatively so I could see how the frame supports are doing. Behind the cowl isn't thaaaat bad but the bottom right at the front of the door is pretty toasted. I'm going to have to replace the rocker panel (if that's what that section is even called) that goes from about three inches behind the door hinge up to the front. Because I'll have to cut it out, I'll weld in a reinforcement bar front to back to make sure the cab doesn't bow or shift when I'm working on it. Thankfully it's just a flat piece so it won't be hard to replace once it's reinforced.




The cowl patch actually welds to that piece I have to replace, so once I do that and fix a couple small spots on the reinforcement bracket I'll weld the cowl panel on and it'll all be good. I don't think it'll take me too long to do it all. And again, I started on the hardest/worst corner first.

Here's where everything sits for tonight.




Because I didn't have any sheet metal for patching here I went ahead and stripped down the firewall. Here's what I started with.



After I removed everything I hit it with a wire wheel for a while to knock off everything that's loose. Looks like I'll only need to patch one small section under where the battery tray will mount.


I also removed the original insulation, which just feels like a fire waiting to happen.



And the other side of the firewall actually looks beautiful.




Ive got some work ahead of me but I feel good about it.

Also while cleaning up the firewall I found the original production date stamp which was neat.

 

Congratulations on finding a nice example of a Mercury truck and doing it justice. They are getting scarcer by the day and hard to find with all their trim. Mercury did a nice job of improving the look over the earlier Canadian Ford trucks. I have been quietly following your build and enjoying your progress. Keep up the great work.

 

It's a busy work week for me but I'm trying to think past the cab repairs to have my ducks in a row.
I pulled the door lock cylinder and ignition out of my truck and brought em down to my favorite locksmith in town. This woman Francine, she's been a locksmith her whole life, took over the business from her father who was a locksmith his whole life, been going to her for almost twenty years now. She's helped with sketchy motorcycle locks, house locks and now old truck locks.

I didn't have any keys so I asked her if she could key the door and the ignition on the same key for me. She was in the middle of her lunch so she said she'd give me a call when she had a chance to take a look at it. Two hours later she said she not only was able to key both locks for me but she had NOS keys for the truck and she had two styles so she would show me when I came back. Fifty bucks later I've got three 70 year old keys keyed to my original door and ignition from the 70 year old truck. So fucking cool.

She let me take a pic of the blank before cutting it even. She said she's had a lot of people ask to buy all those blanks numerous times but she refuses because then she wouldn't have any for customers like me! She said she used to do a lot of these back in the 80's but not so many anymore.

 

I called up my buddy and asked if we could toss my axle into the back of his truck to drop it off at my other shop so I can use real tools to remove the king pins.

He showed up, we tossed it in the back and drove it down and unloaded.


He's got a 56 f100, so this is just kinda cool.

Well we go to leave and his truck wouldn't start. He's got a 2016 raptor motor in his truck, very much a hot rod and wild. Two hours of trouble shooting in the rain we narrowed it down to ignition/key to the parking/neutral switch, or the starter, or the wires in between those three parts. We did what we could where we were and now it's sitting in front of my house so we can work on it on the curb over the next few days. His parking is underground so he couldn't get it towed to his own place.

While waiting for the tow truck though I pulled out my 5lb sledge and a piece of 5/8 stainless bar stock and pounded out my king pins!!! Didn't take very much work at all which is a huge relief, but I definitely couldn't have done it at the other garage so the trip wasn't for nothing.

Obligatory it isn't yours til you bleed on it picture.

 

I actually think I cut my hand working on the 56.....so I think that means his truck is mine now right?!

 

Related/unrelated.
This week a killer deal on a lathe popped up so I skipped out on work an hour early, borrowed a truck and went and picked it up.


Also found something on the way home....


Last night I got a bug up my ass and went to my garage and set up the bench for the lathe instead of packing for my move in two weeks.
Before.

After. Lathe was way too heavy to pick up on my own but it'll go on the right.
I had to notch the last 6inches of the table to make it all fit in here, it's not a big space.

Then Friday I sold my rolling project dart that this truck is replacing. So today I drove out at 7am after going to bed at 3 because I set up that bench and grabbed some running boards that I need to either run or use as patches for the ones I have!


Progress! Sort of!

 

It's been a while. I moved and it took up every last minute if my spare time.
I finally got back into the garage today.
I repaired the drivers side front cab corner. I basically rebuilt the whole thing. It's not ready to be painted and then I'll weld on the patch panel for the cowl corner and move to the passe get side.
I started with the worst side.

Here's what I started with....



Here's where it sits, this includes about 5 inches of the rocker panel as well.



I'm personally impressed I was able to match the stamped curves for rigidity. I did it with a vise sitting on the ground and a 5lb sledge.

Once I weld in the patch panel then I will do the area above the panel as well, though that should be fairly straight forward

 

got to get into the garage on sunday evening for two hours and patched up the majority of the patch panel on the drivers side! I still have a small section under the door hinge to do, and then the metal just above the patch panel needs to be replaced and that side will be done! I started with the worst side, so the next side should go faster.



there was also a car show a couple blocks from me on sunday morning, so here are the relevant rides.



then there was this 40 ford with a newer motor that had been converted to 12v. some good stuff i liked, some stuff i didnt like about the set up. its good to see what other folks are doing in the flesh

 

I've never seen radiator hose routed like that but if it works...

 

I think it was to get around the alternator upgrade.
That routing definitely fit into the "things I didn't like" category.

 

I'm sure you're right, but should alternator and flathead be used in the same sentence???

I think there's a law against it. Or if there isn't there should be.

 

Hi Tony.Looking good.Just finished your thread in one setting.Ahhhhhh the joys of old iron.
But as my Grand Father used to say"Slow and sure beats the hell out of quick and dead".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

It's been a while. Between vacation, COVID running through our house, and parenting I haven't been taking any pics of anything and barely spending much time in the garage.

I have been doing stuff though!
I pulled all the front suspension, cleaned it up, painted it. Put in new king pins. I actually found a father/son machine shop that specializes in kingpins about three blocks from my motorcycle garage which was really a great find.
Today I spent the majority of my day in the garage and put together the front end and remounted it to the truck properly!
I'm hoping to get the cab on the frame very soon and then it's off to the races!
Hopefully more updates soon, but here's my front axle! Frame will likely be painted in the next couple days.

 

Painted 3/4 of the frame!!!


Also painted the firewall!



Also the entire front end is rebuilt with all new bushings, kingpins, and tie rod ends and is back together and ready to have the wheels thrown back on!


Pulled the thermostat housings three of the four bolts sheared off and I had to weld a nut on to the little bit sticking out to get the rest out. Thankfully that worked.
Here's the two halves of one of the bolts.


I'm likely gonna pull the water pumps to make sure I don't have the same problem with those bolts in a controlled location instead of on the side of the road.

I'm gonna be mounting the cab to the frame on Friday night with some help from friends!!!
Very excited...it's a big step in the whole process!!

 

Check with some of the flathead gurus on here as my last flathead was over 30 years ago. I'm pretty sure though that there is one bolt in each water pump that you have to get to from INSIDE of the pump after you remove the hose. I think that many a pump has been broken while prying on them with that bolt still in place.

 

You’re correct. You get to through the hose connection as I recall. I had to use heat, let it cool and pound on a socket made for stripped/rounded heads. One was corroded almost round.

 

Wow, they put a mounting bolt inside the water pump.

 

Huge day for me!
I took the week off work, got shit done on the truck, went camping, came back...and PUT THE CAB ON THE FRAME!
I asked for help and seven buds showed up and it took 22 minutes to put the cab on and crack open beers.
A friend filmed it with my camera so there will be a YouTube video in the near future, but here's the three pics I took and four from a friend that was there helping.
I AM SO EXCITED!
It feels like a real attainable project now and not just piles of metal around a garage.

 

Keep on Truckin Tony!!!...milestones are positive energy Bigtime!!!

 

It was REALLY REALLY hard not to tell everyone to leave so I could immediately start working on the truck.

My work is a five minute ride from the garage so I am likely gonna shift my days around for the next month so I can spend a few hours after work in the garage before getting home for dinner.
Having the cab on has really lit a fire under my ass.