didnt realize thread was oooooooooooooold

 

this guy is local to me and a friend of a coworker. I'll see if I can get him to log in for an update.
JML

 

Thanks for looking into this. It was a nice looking truck, hopefully his restore has gone well.

 

LOL. Holy cow guys.. This thread was so old i forgot that I was even a member here. Lets see.. since this post.. i have been divorced, moved to a new house, dated a girl, proposed, remarried, and now have a 2 year old daughter.. WOW! So.. The good news is .. I still have the truck.. the bad news is.. I havent really been able to do much other than new motor, transmission, and an 8.8 rear end swap. I really want to get back in to this project so I will do better about checking in. I hope all is well!

 

Welcome back.
Very glad to hear you still have the truck.
Take some pictures and show us what you have now. Maybe spending some time here will help get you motivated to continue working on the truck. Is it a driver for you?

 

Ok fellas.. so now my daughter is 3.5 years old.. and I still havent touch the old 54. She has been sitting in my dads shed collecting dust, so that is sad. BUT.. BUT... I am finally in a financial position to start the ball rolling again so i wanted to REOPEN this thread.. yet again and start using it as motivation to finally get this truck done. Grandpa is still alive.. and ill be damned if i dont get this done before he passes. ITs so amazing to me how time gets taken for granted. He is now 83. And still doing pretty well.. but i dont want to get to that point in my life where he is not doing well and never got to enjoy sharing this with him. For all i know I could be dead tomorrow.. This truck has always been an ultimate bucket list item for me and its got to happen. I think the first thing i need to do is roll her out of the corner of the shop and get some pictures and start assembling a direction to go. Hopefully with the grace of God for financial and assistance from some good friends and the guys on this board we can get her out and going again. Thanks in advance for any input.

Tanner

 

You've got my empathy and best wishes. I'm in much the same boat with 3 boys ages 2 to 10. If nothing else, get gramps wrenching with you. The truck is just a truck but memories are what life is made of!!!
JML

 

good luck get it going soon.

 

Hey Tanner, you 54looks good. You wanna see something look at what I started with WOW. Mine was my Dads he got it in 1968 I got it in 99. You would be surprised at how well these drive when we don't change to fat tires and small steering wheel. Pictures-pictures-pictures please.

 

The truck has been moved from my parents shop to my garage at home. Looking forward to the next few months of work to get her running.

First projects:
6v to 12 v conversion.
Mustang II Front Suspension upgrade.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated

 

Hey Tanner,
Hmmm... My only advice up front is to think really hard about the Mustang II IFS. We did that one & it's a major project. You have to pull the engine & trans, re-do your steering (all steering stuff is expensive), disconnect all the wiring, etc., & do extensive welding & cutting on your frame. It's also expensive & takes you out of commission for months.

We went with the No Limit Engineering Wide Ride IFS - approx. $2,500 just for the kit which included a new dual chamber master cylinder & lines.
It's another $2,000 if you need help with the install & welding. Our's took 4 months to finish.

Personally I'd really look at just rebuilding your stock front end & adding a Toyota power steering set up. That would be under $1,000 & take a weekend or two.

Good luck over there. If you want a smaller starter project - replacing the rear axle/suspension with better gearing is a weekend project that doesn't require much welding & no frame cutting. You get nice highway cruising rpm's.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1 (351W/AOD)

 

I was really wanting to get the ride height different and get disk brakes on the front. Is it easy to lower the stock front end and just add the disk brake conversion kit?

 

Heya Tanner,

Sid Drapal up in Guthrie can drop your stock front axle for $300. You'll have to figure something out to address bump steer, like moving your steering box up the same distance as the axle drop... There are a couple examples I've seen of the steering box mod on the HAMB.
You can get disk brakes from Classic Performance Parts to the tune of $650.
You can get Toyota power steering from Sacramento Vintage Ford parts for $645.

Or, plan on about $3k for a finished MII when you add a column and borgeson joints, etc.

ORRrrrr... Watch craigslist and drag you up a mid 70s to early 80s jag, and swap that in for ifs, disc brakes, and power steering for probably 1/2 the price. Plus I hear the jag wiper motors are cool for getting that off the firewall.

Or lots of guys are happy with a late model crown Vic swap. A few can be found documented here on FTE.

Like Ben said, I think there are other options wiser than the MII.
If I were a rich man, MII would be a stronger contender. But alas, rich I am not.

 

That does look like a great one and to have been in the family all those years is very cool and rare. Keep it running and decide as you drive it how you want it. And I think upgrading at least the front brakes to disc is a great idea. You need to keep it safe and front disc brake kits are available at a lot of the Ford suppliers. You will at least want to go through the entire brake system and it would be a great time to upgrade it. I think your first post sounds like a great plan. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

 

Ben makes some good points but don't let it stop you if you have the money and the time. I did my own TCI kit on my '52 and it works great. Aside from some terrible directions, it was fairly easy. The only thing that I didn't like about it was that even with the "stock" spindles my front bumper is only about 8" off the pavement. A little too low for my personal tastes, but it does work well. I got the coil over version all from Speedway. That was a few years ago and I know they have made improvements since. Also there are "bolt on" versions for your year if you don't weld. I believe that Scottshotrods | American Made IFS, Chassis, & Components For Any Make & Model 1928-Present has them for one. Probably others as well.