Had the pleasure of Chuck aka AXracer's company yesterday afternoon for a few hours. Got to meet the Krazed Kanary too, more on that later.

We looked over the primary vehicle, the 1952 F-1 pretty thoroughly. When we moved to the '51 rolling shell, my suspicions were confirmed: Chuck says that cab is the better bet. True, the dash is hacked a bit and the firewall and front floor have a few excess holes, but Chuck says it would be a lot easier to weld up those than tear out and fix the problems in the '52. I was afraid of that, but it's exactly where my concern was based after I discovered the hacked up header panel in the '52(which is perfect in the '51 and 5 star extra to boot) and started digging deeper.

The upside is, the '51 cab is all stripped out and has the excellent, rust-free doors already on it. I'll need to tear out the innards from the '52 doors, remove the front & rear glass(scary!), the seat & tank, swap the tranny cover and a few other things. But it would've all needed to come out anyway.

AX has the same view as me of a basic plan to go forward: finish up the chassis issues, check/re-check the brakes even of they were rebuilt since it was over a decade ago and it's been sitting since. So I'm going to focus on getting some 15"x6" F-150 rims, clean & paint and add some tires so I can roll it around easier(already have the chrome lug nuts!) and go from there. I'm anxious to get it running again, too.

Also figured out just where my view of the finished truck fits in as it won't be stock but won't have a more modern engine, frame mods, or anything like that. Simple changes like the wheels/radials, dual chamber brake master, dual exhast & headers, and lowering the suspension slightly. AX says this is called 'Lightsider' since it isn't original but isn't as involved as the Darksiders. And it sure won't be a street rod!

So once we got done, we went for a ride in the Kanary. I gotta say - I've been in some nice handling cars over the years, but that little yellow thing just sticks to the road. And acceleration is incredible, too. It'll push your eyes back into your head and make your brain hang out your ear in a turn. And Chuck says it'll turn better with stickier tires(!) which seems hard to believe!

Snapped a couple shots on Ben's suggestion for an update. Nothing more of the trucks since those shots are already posted. Just a couple shots of AXracer and a little visitor who got stuck in the garage when I was working on the '52 Saturday. He buzzed us a couple times yesterday while we were sitting on the Ranger tailgate.

BTW - I offered to pay AX for his time & gas as I figured it was the decent thing to do, but he'd have none of it. His visit cost me exactly one bottle of water - that was it! But the value of having someone with extensive welding experience look things over was worth a whole lot more, lemme tell ya. And now I have a clear direction forward, even if it will be a while until it's realized.

 

I think you were lucky to have AX come by. I have some FTE members (well one) live nearby and look forward to meeting them. I'm glad you have a direction for your truck to go in, besides down the road.

 

It was very nice for Ax to pay you a visit and offer his thoughts about your project. That was a lot of knowledge at your disposal, did you take notes .LOL I'm looking forward to watching your build. Don't let the glass and door stuff scare you, if I could do it, believe me you can do it.

 

Really pleasant visit! Nice to meet you and have an opportunity to look over your old tin. The chassis and running gear in the 52 looks good from just looking, but the cab and the rest of the sheetmetal on the 51 is in far better, basically unmolested and solid, shape, I'd definitely recommend a merger of the two. The concerns you have about the mods that were done: master cylinder crudely hung on the firewall, a bunch of holes punched in the steering column access floor cover plate, dash cut to mount a radio, a few other misc drill holes, may appear daunting to someone with no real metal working experience but they are actually as simple repairs as one might run into in this hobby. A weekend at most to close up the PO's misguided efforts. Heck, I did more work than that to the dash in Gracie filling and smoothing the glove box and ashtray openings. I welded up over 40 holes in her firewall and floor, plus another 1/2 a hundred elsewhere and Gracie was already in exceptional shape. Just check out my "making changes" and "filling holes" galleries.


Next time we take a ride in the Kanary I hope it's on an AX course, or at least I will shut off the traction control and stability control and show you what it can do without the electronic nanny spoiling all our fun. Yes they were on last night and kicked in a few times, tho you probably didn't notice. I look forward to getting together some more real soon.

PS: I like your little friend!

 

Ax the Canary is a street machine ! I thought it would be for the road track only. That is cool.

 

Another testament to the excellent folk on this forum. I hope to have the honor of meeting you guys in person someday. It would be my dream to have some of you experts visit me and set me straight.
The opportunity to learn from you guys has saved me...well actually, if it wasn't for you guys I probably would have given up by now.

The ride in the Krazed Kanary had to have been a blast!

Boomer, be sure to take lots of pictures and keep us updated on your progress.

 

I'm just glad AX isn't really blue.

 

Now that there's funny!

 

Good job, AX! Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you, Boomer!

 

Although it is a factory race package it is street legal. It races in SCCA Stock division and the rules say the car must have been available off the assembly line (The Kanary has factory suspension option package FE3 race suspension with stiffer lower springs, larger sway bars front and rear, stiffer rear crossmember. FE3 package did not appear on average dealer option list, had to be added by special order. There were only 23 GXPs with FE3 package built in 2007, most went to GM affiliated road race teams. Buying the Kanary from and being sponsored by Rick Hendrick dealership has it's perks!) Engine must be as from the assembly line, no modifications allowed except free flow replacement air filter element in stock air box. (Stock GXP engine is 15# boosted turbo charged, direct injected 2.0L 4 cyl producing CPU limited 260 HP, 260 ft # from 2500 RPM flat to redline. Highest HP/cu in production engine ever.) Can use any shock with stock physical dimensions i.e. spring perch height, bump stop contact point and no more than 2 external adjustments. (Kanary is fitted with 4 custom built and valved Penske aluminum racing shocks with remote reservoirs and are separately externally adjustable for compression and rebound. Nitrogen gas pressure in res can also be changed, but that is not considered an adjustment per rules. The shocks were built to the same specs by the same builder as those built for and raced by the class dominating factory sponsored RR team cars.) The exhaust can be changed from the cat back. (Kanary's exhaust is 3" mufflerless from the cat to the rear.) And finally we can run any DOT tire that will fit on the stock sized wheel. (The Kanary races on Hoosier A6 DOT radial slicks size 295 18 on 18x8 Ultraleggera light weight racing wheels.) The street tires are the OEM 265x18 all weather sport tires on OEM wheels, GM speced a tire with less than max grip to keep the no skill buyers from killing themselves on the street. The stock GXP suspension and alignment altho sporty is designed to push like a dump truck if overdriven. They also don't tell you how to completely shut off the electronic nanny controls in the owners manual.

 

Nicely done!

Bobby

 

Ax that's a little different than the 60 MGA 1600 MK II. I raced in the mid 60's and a whole lot more fun.

 

For sure, don't even have to walk behind it with a bucket to pick up parts that fell off, and the electrical works every time!

 

Hey Boomer
Thanks for following up - it's priceless to start with a well thought out plan.
Have fun - good to see Ax in action. It's great to see FTE members helping each other out.

Looking good over there in Tarheel Country.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

My pleasure, Ben. I figure if I'm gonna pester folks with constant questions, the least I can do is post the good stuff. There was a humming bird hovering over us and buzzing to and fro while we were sitting on the tailgate, so I wanted Chuck to see my little pal. Wife thinks it was the same bird. She also made a comment to the affect of 'It was cute to look outside and see you playing trucks in the driveway with your new friend'. Yep - I married a comedian.

As Ross said, I do have my work cut out for me but this approach will make it a bit easier. I can easily remove the cab from the '51 since it's already stripped, and get it over to AX's shop at some point to get it welded up. After it's out of the way, I can strip and move the cab from the '52 over onto the frame of the '51. Still need to figure out media blasting/painting, but at least once it's done there will be a clean, hopefully completed chassis and drive train waiting for it. It's pretty close now.

Another thing I had wondered about was the back body. Side panels are solid and straight, but other issues like the bolt strips welded on for the bed, new wood, strips, hardware along with just cleaning & painting likely make it financially more feasible to just buy one of the re-pop complete bed kits and be done with it. I'll have much more than that into trying to make one of these right. Either bed would be perfect for someone wanting to weld in some diamond plate or such. There's enough to do already with the cab & fenders.

I'll have a pile of excess stuff that hopefully I can help out some list members with in the future.

I do want to figure out what the '51 has in the differential for gears. Since it was hot rodded previously, I'm thinking it must've gone faster than 45mph. Outside case looks the same as the one in the '52. Not looking to break any records, but highway/interstate speeds doesn't seem like too much to ask.

BTW, whoever was looking for a hood, drop me a message. Doesn't look like I'll be selling the remains as a complete shell at this point.