Hi,

Well i guess this seems to be the place to ask questions about old trucks I have just gotten a old 1953 Ford F-250 with 940 Miles on it. However the catch is it has been sitting for almost 20 years.

I have checked the engine and it is not siezed, however their is a small layer of rust on most of the parts. Since this is my first classic vehicle i was wondering if there are any tips for getting that old engine to start and work?

Any tips, advice, manuals, diagrams would be great! Especially timing on that puppy!

Cheers

Sean

 

Morsredigo -

Welcome to our forum. Yep, this is the place for those kind of questions. Lots of folks here have plenty of experience. We are also pretty irreverent and kid each other a lot, so there's a good deal of fun to have here also.

As to your immediate dilema: GREAT FIND! I would suggest that you first drain all the fluids, replace filters (fuel, oil) drain the gas and tank thoroughly (its all varnish now). Then pull the plugs. Put a couple of squirts of oil down each hole to help free up the piston rings. Replace plugs, points, condenser, plug wires, battery. Fill fluids. Crank it over with the coil wire off for a bit to get oil pressure. Then hook up the coil wire and fire it off.

Doing all of that may not be absolutely necessary, but it is pretty cheap insurance. I got that method from a "Trucks" show where Stacey David answered that same question and showed how to do it. Made sense to me.

If it runs OK, drive it for a while to get it's personality. You'll start to see what else you want to do to it.

Also, I would start a plan on what the end goal is for your truck. Do you want to restore it? Mod it to update it, but look stock? Drive it daily? Work with it? Or rod it? The reason I recommend that mental workout is that the total money you will invest depends very heavily on the goal. Changing the plan in midstream is notoriously expensive. In any event, all those are goals of some here and everyone is interested in everybody else's truck.

Start a gallery. We love to see pictures of progress - and, of course, they ARE each worth a thousand words. You can see my gallery and its albums by clicking on my name in this post's header, then click on "view gallery". It will give you an idea of what they are like. Read the thread at the top of the forum header on galleries and posting pictures also as well as the forum guidelines.

George, our moderator (or another) will be along with those links for you.

Again, welcome.

 

Wel If You have the time and the money.. I would do a compleat tear down and rebuilt on the engine and tranny.. sitting that long the seals are most likly shot and who know why it was parked it the 1st place

 

Well good news is i know why it was parked, it was my grandpas truck and he parked it because of a locked rear left break and he stopped farming.

Other then that i have purchased a new set of gaskets, oil filter, spark plugs, plug wires and some other stuff. I also plan to disassemble and rebuild the engine. I just dont have any manuals or anything which describe timings on the engine, and what a recommended approach would be.

 

Welcome aboard - please don't be shy about posting here, or doing a gallery. One thing - I did not know Ford used the term F250 in 1953 - I thought they were all F1, F2, F3 and so on.

Also, you might post your VIN number and the numbers off your rating plate are always interesting. With that we can tell you what the truck had when it rolled off the showroom floor.

Anyway, I am glad you joined us, and hope you post lots of pictures and messages.

 

I have started a gallary. With the inital pictures. ill have some of engine tomorrow after my visit to farm. Also ill get the VIN number and the engine make and model

Thanks for all the help guys

 

Sean -

DEFINITELY get a Shop Manual! You can but them from MotorHaven, one of our sponsors. You'll find their link in the forum header.

Saw you gallery. From what the picture shows, it has been a hard 940 miles on the poor baby.

Good luck!

 

In 1953 the designations changed to F100, F250 and F350


Chuck P
www.oldjeep.com
1953 F350
1946 ****** CJ2a

 

Welcome Sean. A great bunch of folks here as you've already seen. There is likely someone here who can answer just about any question you may have about these old trucks.

I'm glad you have your gallery set up - we all love to see photos of these old trucks. Make sure to read the sticky threads at the top of the forum to get info on gallery settings.

 

well. got some bad news about this project heh.. besides everything else working. one single piston is stuck at the bottom of the intake cycle. :\ Not sure how to approach this. Everything else is working, carb is in amazing condition, all valves work, even the electrics work! *shrug*

 

Sounds like its time to pull everything apart

 

Did you say 940 miles? or was that a typo or my reado?

abe

 

Just looked at your gallery. It looks cool. It has a pickup dump bed and a homemade tailgate chute. Neat. Seems as if the original color was blue like the interior shows.

It would be neat to restore to the way your grandpa had it. The names on the door, is that your Grandpa? Be neat to keep that!

abe
PS: I've got my grandfather's truck also. He used it on his dairy farm. Tried to keep it original in his honor. He did not have his name on the door, but I have thought about making sideboards with his name and the name of his farm painted on the boards.

 

940 miles abe. not a typo however it looks like something got into a piston and its stuck. We applied some WD40 and some other lubes to it in the hopes of it soaking in and breaking the corrison on it. Otherwise the starter seems to be working, electrics for the horns seem to be fried at some weird wire box.

As for the names, i thought that was really cool. We took the bed off the truck today to get at the hydrolics, which seem to be frozen, but moveable. Oh apparently the hydrolics are stock

 

Hi morsredigo, be sure to check out our Man.Sask forum on this FTE site. You have a great project, looks like it needs alot of work as most of our old trucks seem to. Keep us posted on your progress and updates.