Yeah, Looks like it's gonna work fine, wondering myself how you would put the filler neck HHMMM.... Maybe straight out and to the rear so it looks pretty cool, unless you stick it right through the fender, I guess that would work too...

 

Filler will be out the back of the fender.

 

YEP !!! That will work out the back of the fender....

 

Tank straps done, had some GM 1968-72 A body straps on the shelf, bottom ones are stock top ones are rebent for the van tank.



Crossmember notched and straps mounted



Tabs made from 1/4" plate for the other end of the straps to bolt up.



All done with the tank, on to the next project.

 

Getting down to the last of the chassis rough work, one of the last items I had to do was see what was needed for the front sway bar mounts. I set the sway bar in place and the mounts actually lined up with one of the factory rivets on the front crossmember. Nice since it makes an easy reference to keep things the same on both sides.
Problem is I should of done this BEFORE I boxed the front rails, oops! Didnt occur to me that the sway bar might have to mount in that area.



Rivet head ground off and knocked out.



Sway bar bushing mount was used to mark the second hole, then drilled out.



The sway bar puts a lot of stress on the frame at the mount locations, so IMO it isnt a good idea to just bolt the mounts to the frame rails without some reinforcement. I dont think the F1 rails are thick enough to tap and thread without the threads pulling out so I made some 1 /4" thick plates with nuts to put inside the frame rail.



Had to cut a hole in the boxing plate to get inside the rail then set the plate inside. It was bolted up through the frame rail and then welded in place.



Boxing plate welded back up, I will clean up the welds later before paint. Both sides done the same way, I am not going to mount the bar until final assembly.



Front swaybar done! May be time to move onto bodywork.

 

Hi, that looked like a little bit of a "PAIN IN THE A%#..." to do but it appears you finished it off OK... Yeah, you can clean up those welds Later before you paint, next body work will be Fun I'm sure... SEEMS like ALLOT of work but I"M sure it is gonna turn out really nice when you are done. GOOD THING you have SKILLS with a welder because it would cost a FORTUNE to get someone else to do that for you PLUS you can make sure it is done right , YOU KNOW ??

 

Fun maybe, but the body work on this truck is not going to be over the top, this will be a fun driver but certainly no show car, I would of started out with a much nicer truck for that. Everything will be fixed up as best I can but I am no body man! I consider good body men to be artists, I just dont have their eye but I will do the best I can. All low buck as well, home made patches for everything. Will be soon but actually the next items will be the setup of the steering column, pedals, brake booster, clutch master, etc..firewall stuff.
As far as skills thanks I appreciate it, I do what I can but there are guys on here with real master skills, I consider myself a butcher to some of them!

 

Ok COOL !!! I understand not a show truck just like my 58, Drives good and looks OK, definitely not a show truck but people still think is cool looking when they see it... Yeah it is incredible how body work guys can in vision and do the body work on these Trucks definitely artist... Hopefully the steering column etc... goes smoothly...

 

Ford hood question!
I picked up this hood at a swap meet, looks like any other 51-52 hood to me, but the center does not have the hole to allow the FORD hood emblem to fit in place. The hole on the right is filled with a welded patch but the center looks factory. Can anyone tell me what this hood is from? It also has a few extra trim holes on the sides. Is this a 48-50 hood?



this shows the missing center hole.



extra trim holes

 

That's a 52 hood on which someone welded the left opening. The "extra" holes on the sides are for the emblem. The two small holes in the center are for the emblem denoting the engine.

The 51 hoods had three openings in the front and just an arrow molding on each side. The 52 hoods had two openings with an arrow and an emblem over the arrow.

Also, the front openings are also of different size/shape between 51-52 hoods. My 52 Panel has a 51 hood. One can barely see the extra metal behind the hood molding. Lastly, the 51 hood has the safety catch bracket spot welded to the hood, while in 52, it was bolted.

1951 Hood.









1952 Hood.

 

OK so if I cut out the center so the emblem will fit then everything else is as normal? I will weld up the extra trim holes on the side. Thanks for the pics, I have to fit the emblem to see if I need to weld up the side holes some as well.

Also looking for a decent lower valence that goes under the grille, starting to get body parts out for bodywork and mine is pretty beat up. Could use a right side fender as well chances of finding one seem slim.

 

You will have to elongate the side openings in order to fit the front trim, but otherwise, the hood will fit just fine. Yes, welding the two "extra" side holes will solve the problem for the trim. You can use the 51 trim on the 52 hood.

I have a good lower valance. No fenders, except for the right lower.

 

shoot me a PM with prices for the lower valence and lower rt fender, probably out of my price range but it doesnt hurt to ask.

Started pulling the body parts out today to assess for body work and stuff is rougher than I had hoped.

 

Got outside today to start messing around with steering and pedal mockup, as usual using what is laying around to keep the build budget in check.

Grabbed a 65 cutlass steering column, actually has a 3/4" shaft so will be easy to make work with the usual 3/4" steering joints. Its for an automatic so I will buzz off the shift lever boss. Left over part from a parts car I used when I built my 1965 olds 442.



Like many things on this truck the column drop was missing, had a 1947 cadillac piece on the shelf and mounted it up. It is for a 2 1/2" tube and the column is 2", so wrapped the column with rubber for the mockup. Drop is cool looking so I am going to mod it later to work unless I can find the F1 part.




It actually looks like I can get away with only one joint at the rack, I have the column centered between the original column drop slots in the dash and it looks close enough to work. Just have to shorten the column some more. I thought the steering column would be more to the left but it seems happy where it is.

 

I have several of the stock column drop brackets. I can send you one. Still working on getting pictures of the lower pan for you.