I am purchasing a 1951 ford f100. It currently has a chevy 350 that i plan on swapping probably for a ford 302. Unfortunately i have no idea how to make a good truck into a great truck. Im starting from scratch and looking for any help possible. Can anyone give me any advice on how to turn this chopped up classic into a bad show truck?

 

Welcome to FTE!

If it's a 51, it's an F1, not F100. It would help getting advice if you also posted some pictures of your truck showing as many different aspects as you can.

The pictures have to be on the Internet somewhere first. I use Photobucket, but you can use any one you like. You can also link to them if you upload pics into your Garage on FTE.

Here's one way to put pics in your posts.

Go to Photobucket.com and sign up for a free account. Then create an album for your truck. Upload any pics you want to post on FTE to that album. Have this album open on your computer when you want to post pics on FTE.

While you're making a post on FTE, select the pic you want to post from your Photobucket album. When the large version of the pic is open, right mouse click on it and select "View Image Info". The image info will be highlighted and will look something like this:
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ghtsafter1.jpg

Copy that highlighted info (right click / copy).

When you have the spot in your post where you want the pic to be placed, select the "Insert Image" icon at the top of the post (looks like a mountain) and paste (right click / paste) the image info you copied in the highlighted box (just shows "http://" when it opens).

Your pic will be placed in the post.

Hope that helps.

 

Welcome to the forum!

Before you get too far down the road swapping out the SBC, what trans does the truck have, original or a GM trans? There are adapters for SBC's to the stock trans, but not to adapt small-block Fords. Strange, but true.

 

hi guy..

welcome to FTE... this will be your home for awhile...

first you have to determine what you want... you did mention 'show truck'
go by the bank and check on refinancing or 2nd mortgage first... kidding

here's some light reading that will give you some ideas
http://jniolon.classicpickup.com/art...mebuilder.html

and maybe this... but since you already have your ride, you can skip over the search portion

http://jniolon.classicpickup.com/art...rd%20truck.htm

put up some pics and let us see your baby...

enjoy

john

 

Hello and welcome to the forum!!

I ended up putting a small block ford into my 52 F1 as well. Start asking questions and post those pics. There are many build logs and albums of similar builds. Start looking at pictures. The most important step will be to come up with a plan....then a budget....then a schedule.

Dan

 

schedule ????

watzat

j

 

Welcome to FTE. Pictures, pictures, pictures. We love pictures.
A big part of what you want to do will be determined by budget. If you have the skills to do all the work yourself you will save a lot of money.
This got me thinking. At work we used to say, you have three things: low cost, quality work, and getting it done quickly. Pick two. I chose low cost and quality work (well that's up for debate since I'm doing most of the work) so I've been on my project for years now.

Hey did I mention we love pictures.

 

Welcome to FTE!

If the truck is currently running, I would suggest that you take a little time to drive it before starting any dis-assembly. These beauties are cheap and quick to come apart - and time intensive and costly to get back on the road. Getting a feel for truck will help you decide on priorities - gotta haves versus wantta haves.

Enjoy the ride

DW

 

Thanks everyone for all the tips. I have to go pick the truck up next week and will be posting pictures shortly after!!!

 

This process would involve very deep pockets and the willingness to keep dipping into them. If it is currently a good truck, drive it and let it talk to you.
Welcome to the forum.

 

I'd suggest reading my post on making a build plan in this topic:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...1955-f250.html
Far too many people start making changes without any real thought to why they are making them, what their skills are, what their financial, time, ambition, commitment really is, then after a couple of years find themselves with a big pile of parts, a lot of money invested, and a big disappointment that they don't have anything they can drive to show for it.
A show vehicle is a MAJOR financial commitment, easily 40 - 100K (a show quality paintjob alone can eat up 8-20K!) and 4- 10 years of work even for a full time professional builder, then you aren't going to want to drive it to risk damaging it so it will spend most of it's driving time being loaded and unloaded from a trailer.
Just a nice quality driver is going to cost 15-25K and take 3-10 years of work on average, assuming you can do the work yourself. If you need to hire the work done, you can double the money and time involved.

 

I have to agree with most others. Get it safely running, driving, and stopping first and see what you like and don't like. Then think of what you want to improve on and set a schedule and budget you can reasonably attain. Do one project at a time, then drive it for a while as you plan your next project. That way, you don't get overwhelmed with a blown apart pile of parts.

Mine came with an unknown condition 289 and C4. I got lucky, swapped out a few parts, did fluid changes, and (so far) am fortunate to have it running and driving.

If the SBC is in good shape and installed reasonably well, I would go with it until you decide for sure that it needs to be replaced.

But, in the end, it is your truck and you should do what you want.

 

Hey Shustz,
Welcome Aboard! Drive it and have fun!
Look forward to seeing pics of your new truck.
My son & I have a blast with our truck - keeps him out of trouble.

Good luck over there in Louisiana.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Alright, another '51! Welcome aboard, looking forward to some pics.

Wally