Any updates? Love your thread!

 

Thanks for the interest Chris and Doug (and anyone else out there). A lot has happened since my last post, but I've been so busy that I just haven't been able to post. This is the push I need though, so I'll try to give you a run down:

I did get the brake leak fixed and got the truck on the road. It was running pretty good but I knew an old Ford guy around town and I wanted him to look things over and get it as tuned as he could. He set the timing and fixed the air leak in that pesky line that runs to the distributor. He has a ton of Fords around so I asked him about a gear set for the 9". He found a nice 3:53 and put those in. The bearings were shot anyway, and it turns out that 1 axle was toast as well. After that the T5 really responded, however I was pretty pleased with the 2:75 up until about 45mph. I got all that done just in time to get it shipped down to Montana. I moved in the beggining-middle of June and ended up shipping him instead of towing (long story). I drove to Seattle on Monday-Wednesday and picked him up. He is still the same Old George, but they did manage to put some slack in my parking brake that I'll be looking at soon. There's a lot that goes into moving from Alaska to Montana, so it's been consuming most all my time, but here are a couple more highlights:

I ended up selling my 96'..... man did that hurt! I wish I couple figure out how to shrink pictures so I could post of few of it.

I also ended up buying a 72 Cougar to be my oldest's "first" car (someday). Until he's 18 it'll be something my wife can cruise in and he can take out on special occasions. In the meantime he'll start paying it off. Again, I'd love to post some shots because it's really a beautiful car, but I can't seem to shrink them.

I think you're all caught up (mostly) and I'll try to get those pictures shrunk so you can enjoy them too. Have a great 4th and enjoy that Freedom! God Bless America

 

Great job with George. What a nice body, you don't see many like George.

 

Glad to hear that you're back in the "lower 48". Thanks for the update!

 

I used this for resizing pics on line for free until I found how to do it in
windows 7. Resize Pictures Online for Free - Crop Photos Too! . Try putting (free picture resizer)
in your browser and the search will give many options. But I thought as
a supporter that FTE did it for you if you post it right. IDK.

Maybe try some of this stuff and read the thread it takes you to.

Here is how to post pic's on FTE

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ure-guide.html

Here is one way by "Axracer"

Do you have digital pix of your truck from digital camera or phone on your computer?
If so it is easy to add them to a post (assuming the file is not too large). Find the
pic on your computer and leave it open while you come here in another window. Compose
a post, click where you want the pic to appear in the post. Click on the picture icon
at the top of the posting box (looks like a postcard with mountains and sun) A dialog
box will open asking if you want to drag a pic onto the box or browse your computer to
find it. If you have the pic open, go there, right click anywhere on the pic and chose
copy from the menu. Come back to your post and right click on the box. Select paste from
the menu. Your picture should appear (it may take a few seconds to load) in the box. Now
left click on the insert button.
If the stars all aligned your picture should now be in your post window. Select post to
have it appear on the forum or repeat to add more pix. Some cameras make huge files these
days that are larger than the forum limits. You may need to resize or resample the picture
and save the smaller file version with whatever picture editing software came with your
picture taking device before you can post it.


If you are a supporter than just right click on an image from anywhere like Facebook
or whatever. Than left click in your post and paste it in. So simple even a monkey
could do it.

Oh! and welcome to FTE and the old truck madness.

 

Here's a shot of the 96 F250 at the "heat" of the day during Winter Solstice a couple years back.



That's about as far as the sun came up that day.



Their last day together.........




And here's the Cougar. Pretty much all original (except the Cragars) with likely a fresh paint job at some point. Green Green and Green! It just happens to be my wife's favorite color, and fits the car quite well.





XR7 with the 351C 2V. It's a fun car for not a lot of $$$$ considering.

I hope you guys enjoy, and I'll try to keep my thread up to date......

 

Beautiful job on an awesome truck

 

Hey Nate,
That's a good looking Cougar! One of my favorite dream cars!

You guys ever move out of the cold blue North?

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Thanks fellas! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been too busy with moving this year, and just driving Old George, to work on it. I finally parked it about 2 weeks ago and will start wrenching/posting again.

Ben: I did move, to Big Sky Country. One great American state to another! I'll update my profile, someday...... You guys enjoy your evening now.

 

Hello again, it's been a bit since I've last posted, but things sure have been busy. I was able to put quite a few miles on Old George this year, and man was it great! I know I'll be driving him even more this year as my oldest will be needing to drive more and more, so I needed to get some new tires as the old ones were just that, OLD! I figured since I was spending the $$$ on tires I might as well get the wheels I've been wanting and just be done with it. I settled on the Torq Thrust VN309, with 275/60/15 on 8.5" rims in the rear and 235/70/15 on 7" rims up front. I really wanted to fill that back wheel well up and boy did they do the trick! Here are some before and after shots:



















About 1" of space on the inside... and zero on the outside.


Keep in mind that my rear end is not stock and is (from what I could tell) 59 1/2" wide and is likely out of a 1st gen Bronco (so I'm told, but I haven't verified that with the width of a Bronco rear end). The offset of the 8.5" wheel is 3.79"


I have the CPP disc brake kit for the front and the front disks needed some machine work.


This part between my figures was hitting on the inside of the wheel as seen in the next picture.






After machining.




My oldest cleaning off the blue protection stuff on the tires.




My youngest putting on the front.




The new Old George!

You can tell he's been used for storage this winter....

The wheels came from Summit for just under $800 and the tires came from Tires easy for $450. With mount/balance/lug nuts/machine work I'm in them about $1420. I'll do an alignment as well when the time comes. All in all I could not be happier with the look of the "Original" Torg Thrust (VN309) wheels. I still love chrome, but wanted a subdued look as well to match the body,and these are the best of both worlds I think.


I may end up starting a new wheels/tires thread using George as a before/after and have anyone else post their wheel/tire combo as well. I know I searched high and low and looked at as many pictures as I could, so it might be nice to get a fresh thread going with different pictures. Until then, enjoy your Ford while you can.

Other random shots:


Rear




Front






Rear




Rear








Inside up front

 

VERY nice selection of wheels and tires for "Old George"! I'll be up to GF in July (maybe earlier), I'll give you a shout before hand. Would love to see your truck!

 

awesome thread. Saving this one as my favorites. Great pics throughout the build

thanks posting.....

mike

 

Cool thread thanks for posting! Why is this the first time I'm seeing it... should come here more often

 

Thanks fellas, and sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'll have a few projects to finished up before summer and hope to get them posted. Right now I'm working on getting the heater done so I can drive it in more seasons.

Doug, PM me when you come my way and we'll link up for sure!