Projects 1937 Ford Pickup Build | Project FUBAR

Let me start this by saying…this project was done backwards. I started a little less than a year ago and the project pitfalled from a simple wiring job to a full blown build. So now, I’'ve pretty much torn into every part of the truck and its on its way back together. Below are some pictures of the build so far. The first post is quite a long one w/ the build so up til now.

Feel free to chip in with your ideas/suggestions!

The start…...Picked up from Ohio where it lived for a few short months.


Here is my “vision”...What I am shooting to build. Special thanks to Dan Palatnik for sending me a rendering!


Woody Humpus...I could drool over this truck for days. Phenomenal



Teardown
These were during the tear-down process. They sure do tear down easy - Its the re-assembly that takes a while.













Wiring Madness
OLD Wiring…...it closely resembles a birds nest. Ripped out the old, and installed an American Autowire kit which was absolutely perfect.








Dash…
I decided to make a nice dash to fit some old Lincoln gauges I found. I drew it up in ProE and had it lasered out. All in all, it should be a pretty trick dash. Still not sure if I want to paint it or give it the brushed aluminum look.










Suspension…
Chassis Engineering Front and Rear end kits. I was impressed with these kits. For one, it’s a huge time saver compared to designing and fabing them up yourself. The front ECI front disc brake kit turned out to be a bit troublesome. To this day I am still working with them to figure out my spacing issues.






Motor Mounts…
This was a fiasco all in itself. Fitting a small block ford with an original steering box takes quite a bit of patience. Block hugger headers, the right oil pan are a must for a good fit.

 

Cross Member
I had one of my friends bend some channel per the original specs (5-3/8 x 1-7/8 x 1/8 thick) then made cardboard mock-ups. Still a little more to go with these after I get them tacked in the frame.








Frame Repair
This truck was originally done back in the days of arc welding. Lots of ugly welds so I spent a lot of time cleaning up the frame. this was one of the larger repair since I had to cut out a whole chunk of the lower rail.



Hacked out parts...motor mounts and old trans mount.



Rear End
Even the rear end had issues - the main bearings were shot. It had an weird pinion seal from a early 1957 Ford 9". I also used a speedie sleeve on the pinion yoke. Pictures below are after I cleaned her up a bit and replaced bearings and seals. This was my first rear end build, it was interesting to set the pinion bearing pre-load with an in-lb torque wrench.







Steering Box
Me and my dad had a steering box rebuild weekend. We rebuilt 2 boxes (one for my truck and one for his) They turned out great. I highly recommend the John Deere Corn Head grease as opposed to the old gear oil. Lubrication technology has come a long way since the 30's.




Engine
Nothing fancy here. Pertronix ignition and a fresh Holley vacuum advance carb. Found a leak in the old radiator, so had to get a new one built by a local shop.







Other Mini-Projects
Spruced up the interior with a little Master Series paint. Check out TarheelParts. They've got the good stuff!!



A little clean up on the rear drum brakes and heater box. Seymour Semi Gloss black and Stainless Steel.

 

Good looking build and I'm sure all your hard work will be worth it in a few months . Nice to see you kept it all Ford .

T

 

wow nice redo , should turn out to be a nicer driver ,

 

Very nice. Keep us posted.

 

Very nice!

 

Good looking truck,,,,,,,nice build, im watching

 

It is amazing how it looks so good until you own it and start to really look at it. Then you see all the little things that .. HAVE .. to be changed. JLB3 drove this into the shop for a few simple repairs/updates. His truck is a 99% rust free California truck and was built, I think, in the late 1970's or early 1980's. It will be a cool, road worthy truck when finished. The more he works on it, the more I like it. It is a unique year so I bought one too. Over and out, JLB's Dad.

 

Nice build, thanks for posting.

 

Love 37 ford trucks! Probably because there one year only for the grill, hood and cab, looking good!

 

I have a couple updates. Spent most of my holiday vacation working on installing the chassis engineering rear end kit. I wasn't too happy with the location of the rear shackle bracket since it interferes with the rear fender. I was forced to re-locate the bracket due so I don't have to cut up my fenders. Pictures below.

Frame…
I added some stiffness to the rear corners by spanning the corner with ¼” plate. I made some 1/8” boxing plates as well. These were a pain to make.



Rear Leaf Springs…
At first glance, everything looked good with the Chassis Engineering brackets until I installed the bed and rear fenders. There was major interference which would have required cutting off the inside edge of the rear fender. So, I decided to cut off the vertical tab and shift the rear shackle bracket inwards. This gave me the proper clearance AND made the leaf springs closer to parallel. Not sure why CE made the bracket so the shackles stick out so far? Terrible design in my opinion...get it fixed chassis engineering!

First mock-up of the leaf spring brackets.


Interference before shifting the bracket inwards. Note the fender is not flush with the bed side.


Final Rear-End Mock-Up.



I played around with centering the wheel in the fender. Lots of fun with plumb bobs. She’s going to look sweet when I get the ride height correct.

 

She looks sweet now!

 

A few updates from the past two weekends.

I've spent most of the past 2 weeks welding up un-needed holes to keep as much water out of the frame as possible. The frame will be boxed with drainage holes at the bottom...but I couldn't resist plugging up the extras.

I test fit the cross members too. They are next up once I finish cleaning up the frame rails.


I decided to weld it up the inner frame section instead of hacking it out. This section will be boxed, so I plan to fit the boxing plate so it fits inside this section.


Last but not least, I am testing out colors for my wheels. I painted them cast iron gray to match the grill insert (see earlier grille picture). It looks better than I expected..what do ya'll think?
The truck will likely stay black for now...so I can enjoy driving it this summer!

 

I spent pretty much a full day fixing the steering box mounting plate. This is a perfect example of how FUBAR this truck was...Looks like a 12 year old worked on this back in the 70s.

Steering Box...
Here is what it looked like before the repair started. Check out that sweet custom crack! haha


What a mess. Whoever cut this back in the 70's had a little too much coffee to drink. The hack fest continues....


Plaxma cutters are amazing which made for a quick and easy clean-up. This picture is just before I re-assemble the steering plate.


Here is the final tacked in plate - I had my dad tig weld the plate since it will be a high stress area.



Frame
I spent entirely too much time filling holes! too bad this will go un-noticed once the truck is fully assembled. I like the look of a clean frame with weld nuts!


Finally some progress with the crossmembers. I'm cutting out oval holes so the brake/fuel lines can run straight through. Should be pretty slick when its done.

 

Nice build. Thanks for posting your progress.

 

I finally finished fitting the center boxing plates and cross member. The boxing plates will be inset within the frame C-Channel so they will have a fillet weld. I hope for it to look pretty slick when it’s all finished.

Frame Boxing Plates…
I took the boxing plates that were on the truck off and was able to re-use the metal after a little bit of re-work. Here are some pictures with them loosely held in place.

Front View after pre fitting


Left Side Rear View


I also made pass-thru holes in the cross member for fuel, brake, and electrical lines.


Just a cool picture from the rear pass through!



Frame Wire Routing…
Once I got everything pre-fit, I figured it was time to lay out all my components so I could tack weld nuts for cable clamps etc… I spent half a day on the schematic, but I believe it will pay off in the long run. All weld nuts are tacked and ready when it comes time for final installation.

Im an engineer, so a schematic just seemed right!


Frame layout w/ components (fuel pump, relays, solenoid, trans cooler etc…)


Cable Clamps

 

Subscribed. Looking good!

 

Nice job your doing there!!! Looks like a Indy Roadster in the background?. Whats up with that?

 

JLB3'S Dad here...The roadster in the background is a Kurtis Kraft 500A, Hemi powered, Belanger. One of the 3 Chrysler cars built in 52 for the 53 race. That is the next project after I finish my 37 ford truck. In 6th picture on this thread you will see a picture of my 37, green - with black fenders, nose to nose with my son's black truck.

 

Not too much progress this weekend, but it is starting to look like a hot rod chassis. The weather was excellent in Charlotte this weekend, so I spent Sunday morning at Crowders Mountain - …not good for chassis progress.


Frame Weld Nuts…
I needed to locate a ground for the alternator and run some electrical lines on the top side of the frame, so I needed some tapped holes for cable clamps etc….. To keep things flush with the frame, I used a hole saw and cut a hole so the base of a protrusion weld nut would fit.


Next I welded around the edge and ground it smooth. Below if the finished product.



Frame Front Boxing Plates…
I fit the last boxing plate between the front of the cross member and the motor mount plate. I also matched the cut-out for the cab mounting holes. I wasn't too happy with cutting where the crossmember joins into the frame, but it should work just fine.

Front Left


Front Right



Frame Crossmember Cut-Outs
It’s amazing how much a few holes can spruce up the look of frame. If there is one thing I’ve learned on this build…, it’s the value of a Plasma cutter. Dream it up and cut er out. Or hack out the old crap.







Frame Status…
What’s left to do –
-Rear boxing plates that arch over the rear axle
-Floor mount brake pedal assembly
-Support pieces that run perpendicular to crossmember
-Plumb brakes, fuel lines, transmission cooler

 

Skip, my friend, your father would be proud of you and your son. thanks to your son for this build post!

 

Cool build...I feel motivated to post pictures of my 37 now.

 

Man,your doing a great job,looking forward to seeing this one finished. HRP

 

Ok fellas - I need some input on gearing and interstate driving. I plan on driving this truck quite a bit and would like for it to be highway friendly.

So...I am considering swapping the C4 transmission with a Ford AOD which would cost 7-800. This would drop the RPM's quite a bit (see below). Would this be worth the extra cost for the lower RPM's at higher speeds? Better yet, will the leaf spring suspension be stable at 65+?

Ford AOD (Possible swap)
.667 final drive trans w/ 3.53 gears
1475RPM @ 55mph
1750RPM @ 65mph

Ford C4 (Current)
1.0 final drive trans w/ 3.53 gears
2200RPM @ 55mph
2600RPM @ 65mph

 

Looks good but are you going to do all your final frame welding on a frame bench?
I know this sounds rude but that's not what I'm trying to be. Hell you have more talent than I could ever hope to have. (Being an idiot and dumb soldier I chose to engineer people, regret that in a way!)
I think its just our fucked up rego and modified car engineering regs, but I kind of shudder when a chassis isn't built on a proper engineering bench.

For your rear end, 3.00 final drive is good for a lot of open road driving if you don't intend to get off the line real fast! I ran a 351 Clevo (stock) Top Loader 4 speed(1.0 final drive in 4th) and 9inch rear on a parallel leaf set up in my 1938 Ford Club Coupe.
That car was my daily driver and has ran from Melbourne-Sydney to Brisbane and back then to Perth and back with a trailer in a two week period, that's about 6400miles. The leaf rear was fine, just ensure its set up well, though I don't think that will be an issue for you!
In daily driving it was fine 110kmh (About 70mph) is our highway speed limit and I never had an issue with handling.

Cheers,
Doc.

 

Unfortunately, I will be welding on the floor. Not perfect, but good enough. As of now, I've checked squareness, level, and have the frame exactly how I want it. Yes, its on the floor but I think I can keep everything from warping as long as I dont go hog wild welding (at least I hope so!)

 

My transmission idea has now shifted in the direction of a manual. Most likely a T5 with a S10 manual speedo tail housing. The issue with this transmission would be the bell housing connection. Might end up being a strange combo (Ford T5 w/ S10 tail stock and shifter setup)

Then comes the pedal assembly…Other than pete and jakes, I have not seen any other good floor mount assemblies with both a slave cylinder and a brake booster. The pete and jakes is set up for a non-booster master cylinder, so I might have to modify it a bit to make it work with a booster.

Post any input you may have on this trans/pedal swap!
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Now for a small update. Haven’t had much time to work on the ol pickup recently.

Frame …Paint
To prevent further rust, I felt the need to paint/seal the inside of the frame. Yes…some will burn off during welding but something is better than nothing. I used MasterSeries paint which is incredible – I would say it’s much better than POR 15. Go to www.tarheelparts.com and they can ship you some paint!

 

Quite a bit of progress this weekend. I took Friday off and was able to get all of the frame sections tacked in. Visual progress is the best motivation!

Frame Paint…
First, I finished painting the inside of the boxing plates.



Frame Welding…
I tacked up the whole frame with it held against the floor. Nothing moved after tacking and stitch welding several spots. I also welded all of the joints where the boxing plates met each other. Thanks to my dad for lending an extra set of hands thru this process.








Once I was happy with everything, I welded in several cross braces to make sure it everything stays in place thru welding. The frame was incredibly rigid after adding the supports. To get the frame off the floor, I welded legs on the frame. Each leg is the same length so it exactly mimics the support points I had on the floor. The height will make for much much easier welding!

 

Small bits of progress with welding the frame this weekend. Just a few pictures for this week. I’m new to welding so this frame has been a learning experience. My dad picked up a MIG back in October of last year.

Frame Welding…
These are two of my better welds. For the boxing plates, I am using a pulse method to get a good clean look. One of my dad’s friends came by and helped me get the settings right. For the pulse method, he cranked up the voltage and wire feed compared to the standard chart settings. It has been working INCREDIBLY well.






Transmission…
Well – I am still looking at putting swapping my C4 for a T5. I sketched out the shifter location and it looks like I will have to use the S10 tail housing. The mustang T5’s will put the shifter right between the seats.
My two options are looking to be
1) install a S10 tail housing on a ford gearbox (so it will bolt to my bell housing) or
2) use a full GM T5 and figure out an adapter plate that accommodates the GM bolt pattern.
Still looking for ideas on the transmission swap - I think the manual trans will take me quite a bit of extra time.




Frame Status… 3-30-2014

 

that's one cool project

your weldseams look pro!

keep those updaets comin'



thomas