Thanks. I went and looked at that after you wrote me. I was trying to take the fenders off of the inner fenders but all the bolts were being a pain. I finally got everything off last night now I am going to pull the motor. I will post some new pics soon...

 

 

I got the motor pulled tonight. Here are the pics....









Boxed frame?

 

Congratulations on getting that front clip off of there! That can be a major PITA - Looks like you had to deal with the original 60 year old bolts!
I like that you still had the skinny tires up front. My 1950 had been "re-done" in the 70's complete with flames on the fenders so I missed out on the whole original truck thing. What are you thinking now? Staying close to original?

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

You'll like the jag front end. Several of us here are using one, 49willard, 48steel, to name two. Easy to install and works great.

 

Hey Matt, Are you going to use the F2/3 fenders? front and rear or F1 sheetmetal? If you are going with an 8.8 like me, I got mine from an explorer. I had to add 2" spacers between the hub and wheel to get my 8" wide weld wheels away from the bed. A wider axle would be nice, using the long bed. It is wider than the short bed.

 

I am going to stay with the way the truck was when I got it. Well the body anyways. I am going to keep it a long bed. And I am going to put the Jag IFS on it and an 8.8 or 9 in the rear. I haven't decided on which motor to put in it, I guess it will depend on how much work I feel like doing when I get there. I think I am going to put a 302 in it but I keep contemplating putting a 4.6 Mod motor in it. Not sure yet. But when it is done I still want it to look like it did back in the 50's it will just have upgraded suspension and drivetrain.

 

Ok cool, I have never done anything with mocking up a suspension before so I am expecting it to be a pain. I hope it goes smooth well as smooth as it can.

 

I figured I would use the fenders I have, well as long as I can repair them. Acutally I feel kinda stupid I am still really new to these trucks and since my truck was someone's creation I dont even know what fenders I have if they are F1 or F2? I am still getting used to telling apart all the different parts. I was planning on using an 8.8 actually I was eyeballing one at the junkyard when I pulled the IFS. Maybe I will look for a longer axle so I wont have to use spacers... Are you using extended studs to be able to use the 2" spacers....

 

Hey Matt,
We went with an 8.8 inch Explorer axle as well - A few thoughts:
o The original axle just doesn't have the gear ratios to do modern highway
speeds so you probably want to change it.
o The 8.8 inch rear end drives better than I thought it would. Most
people will upgrade to a modern 4 link coilover or airbag rear suspension
but the 8.8. does fine. I was worried about having a mustang II with
coilovers up front & not matching coilovers in the rear. There is some
"chop" when you hit a bump - kind of bounces
back & forth but it's not pronounced - just truck like.
o I had to use the 2 inch spacers as well to get the right tire spacing
with the fender. I think it will depend on the wheels you use & the
backspacing. Nothing negative to report on the spacers other than
Discount Tire won't balance those wheels - You have to take them off
the truck yourself & then they will balance them.
o I think the "Rake" was too pronounced with the 8.8 installed normally -
We went back & had the Springs flipped to get the back down a few
inches more.

I think if I had it to do again I'd go with the stronger 9 inch rear end
& not run any spacers. It is nice though to have rear disc brakes, modern 3.73 gears, & springs that aren't as stiff as the originals. I also like that we are running the same rear wheels matching the front's Mustang II suspension.

Good luck over there.

Ben in Austin

 

Your truck has F1 front fenders and F2/F3 bed, rear fenders, and running boards. Cab, grille, and hood are interchangeable/same.

 

Did you use the original springs that were on your truck or did you use the springs out of the explorer? Just wondering if I need to get the springs from the explorer when I pull the 8.8?

 

Here are some updated pics. I cut the crossmember they welded in for the 312 out and I took the front suspension out of the truck so I can now start working on putting the IFS in.








And thats it for the progress so far. It takes awhile fighting all these extremely rusted botls lol.....

 

Hey Matt,
You are really getting after it! Keep up that momentum -
you will have it knocked out in no time.

Explorer rear end - The explorer rear axle comes with a 3 spring
set up, some sort of stabilizer bar, a 3rd shock, disc brakes,
& the emergency brake set up. The 3 Spring pack works just fine & you will want to slide that in along with the 8.8 inch axle. Once you have it set up under there you will want to re-position your shock mounts.

I'm not sure what you are planning to use for an emergency brake but the Explorer one is a nice set up. We pulled the whole thing - including the hand pull & cable in the cab & have it set up in our '50.

On our year Explorer there was a strange 3rd shock set up on top of the
axle - we scrapped that but we did use the rear stabilizer bar that was under there. I think our's was from a 2001 Explorer.

Ben in Austin

 

Sounds just like mine and it was from a 1997 Explorer. I didn't get the springs though.