This is a great thread! I feel almost like I'm restoring another flathead powered tonner, but I'm sitting on my couch. Tonners my favorite. Nothing like 4 7.50 17's on those five lug rims. Very, very cool truck, and awesome work!

 

Not much happening on the truck right now. Just got the headliner and interior kit from MACs, pretty much like the original covered cardboard/fiberboard that I removed. came with all new mounting hardware and install instructions. Still waiting on the headers to come in before starting the motor. Been a little on the cold side here lately.

 

What a long winter this has been. Anyways, finally got my new headers in from MAC's. Very nice looking and sturdy, metal tag on them shows that they are made by Reds-headers. Not sure if I want to paint them or wrap them in exhaust wrap. I have used the wrap on headers for a chevy motor I have and it increased exhaust gas flow out of the heads and lowered under hood temps quite a bit. I would think the same would hold true for the flathead. Was thinking that it would help improve flow characteristics overall along with the edelbrock heads and non stock camshaft. I realize this isn't a race motor I built but just trying to get it to run the best it can. Any other thoughts pro or con are welcomed.

 

Finally made room in my garage for the truck to fit so I can finish painting the cab and installing the wiring. did a test fit of the headers to make sure there would be no clearance issues. Have about a 2" space above the starter on the passenger side and about 2-1/2" space on the driver side by the steering box. Didn't put the outer tube on the steering column yet but can tell there will be no issues. The pictures look deceiving but have an awful lot of room. Just have to decide what color to paint them now.

 

are you going to insulate them headers ? I don't know how much heat they would throw off on a hot day but it would make me think especially by the electric starter .

 

Have the header wrap now so will be wrapping them. Also got the first coating of paint on the cab, the front half is pretty much done. Maybe another coat or two there.

 

got a little crease behind the left cab upper corner side ?

 

Yeah, actually more than one. More like dents from when the stake bed was on, once the bed goes back on it will disguise most of the small blemishes. The pictures make it stand out more than in person. Don't want to make it too nice or I'll be afraid to use it, lol

 

Made some more head way today. Got the cab completely rewiring to include the engine, didn't install the wiring for the lights as i'm not ready to put those in yet. Got the instrument cluster in, new throttle and choke handles are in, along with the start button and headlight switch. clutch and brake pedal assemblies are installed and operating. Battery tray installed along with starter solenoid and voltage regulator. Removed the fan for now as it gets in the way of trying to adjust the distributor. Tried to start it today but ran into some issues. first off was the original starter started acting like it was powered all the time, figured maybe it was bad somehow. so tried the starter that came from the junkyard motor and the issue cleared up sort of. i think the problem is actually with the remote start button on the starter solenoid sticking every now and then. put fuel in the fuel pump glass bowl hoping to get things started easier but it doesn't appear to have helped as no gas is getting to the carb. fuel pump was rebuilt in the fall with proper push rod and had good suction at the time. maybe the fact that it had to draw gas from a gas can on the ground as too much? Maybe the can needs to be higher? Good news is I have 50 psi oil pressure with the 50 psi oil pump. gauge showed 50 after only cranking about 3 seconds, i guess adding a light grease to the pump helped. temp gauge did it's sweep from high to low when powered so hopefully the sensors work. the motor will pop off out the tail pipes with a little black smoke if i put a little gas down the carb then try to start but just need to figure out the fuel delivery problem. also found some minor fuel seepage at the throttle plate shaft area while pouring gas into carb, of course with the plates closed it has to go somewhere. hoping to take another crack at it tomorrow after the battery is recharged and may reswap starters again to see if the original is truly bad. need to get up and running so it can get broke in properly instead of this trying to start crap. not good for a brand new rebuild.

 

Just re-read this thread all the way through again. I like the way you do things! My solenoid was sticking like yours. Made a real racket with the starter still spinning. I bought a 12 volt generic ford solenoid at napa. I miss the remote start button on the bottom, but since I'm 12 volt now, I got the one with the start ignition terminal where the resistor is bypassed at starting. Started it up this morning, first time in a couple days and it was running on what appeared to be the first rotation. You have inspired me to pull my instrument panel and clean and inspect my gauges. What are you doing for a bed? Did Stella come with one already?

 

What color is that? It seems close to mine and I need some touch ups here and there until I can afford a paint job. (Likely never)

 

The bed is an old deKalb stakebed which I plan to refurbish also.

The color is rust-o-leum racing green metallic.

 

Finally got the old girl running. Reswapped the starters as the one I swapped out earlier is drawing too much power so will have to freshen that one up. Pulled the top of the carb off and put some gas directly into the fuel bowl, placed the gas can in the cab instead on the ground so the pump wouldn't have to draw from such a low level. Fired it up after a few tries and got it running but had to shut it down after about a minute due to oil spewing from the oil filter canister top cover. Pulled cover off to see what was the issue and make sure the gasket was in place, which it was. Wiped everything down and reattached the lid and tightened it down good. Started it back up and no leaking from there but after awhile I noticed the front rope seals behind the crank pulley leaking and some a few drops from the rear seal too. Not super concerned with the leaks right now as I still need to complete 2-3 more heat up and cool down sessions for retorqueing the head bolts and such. Had it running for about 30 minutes too see how warm it gets, according to the temp gauge it was showing just a little to the right of the N which is in the middle. Of course my antifreeze/water mixture is off I'm sure due to filling before winter with more antifreeze than water to prevent cracks from the water freezing in the block. Do have a simple box fan strapped to the front of the radiator which I turned on after awhile since I don't have the factory fan attached for now. Also not running thermostats right now as the ones I got for it don't fit in the hose nicely without bulging it. Plus when they are place in the water ports on the heads they hang over a little too much, diameter of thermostat just too big. Will probably trim them down a bit later on. Forgot to test the generator while it was running to see if and how much it is charging, have that to do next time. The first video is the run after the big oil leak, don't mind the little bit of smoke, was using gas/oil mixture I had. Second video is with regular gas and the exhaust attached better.
20140425_173717_zps20de9ab5.mp4 Video by amceaglesx482 | Photobucket
http://s43.photobucket.com/user/amce...c1ee2.mp4.html

 

Well, had it running again today after retorqueing the heads again. Also tested the charging system to find that it wasn't doing anything. Had to clean some paint off the firewall where the voltage regulator attaches. Have good contact between the firewall and the grounding plate of the regulator now, puts out about 6.5 volts at the battery when running. Also attached a ground strap from the motor to the firewall. One more run left to retorque heads then change oil and should be good to go. Just have to get it all dialed in to run better. Got he gas tank and seat bottom reattached ot the floor but still need to hook up the fuel line. Also took apart the original vacuum operated wiper motor as it was gummed up inside pretty good. got it all cleaned up and regreased the inside and it appears to be working if you suck on it like a straw.

 

So after sitting for 30+ years, the old girl moves down the road under her own power. Got the fuel line replaced and hooked up, rebuilt the carrier bearing for the drive shaft which is a Federal # 1207 bearing if anyone is curious. Installed drive shaft but have one u-joint that will need replacing soon. Finally have the parking brake mechanism that mounts in front of the rearend on the frame cleaned up and functioning properly so the parking brake works. Hooked up a temporary wire from the fuel sending unit in the gas tank to the main wiring harness and now have a fuel gauge that appears to work, not sure how accurate it is as the tank is not fuel. Good news is all gauges work now. Hood is repainted and reinstalled with new hinges and support springs. Installed 2 aftermarket temp gauges under the dash 1 for each side of the engine as it's nice to see a number for that. Was going to install a oil pressure gauge too but need a tee fitting to install inline with the stock pressure sender. Reinstalled the stock fan and that keeps temps quite normal just idling or going for a buzz around the block. Awaiting my new seat covers to arrive Wednesday so I can get the seat down and finish the interior. The only major issue I have right now is I believe that the carb is under jetted for the few mods I have done. If I remember correctly the stock jet size is 50 for the model 91-99 carb that I have, thinking I need to bump them up to a minimum of 52-54 or maybe install a pair of adjustable jets. The motor will start right up and idle stupidly low and sound awesome but anything more than a 1/8th throttle it starts to sound ragged like maybe not fuel. I don't have the vacuum brake on the distributor set yet as I having been able to truly open it up as it were to be-able to set it. The timing should be darn close as it will start up quick and idle nicely.