My gauge cluster is far from perfect - the most obvious thing is the high beam indicator is off center slightly. Hard to tell in the pic. But I'm satisfied with it for now.

Drove today for the first time. Just around the block as the brakes were just bled (I always put some low speed laps around the block and re-bleed), no tag, and seat just sitting in there and not bolted down. But it was another milestone. Trans shifted to 2nd, but I didn't get going quickly enough to shift to third. I also wanted to see if the fluid would drain down (another reason for a very short around the block trip - trans is overfilled), but it didn't, so I'll have to drain it - going to try to suck it out of the dipstick as I just can't be bothered to drop the pan right now.

Now I'm replacing a front wheel bearing (done) and rebuilding the drag link...trying to figure out which way the springs go. Found a diagram from an old post on here and it references a Model-Y!! Haha - I've got one of those little things sitting in the other hangar! Brought it back from the UK. It runs and drives - all mechanical brakes. It's like a 3/4 scale '34 Tudor Sedan...long term plans I'd like to put a V8-60 in it, but that will require a lot of steering surgery, so I may put something like a Jeep 134 Go-Devil in it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ment-tool.html

But got plenty of things on my truck bucket list before I can road test tomorrow (tomorrow is insurance, tag, and exhaust). So, I'm headed back out there - going to use the Model-Y sequence of springs, cups, spacers, etc in the drag link.

Thanks for the compliments, guys - it's motivating.

 

Well, three steps forward and two steps backward. First, the good news. I'm just about done wiring - still a few "nice to have" things to do, but all the major stuff works as it should. Tidying up little things here and there - modified one of those late model spare tire winch things to hold my spare up. Finally slapped some PT 3/4" exterior plywood on the bed floor, mounted my tool box, and dozens of other little things.




Went to go to the muffler shop - first time out on the road. Pulls well...doesn't shift right.

It's an AOD that was supposedly rebuilt. Looked super clean, new gasket on the pan, paint, proper plugs in all the holes, etc. It's been sitting 2.5yrs since I've head it and who knows how long it was sitting in the previous guys' garage.

The TV cable is adjusted the factory way, but I'm going to put a gauge on it tomorrow to verify.

It shifts to 2nd fine, but it won't go to 3rd or OD. If I let off the gas at 40 or so, it then acts like it's in neutral until I stop. If I pull over, I can pull right out again. It did shift into 3rd once, but began the neutral slipping thing.


From what I've read, this means the direct clutch has an issue - it could be hydraulic, it could be mechanical (broken input shaft). But I've also read that these trannys are finicky when it comes to valves & governors and doo-hickeys sticking in the valve body, so I'm wondering since it sat so long, maybe something is stuck or sticky.

At the end of the day, I'm going to drop the pan tomorrow and make an assessment. First, I'll verify it was rebuilt. Next, as long as there's nothing obvious in the fluid, I'll drop the valve body and disassemble/clean/reassemble and try again...

...unless anyone has any other ideas.

 

Hey Ernie,
We have an AOD in our '50. My advice is - don't drive it until you get the pressure checked. These things will crater within a matter of minutes with the wrong pressure. They are exceptionally sensitive to real small changes in that cable - real sensitive. Our's ran funny as well - finally found a shop with some old guys & they adjusted it better than I could at home - runs great.

These AOD's run $1800 or more here in Austin - it's an expensive oops if it goes.. Baby steps over there. Switching over to a Lokar set up helped us a ton.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Well, if you followed my AOD help thread, you'll know I finally determined my AOD was toast. Not 100% certain it was rebuilt, and the leaky front seal didn't help convince me it was. So, yesterday while the exhaust was being put on, I got on the phone and called around - found a place with one on the shelf I could exchange, but they wanted to check it out and call me back.

When they called me back they said it was a factory remanufactured AOD from Ford, in the crate, with the paperwork and it was only $100 more than their rebuilt price. So, I got it. Dropped the other trans out last night and going to get a fresh start for the installation this morning. Just barely enough room to get it out with the engine in the car...here's hoping it goes in OK.

I have been chasing that ignition issue as well. I had the duraspark module tested at one of the chain stores and it passed. It still would die randomly, but only from an idle - as long as it was running and going, it was fine. Once it died, it wouldn't start until it cooled down. I double/triple/quadruple/quintuple checked the wiring (since it was all new) and that was all good. I metered the pickup/stator and it was the correct resistance and nothing shorted to ground. The coil gets pretty hot, so I suspected a coil acting up when it got hot - changed it out with two other coils, both known good - no change. And even though the coil metered out OK, I manually made a spark (+ to 12V, - to Ground, hold primary lead near engine, remove -, = spark), so the coil didn't seem to be the problem either.

One of the things I saw was that I could get a spark when I turned off the key. So, that told me the ignition components were OK, but the coil wasn't being triggered (like bad points).

So, despite the module passing a test at the parts store, I began to suspect it had some sort of internal intermittent issue. So, I got another module. I waited for it to die so I could replace the module and confirm that was the issue. It didn't die. So, I went for a short drive and as I pulled up to a stop sign and the truck was idling, it died. Great! I can pop the module in and drive home with confidence I've fixed the issue.

Nope. It wasn't the module.

Well, I jogged back (gotta stay in shape) to my dad's place where I'm working on this to get the trailer and explained it all to my dad (a lifetime Avionics guy) he handed me a can of freeze spray and told me to try spraying the pickup in the distributor.

That was it. Every time it died, I could pop the cap and spray it and it cranks right up. So, the theory is that it has an internal short - some of the windings are shorting to each other, not ground, and as it heats up, more of them short. This reduces the efficiency of any coil (and how you get ignition coils that only fail when hot). The reason it dies at idle is likely because as the alternator RPM drops below the cut-in speed and the voltage goes down to battery voltage, it just isn't enough "oomph" to induce the module to tell the coil to spark.

So, I picked up another pickup (see what I did there? ) and I'll put that on later today after I get the transmission in.


I've done lots of other little things - straightened a horribly mangled front bumper in a press, sanded it, and painted it - looks great from 15 feet, just like the grille I straightened! Since Mac's has my window channels on backorder until the end of March (!!), I replaced the driver's window that was missing half the glass with a piece of plexi just to keep the rain out. All the flat glass is cracked, but the windshield is good. It has some wiper scratches, but I'll live with it for now.

The truck drives pretty well for an old truck. The fresh bushings in the front end, new shocks, and rebuilding the drag link helped a lot I'm sure. I have new tie rod ends as well, but they don't seem to have much play. There's a little play in the steering wheel, but it's not as bad as many I've driven. I tried to adjust the backlash, but couldn't feel a screwdriver slot. Once I get these big jobs done, I'll get an inspection mirror down there and see what's what - might be broken off (I've got another complete disassembled box here I can cannibalize it off if needed).

I did notice three of the kingpin bosses were missing grease zerks. I ended up having to drill and tap them, but managed to get grease in all of them and the little bit of play is gone. I'll regrease after a few miles on the truck.

I can't say again how rust free this truck is - last night I had to pull the floorboard and every single bolt came right out with my fingers once loosened. Amazing.

As for the trans, I'm confident I have the linkage correct now and have a decent procedure for settting it up. But if it doesn't even smell right on the first drive, I'm trailering it to a trans shop for them to play with. If I end up having to buy the Lokar kit, I will...

More later...

 

Hey Ernie,
Sorry to hear about your AOD. You now know more about AOD's than you ever thought possible. There are (3) different size OD bands on these AOD's. You really want the largest 2 inch "A" size band that came in the V8 Trucks & Tbird. We even went so far as to get our's made from Kevlar.

If you get super frustrated there is a solid throttle body supplied by a guy called Silverfox on-line that eliminates all the cable adjusting. We went with a more aggressive shift kit while upgrading our AOD - not sure I'd recommend that route. It shifts too hard for normal around town driving.

Good luck over there - You are doing great. Keep up the momentum!
I'm glad you resolved your problem of it dying at idle - chasing intermittent issues is a pain. Our brakes randomly locked up - took us a while to find the issue - grrr...

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Well, of course I was way too optimistic and Murphy got his vote in. The trans shift arm is completely different than mine and the TV arm I've got won't go on. To swap the shift arms, I'd have to open the trans up....which I'm not going to do since it's new. I'll bring it back Mon morning with the other trans and have them swap it. Naturally, they're closed all weekend.

I think it's as good a time as any to take a break before I set something on fire....

 

So, Murphy struck again yesterday...I dropped the new trans and the old trans off at the shop yesterday morning. After waiting for a bit, they tell me they ask me to come in the back - turns out, the new trans is ever so slightly longer than the old one, so they have to swap output shafts and tail housings, but they'll do it at no charge to me. Said it would be a couple of hours, but they'd call me when it was done.

Lost track of time in the garage and next thing I know, it's 4:45, so I call. It's done, they forgot to call - I can pick it up in the morning. Oh well.

I picked it up this morning and it went in actually much easier than it came out. I think half of that was just knowing the sequence of which fingers to cross and how to hold your mouth just right.

Anyway, got the pressure set, but had slack at idle. I didn't like that, so although I did a very short test drive to ensure it went into 3rd and 4th (<1 mile), I put it on the trailer and went back to the trans shop to let them set the TV linkage.

After all the rigamorole about pressures and what not - they set it by eye and feel. :/ but THEY set it. I drove it home from the shop - about 15-20 miles including about six miles on the interstate. It ran very well, smooth, decent shifts - engine stayed cool, exhaust is quiet (too quiet - now I can hear all the rattles).

Only thing I got goofed up now is I wired my turn signal indicators into the rear lights, so when I step on my brakes, both come on. Easy fix, but just goes to show nothing is foolproof...we just build better fools. (I should've know better!)

All in all, pretty happy right now. I'm going to put some miles on it tomorrow after I put the hood back on, bleed the brakes a little more (some sponginess) and do a last rub/chafe check on all the lines/wires/hoses/etc. . After that, I'll load it up and hit the road on a 150 mile trip back to my place! Confidence! My dad will be glad to have his shop back.

I bolted the original seat back in for now. I'll build a base for those Silverado seats later (I want to build under seat storage into it when I do it, so it'll be more than a quickie project) and I'm still waiting on window runs from Mac's, so I've got cracked glass throughout (minus the windshield). In fact, most of the interior is unfinished.

I did get the defrost ducts done (had to modify the driver's side to clear the new speedo cable), plumbed, and wired up. Looking for good looking under dash vents - something heavy, chrome and 50s (I had some old early 50s Caddy ones - if I can find them) then I can finish heat/air - for now, the heater just blows into the cab which would probably be fine if the engine would get above 150!! Big new radiator is too good at its job.

Had a nice dinner with my dad to celebrate.

 

OK, caution to the wind. Hopped in without so much as a drive around town and put 175 miles on it - most of them in the dark - with no tools!

Only issue so far is gas gauge accuracy - it's in my favor, so that's a bonus, but 1/4 tank on the gauge means I still have half a tank left! Gotta tweak that arm some more...fortunately, haven't put the interior in so getting to the sending unit is pretty easy.

 

I've taken a couple of moderate distance trips so far. As I type this, I'm in Israel and I drove 2.5 hours to the airport in the old truck. It didn't miss a beat and ran smoothly at 70-80mph.

It's still running damn cool. I've got the radiator 3/4 blocked and I'm struggling to get above 150-165 or so. It will get up to maybe 170-180 sitting in traffic. Guess I'll need to try replacing the thermostat, but it's a huge PItA with everything installed....I may just live with it and see how it does in the southern heat this summer...

 

Great progress!!

 

Well, this morning I got a text from my girlfriend. She said she was sorry, but she crunched my door backing out this morning - she was late, it was dark, and I normally don't park there, so there were mitigating circumstances.

Went out after the sun came up and assessed the damage....









The fender should bump out relatively easily. Similarly, the door sill will be pretty straight forward and I have good access from the battery well. The lower cowl was rusted there anyway and I believe it will push back into place once the sill is pushed back out. I'll replace it when I get to the bodywork phase of this project (which could be a long time).

The door is the concern. There was some light-moderate rust around the pinch area between the door frame and skin, so that's why it peeled away so easily. The door frame is thin from rust, but solid and not horribly rusted through anywhere really. Might be fixable, but the tear and crease will be tough.

For now, everything will just get pushed back into place and I hope I can straighten the door frame enough to get the seal to work & keep the noise out. If not, I'll get some extra generic foam seal in there to close the gaps I guess.

I guess I'm most bummed because I had planned on running the truck as-is because it is so solid...anyone got a red door?

 

Ouch! Guess that's one way to check how solid your truck is. Gotta laugh it off with these trucks or else we'd run outta tears.