This truck was my dads first truck, and he gave it to my grandpa who kept it up for 30 years before selling it to me. Flathead 8ba, 3 on the tree, all original, only semi restored once in early 80's. I'm trying to keep the truck and work on it between high school and next year college, so any and all help is appreciated!

possible dreams for this truck include my current fantasy of rebuilding the motor with slight performance mods but mostly drivabillity improvements (less leaky carb/oil seals and piston rigs that dont audibly hiss due to such bad leaking). the theme that I currently dream about is making a haul truck for cruising and occasional towing. not that i have a ton to tow at the moment, but thats the rig I want, so at this point that just rules out lowering and removing springs.

here are pics!







First order of buisness- new bed (DONE) staned and poly'd oak with chrome. also body work. I've been doing bondo and primer and fiber glass all over the front fenders. ideally i'd have used brazing and welding on plates over the rust holes (one big enough to put a fist through in the front fender!) but that was all ground down and fiber glassed from the inside. with the new bondo you can hardly tell.

second order of business- rear axles. I don't have any delusions of going 80 on a road trip, but i'd like to cruise at 55 or 60 without any high rpm. I want to cruise like this for an hour and not damage anything with engine speed. I don't know how to do the gear math, but I know right now i have 4.somthing gears in the original rear, what kind of gears should I have for this cruising? I've heard of guys using the explorer 8.8 rear ends.... are these high enough gears? are the measurements similar? will I need a new driveshaft? and are driveline angles something i need to worry about? and what kind of $$$ are we talking?

thanks for reading! I look forward to any and all advice, and more pics will be posted as soon as I can take them! I have only access to my own basic tools, no welding equipment, although I have friends. I have no family members into car building, so everything I've done is self taught at only 18 years old.

 

do a search on here for rear end options there's 100 or so posts on it Ive got 3.0 in mine and it will run 70 all day. i also have a c4 behind the flat head but thats a nice looking truck

 

Nice truck! Got a good foundation to start with there. Love the slotted mags, hopefully you keep them with the truck. (if not, i know where you can send them! )

 

I, for one, hope to see you on here for a long time to come!
Glad to see your young interest in an old truck!
You will be amazed at what you learn here...
Welcome!

 

That old flatty will spin just fine at 2500 for miles on end. Changing to a lower rear gear is nice but keep in mind it's only a 239, and you're pushing a flat, upright windshield and fat fenders thru the air. That takes some HP, and you need to keep it spinning. Your costs to change the rear are not justified by the reduction of 300 or 400 RPM unless you intend to do a lot of highway driving. It's hard to get used to when you are used to modern cars with sleek, low profiles.

 

Beautiful truck! Seeing that gives me desire to complete mine? Thanks for posting and we all look forward to following your exploits right here.

 

Thanks guys! The tires im running are 26 inch which likley plays a large part in why feel tje motor is turning so fast. Maybe ill look for taller tires too, just see what pops up

 

Welcome Aboard Bhd! It's a nice group of guys - you'll fit in fine here.
My 20 year old son does a lot of work on our 1950 - good to see some young guys getting into these old trucks.

Driveability is always a challenge as there are pros & cons to most
upgrades we make. We put some bigger wheels on my son's 4 banger jeep & the thing could barely go up a hill - so be careful in getting bigger tires/wheels. What rpm's are you running at 50mph?

Ben in Austin
1950 F1 (351W/AOD)

 

The speedo is set to 30 or 31 inch tires i think, so when the speedo says 50 its revving higher than i'm comfortable taking it for more than a minute. That being said, i could be a baby. I have no way of telling its exact rpm... all I know is its screaming at "50" which is more like 43. This is the only flatty i've ever driven, so perhaps i'm just not used to the sound and its actually cruising well... any ideas on how to tell? Does anybody know how to do the math?

 

and off topic, but PICS!

left side running board


high tech custom stereo, soldered together on a piece of plywood insulated with hot glue using a single speaker. works with ipod!


my girlfriend


headliner to be torn out soon


fixed up that fist sized hole


passenger side running board stripped and clear coated. love this look! too bad i did the other side black already...


bottom 5" of right front fender are all fabbed by me


current status

 

So it looks like you are doing a pretty good job at self taught body work!
Have you tried spraying any automotive paint through a paint gun?
Cuz it's kind of addictive...

 

If you go with 31 to 32 '' tires you will get a lot more speed with less RPM'S

 

thanks for tire advice and body compliments! and no, I've never tried spraying real paint, just rattle can... is this something I can do reasonably well without high tech stuff? I don't want to screw it all up because I don't have a sterile heated booth... i can clean the garage but thats about it... also where does one get auto paint? i have acces to a buddy's spray gun.

 

There has to be a place around that sells automotive paint. But I don't want to set you up for failure. You will get there when you have the ambition to try.
If you get on youtube you can see some basics. There could be somebody around that might give you some basics. Just ask around, you might be surprised who you can pick up some pointers from!

 

moms boyfriend is a body guy by trade. I'm sure he can help out. and oh yes, I have much ambition, stemming mostly from my aversion to paying others to do my things!