Bill. Welcome aboard. I'm in Mooresville NC and have a 51 F3. It is very complete and except for the paint has been nicely restored by the previous owner so if you need photos of anything for reference let me know.

 

Bill I got lucky and a forum member had an Express Bed that was shot but, had good stake pockets. He was nice enough to take the time to cut them out and send to me for the cost of shipping.

I recently saw a CL post in Tucson or Phoenix with repaired fenders for F2-up. I think I saw it under Flathead or 1951-1952 Ford key words. I think it was with a bunch of old hot rod parts he was cleaning out of garage. May have had a bunch of wheels. The desert climates is where you find the rust free stuff. Another ad had several cabs. Shipping will be you biggest obstacle. But ,consider the cost of rust repair if you have to pay a shop. May be worth it.

If I see any goodies on CL, I usually post it up here.

 

I'm in the process of building a restomod (aka "darkside" here on FTE apparently), so may have some "extra" F3 original parts... keep us posted.

 

Mike, I can always use a good reference. I've got family out in Denver, so I'll have to swing by at some point and take a look at your truck!

 

Scott, thanks for this. I definitely haven't searched across the US yet for parts. Originally I thought I had an F1 until I had an epiphany looking at the wheels one afternoon. I'll be on the lookout for your posts as well.

 

Thanks! I'm going to start a list of things I know I need. I think the rusty body panels are going to be top priority for my search, but also the most expensive. Shoot me a PM as you get your collection of "extra" parts and I'll be sure to let you know if I can use it!

 

Bill you would be very welcome to stop by anytime. No encouragement needed to spend time talking about old trucks or cars in general. Just PM me and I'll send you my info.

 

So the past couple of days have been slow but I did have some time to do some research and figure out my starter conundrum. After talking with my local parts guy and looking at some more stock photos, I came to realize that the early Y-blocks have a very similar starter to flatheads with only minor differences. So back to dennis carpenter this one goes. In the meantime I ordered a new y-block starter and a oil pan gasket set. When I picked up the truck from the PO I knew there was oil underneath it, but last weekend gave me the opportunity to check out the underside. What I observed was that the oil pan was being held on by only two bolts which were only in a couple of threads deep. Time to pull the pan, clean it, and paint it.

One question for all you guys, what do you use to "flush" your oil before a new start up? I have a feeling this one has some condensation in it. Anyone use the usual tricks with new oil (i.e. Marvel's Mystery Oil, etc)?

 

The po mentioned a knock, and you have found the oil pan held on with two bolts. I would guess someone was exploring the origin of said knock. You could start it but plan on a rebuild in the near future.

 

I've assumed there was going to be a rebuild in my future since I got this ol' girl. You may be right about them exploring the source of the knock through the oil pan, so I'll take a quick peak while I have it off to clean it up. I do want to start her up just to confirm what he heard. I have a few car guys that can help me understand what I'm hearing (if anything). I want to make sure I have all of my bases covered for the first start up anyways. I'm concerned that there hasn't been any oiling to the top end in a while and am considering fogging it now to help with lubrication on first start.

 

Welcome to FTE Bill.

The best cab parts that I have found come from Northern Classic Trucks. They maintain their dies so lines match stock on mating surfaces. Sadly the owners are retiring but they have considerable inventory that they are selling. But there are many others. Dennis Carpenter is right there in Concord, NC. Mac's Auto Parts and MidFifty are a couple more.

I would recommend replacing the points, condenser and coil with breakerless parts from Petronix (Ignitor and Flamethrower). I have found Amazon.com to have the best price.

 

Pete,
That's good info there. The coil is a new 12v that I installed and I know the condenser needs to go. You aren't the first one that I've seen point in the direction of the Petronix kit. I'll definitely take that advice. I've done some business with Dennis Carpenter already since getting the truck and have been pleased with them thus far. I'll check out northernclassictrucks too.

 

So, over the past week or so I've been doing some research while waiting for the correct starter to come in. While I'm on that subject, I was able to order the correct Y-block starter from my neighborhood Advance Auto for a measly $41; when I returned the core from the old starter, I got $51 in return. I made $10 off buying a new starter! Anyway, after cleaning up the oil pan and painting it to match the oil filter cover, I replaced the gasket, got new stainless hardware for it (only had 2 bolts in it to begin with) and updated the gaskets on the oil pump tube. While thinking about how I had discovered that I had an F3 instead of an F1, I decided to check on this 292 Y-block I had to help me answer some other questions. So you can see from the pictures that both the intake stamp and block stamps are ECG, which according to y-block.com are 55-57 272 markings. Not a huge surprise, but a slight disappointment. So, back to my fuel pump dilemma. Although I had some help in identifying that my fuel pump, although odd with the glass bowl on top, was indeed a y-block part. After a couple more hours of research, the pump I have is a to a '54 239 which apparently is a single year part and not compatible with the block that I have. Now I need to find a mechanical fuel pump for a '55-'57 y-block. Any of you guys got one laying around for a man on the cheap?




Before a deep clean and paint



Intake stamp



Block stamp

 

Leaky core plug.

 

Scotty, I'm actually missing one as well. I need to do a little research on this subject. Being a Harley guy, I have no idea what that's even for...care to share some knowledge?