Projects Learning As I Go... The 34 Canuck Truck

Just caught this thread. Looks like a great start to make into something your own. I'm in Paris where are you at?

 

Hey Peter, I'm up near Collingwood. I've been to/through Paris a few times for shows.

 

Since we've finally been getting some beautiful weather up here, I took advantage of the sunlight to roll the truck out into the driveway to get some work done. The first order of business was pulling the cab off. I'd considered a few different ways of doing, one involving a gang of strongmen (who seem to be in short supply) and another involving a tractor. However, after coming across a thread in which a guy uses his engine hoist to lift and move his cab, I thought I'd try it...
Lifting straps, rags, wooden bracing, foam and an hour or so later, I had the cab hanging from the hoist. Wanted to get a few pics, but I discovered that the camera was dead.
Dropped the cab onto a dolly, rolled it into the garage, and then turned my attention to the frame. Fast forward a few hours and I had the running gear off and a stripped frame sitting on jacks in my driveway. With the light fading and the bugs coming out, that was the end of my Saturday.

Sunday afternoon was garage cleanup and organization day. With my truck now fully in pieces, I don't really have much of a truck to work on... The next step will be sorting out the frame and running gear. There's some heavy duty, and very ugly, black paint that has to come off and I need to get collecting parts to lay out everything as I want it set up.

Sorry for the lack of pictures guys!

 

So every year I try and do one big car related thing with my kid sister. Usually it's a car show, but this year was something a bit different. Decided to take a little parts road trip and pick up a few things for the truck. I don't think she knew what she was getting into, spent a lot of time in the car, but we had fun, saw some sights, met some great people and HAMBers, and brought back a good haul...

Got a '51 Ford rear axle for free, a Fenton dual intake manifold for the flathead, an 8ba intake for free, a '57 Chevy rear end for free, spare axles for the Chevy rear end for free, a driveline for free, a running '54 Olds 324, and a '55 Olds 324. The '54 sounds great and starts up just fine. Shows good oil pressure as well. The '55 isn't running, but it looks like it'll clean up all right for parts or whatever, and both motors have the slant pan hydros.

So now my garage is stuffed full of parts and pieces, and its time to begin laying everything out to rebuild the chassis...

That 'I'm in over my head' feeling is nagging away at the back of my mind again, but I'm going to keep soldiering on. Won't learn anything otherwise.

 

Cool project. cant wait to see how it turns out.

 

I'll have another update hopefully this weekend with pictures... But in the meantime: It was a busy August for me. I only really had time to get up to the parents house twice, so things have moved kind of slow. Since the running '54 Olds was on a rolling stand and tucked away in the corner, but the crusty '55 was sitting on a pallet in the centre of my garage floor, I decided that I had better get it up on the engine stand and out of the way. More to come on that...

Thanks for the support Kage! It's a slow process, but I'm enjoying it.

Jeff, yes. The plan is to use the running '54 Olds and slant pan hydro. It sounds good and seems to run just fine. I'd eventually like to go through it and check it out, but I figure that if I can get a summer out of it first, it'll go a long ways towards keeping me motivated and also spread out the funds a bit. I'll use the '55 block and hydro for mock up and frame reassembly.

My kid sister has always loved the muscle cars and was looking for an Elky or a Ranchero, but after she saw pics from the ELTA Shop Party last month, she decided that she wanted a hot rod too. I told her that if she saved her money for the frame/body/everything else, I'd give her the Flathead, torque tube and banjo rear. You know, gotta perpetuate the next generation of hot rodders... But her project would have to wait till mine is done.

 

So my update is a little later than planned. I had mentioned that I wanted to get the '55 Olds off the centre my my garage floor and onto an engine stand... but that has been a bit of a process.

When I planned my trip to pick up the running '54 Olds 324, I came across an ad for another '54 Olds 324 for dirt cheap. The seller had said that it was sitting outside, wrapped up in plastic and tarps, and had been that way for about 12 years. He wasn't selling it for much more than the cost of gas to get down there, so I figured I might as well pick it up as well. If it was good, I could use it for parts, salvage the good stuff and sell the rest. If it was bad, I could just junk it. Either way, I thought I'd use it as my test mule; take it apart and learn about them.
Well, when I got to his shop, it turned out to be a '55, not a '54. It was dirty and had clearly been out in the elements, but I was already there, and more importantly, it had the full hydro to carb kickdown linkage in tact, so I brought it home anyways.
With the design of these Rockets, if the engine is stuck, the only way to separate the hydromatic from the block is to pull the hydro with the crankshaft still attached. Cue garage floor teardown.





With the two weekends I've been home, I've taken most of the engine apart. The seller had filled every nook and cranny with oil before he stored it, so other than a thick layer of gummy oil on everything, the insides don't look too bad. The pistons are stuck, and theres some rust and crud in some of the water passages and one or two cylinders, but hopefully a dip in the hot tank will clean everything out.

I haven't pulled the crankshaft yet, because I don't have a pulley puller to get the front pulley and balancer off yet, (borrowing/buying necessary tools as I go) but I hope to do that next time I'm home. Then, with a bit of luck, I'll finish pulling the main caps and connecting rods, and the crankshaft will slide out, attached the hydro. Then I can finally get the block in a hot tank, on my stand, and off my floor. I feel like it won't be that simple, but one can hope!

The hydro did give me a nice surprise though. Somewhere along the line, the dipstick tube snapped off, and from what I can tell, the pan and tube hole were sitting in the ground for a long while. I expected the hydro to be toast; filled with water and rust. But when I pulled the pan off to take a look...



well, things looked pretty damn clean! Seems to be the silver lining in my chunk of iron.

 

really cool project!

I dig that you're making it something your sister spends time with you on, instead of it being that thing her big brother does when he doesn't want anyone bugging him.

Hope the engine and transmissions work out well for you.

 

Thanks Johnunit! Kind words from you.

Where about's in Toronto are you? I'm over in Mississauga.

 

Had a pretty interesting weekend.

On Friday, I jumped in the car after work and headed down to Detroit area, Michigan. Paul55 had a F1 steering box and column for sale, and I really wanted one for the truck. Whenever I have to the chance to drive and meet someone new while picking up a part, I seize the opportunity. (Plus, it's still cheaper to drive then to ship it across the border) This time, the effort was well worth the result, Paul is an excellent guy! We bullshitted for a while, talking about cars, projects current and past, and life in general. He's been in to cars and hot rods his whole life and took the time to show me pictures and magazines from his past, as well as to tell me a bit about his father, who is a genuine hot rodder from the 50 and 60s.
Much to my surprise, and pleasure, his dad wandered into the garage while we were chatting, just to see what was going on. Let me tell you, at 75 years young, he still gets it! I could have sat and listened all day to the stories he had to tell.
However, all too soon, my visit was over as it was getting cold in the garage and I still had a long drive up to the parents house. To Paul Jr and Sr, a big THANK YOU for your kindness and for putting up with me. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit!

On Saturday, I was looking forward to getting the '55 Olds torn apart, and to get a few other things done.... It's funny how plans don't always come together. I spent almost all of Saturday doing, well, nothing that can be readily seen. Since I have 3 stuck pistons, I've been advised that the only way I can separate the Hydromatic is to pull it while still attached to the crank.
To do that, I had the roll the engine to one side, loosen all of the connecting rod caps that I could reach, roll the engine to the other side, and repeat. I was able to reach all of the nuts, except for one. Eventually getting frustrated, I carefully rolled the engine completely over so I could work on it upside down. I need to point out that flipping an engine upside down is a frustrating 3 step process that involves repeatedly moving and adjusting chains, all while trying to keep the engine from rolling over uncontrollably.
The way the piston had stopped, there was no way I could loosen the nut with traditional tools. So out came the grinder, and I ground off one side of the nut. I was then able to use a screwdriver to spin the nut off of the bolt. And here's where my luck went downhill... Enjoy the following steps.
Connecting rod caps off. Roll the engine back over. Realize that the hydro still won't separate because the connecting rods are still catching the crank. (Insert choice swear words here). Roll the engine upside down again. Realize that the three stuck pistons aren't going to release the crank, no matter what. Contemplate cutting the connecting rods. Realize that I only have a dull old handsaw blade that will work. Abandon that plan. Use 2x4 and a hammer to try and free stuck pistons. Break 2x4. Abandon that plan as well. Swear at engine some more. Roll engine back over. Use 2x4 and a hammer to try and free stuck pistons from the top side. Give up in frustration. Liberally spray with Deep Creep. Go inside.
Sunday, (today), started out with more of the same intent - separating the engine and hydro. Some more use of a hammer and 2x4, and I quickly abandoned my efforts to work on something with a result... cleaning out the garage.





I pulled everything out, reorganized the storage shed, moved some more parts down to the shed, cleaned some things and generally didn't get anything accomplished that I wanted to.
Actually, there's two lies. First, I didn't do any real cleaning. I made my sister do it! She lent a hand and spent most of the day scraping 50 years worth of dirt, and 12 years worth of caked on oil, from some of the engine parts I had. A big help for sure!



Second, I did accomplish something I wanted to. Sort of. I rolled out the 54 Rocket with the intent of firing her up. I wanted to boost my motivation with some noisy combustion and clear out some of cobwebs in the cylinders.



Of course, I forgot to put the charger on the battery this morning, so when I went to fire her up, all she did was slowly turn over until the battery ran out of juice.
No, fire, no roar from the stubby exhaust pipe, just the very underwhelming rotation of starter driven pistons. Oh well, at least I turned her over.

A very long post for not saying much, but it's been a while since I posted last, and I like to recount my days, so that at the very least, maybe someone will find some humor. On the plus side, it was beautiful weather this weekend! Perfect day to be working outside...

 

Again, it's been a while since I posted. This month to month between posts stuff just shows that I've been making very slow progress.

Somewhere between now and my last post, I got the stuck pistons out of the block, which freed up the crankshaft and allowed me to separate the hydro. After using Diesel fuel, Acetone/ATF, BFH's, etc, a few hours with the cylinders filled with coke, a few hits with a hammer and they were sliding again. Still can't get the camshaft out though...

Was home three weekends ago and got a few things done.

The Saturday I was fairly productive. I wire wheeled a few pulleys and parts, pulled some other rusty parts out of the molasses bath and gave them a scrub, and added a few more parts to the bath. I made some measurements and took some pictures of the original Oldsmobile linkages I have that connect the carb to the hydro, and I rolled my other Olds 324 out into the driveway to fire it up. Supported my weak battery that gave me trouble last time with jumpers to a running car... A few blips of the throttle had me grinning like a little kid.

Sunday, I took apart the original (I think) 34 seat to assess the frame and get rid of the old packing material. The bottom of the bench looks good with a few repairs needed. The top on the other hand is completely shot. In addition to all of the rusty broken springs, I had a mouse jump out at me. Decided junking it might be the best option. I think I'll end up selling the bench seat bottom and finding something else to support my ass.
Also pulled the '57 Chevy rear out, as it was the next project. It was fairly rusty, so I spent some time getting nuts loose and pulling the rusted brake hardware.

Went home again two weekends ago, and borrowed a friend's slide hammer axle shaft puller. Had to use a screwdriver and a hammer to separate the drum from the shaft... rust had fused them together. Ended up breaking the screwdriver, but I did get them apart. I abused my shoulder using the slide hammer before deciding to go the low buck route. Carried the axle down beneath my deck, attached ratchet straps to each end and looped them around supporting beams for the deck. As I ratcheted them tight, one axle slid out fairly easy. Readjusted the straps and tried again.
Long story short, that second axle shaft wasn't pulling free, no matter what I tried on it. The ratchet straps, heat, the slide hammer, the chain whip trick... since I didn't pay anything for it, and I gave up and took it up to my friends. Dropped it on a tire in his junk yard and told him he could have it if he could separate it. The goal was to clean it up and see if I could turn a profit on it, but the hassle wasn't worth the reward.

No pictures, because I really didn't do anything...

 

Gotta keep after it man!!! One bite at a time and you'll get it done.

 

Yesterday, I was over at the International Centre for their December parts swap. Lot of neat stuff there, not too much that I was looking for though. Found some new old headlight stands, a Service Manual from 1956 for an Oldsmobile, and a 1955 Hydromatic Service Manual, so I didn't come home empty handed. The hunt continues for a Olds starter changeover and for Hurst Olds engine mounts... Maybe next weekend at Rockton.

Thanks! Slow and steady wins it. Besides, it's all about the journey.

 

Looking good so far! Good of your sis to help out, too.

 

(So it's not exactly progress, but...)

It's kind of funny. Everyone thinks Santa wears a red suit, has a large belly and a white beard. The truth of it is that Santa actually is in his late 30s, has less of a beard and more of a scruff, and wears a Canada Post uniform, not a red suit...
Either way, he dropped by today to bring me some early Christmas cheer: a package, and a bill for the HST.

I've been doing some Christmas shopping for yours truly, and even though they don't quite fit with the time period of my build, I'm more than happy.

NOS Hurst Motor Mounts for my engine. Tracked them down on epay, and they delivered today.

This was the box I received after I slapped my credit card down:



What I found inside:



A set of NOS Hurst Motor Mounts for an Oldsmobile engine into an early Ford frame...



The included bolts were even still in the bag!



Instructions circa 1966






I still have a few more things I'm waiting for delivery on, but I was really excited to get this. Thought I'd share.

With Christmas right around the corner, a friendly reminder from Hurst and myself:

 

Those are pretty cool with the instructions, bolts and the box..


I was back reading and seeing if you tried the "F1" steering box you talked about getting... Have you mocked that up with the Olds block AND starter in place?

That 32 Ford/Olds highboy that I posted a pic of; that car used the F100 box and it clears the starter real nice.

 

I feel lucky. I never search on ebay, because I can never find what I'm looking for, but I was killing time at work and did a search for "Hurst", and they came up at the bottom of the list, so I jumped on them.

And I haven't yet. I have the F1 steering box, but I haven't had a chance to mock things up and see if they'll fit. I'm hoping/think it will, but I'm also lazily searching for an Olds starter changeover, just for the nostalgia factor. I need to sort out my frame this winter, so I'll be getting around to it.

I'm glad to hear that the Olds fits with the F100 steering box. I think both steering boxes are roughly the same size...

 

The numbers stamped into the top of the frame rail are the numbers that should be on the title for your truck but with 18- in front of them.
Originally that 18- plus your numbers was stamped on the transmission bell housing above the inspection plate, on top of the frame rail near the steering box, and without the 18- at the back of the door and at the rear crossmember as you found it.
SO, does it match the paperwork?

 

This is a pretty cool build. I have no idea how I've missed this thread but I'm glad I found it now.

 

Cool build going on here. Do you still have the flattie? Would you be interested in selling it?

 

Thanks pasadenahotrod! I did learn that along the way, but at the time, I had no idea that they were the identification ('VIN') numbers. And to answer your question, no, they don't. The engine/transmission is non-matching to the truck, and the truck was assigned a new VIN somewhere along the line. When I imported the truck to Canada, US and Canadian customs used the numbers on the new VIN plate for the paperwork.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it. Hopefully this winter, I'll have more regular posts and updates...

I've had a few people ask me recently what the overall direction for the build is, realized I don't think I've shared that here. I'm copying and pasting a recent message I sent to my buddy bgbdlinc about the overall direction:

"As for the truck, I have a 50s period build in mind with 1957 as my cutoff date. Unless the part is necessary for safety, or is a reproduction of a part made in the 50s, there won't be much noticeable on the truck newer than 1957.

That being said, my plans for the chassis are the original '34 front axle and transaxle spring out front, split wishbones, '40 Ford brakes, 1957 Ford 9" rear (still tracking it down as it was the first year for the 9"), quarter elliptical leaf springs in back, and 1940 Ford steelie rims and blackwall piecrust's all around.

A 1954 Olds Rocket 324 and matching Hydromatic transmission are going to be shoehorned between the rails for motivation. That'll require some work on the firewall to make it fit, but I think it'll be worth it. An early F1 steering box and column is going to free up a bit of room over the stock unit as well.

The cab is chopped 4 inches, but may have to come just a touch lower to clean up some poor work that was originally done. There's some gaps visible from the inside, where they didn't make the cuts right. Stock bench seat with a leather/cloth tuck and roll upholstery. 1940 Ford dash and gauges with a column mounted 50s tach..."

 

Thanks! I do still have the flatty, however, you're about the fifth person in line. I have it tucked away in the corner of my garage for either my roadster project, or my sister's hotrod project. Sorry about that.

 

So I've been kind of spinning my wheels with the truck for the past month or so. Not really doing anything, just collecting a few parts and pieces and saving up my pennies. Finally found my camera cord, so here are a few pics...

The headlight stands that I picked up at the International Centre swap.



The 1940 Ford brake and clutch assembly that I found at Rockton with David (BgBdLinc), a week later:





The 1940 Ford round back spindles that I also found at Rockton. One more piece of the juice brake puzzle.





I got to chatting with the gentleman that I bought the brake assembly from, and it turned out that he lives in the same area that I'm from. Location led to parts, and he hinted that he might have some of the things I was looking for. Went over to visit after Christmas and was treated to a quick tour of barns and sheds and a yard filled with vintage tin and parts. No pictures because I didn't have my camera with me, but there is a lot of stuff... not to mention probably about a dozen complete hemi's. He invited me back in the spring for a more thorough tour, and I know I'll be raiding his stores for some of the parts I am looking for. The one thing that I did leave with that day was a complete 1957 Ford 9" rear end. It's free and spins, and it even looks like it's the large bearing version.
The '57 housing style was one year only, so I was a bit nervous on the drive over, even he wasn't sure if it was a 57, 58, or 59, but I lucked out.

More updates as they happen.

 

My buddy and I were in Kingston this past weekend to visit his girlfriend and her single roommates (). I made an excuse and slipped away for most of Saturday and check out the Candy Factory...

When I got there, Neil and a few other guys were busy laying down some 2 1/2 inch wide louvers in a 1941 Willys hood. They'd just finished punching some in a gennie '32 hood before I got there.



They laid out four rows while I checked out Neil's blown drag coupe, his blown street coupe, his streamliner, a customers '34 coupe, Norwell's deuce coupe, the pictures and posters on the wall.... Well, you get the point. He's got a lot to see in that shop.

After some hemming, hawing and debating, we all decided that another two rows in the Willys hood would be best. Total count came out at 212 louvers.





After the hoods were finished, we spent some time bench racing, talking about projects, discussing Norwell's Diamond Deuce. Neil had a copy the magazine that first featured the Diamond Deuce back in the 60s. After the other guys left, Neil and I spent another 2 hours talking about my truck. It was nice to have a sounding board for ideas and plans, and to get some reassurance that I'm on the right track.

Still in parts collecting mode... no real progress planned until the spring. Good things take time.

 

It's always nice sitting with people who share the same taste in cars as you and talk about them. I don't get that enough at all but neither do I when working on my cars. Pretty cool on finding the '57 9-inch. One of my plans for the A involved using a '57 9-inch but I decided on the other drivetrain set up.

What other parts are you looking for? I might have a couple sitting around here. Highly unlikely but you never know..


iPhone - TJJ app

 

That's quite the project ya got happening,,looks good..I like the flattie.
I too had a Firebird for 22 years but sold it once I got the '41 International home,,car went on ebay at double my reserve, WOOHOOO!,,,smiled big time when those tail lites left.

 

nice to see your truck after talking to you at neil's shop. it looks great. Brad

 

I agree. I always enjoy the chances I get to chat with other hotrodders. Never seems to be enough time once you get chatting though.

I'm happy with the 9". A stock 1934 banjo with 1940 brakes is 57.75" drum to drum, and the 1957 9" is 57.25" drum to drum, so I think things should fit just fine without narrowing. The wide range of gears and availability of a posi is nice too.

Other parts that I'm looking for include a 1935/36 rear wishbone, an Olds starter changeover and oil bypass plate, F1 shock mounts, 40 Ford front brake drums... few more parts and pieces that I'm forgetting. I think the shipping on a few of those items from Texas would kill me though!

Thanks Jazz. It's coming along slow and steady.
Good looking Firebird you had there, '68 was it?

Brad, was nice to meet and chat with you and the other guys at the shop. Where abouts are you located, over Neil's way, or...?