Welcome to the madness. What a beautiful truck! Please keep us updated.

 

I hope you all can see those pictures. It looks fine on my computer but I don't know about everyone else. I know it always starts the same way "the plan is just to get it running and drivin". But if things would go right this panel would have the sc400 front end with bags, explorer rear and bags and probably a small block ford with an overdrive tranny. But for now, until I start accumulating some of parts we are going to try and get the flathead going and drive it. The bags will probably be the last due to the cost of course. I want to be able to drive this thing comfortably for a fair amount of distance.

 

yah teardropty, my wife is already a little worried about the time that's going to get spent on this thing, I have been shopping around a little for an older vehicle to cruise in. My first vehicle was a 78 ford f100, 2wd, with a 351w. Bought it for 300 bucks, rebuilt the motor, put a Jensen deck in it and some house boombox speakers. It was a rusty pile with all the paint peeling off but it would smoke the tires like crazy. So when the opportunity came up to own this old ford I couldn't let it go. Plus the history its a no brainer. Although it would have never been something I would have searched out, IMHO, it's awesome, and I couldn't be happier

 

Welcome to the board!
Wow, that's a pretty nice panel. Looks like a great starting point.


Good luck
Bobby

 

That looks like a very nice start for your project. Hello from a fellow panel owner...

 

It's definitely a good starter. She has her issues though but nothing real drastic. No gaping holes really. I am going to get it all cleaned out this weekend. I will take more pics this weekend of the inside and before and after cleaning. It's parked at my dads for now until it gets running and driving. He has a lot more tools and most importantly, more space. He is a welder by trade and does some side work so I have access to a nice mig, and tig welder and a plasma cutter, and an aluminum spoolgun. Thankfully some of those skills have been passed down as well so the panel should be in good hands.

 

Nice panel! Do realize welding body metal is a different process than general welding thicker metal. You might want to read my MIG welding tutorial: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-practice.html The ESAB Spoolarc Easy Grind wire really makes a difference and is highly recommended.

 

nice looking panel, looks like you are off to a great start.

 

thanks ax. I guess that I worded it wrong. I should have said fabricator/welder, meaning welding about anything you could imagine, not just standing in a line doing jig welding. Do realize that heavier and thicker steel warps and becomes disfigured also with the addition of too much heat. So I suppose it's the same concept with the body metal, right.

 

As I explain in my tutorial, sheet metal (< 16 ga especially) heat shrinks in the heat affected zone around a weld causing warpage and distortion that can be quite severe, extend for a significant distance, and be difficult to near impossible to correct and/or make an effective weld. this is especially troublesome where the back of the weld seam is inaccessible to a hammer and dolly or where panels are lap rather than butt welded. Using standard MIG wire compounds the problem because the wire is harder and more brittle than the parent metal. There is welding methodology that reduces this shrinkage that I discuss, as well as information that I've never seen in any welding books.

 

I see you got the photo thing figured out Your panel appears to be in excellent shape. Sometimes sitting in a barn for decades really preserves these old trucks. Nice to see another panel on here and congratulations again on a very nice acquisition.

 

Thanks. It has it's issues that you can't see in pics but I will post some more of that after it gets cleaned up this weekend. I don't care though. It can still be driven with rust holes!!

 

Good looking panel. Way better than mine when I started. Welcome aboard.