'54 239, 1,880 original miles, Rebuilding advise needed
I have a 1954 F-500 with 1,880 original miles. It was a fire truck that went to two fires in its service. It starts and runs good. I am restoring the truck from the frame up and replacing all rubber, chrome, interior and paint. These parts are deteriorated but its in great shape otherwise. I am going to have the engine out and Im wondering what work should I do on it. I have allready rebuilt the carb and put a new fuel pump on. The belt, hoses, wires, valve cover gaskets and main seals will be replaced. I thought Id pull the oil pan off and replace the gasket also. Nothing should be worn but what else should I do when I have the engine out? What other parts would have suffered from age?
If you can get away with simply replacing all the gaskets and seals in the engine, by all means go for it. Some of the hard parts like the oil pump, cam bearings, camshaft, and oil drive are specific to the '54 model (depending upon which plant it came out of) and get hard to find new at this point in time.
