Hi all,
After years of thinking of purchasing a '53-56 F100, I finally pulled the trigger on a 1954 specimen. I must say it is in worse shape than I originally thought, but that's going to end up being the fun of it, right?
After tearing apart the front end, and clearing out the cab, I have found all 4 corners of the cab are in need of help, as well as the floor. A previous owner has touched the sheet metal in these areas in the past, but did a back yard hack job of repairing it. I am now in the process of figuring out how to rebuild the entire rear corners, including the mounts. The same guy decided to remove the mounts completely, and instead just bolted the floor pan to a cross brace! Needless to say, the floor is bulging quite a bit in this area.
Here's where I need the help. I have purchased both inner and outer corners, as well as cab mount base brackets, but it appears I also need cab mount base plates. Is this correct? If so, how do the brackets and base plates get installed? I have searched online for days, and have not seen a good enough diagram of how it all goes together. I believe I know how the mount brackets get installed as the 2 holes for the seat bracket need to line up, but the base plate has me stumped. Does it get welded to the inner cab corner, and the mount gets sandwiched between the base plate and base bracket? It would have been nice to see the original setup on the truck as a point of reference, but no such luck.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

Welcome to FTE. You have found the best place there is to get you going.
This book on cd has a lot of great info: 1948-56 Ford Truck Master Parts Catalog CD - HiPo Parts Garage

If you can post some pictures, it will help our experts get a better feel for what you are dealing with and us non experts just like pictures.

 

Here are a few pictures to appease everyone.

As it sits now.


This is the inside of the corner without any mount brackets.


Is this bar in the rear of the cab stock?


And lastly, is this how the inside of the rocker/lower cowl gets finished off?

Thanks for any help.

 

Here are the cab mounts. The first is the drawing from the Hipo book I linked to earlier.



This is my trucks rear mount on the cab. I can crawl under the truck and get more pictures if you need them.


I ran out to the garage and verified that the bar in the back of the cab is stock.

 

Above and beyond, Joe.

Stoned, does that help?

 

Harrier, thank you very much for the pictures, especially the one of your truck. That is exactly what I needed. I had seen the drawing, but it wasn't specific enough. Thanks for confirming the bar in the cab also. The way it's welded in, I assumed it was put in by a previous owner.

 

No problem, I enjoy helping when I can. I have been helped so much it's the least I can do.
I was looking through the MidFifty catalog pondering gift items my wife can get me and ran across this.
1953-56 Ford F-100 Cab Mount Base Bracket, Rear Driver - b3c-11135
1953-56 Ford F-100 Cab Mount Base Plate, Rear L Or R
Of course the Base bracket is currently out of stock. They are only $15, a lot cheaper than trying to fab one on your own.
Macs has them but they are $25.
Ford - Ford Pickup Truck Cab Mount Bracket - Rear Right - Macs Auto Parts

 

I do have the base mount brackets already, just need to get the base plates. With some searching, it looks as if I need the rocker reinforcement patch that goes behind the lower cowl too, as you can see in the picture I posted that the previous repair was poorly done, and with an incorrect flat sheet patch.
So far I have new cowls, both inner and outer corners, as well as toe boards and rear floor that need to go in. Just need front and rear door pillars, front mounts, and rocker reinforcements to purchase so I can complete the puzzle. Adding up quickly!!

 

Some progress on the build. I removed the stock front axle and steering, and replaced it with a dropped front axle with rack and pinion and disc brakes. Painted the frame from the cab forward, and added a proper engine mount for the SBC. (Not my preference, but it's what came in the truck.) Next I cross braced the cab, and replaced the driver's front lower door post. Now I just have to remove the cab to replace the floors, corners, and firewall!! BTW, learning to weld on this truck...not too bad.

 

One thing I will say about the replacement panels is that I am disappointed in the fitment. The lower door post had bad crimps in the corner for the rocker that I had to cut out and re-weld to fit properly, and the hinge pocket is 1/8 of an inch too shallow to fit the hinge. I guess I am going to have to modify that also. I purchased all parts of the floorpan, and when I lay them out, there is at least an inch between the front 2 panels and the entire rear panel on top of the floor brace. It appears the rear panel is too short, and the rear lip on the front panels are not arched correctly to match the raised portion of the pan.
Am I just naive here as I haven't done this before and this is the way most panels fit, or am I justified in my disappointment?

 

I also had to do quite a bit of fussing around with replacement panels. I had to drill out spot welds and re-position and re-weld parts of a reproduction front fender. I understand that this kind of thing is to be expected.

 

looking good... Magnet holder might help you hold your pieces in place before tacking it. May help line a few things up. Anyways looking good. Your doing a good job welding for a just learning too.

 

Thanks Mike. I do have the magnets, and they significantly helped with the angled cross bracing. For butt welds I purchased the clamps that gap the sheet metal and hold it flush at the same time. It's all in the correct tools to get the job done.