After months of reading and learning I am finally getting around to posting about the 1955 F100 that I bought last summer as a project for my son and I to work on and enjoy. After looking at and considering some different types of pickups we finally settled on this style of F100 and began looking. Given that this was to be our first attempt at any kind of restoration project I was looking for something that could be drive-able project and found one I liked and in my budget range in July 2012.

For those who have been around the forums a while you might recognize the truck as I bought it from a regular poster to these forums. He had done a lot of work on the truck before circumstances forced him to sell it and he was the one who first told me about these excellent forums.

My son and I drove to IL to pickup the truck in July with hopes of jumping in and getting right to work but then things got busy and while we made some progress things went slower than expected. Still over the next few months we took care of some things and got the old girl road worthy before winter hit.

As I said the previous owner had done a lot of hard work on the truck including installing a rebuilt 289 and C4 transmission. He also replaced the radiator with an aluminum crossflow, converted the front brakes to disc, new gas tank, painless wiring harness, new tires and wheels and some other things. So we had a good platform to start on.

The first thing we did was get it safety inspected (a requirement in MO). That showed some issues with the brakes so we ended up replacing the brake lines, installing a residual valve and going through the brakes to make sure they were safe and she would stop good. That got her to pass inspection and on the road. As we started driving her a little more she developed some "lifter noise" and we ended up replacing the lifters to get that solved. Now she is running good and drives down the road pretty good for a 50+ year old truck with stock suspension and steering.

She has a pretty solid body with some minor surface rust on one cab corner and some major rust where the rear fenders bolt to the running boards. Over the last few months I have been picking up some parts here and there and doing minor things but nothing major yet. The main thing was to replace the old bus seat that was in her with a bench seat from a early 90's F150.

Much of my time has been spent making plans and watching for parts on Craigslist, etc. She is missing one of the boards in the bed so I am getting ready to replace the wood in the upcoming weeks and start on some body work.

We intend this truck to be a driver and plan on doing upgrades and restoring her slowly over time. That way we can enjoy driving her while we work on her.

Plans---Thoughts---Wish list etc.

1-Install Lokar shifter. The truck was an original V8 with 3 speed. It is still using the original column shift hooked up to the automatic. I plan on getting a Lokar shifter both for safety and looks. Debating whether to go with a transmission mount or a floor mount Lokar unit. Would be open to any pros or cons as to the two types, etc.

2--Toyota power steering and tilt steering column.

3--Lowering springs front and rear using the down and forward ones from MidFifty on the front.

4--Redo wood in bed, rust repair and body work, etc.

5--Enjoy driving it and working on it.

I have posted a couple of pictures of the truck in my gallery.

Thanks to all who make this forum a great place for information, insight and inspiration!

Alan
"oldwi"--Old With Issues---describes both the truck and driver.

 

Welcome to the forum. Love the 55s and you have a nice one. Lokar doesn't make any junk in my experience. Whatever you decide will work fine.

 

I too welcome you to the world of mass expense and hard labor, old trucks are fun but there is always something to fix.

 

Welcome to FTE. I would only say that you should plan your work in stages as opposed to individual projects. It is a whole easier to replace the bed wood if you take the bed off the truck. While the bed is off you will be able to do the body work on it and the back of the cab/corners. Also if the budget and time allows replace the rear springs also because of the easy access. Likewise on the front while you are doing the steering box and so forth.

 

Good points. Thanks for the tips. I was thinking of trying to start body work on the bed and back of the cab at the same I work on replacing the wood since the bed will be off but unfortunately doing the lowering springs now is really not an option because of budget constraints. Another issue I will be dealing with is lack of garage space. The truck barely fits in our garage so when it is in I have limited indoor work space. My plan of attack right now is try and start on body work on the bed and cab corners over the winter. The suspension and steering will have to wait until the budget allows it. I plan on buying those parts as my budget allows me to and then once I have everything tackle those projects all at once. That is do the front suspension and power steering at same time, etc.

 

Thanks for the report and hope you keep us updated. My truck is a 54 but a PO put a 55 grill in it so I'm a fan of both. I understand the limited work space. I got mine running last summer and it is now in the garage but so tight I can't get in the drivers side. Makes it tough working on it a few hours in the evening.

 

Unless you have a real good heater in your shop and can get the parts up to at least 65 degrees for a period of time before and after, you don't want to do any body work that includes using filler. Never put filler on cold metal. You can do metal patching and finishing up to preparing but do the filling when the weather warms. If you have to put the bare metal back outside, give it a coat of the cheapest rattlecan paint you can find (NOT primer!) when you are ready to fill, wash all the fresh paint off with lacquer thinner and scuff the metal bright with 40 grit sandpaper.

 

Definitely heed AXs warning on the temp. If you don't have a warm and somewhat stable garage temperature, winter is the absolute worst time for body filler, priming and painting. You can make a big mess, or worse yet it may not fail until later after you paint. It is a great time for welding and grinding though, as the panels cool off much quicker.

 

Yes, the air warmed by the heater and the heat from the reacting filler will absorb water. When the warm air comes in contact with the cold metal condensation will form.Bring a cold piece of metal inside (or even your cold eyeglasses) and the surface will dampen immediately. Even the smallest microfilm of moisture between the metal and filler will reduce adhesion and when heated later the moisture will expand and pop the filler off or start rust forming under the filler. Kinda like the way the highway dept keeps themselves employed, notice they only repair potholes in the rain!

 

Thanks for those warnings on watching the temperature before doing any filler, etc. I do have a fair amount of sanding and prepping and some welding before that point so I probably have enough to keep me busy until the worst of winter is over with here in MO.

Alan

 

Well today I made another somewhat unpleasant discovery on my 55 F100.

The PO had put new 18" Falken tires and Panther Chrome rims on the truck. While they are nice wheels and tires they are not really in line with my taste and plans so when I ran across a good deal on some Keystone Klassic 15" wheels on craigslist I picked them up with the intention of selling the tires and wheels that came on the truck after mounting some BF Goodrich Radial T/A or something similar on the 15" wheels.

But to my surprise it turned out that the PO had three 5x5.5 wheels on the truck and one 5x5 wheel. Turns out the back passenger side wheel is the smaller bolt pattern and the work around for that was different size wheel adaptors on the back. Now I have a miss-matched set of wheels to try and sell which considerably lowers their value and means more money out of my pocket. Major Bummer

This is my first time doing a project like this and it seems like I am finding a number of things that need redone that I had not counted on. The good news is if a tackle another one anytime in the future at least I am learning from this one.

Here is a picture of the Keystone Wheels. I think they will look good on the 55.

 

your one strange wheel story proves mark Twain was right, "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."

Good luck selling that old set of wheels.

 

PO's ya gotta love em... cause you can't kill em!

 

You sure got that right! I could not believe it when I found out!

I will need all the luck I can get trying to sell them. The tires and wheels have less than 400 miles on them so I should be able to get something from the tires. It is a real shame because they are an expensive set of wheels but not too many people look for a set of three wheels. Since they are discontinued there is little chance of the next owner finding a fourth wheel which lowers the asking price even more. Who knows maybe I can trade them for something I can use at a swap and shop some day.

Measuring lugnut patterns is not something I would ever had dreamed of doing when looking at the truck. There are other items that I overlooked based on my inexperience in buying an old truck like this but this is one that I never would have imagined finding.

 

I can't think of too many people that would have caught the 1/2" different bolt pattern on one wheel. Don't kick yourself for it. The keystones look great.