Not only that but you can share the photos with your fellow FTE'ers to invoke in depth discussions regarding your build.

 

Get several sizes of the heavy duty ziplock bags and a couple sharpie markers. After photographing the parts put them into bags (nuts and bolts small bits and pieces into the smallest size bigger pieces into bigger bags etc), label the bags by what the parts go to and put the smaller bags inside the bigger ones that go together. Add a printout of your pictures in the bag. Put the bags into a box labeled with the subassemblies it contains and use a separate box for each area of the truck, add the appropriate pages or copies from a good catalog such as Mid Fifty or a shop manual in a separate bag, and put all the boxes into a storage area that is out of the way such as a loft or high shelf, not in the corner or under the bench where it will need to be moved regularly. It helps if you use all one size of box and face the labels out where they can be read at a glance. A couple years down the road when you go to putting things back together you can open one box or two and find everything you need and pictures of how it went back together. No more rummaging thru piles of parts looking for that special widgit, or dumping out a pail full of old bolts and nuts trying to find one the right size and type. No matter what your plans may be it will take a minimum of 2 to 3 times as long before you get back to those parts!

 

I have a couple of the accordian files that have a pocket for each letter of the alphabet. I file the direction sheets and literature that came with parts and accessories in one of them, and instructions and parts manuals for tools in another.
I recently had a switch break in my 30 year old circular saw. I was able to find the old instruction manual with an exploded view of the parts and numbers to buy and replace the switch. Saving that manual allowed me to buy a 5.00 switch rather than scraping a 150.00 saw.

 

Dang AX!!!!!

One of these days I'm going to have to make trek across country to bow down at the altar of the Garage-Mahal. It would be like going to Mecca.

...........(as the camera fades in you see a lone figure, his clothes are tattered, there is old truck grease under his fingernails, he is kneeling in the dust next to a pristine driveway that fronts a holy shrine.......cue audio).........

"I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy" the tortured soul repeats over and over.............(camera fades out)


Oh man, I think I need a frosty beverage I'm hallucinating or something...........I'm heading out to the shop
Bobby

 

I'm having a heck of a time bleeding my new disc brakes in the rear. I haven't used this method, but a mechanic friend told me about it. You can pressure bleed your brakes by using another MC cover. Drill a small hole in the cover and mount a tire valve to the cover. Then you can use your air compressor and set the air for about 2-5 lbs of pressure. Open the bleeder and apply air. make sure you keep brake fluid in the reservoir. He said it works like a charm for stubborn lines.

 

I also read somewhere that you can do the same with a cheap tank bug sprayer.

 

Yes, just don't pump it up very hard. If you use one of the hand held size ones, You could even fill it with some brake fluid to prevent bleeding the MC dry.
A good thing to do as well is to put a short length of snug fitting clear tubing on the bleed valve before opening it and stick the end of the tube into a clear container with some brake fluid in it. When you crack the bleeder you can readilly see even a very small amount of air in the system bubble out the end of the tube. Repeat the bleeding process until no air bubbles come out.

 

I recently attempted to fix the heater core in my 52. I could see where I thought it was leaking but was not sure. I went to WalMart got a bicycle innertube, $2.40, cut it in half, put one end to each pipe on the core, clamped with hose clamps, then put 20psi in the core thru the valvestem and stuck the core in a bucket of water, the leaks were very evident then. I don't see why you could not do the same for a radiator.Then I soldered the leaks up with my torch and leakchecked it again. looks good, just need to put it back in the truck.

 

AWESOME I hope you know, I'm stealing that idea!! That is Genius!!!!


BTW, do you know the difference between Genius and Stupidity? Genius has it's limitations!! I know personally about stupidity!!

 

I saw this on an episode of Horsepower TV. If you spraypaint the underside of your intake manifold with Engine paint (500 degrees) white. It will help dissipate heat of the engine better and makes the engine run more efficient. Make sure you mask off the surface area where the gaskets go though. If you paint the outside of the manifold rather than polish it, that helps also.

 

On our race engines we would have the blocks boiled and rodded then use a die grinder to remove any casting flash in the lifter valley, especially around the oil return holes. After that we would wash it down to remove grinding dust and metal chips with solvent. We would then immediately paint the valley area with Rustoleum to seal the metal and give a slick surface for the oil to return to the pan as quickly as possible. We would do the same to the heads under the valve covers. You would be surprised at how much oil gets trapped on top the heads and in the valley in a high reving engine with a high volume oil pump! As much as two quarts or more can end up there, starving the engine for oil when it needs it most and causing leakage of the valve cover gaskets and valve stem seals from oil flooding.

 

These are all good to know tips. I have a 56 panel with the top cut off. I am in the process of welding a top back on. I am in need of a four inch piece for the front cab. If any one has a 56 roof sitting around, please let me know. Also, does any one have any good ideas on how to do the two back doors so they look good? The top on the panel has been cut 6", so the doors are also cut the same. Trying to piece back together.

 

Do you need the strip to extend the roof or to repair rust at the front? If to extend, granted it would be one less seam to cut a donor roof 4" further back, but it wouldn't be that difficult to just have a 4" strip cut and fit it in. Same with the front, it's not a shape that is difficult to make a patch strip for. For the front, I would not do it all in one piece, but in 2-4 sections, cutting away and replacing as you go so the remaining portions can provide support and alignment.
As for the rear doors, my first choice would be to simply keep them as original just chopped, next choice would be to put them together and hinge from the side as one swinging door. My last choice would be to weld together and hinge from the top. been way overdone and the structure would need considerable bracing to suceed long term.
I assume you have found someone who can cut the windshield to advise you on how to handle the opening? the 56 is not the easiest windshield to cut down and if you don't work with the glass person from the git go you may end up with a chopped truck that no one will cut the windshield on. A better idea would have been to take the chop out below the windshield in the cowl to retain the stock windshield opening, the 56 windshield is narrow as is. Another way to handle a mild chop on a 56 is to leave the windsield alone and drop the roof over it so the top of the glass ends up inside the roof.

 

I have to cut the complete panel roof down the center and install a 2 3/4" section. So the front of the cab will be in half and I would like a piece to weld back into the center. With the over hang of the 56 roof, makes it kind of hard to duplicate.

I thought of those ideas on the back doors. But not sure yet on what I am going to do. I didn't know about all those ideas on the windshield. Thanks. But it is too late for that. The roof has already been cut off. There is a guy in Kentucky that cuts windshields that I met at the F-100 rally in Knotsville that said could do it. I will see once done.

 

Here is an interesting link about cutting windshileds;
http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/54...indshield.html
Here is the main index link to the previous site;
http://www.cadvision.com/blanchas/54.../progress.html

I posted the link to this guys site once before but its been quite awhile. There is some good information here

Bobby