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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 03:50:18 -0700 (MST)
From: owner-fordtrucks-digest ListService.net (fordtrucks-digest)
To: fordtrucks-digest ListService.net
Subject: fordtrucks-digest V2 #77
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Sender: owner-fordtrucks-digest ListService.net


fordtrucks-digest Monday, March 23 1998 Volume 02 : Number 077



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Ford Truck Enthusiasts - 1960 And Older Trucks Digest
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In this issue:

1954 F-100's ["Abram H. Stauffer" ]
[none] ["Neal B. Forbes" ]
Wheels ["Jim Shedlauskas" ]
unlite [KLaff61624 ]
47 streetrod [Cathy Greenlaw ]
Re: Mr. Unilte [Cathy Greenlaw ]
brown wire [KLaff61624 ]
Re: 1954 F-100's [Gary Haselbusch ]
Re: A slew of '54s! [Ray Cardogno ]

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:34:59 -0500
From: "Abram H. Stauffer"
Subject: 1954 F-100's

Yes, I too am seeing more and more '54's on this and other pages.(If you
need info about your Y-block check out the The Y-Block site at this URL:
http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://members.aol.com/Yblock/YBLOCK.htm)
The 54 has a distinctive and the best looking grill, was the first
year of the overhead valve V-8, and has the lowest production figures of
the 53-56 Ford trucks (so they are rare and therefore more valuable,
huh!).
I am the 2nd. owner of my '54. My grandfather bought it new for
$1600 in Dec. 1954. So of course I am partial to '54's. My truck has
been dubbed "Old Betsy" by my 5 year old son, and will be able to be
seen on-line soon.
Yours, Abe Stauffer

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:35:03 -0500
From: "Neal B. Forbes"
Subject: [none]

Hi there all you trukkers! I am in the process of a rewire of my 54 F100
"Hot Heap". I have installed the SoCal harness and upgraded to 12 volt. I
run an alternator now, too. I have changed my distributor internals to a
Mallory Unilite, ditching the points and condenser. Here is the problem:
When I crank the motor, I get no spark from the coil. The SoCal harness
has a brown wire that runs from the I post on the starter relay to the
positive post on the coil. The coil to distributor connections are plain
in the Unilite instructions. My neighbor says "Oh you need a module in
there." I have been over the wiring diagrams, triple checked my
connections and grounds and believe that I have it together correctly. I
really don't know my neighbor's experise except that he works on his own
cars alot and they seem to run. What's a "module"? Nothing I have talks
about a "module" going anywhere. Any help for this dilemma?? Thanks!
Neal Forbes

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:53:20 -0600
From: "Jim Shedlauskas"
Subject: Wheels

Does anyone know where I can find a wheel for a 1949 F-4 (7x18")? 1 of the
six I have is broken. I thought I had seen wheels in one of my catalogs,
but darned if I can find it now. I've also discovered tires for this thing
are very hard to find, and not cheap when you do!

Thanks,
Jim

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 20:36:54 EST
From: KLaff61624
Subject: unlite

don't know why the coil has no spark, buta word of warning about the unlite.
Don't weld on your truck with the distributer in your truck!!!! I speak from
experinece I've fried two. I have the Mallory distributer with the unlite and
there is no outside module
on it, and I'm pretty sure yours should not have one either. On mine it has a
rotor in the distributer that has slots and when the slots pass by the light
trigger inside the small inside module(inside distributer) it fires the coil.
There are three wires that go to my distributer, one goes to the hot wire from
the ignition, one to the ground, and one to the distributer. If you have
these connected right and 12volts from your ignition you have a gound on your
coil, a bad coil, a bad module, or a combination of the three. Check with a
ohm meter for a ground. Oh yes be sure that you have a good ground from your
motor to the battery ground, be it thru the frame or by a wire to the negative
terminal. Ken L.



l

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 20:29:55 -0500
From: Cathy Greenlaw
Subject: 47 streetrod

I hope to share with anyone interested the story of a a poor, mangled
and abused '47 pickup that died, went to a junkyard and became a street
rod. I currently have a '57 Ford Custom 4 door with a 292 Y block, and a
'79 Mustang with a mild 302 (13.7 & 101 in the 1/4 mile), but I became
interested in a pickup for a street rod project. Everybody and his
brother seems to have a "Effie", so I figured a '46 or '47 would make a
good ride. After looking for some time for a suitable vehicle, I found a
47 body on a '55 3/4 ton frame with a 8' bed, not a good start, but a
starting place. Later on I found a more or less complete '47 with a
correct bed, rear fenders and a body in parts and pieces. Anyone
interested in a running '47 flatmotor, or a 55 3/4 ton frame, bed, axles
and 16" wheels give me a call. I'm in NH.
The plan is to drop the '47 onto a '84 Ranger frame, power it up with
a '87 Crown Vic cop car motor (well you use what you find) with EFI, add
a 3.73 posi traction rear, mix in an AOD with a shift kit and hit the
road.
So far the project looks good. The 47 body fits the rear 84 cab
mounts and the 5.0 bolts in with a couple of fabricated motor mounts
made of 2" X 1/4" flat stock and '79 up Mustang style motor mounts. The
transmission mounts in the Ranger has a provision to be located in 3
places, so bolts right up to the AOD. A trial fit indicates the
radiator support will slip in real nice with just a slight trim. By the
way, the radiator from a '73 F100 w/351 bolts to the stock support.
More later if I keep some sanity.
47 Fred

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 20:41:04 -0500
From: Cathy Greenlaw
Subject: Re: Mr. Unilte

In response to Mr. Neal "Unilite" Forbes, what your friend is refering to is
that most electronic ignitions need some sort of exterinal amplifier , a
"module" to run. I suspect your SOcal harness is set up for a point and coil,
in a 12V point and coil system, you have a wire from the ignition switch which
goes thru a "Ballast resistor" to improve the life of the points due to
arching. In order to have enough voltage to start the motor, a bypass wire runs
from the "I" terminal of the starter relay to feed 12V to the coil when the
starter is engaged, this wire is not powered when the starter is off. Look at
your instructions for the Unilite and see if it talks about a amplifier or
module, and check the SOcal instruction for a primary ignition wire and or a
ballast resistor wire. These are the wires you need to run an electronic
ignition, and usually, you don't need a ballast. By the way, I've got a bunch
of Ford style starter relays and most of them don't work for crap as far as the
"I" terminal is concerned.

47 Fred

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 21:07:08 EST
From: KLaff61624
Subject: brown wire

Neil the brown wire needs to go to the same wire on your coil that your wire
from the ignition attaches to. I think I now know what your problem is
...you need a wire from the same point (brown wire) on the starter relay to
your hot (positive) wire on your unilite, otherwise the unilite will have no
power while you are cranking the motor. Your regular hot (positive) wire from
the ignition has no power on it when you crank your motor, check it and see,
that is the way they are made to from the factory. It is designed that way
for point type distributers so that the distributer receives full battery
voltage from the starter relay during cranking and after you let go of the key
the distributer receives a reduced voltage from the ignition because it
normally goes through a resister. The resister reduces the voltage to
increase point life inside your distributer due to a greater amount of arcing
caused by using a higher voltage than necessary to run you engine.(it takes
more voltage at the plugs to start your engine than it does to keep it running
after it starts) I hope this is making sense, basically all yoou should need
to do is run one more wire to the positive wire on you unilite from the
starter relay, leave the rest the same as you have already done. Good luck
Ken L.

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:35:16 -0800
From: Gary Haselbusch
Subject: Re: 1954 F-100's

Hi Abe, Yes, I too have a '54 F100, but I have a '53 grille. It's painted
corvette yellow and has a 429 with a C6. It's a good runner. Keep on
truckin, Gary

Abram H. Stauffer wrote:

> Yes, I too am seeing more and more '54's on this and other pages.(If you
> need info about your Y-block check out the The Y-Block site at this URL:
> http://www.ford-trucks.com//lc/lc.php?action=do&link=http://members.aol.com/Yblock/YBLOCK.htm)
> The 54 has a distinctive and the best looking grill, was the first
> year of the overhead valve V-8, and has the lowest production figures of
> the 53-56 Ford trucks (so they are rare and therefore more valuable,
> huh!).
> I am the 2nd. owner of my '54. My grandfather bought it new for
> $1600 in Dec. 1954. So of course I am partial to '54's. My truck has
> been dubbed "Old Betsy" by my 5 year old son, and will be able to be
> seen on-line soon.
> Yours, Abe Stauffer
> +-------------- Ford Truck Enthusiasts - 1960 and Older --------------+
> | Send posts to fordtrucks listservice.net, removal form on the web |
> | site. |
> +---------- Visit Our Web Site: http://www.ford-trucks.com/ ----------+

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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 00:25:28 -0400
From: Ray Cardogno
Subject: Re: A slew of '54s!

I was also noticing the numbers of 54's as of late. I have a 54 and had
been noticing in the recent years how few there were around. I was a little
bit insecure with my "beaver tooth". It seemed like everyone was looking
for 56 models. I like 56's, but some of the lines are a little harsher than
the "slant cab" models. Have you noticed the similarities between the
grilles on the 53 and 56 models? It seems like the Ford design artists
tried to move away from the docile look of the 53 with the 54 teeth, but I
guess it scared others and themselves and they kinda mellowed back to the
3,5,6 look. I like to think they are all bichin' fat-fendered works af art,....

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