I wish I had a picture of it but I don't. Obviously a lot of metal was added to the fenders to make them "taller" and to fill in the wheel well. The finished product looked really nice.
Thank you. I have a few more pics to post and some questions to ask. Hopfully I can them up within the next few days.
Thanks Hotrod95! I need to get back on this project. I spent December working on my Ranchero trying to get it running and after I did the clutch gave out. I'm a bit stuck on the F4. Been trying to dissassemble the suspension and the bolts and pins are giving me Fits!!!!!
You've done some nice work. The clean engine compartment is nice. But have you thought of the pain it's going to be down the road when some of the hidden hoses etc need replacing? Ask me how I know, been there done that, got the T shirt to prove it. It's simple when everything is apart quite a different story when the car/trucks together.
Put the frame on jack stands to get the weight off the suspension. The pins have grooves and ridges worn in and are catching on the edges of the shackles. Wiggle the springs/axles around as someone else hammers on the pins to get them moving. It's hard work but they do come out. Heat is optional but not usually necessary. On halftons the difficult one is the front shackle on the rear spring. Some crossmembers are located over the hole you need to drift the pin out. Some guys have replaced the grease zirc with a stud for their slide hammers and pulled the pins that way. Oh, and make sure you've got the "keeper" pins out before you start hammering : ) Very nice work you're doing there. I'm currently messing up another F4 - here's a link http://flatheadv8.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2738
You have some good points phat rat....and I've tried to keep that into consideration as best as I can. One of my good car buddies who's been building hot rods longer than I've been alive told me to look at how major auto companies build cars, in regards to placement of items, routing of wiring, hoses, etc. He said there's a reason they do that. Some of it is dictated by the design of the auto, but others are dictated by functionality. I'm definitely learning a lot and making some mistakes along the way but I'm trying to make this a good functional truck. I definitely appreciate your experience and knowledge and welcome as much of it as you and the other HAMBers will pass along. David
I do have the front suspension loose. As you stated, I have the frame on stands with the suspension hanging. To pull the front spring pins I ended up using a ball joint press (in other words a big honkin C-clamp) and was able to press them out. I only messed up the threads on one of the pins so I need to find a replacement. The back suspension however.....Geez!!! Like you mentioned, there is a crossmember in the way for both the front and rear spring pins. Of course I'm still trying to get the keeper pins out!!! I even bought an air hammer but those things aren't budging. I looked at your F4 and it is very nice. The original color of the F4 I'm working on is Red too.
F-5 are bigger than an F-1 so I think you mean to say you are building an F5 to look like an F-1 as F-5 had wider front fenders / guards than an F-1. I hope you post photos as it would be great to see.
F2-F6 have the same fenders. (larger wheel opening than F1) F7-F8 had the wider fenders. (by about 3")
Just to toss a spanner in the works that may be different between countries so we may all be correct. In Australia our trucks got based on the Canadian Mercury so we had Mercury and Ford parts all mixed in. All due to the fact Australia and Canada are part of the Commonwealth so many of our Ford parts did not come from the USA. So that makes it all confusing.
Ok, time for some picture updates. I did get the front suspension unbolted from the frame....finally. I didn't think I'd ever get some of those bolt/pins out!! It's amazing how big these old drums are. While I was working on beating those bolt/pins out (It took several nights) a friend dropped by with a cherry picker and helped me remove the motor and tranny from the frame. That sure gave me a lot more room to work. Still working on those bolts. Finally removed. I used my transmission jack to the front axle while I worked to remove the bolts/pins. It worked pretty good too. Looking at the drums, I'm glad I pulled them. Someone had put new shoes on but didn't turn the drums. I'm hopeful there's enough "meat" still left to turn them. Not sure what to do if they can't be turned. You can't see it in the picture but they have some nice groves in them. The frame is looking a bit naked now.
It does feel good HOTFR8. I just wish I had more time to accomplish some tasks on it but such is life.
This is a cool build... I'm a bonus built fan as well as an owner of 3 F1s (2-48's and a 50). With the faster highway speeds made possible by the AOD and the added weight of the OHV engine, have you ever considered updating the brakes? I know Ford had changed over to self energizing drums by then, but the narrow shoes and primitive design may still be a little inadequate at todays faster speeds. I'm sure a simple adaptor could be made to mantain the stock bolt circle and wheels.
Flamin' - Honestly, I'd love to upgrade the brakes but I'm limited to what the owner of the truck would like done. This truck will never be driven on the highway, it'll strickly be an intown truck used to advertise his business and such. I've read where some older Motorhomes have rims with similar bolt patterns and I've wondered what it would take to adapt their brakes to this truck. I'm not sure if anyone has ever tried that or not. I think a lot of guys just do entire frame swaps to get better everything in one fell swoop. Artfrombama - I haven't had a good look at the rims. The owner has a set of brandnew tires mounted on them I know. When I started working on this truck I queried the issue with the widow makers so I'm in no hurry to die while messing with them. The rims and tires are at the owner's shop so I don't have them handy to look at.
HOTFR8 - I'm not sure if they are widow makers or not. My gut feeling tells me they are but I haven't had a chance to really inspect them for myself since they are not at my house.
I wish I could remember the name of the company, but someone out there was making a disc brake set that used the 5 x 5.5 early Ford and F series bolt pattern. I would assume that if there were a Ford based motorhome with the similar bolt pattern from the era of the donor truck for the disc brake kit, they could be swapped in and used with the proper bearing adaptors and bracketry. Its a shame he doeasnt want to update that area. It would be good peace of mind if he ever got caught in the rain or in stop/go traffic or a parade for advertising where the brakes would encounter a lot of heat build up leading to brake fade.
Definitely can't argue with you there Flamin'. The owner isn't unreasonable in regards to saftey so if I could find something that would work he'd probably go for it. These big ole trucks have a 5 on 8 bolt pattern (if memory serves me) which seems to be fairly unique. The other saftey aspect I've been trying to figure out is the emergency brake. The factory ebrake was a big drum on the back of the transmission with a "band" looking brake pad that would tighten up on the drum. Since the transmission was changed to the AOD and the rear drums have no provision for an emergency brake I'm not sure what to do. I've thought about trying some sort of "line lock" that would keep fluid pressure on the brakes and even thought about some sort of mechanical disc brake that could be attached to the pinion of the rear end yoke. I'm open to any ideas/suggestions.
If you need a transmission style handbrake have a look at International trucks from the late 60's to early 70's or you could look at the Japanese trucks and Ford / Mazda T3500 or T4100 here in Australia (did you have them in the US ?) had something that would be what you need otherwise Isuzu COE or similar in the US may have something you could adapt. I know about these as I have been in a similar situation trying to work out how to replace brakes on a truck. Otherwise your other option would be swap the differential out for a 9inch and get brakes or even then fit a pinion mounted brake. A 9inch would also allow you to change ratios to something more user driveable.
First of all good job, many people don't take the time to clean welds and make things neat and seamly. Secondly, I'm happy to see some people using Ford driveline in a Ford. That's a rare concept. To be honest I love the 302 and 351w engines and while I understand the love and reliability of a chevy 350, I'm just tired of seeing them in everything. I may come across a little old school, but I'm completely against crossbreeding hotrods/streetrods. Mopar also makes a great motor, but I'd only use one in a Dodge or Plymoth. The other day, for the first time ever, I saw an old school chevy truck with a mustang 5.0 in it and while it was funny and partly vindicating for Ford motors, I still thought it was wrong. Sorry for the airout, keep up the good work and keep the pics coming, (it really encourages the rest of us).
I think of that as a very post-hot rodding (i.e. muscle car) attitude. If you look at the hot rod mags of the 1950s and 1960s, theyre full of cross breeds in the name of cheap perormance (usually GM or MoPar in a Ford body). Pre-WWII you saw fewer cross breeds, but when you did, they were often of the Fords in everything ilk because those were the acknowledged hot rod motors of the day. Personally, I take it all on a case-by-case basis. -Dave
I look at the quality of the swap, how everything was put together and the cleanliness of the build over what drivetrain is used. Hell, I was 30 before I realized that 1940 Fords didn't come with a SBC!
Thanks HOTFR8, I'll definitely look into the model vehicles you listed. I had one guy tell me to get the tail shaft off a 4WD truck which didn't have the slip yoke and then mount the factory emergeny brake drum to it. Then all I'd need was a different drivesaft. Another thought I had was to use a two-piece drive shaft with one of those bearings in the middle (I forget the technical name of it) and mount some sort of brake drum or disk to the drive shaft. I'm sure there's a solution out there and I really appreciate any input you guys can provide. Dave
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