Hi my name is Magnus. I'm mostly into hot rods and I have a few Ford coupes and roadsters ranging from 1926 to 1934. But I have always wanted a F1 or first generation F100. Maybe someday.

Regards,
Magnus

 

Oh BTW I did use to have a 1934 pickup. I sold it when it still was a project. I kind of regret that.

 

Hallo!

I'm in Tennessee in the USA, and I know the feeling about hotrods - there is something sweeter about a 'funky' car or truck I build myself than anything else I have ever driven.

Question? Do you have trouble registering 'Rods in Sweden?

I know from some of our friends in Australia that when they change almost anything on one of their trucks they have to go and get an 'Engineer' to look at it and decide if it is legal to drive there.

We have no such problem where I live - in fact some of the machines on the road probably shouldn't be....


I have had a 1/4 ton Ranger in the works for two years now that has a 351 Windsor V8 in it (I actually got it to fit) but the rest of the issue remains to be worked out...

Like the transmission and brakes.

 

Hi there Greywolf

Well it depends on what you do to it. It can be hard and it can be easy. Body mods and brake changes are generally always OK. As long as you don't change and alter too much you just have an "engineer" look at. If it's nicely done and you stay within certain power limits you're OK. This basically applies to cars up to model year 1975. You can change the engine, transmission and axles OR you can change the body if all other things are kept intact. For newer vehicles (up to model year 1998) it's harder due to emissions but you can do body modifications and you can change the engine if you prove the new one is certified to the same or stricter regulations which is normally impossible. But that stuff is too new anyway

I really think we have a pretty good system and fairly liberal regulation.

//Magnus

 

It's good in some ways that emission controls make the air more breathable, but the early seventies things made ridiculous things that cost a lot of efficiency from engines until the catalytic convertor was invented.

Then all of a sudden the game changed.

In California when I was there, the emission controls got so strict it was stupid, but you could get a waiver for an old car or truck. Mostly they just looked to see that everything was connected. But they put a sniffer tube into the exhaust pipe, and if your machine was burning too much oil you were in trouble.

I once rebuilt a 1600 Datsun truck, and the A.I.R. system was no good - I knew it, the pump was shot. But the rings were seated, and it tested better than a brand new truck!

Of course, I also knew people who would take a twenty dollar bill and just fill out the papers....

In 2002 I had to move to California with an '82 F100 I had just put a brand new engine in though - it had no smog stuff on it at all, but I was just there for the navy. It turned out later that it had a bad vacuum connection and was running lean - but anyway they wanted me to have a california smog inspection on it because I was at Coronado island Naval Air Station, and they had caved to the local rules.

I was not willing to do that - so I bought a DIESEL TRUCK - because they are exempt!!!


Stupid maybe, a lot more expensive. But I am a stubborn man...

All that to get a sticker to allow me to drive on base at the naval station.

It was a 1985 F250 that was actually nicknamed "GREYWOLFS REVENGE"


~ I was just looking for a picture of the three of them, but can't find it. Except for the Ranger, they were sold and scrapped.


Some of us are not necessarily normal people...


*You will pick up on that as it goes along


I for one believe that it is often necessary to express myself through mechanical project means.
But I also have my puppies and my gardens

 

Welcome to the site Magnus, it's great to have you here.

Tony

 

Hey Greywolf. I actually work with emissions related things for a living. There have been some stupid things in the past and there is still some remarkably dumb things going on. But I will work hard for it as long as they leave my old stuff alone.

As far as daily driver I'm actually more of a diesel guy and I was actually looking for a F250 diesel a couple of years ago. But all of the ones I found were just to far gone.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

In California when I was last there, a lot of older diesel trucks were selling for dirt cheap because not many knew how to work on the actual engines. They are a lot heavier than a gas (petrol) engine for one thing.

But really - they are simpler in a lot of ways. The fuel injection controls the engine speed and power, strictly. It does the job of a carburettor or throttle body, without all the extra parts.

When I first took an air filter off my diesel and saw an open hole in the manifold where reason had taught me a carburettor or at least SOMETHING ought to be I couldn't believe what I was seeing....

Common to the early eighties diesels is bad head gaskets. They often leak coolant, or worse. Since you are a mechanically inclined guy - a head gasket swap is not such an intimidating thing to do. Beware of using block sealer junk in them though - you can ruin a radiator with that kind of stuff.