Today I should be able to get into town to the machine shop and have them take care of the flywheel etc. I figured since the T5 is on hold until then we better keep at it so this guy is road worthy come June. So last night one of the boys and I started on the seat belts. I had bought the 3 point retractable ones from Juliano's and went ahead and put one in the middle as well. Here's what it looks like:


I started off by putting the seat in it's proper place and then sitting down in it so I could mark where to put the female end.










I then transplanted that measurement to the floor right where there is doubled up metal near the step up.


I took a look at what I had bought several months ago:






That's an actual drawing of me enjoying my new seat belts






Hardware

Time to drill some holes:







Now for the center belts:


Marked from the bottom so I could make sure I had proper spacing.






Very nice quality from Juliano's!






Here is where the retractable will go,just need a longer bolt than what is provided.




You may notice that the center lap belt is actually on the outside of the two ends. That's because of how small the seat/cab is. 99.9% of the time there will be no center passenger and the belt will bestowed. If/when there is one we'll be a bit uncomfortable.

I'm super happy so far with the quality of these products.

For the shoulder mount I went with Classic Haulers pre fabbed corner piece and welded them in place. I somehow lost the pictures that I took of them before installation, but here before and after pictures of the cab corners:


Before




After




Notice the round piece that the bolt for the shoulder mount screws into.


I'll take better pictures once everything is installed.

 

Yesterday my buddy came over with his welder and helped me brace up my crossmember before I hacked it up. Again, I have more details on my T5 install thread,but here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:



One of these on each side before I cut the center section out.
















Driver's side runs from the bottom of the xmember towards the front




Pass side runs towards the rear. I cut 10" out of the center (I think it should be enough.....)

We then put more flat stock on the cut part of the center section to stiffen things up. You can see them tacked into place in the last picture.

Once I get all the ugly covered up I will take more pictures. Have a good evening!

 

A little progress today, but not much on the T5 front. I did grind off a few sharp corners and installed the throwout bearing.















The boys and I did get one mirror on. I went with the JR West Coast mirrors. It was hard to pull the trigger on drilling new holes in the old truck, but my wife really liked the JR West Coast look, and she rarely gives her input on such a matter, so that's what we went with. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.


Ordered them from NAPA.


These are fully adjustable and we cut down the bottom arm a bit:


They love the Dremel!




Before




After


We added some cork gasket I had laying around to try to keep out the water. I wonder if it will actually keep things wet longer, thoughts?






















It was nice to have the extra hands because I really wanted it to be right before I drilled any holes (plum, level, straight, all that fun stuff). The boys did a lot of holding and I did a lot of standing back and looking. I also wanted to be sure the vent window didn't hit it, and I didn't want it to stick out past the fenders. All in all I think it turned out pretty well.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.

 

Nice job ,looks really good. Do you have the measurements for the arms after you cut them off or did you only cut the bottom one? I like the look of the mirrors. Nice and clean. , Doug.

 

I was going to keep the hinge pin mirrors on mine, but the extra vision of the JRs and how good they ended up looking on yours convinced me to go the same route as you did. Nice job.

 

Hey Sere,
We have a pair of mirrors just like yours - I just couldn't make myself
drill the holes in our nice painted door. In my experience those are the only mirrors that actually
work & enable you to see with no blind spots. We went with some beautiful mirrors that
don't actually work - but they look real nice.

We did upgrade to a super 5 inch rear view inside the cab that almost covers the blind spots. I may go back & put those West Coast mirrors on - they look good on your truck.

(That looks pretty sunny outside for Alaska!)

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Thanks fellas! My wife is basking in the fact that they (the first one anyway) are looking so good. It was a tough call and I can't tell you how many pictures I looked for to determine if I wanted to drill the new holes. I couldn't find many pictures of 48-52 F1s with the JRs, and I also read quite a few threads about the "hinge pin" mirrors and how little they do for the driver (including yours Ben, so thanks for your previous feedback on the matter, and the input on the larger rearview). I'm much more comfortable now with my boys driving it that it will have bigger better mirrors as well. All in all I'm super happy, and these NAPA mirrors were well made and in AMERICA!
Doug: I cut about 2" off the bottom piece,but cutting off anymore makes no difference because the outer piece will hit the corner. If you want it any closer (and I did) you will have to either cut off the threaded part or cut the other end, smash it, and drill a new hole (see pictures of the arms above for reference). I decided to see how it works out this way for now. I also mounted them upside down from the directions so that it would end up with the distance that I wanted. Here are some shots with a tape measure:


Total of the inner and out bracket on the bottom is 9".




About 12" from window to outside of mirror. Notice the several inches between vent and side mirror. I would like to have closed that gap.


Fordycouv, I'm glad I could help and I hope you like them as much as I do. Take some good photos for us.


And yeah Ben,it's been nice and sunny here! Teens at night and 40s in the day, I do love this time of year. How's things down there? Does your boy still have your sweet truck? If you ever put the JRs on you'll have to take some photos.

 

I forgot to post some shots of the handles I polished up yesterday. A little Mother's Mag Polish, 0000 steel wool, a dremel, and some good ole American elbow grease!


Before




yep, After






Before




They turned out pretty good I think

 

And Doug, I did not cut the top one, just the bottom.

 

Thanks for the info. , Doug.

 

A couple of big days for Old George this week! I received all the parts to install the T5 and got to work:


All balanced and ready to go.




Gotta start with a clean plate though




Thin head flywheel bolts.










This didn't work, I ended up putting it in from the top.....




I'll need to adjust my pinion angle with some shims in the rear end.




Inserted the yoke to get a measurement. Give yourself about 1 1/2" of travel












This is what I ended up with.








New crossmember bolts




Passenger side.












Front of bellhousing to trans mount bolts




I started to install my remote reservoir kit for the MC




While I had the running boards off I thought I should replace the rear cab mounts.








They needed it!




Part number.




This needed some buffing.










My oldest put in the new visors and old rear view mirror.


Then we cut the hole for the new shifter location:






And finished the seat belts:













This is what dictated the location of the lower seat belt mount. It fits in here just perfect.










On top of that I hooked up the exhaust, reinstalled the parking brake, and finished the clutch linkage including a new return spring. After all that and a little more, it was time to test the T5. No seat or tank yet, but it got me around the block just fine!



Safety First!

 

Nice work, it all looks really good.

 

Hey Nate,
You having fun over there yet? I really like to see your boys helping out
& learning. Its a great bonding experience for ya'll.

Looking good over there.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Nate, great photos and documentation! Outstanding progress!

 

Nate, that's a good amount of progress and it looks great.