Projects '34 Ford Truck, Hay Hauler to Hot Rod(Done!)

Well I figure it's about time to post up a build thread on my '34 truck I've been workin' on. Give a little back to the HAMB. It takes time to post this stuff up (for me anyway...), and I give thanks to all of the folks that do take the time share their projects here.

I had been actually looking for a shoebox to build, something to have a roof over my head for off weather. I have subjected my bare metal roadster to it's share of rain and really need to knock it off. The roadster deserves better. You know how it is when you're looking for a particular project vehicle, they're not to be found. Any other time, they're everywhere. At least that's how it seems. So while I'm searching for a shoebox, with no luck, my mind starts to wander....'you know, I could really build a '32...3...4 truck, that'd be nice too'.

Now the truck cab hunt starts. Again, not to be found when you're lookin', damn it boy! But, I did run across a whole truck that was in Oklahoma City. It was a ton and a half, looooong wheel base. It was a two owner truck, just a tad less than 19,000 miles on it, complete except for a bed. Actually still had the key in it. The old gent that owned it bought it from the original owner, used it on his own farm for years. He was gonna restore it, but had a heart attack before he could get started. A truck restoration was the least of his worries, it had to go.

So off I go, to where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. I figure...'shoot, 19,000 miles, that shouldn't be too bad for wear, even for an old farm truck'. It initially looked pretty decent, but as you'll see from the build pictures, the sheet metal had its problems. Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let's get to the build and some pics.

Here she is comin' home on the trailer.




On the way home, I got to swing by my buddy Jack (yblock292) Marinelli's place. Got to check out his hot rod stable, stay the night, and enjoy some brews. Then swung into the HAMB Drags 'tween there and home. Funny how that timin' worked out.

Time to get to work, get the cab off o' that baby. The ol' 4x4 and the engine hoist, great cab lift.

 

I don't see how you rolled that lift on that ground. That never works for me. I had to strip my down to the bare necessities and lift it off by hand.
So, you gonna make a full fendered pickup truck outta it?

 

Got it on the saw horses out back o' the shop and stripped it down. Plenty of "opportunities". Hooked up a second air compressor to my normal shop supply compressor to help out on volume for some sandblasting action. Took a while tweekin' on the pressure switches so one wouldn't do all of the work. THAT adjustment took longer that I thought. But, finally got the cab down to metal to see what I'm workin' with. Not too pretty when you look close.

 

My buddy has a frame fixture for a '32 car frame. So, I got him to put me a set of American Stamping rails together, center crossmember setup he does, and a flattened front crossmember. Under the front I put a 5" dropped Magnum I-beam. I drilled and polished 18 holes in it. Gonna run '40 brakes on the front. Out back, I installed an "A" crossmember so I could run a quickchange (Winters Champ). It had a spool in it, I installed a posi unit. THAT wasn't cheap. I'm goin' with an early '60's 'vette 327 and a Muncie 4-speed. I know, everyone says their 327 is from a 'vette, but this one actually is. The guy I got it from had several high dollar big block corvettes (I mean niiiiice). He had gotten this car from his buddy goin' through a divorce (helpin' his buddy out...). Wanted the car, just didn't want the small block, he was all about the big blocks(had some genuine 427 aluminum ones too). I digress. Pics please.

 

Looking Good!

 

Very cool. All in all the cab is a nice one to work with. Good luck.

 

Tires are Firestone 5.60-15's up front and 7.50-16's out back. I got the shortened bed side panels, front bed panel, and a tail gate from Mack Hils in Missouri. Nice heavy gauge panels. As you can see, the 'top hat' look of the cab has got to go. I'm choppin' it 3 3/4 inches, probably closer to 4 by the time I grind and straighten the cuts. If you take your time, there really isn't that much straightening to do.

I braced it up as much as I guessed would hold it in shape. Had to stare at it for a while before I let the cut-off wheel fly. Time to just do it, no guts no glory. I hadn't chopped anything before this one, but hey, this has got to be one of the easiest chops to do. I did it by myself,(goes with our club motto "...because we can do it ourself") except when my wife happened to come down to the shop at the right moment. She helped me set the top off and back on again when it was goin' back together.

 

Well, let's see how it's gonna look. Drum roll....











I guess not too bad for a first timer. Here you can see how I pie cut the A pillar to line it up, make a nice taper. Man, Henry loved to layer the sheet metal! That pillar had the layers AND the rust.

 

Had to take it outside to get a good 'stand back visual' before the permanent welding too place. I think it's gonna be OK.

 

I also drilled the split bones, on an angle. That was quite time consuming and a learning experience. I cut the tubing I was going to use to fill the holes on an angle and made a pattern on paper (set the angle-cut tubing on it and traced around the ends) to get the hole spacing like I wanted it. Trial and error. Once I had it looking like I wanted, I transferred the pattern to one side of the bones. Using a little geometry, I figured where the opposite side pattern should be placed to get me the 45deg angle I wanted. Then went to work with the plasma cutter, cutting them smaller than needed and die grinding them up to fit the tubing just right. It's time consuming, but you have to creep up on it so you don't have to fill too much. I slid the tubing through the holes and tacked them in place to make sure each had the correct angle. Kind of looked like a fish bone before cutting them off. Cut 'em off and proceeded to grind, file, and shape, which seemed like it took forever. I was beginning to wonder if this was worth it before I was done. There were '40 bones I believe. I had to cut the spring mounts off of the front, flip 'em over, pie cut for caster setting, and weld 'em back up. Damn, this was gettin' ridiculous.

 

Now about that clearance for the motor at the firewall, more metal work. I had the cab in place on the frame as best as possible and kind of marked the outline of the motor and trans as to what needed to be taken out. I hate the square cut-outs you see people do for motor clearance at the fire wall. It totally ruins the look of everything, so outta place. So, I commenced to comin' up with something that would work. Cut, hammer, beat, grind, cuss. This stuff I used was some thick stuff, not friendly for shaping (.060 stuff I had, I believe, something like that). But I got 'er in there!









And, of course, I had to put a floor in it. The whole lower part of these cabs always seem to have a bad case of blight.


Don't have a sheet metal brake, clamps and angle iron will have to do. This was some 20ga. paint grip sheet metal. I use it for most any of my patch panel work.






And a cover for the trans,

 

Once I was sure the stance and everything was gonna be OK, I proceded to weld up the rear crossmember and rearend mounts. Everything was tacked in back there until now.

 

Up front, I welded in plates for the spring clamp instead of using u-bolts. That 5" drop gets it close up there. Also welded in the steering box mount (yup, Vega cross-steer...relegated me to the 'Traditionally styled...' forum) and panhard bar brackets. I welded a teardrop shaped plate on the inside of the bones where I welded up the pie-cut for caster. I figured a little insurance wouldn't hurt.





http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f232/dnsouth/34Truck/DSCN1606_zps7ffc1cdc.jpg

 

looking good ..that truck grill looks nice....are you running that or a car grill ?

 

Man,you are building a beauty,,very impressive work. HRP

 

This is looking awesome! Keep the good stuff comin!!!

 

I'm gonna run some '37 tail lights (that's been played forever, but damn, they look good and that's what I wanted...) BUT, I did want some different type brackets for 'em, so I said 'hell, I'll just try makin' some'. I got some 1/4" stainless pipe nipples, some scrap stainless 1/8" plate, and some 1/16" stainless sheet metal and commenced to whippin' somethin' up. I ovaled the pipe nipples so they would be a little more stylish. Heated 'em up and bent 'em to an angle I thought I could use.


I shape some of the thinner metal to fit the contour of the '37 lights and cut a teardrop(hey, matchin' the bones scab plate...) out of the 1/8" to be the base to mount against the bed.



Once you get one built, the hard part is getting another built to match it, only opposite.




Then it was time to grind, sand, and polish them up. No earth shaking ingenuity, but not off the shelf. I'm going to mount them with a stainless carriage bolt, polishing up the head of it, of course.

 

Yeah Sawbuck, '32 car grill. Thanks guys!

 

Man, nice work indeed, and very crafty! Good job!

 

Now, anxious to get the bed together. I was originally going to put the stock stake pockets all the way around (and bought 'em too...damn). But I wanted to run a roll pan, since this is gonna be a hot rod truck. Those back ones just wouldn't work. If you're familiar with 'em, they widen out at the bottom. NOT gonna work for what I wanted. I made the roll pan from a section of 1/8" wall, 6" stainless pipe. Cut it out with the plasma, shaped an welded it in to the back of the bed. Got the bed squared up, braced up, mounted up, and proceded to install roll pan. I had to notch the bedsides for the spring mounts.




I used 1", heavy wall (1/8"), square tubing for the framing.


Making the rear pan.




Posting this, then back to the pockets.

 

Very nice workmenship, I like it alot!

 

For the rear stake pockets, I took some front pockets and took 2" out of the flat portion of 'em. This got them to fit the shorter back end of the bed, plus have the same taper on the bottom, and match the front ones.

 

...nice truck build you got goin, nice work!

 

Now outside for some review. Man, you stay in the shop too long and you can loose your vision of what you're goin' for. Let's get 'er out in the daylight.



You can see how rough the cab is.

 

Very nice build! Looks sexy!

 

A fine bunch of work, that's gonna be a nice truck.

 

Dude, you do nice work! Only comment I have is that cab is actually pretty solid and really isn't rough as compared to most 32-34 cabs you find.
You are making a fine ride my friend.

 

Man, the fun continues. Lots o' days in the shop with the tunes going, the cool ones goin' down, and the hum of the mig and tig. Good times!

Time to get some of the cancer/blight outta the dang cab. Can't put it off any longer. The doors were a dog! The metal where the hinges attach inside the doors was cracked and packin' rust. Nothin' to do but do it. It seems like teh took FOREVER for some reason. You've gotta go slow on the skins to not warp 'em. I cut mine off at the belt line to get as much stiffness as possible to help keep 'em straight.
Here we go...door time.

 

Nice, damn you make it look simple. Nice work.

 

Hinge repair.... hated it! Henry should have had a better idea. One example, you get the idea.







An on to the outer skins and the mandatory lower cowl patch panels.









The lighting makes it look worse than it actually is, it ain't too bad. Best I can do anyway.