Update time again. The truck is progressing slowly but surely.

Engine is in and all bolt-ons have been rebuilt and fitted, it has been started but only briefly as my radiator is leaking badly. I could have hooked it up anyway but didn't want to flush all the crap out of the old radiator into a virgin engine. Fitted pertronix ignition and a set of Reds "fat fendered" headers, it sounds angry.







I put a layer of fibreglass over the floor and lower half of the back wall to beef it up a bit, I hate fibreglassing.



Body work on the cab is now complete and paint had gone on the firewall, door jambs, window surrounds etc. Doors have had rust repaired and have been test hung to get panel gaps right, need to find some oversize hinge pins though.






Cab is back on the chassis for the final time and bolted down. I couldn't resist posing for a driving shot.









Grille panel has been painted in sliver also.



Next step is to finish the doors and smooth off the bonnet, fit them and paint the rest of the cab. The fenders are a problem, I'm having trouble finding a replacement set that I can get shipped.

Still looking for a set of 16" wheels to replace the widow makers and a Dana 60 rear end.

 

Forgot to mention, I also finally got around to replacing the king pins. One side took about an hour of heating and bashing to remove, the other almost fell out. I took the spindles to have them professionally honed to size, cheaper than buying the correct reamer.

Also my paint shop could find no record anywhere of Meadow Green, I looked up various paint codes on the net to give them but they still drew a blank. In an act of desperation I took a little model 48 F1 truck I have on my mantel into them and had them colour match it, came out pretty well I think. It must have looked strange, three grown men in the parking lot of the paint shop crouched around a model truck with a pile of colour maps.

 

Whatever the green is that you came up with looks great. Great looking build - but you have the steering on the wrong side

 

I ordered a radiator today, I went for copper with brass tanks, made in the US.

49-53, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 Ford 4 Row 4 Necks for Flathead Copper Radiator

Over $300 for shipping hurt but it seems to be a quality made unit. I went for the high efficiency version, living in an area where the temperature regularly gets over 100 degrees I figure a quality radiator is a good investment. Cheaper than a cracked block anyway.

 

Things are progressing slowly on the truck. I ended up drilling the door hinges and installing bronze bushes in them to take the slop out of the doors. Spent a lot of time on the panel gaps on the doors, came up pretty well. It seems the truck was in a front end hit at some point, the bonnet was about half made of lead, when I burned it out I found the bonnet was twisted sideways and buckled backwards. Could be fixed but an awful lot of work, there were quite a few stress fractures too. I found an F5 locally with a pretty rusted cab but a perfect bonnet and managed to buy it cheap. Cab is now painted, this finish is straight off the gun, still needs to be flatted and polished.









I finally have an 8' bed, a dana 60, 5 x F2 wheels and a good pair of front fenders coming from the states. Won't be here until January though. Until then I can start assembling the cab, dash, glass, locks etc can all go in.

 

I envy you your shop! Got some nice toys in there, too! The F-3 is looking great, that color looks perfect.

 

She is beautiful. I kinda wish I had moved "Down Under" 16 years ago when I had a Job offer and a chance to go. But Alaska has been good to us even with the wet and cold. Little or no Government intervention or law or people to tell ya how to live your life so ya don't tread on theirs. Lots of out doors or out back as you call it to get lost in up here as well. And to do it in an old Ford truck don't get any better M8.

 

Off topic, but is that a 48 Pontiac I spy in the back of your shop aussiecowboy?

 

Well spotted, yes it is. The next project.

 

Nice paint job and a great looking shop!

 

I don't think anything smells worse than laying fiberglass.
Did you get the smell out of your cab? I practically had to move out of the house when guys did our shower pan!

It looks good! You are pretty darn fast too!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Thanks for all the kind words. This project actually feels like it moving very slow, pretty much everything I need has to come from the states which slows me down enormously.

The fibreglass smell is all gone, I let it sit a few weeks after doing it (while I went away to work) and then painted the whole interior with Rust Seal from KBS Coatings, pretty much the same stuff as POR 15.



Alaska has long been on my must visit list arctic Y block!

 

I ordered a heap of Dynamat extreme yesterday, I am planning to drive this truck (a lot) at mostly highway speeds so want to quieten it down as much as possible. Will do the insides of the doors, the roof, the floor and the back wall, so pretty much everything. Still having problems with floor covering, I wanted to go an original style rubber floor mat but can't find one that doesn't have the pedal holes already stamped out, being a right hand drive truck this is useless to me.

For anyone interested, a few of my other toys/projects.


1929 Pontiac sports sedan and 1930 Pontiac Landaulet



67 Jeep Gladiator


45 series Landcruiser with a Chevy 6.2 V8 diesel transplant


1972 Ford Falcon 4x4 ute (only 432 made), in bare metal at the moment.

 

Aussie, just turn the floor mat upside down.

 

Ha ha, now why didn't I think of that.......