New to the forum, so I thought I'd start with my next project.
I have a '49 F1 for my next project. This will be a shop truck and my personal transportation/daily driver when it's road worthy.
I got the truck with it already having coil over shocks for the front, a C6 trans and 9" rear end. It has a heavy duty tow package on it. There was no engine, but the C6 bell housing is for a 385 series "big block" motor. I quickly scooped up a 460 CID motor that I will work over to produce around 600 BHP.
The truck has a vega box for to ease up the steering, which is much better than power steering by Armstrong! But, I think I will use the vega box on a '29 Chevy 1 1/2 ton pick up I am doing, and go with a conventional power steering gear box and pump.

To summarize - this '49 Ford pickup is going to haul some serious ***. I expect it to be a long term project, and I will document the work as it progresses in this thread.

Thanks for looking in.

Pics of the truck as I got it coming soon.

 

Welcome on board, look forward to seeing pictures.

 

DITTO

 

Welcome aboard and remember we love pictures.

 

Welcome to the board!

I can't wait to see some pictures. Sounds like it could be a fun project

Bobby

 

Sounds like a fun truck. Go for it!

 

Coilovers and Vega steering? I'd like to see how that was done. What is a HD towing package on a 49?
How about some pix of the truck and your other builds.

 

Just a quick piece of advice regarding this rig being your "shop truck".
Insurance will be very difficult to obtain if you register your truck as a company owned vehicle. If you keep it registered as your personal vehicle you should have no problem getting coverage. Our 54 F-100 Panel is registered with my company. I got coverage but it was hard to come by and once my broker found an insurer it comes with a hefty annual price tag.
Just a word of warning if you didn't already have a heads up.
Welcome aboard and we hope to see pix soon.
Capt'n

 

Here are a few pics for you to see what I'm starting with.

AX, its all in the pics. This was all done prior to me getting the truck, I'm just working with what I have.

Capt'n - thanks for the advice. Hadn't talked to my insurance agent yet. Definitely gave me something to consider.

I will start the actual work this week. Got a little behind on another project, and the holiday didn't help either.


The color is so ugly, I might just keep it that way for a while. HAHA







The only rust on the truck is near the bottom of the grill on either side, where the fenders and valance meet.





Although its layered with a couple inches of dirt and I'm missing the lower half of the bench, the interior is in pretty decent condition. Pretty obvious it's a fairly recent addition. Though someone really half assed the tilt wheel and column install. Very sloppy.






Even the headliner is looking good.



The coil over on the front axle. If you look you can see the sloppy job on the motor mount welds. Will be removing those.




The rear bumper with hitch. I need to get under and inspect the welds. I'll get some pics up her skirt when I get it inside and up off the ground. That will be the second job, first thing is wash the layers of dirt and sand off.



Thanks for looking in.

 

Good looking monkey face.

That's not a coil-over suspension. It looks more like a coil-over booster spring. I can see the leaf springs are still intact.

Love the pictures. Please send more.

 

Looks like a pretty good project, with the usual rust on fenders. Can buy the front lowers in "glass" if you find them to be too far gone.

Kepp the pics coming as you progress.

Tom

 

Agree with ET, those are boosted shocks not coilovers (or coilovers serving as boosted shocks) Coilovers would not be used with a beam axle like you have, your suspension is OEM style parallel leaf springs. The springs on the shocks are serving no real functional purpose and would be better removed and replaced with unboosted shocks. I'd like to see some shots of the Vega steering box arrangement with the beam axle. I now suspect that is not what you have or it's not a proper steering arrangement. A Vega box would need to be reversed to steer correctly and would not be strong enough for the front end weight of your truck. A popular replacement box that works well with the beam axle is the manual or power one out of a Toyota 4x4 pickup. You can read about various steering options in my article here: Toyota Steering Box Swap For 1948-1960 Trucks .: Articles
There is nothing inherently wrong with the OEM beam axle/spring arrangement if the springs are not broken and any and all loose or worn parts replaced. It would then be very serviceable as a daily driver or shop truck.

 

Looks like a good starting point. The rust you have is very common. Also look for more at the rear of the lower front fenders and rear fenders, as well as where the running boards meet the fenders. These areas have a reinforcing section behind them that collect water and dirt and rust out routinely. Cab corners (front and back too). Best to find and deal with it now then find someone elses bondo work just after you think you are done.

Dealing with PO's "mods" is always fun. My motor mounts were bolted to the top of the frame with angle iron and pinched against the exhaust manifolds, actually wearing into the cast iron. What fun.

Take lots of pics and keep us posted,.

 

My bad if you thought I was claiming it had full blown IFS coil over MacPherson strut type set up. I should have been specific, it is just a coil over shock in addition to the leaf springs. My guess is to help out with the extra weight the 460CID puts on the front end.
I haven't even gone through it yet, just given it a quick visual inspection. The motor mounts caught my eye, and I'm sure there will be other things that aren't to my standard.
I will end up stripping it down to bare metal. Don't want any surprises later on. Surprisingly, the cab corners look in good shape and hold a magnet, so I'm crossing my fingers the front fenders are the worst I'll have to deal with.

AXR - Interesting on the 'yota steering box. I'll be sure to check that out. Might be easier than trying to adapt the pump and gear box out one of the '80 Cadillac Hearses I have sitting in the yard. Thanks for the link. I'll take some pics of the steering set up when I get into her later this week. Off to read that article while I have a few minutes.

 

The Toyota box conversion seems to work well. I made the bracket that AX drew up and it fit in well. The hard part can be finding a box as they are getting somewhat scarce. I got lucky and found one on CL for $40. Heed the threads well and it is a fairly easy upgrade. Make sure to get the fittings as one is an oddball. I have only driven mine around the neighborhood, but I like it so far.

My cab corners looked fine until I sanded them down and found the dark spots that were rust just about to come through. The nice thing is none of the places I mentioned are complicated compound curves. I was able to get some 16ga sheet and make my own patches fairly easily, and I have never done body work before. The only ones I bought were a door pillar that was gone, and the corresponding outer cab corner on the pass. front.

Keep us posted.