Back-story:

My Grandpa left me his one owner 1951 F1. It was the truck he got around in for his logging and excavating company. It's mostly beyond repair since tree fell on it. I'm just going to hold onto it until I get better at body work and have the patience to make it original. I also have a spare 52 F1 that was an old "police truck" that I will use to restore my Grandpas truck. (with the spot light)

But until then...I'm working on a ******* of a project that most will either love or hate. I want a custom hot-rod. (I’m just not ready to call it a rat rod yet)

Slight change of plan from my introduction thread. I picked up a ‘51 F1 project for $2,300 down in Portland, OR. It came with a title from 1963 that was signed in 1986. The gal was really confused when I walked into the license office to transfer it into my name. Her boss told her to make a copy and let me keep the old title because it would add value to the truck.



According to the owner: “it had been sold several times as a project, each owner did something to it, some of it good.”

I really didn’t want to have to show the State Patrol what I am creating. I’m very happy to start out with a title.

It will look like a stock/ front slightly dropped F1 truck with a hood in the bed. It will be powered by a 6G72 3.0L Twin Turbo 3000GT engine. I can upgrade to a 3.5L later. I'm going to replace the rear axle of the truck with the front clip of the car. It will fit inside of the bed and look stock from the outside and the hood of the car will open out of the bed. The Volare bolt pattern conveniently matches the bolt pattern of the 3000GT.

As far as I can tell/research no one else has done this in a truck. Maybe there's a reason for that I will find out the hard way...

It came with a Volare front suspension, ford 9” rear diff, and 2” chopped off the cab-which still needs some work. Someone put a 48-50 bed on it, the metal bed liner is kind of cool, too bad it has to go to make it mid-engine, I’ll save it to sell or for my Grandpa’s truck.



Engine:
Powered by a Twin Turbo 6G72 V6 320 HP@ 9 Psi, I’ll copy the mods in my other car and start with 400hp @14 Psi with just basic performance mods, maxing out the stock fuel system: 360cc injectors and stock computer so no tuning is needed.


Transmission:
Getrag 5 speed AWD tranny converted to “FWD”


Paint/body:
I’m going to make the frame and cab very nice, seal the parts I’m keeping with epoxy, primer what will get replaced later, and paint it without much body work to the fenders and damaged pieces. I really just want to get everything working and driving by next summer. Or at least the engine running.

Challenges:
Finishing the chop top will be tough, it’s very thin in one place. I will have to have custom glass made, not sure how the side windows will work out.


Fitting wide enough tires to get traction, I can’t go in any further because I’m up against the strut tower. I will either have to jack up the rear end a bit or cut out the fenders a bit.


Reversing the shifter cable/ shifter to accommodate the engine being in the rear.


I’ll have to make a bar to replace the steering rack. Maybe a piece of all-thread with ends to make it able to be aligned still.

Stay tuned, so far I’ve remembered to take pictures.


I have the bed mostly unbolted and should be test fitting the front end of the 3000GT to the this weekend!

This is my Grandpas Truck








Fit up from another F1 frame I have and a spare stripped front clip from a 3000GT.

 

This is what I am working with now, ready to pull the bed and do a full test fit.


This is the truck I will be building:

 

Welcome to FTE. Your project sounds . . . Different.

I have driven a Dodge Stealth R/T with that engine and while it made the 4WD/AWS Stealth move right along I'm not sure how it will do in a truck that doesn't have a sports car suspension and body. I would suggest that you do lots of drawings and sketches in order to keep your project on track with your vision. Things have a tendency to get out of hand sometimes and people get discouraged as you can tell by the "project truck" that you bought.

JDM Spec Engines - Mitsubishi 6G72 Engine

 

I'm not too sure about how it will handle either. I think it will go with the Volare-car suspension that's in the front. Both are independent suspensions. I may have to change a few things to make it launch correctly, or go back to leaf springs somehow. I was thinking that since the truck is lighter than the car it should be ok. I can never have anyhting in the bed anyway.

I'm ready for a challenge, I've built a few race cars over the years. But, I'm also open to aborting and throwing a big block in since it has the firewall and rear diff for it. Everything I'm doing is reversable and I'm using parts I already have. I'm definitely going to have it fitted up and drive it before thinking about that, however.

 

Wow , that is quite an undertaking project . Please keep us posted w/ progress pics
If you decide to eliminate the side hood trim let me now .

 

Wow quite a project can't wait to see the shifter .

 

I'm excited, suprisingly the easiest part for me is the fabrication and 300gt part. I haven't done much body work.

I'll think about the hood trim, I might go single spear.

 

For sure, I'll take a ton of pics. The shifter will be the most challenging thing I think.

 

Going to be watching this closely.

 

Very cool idea, and ambitious. It will definitely solve the weight distribution problem. My truck was so light in the rear end I had to go with a limited slip rear end or risk getting t boned. With open rear end on a wet road (lots of those in Oregon) it just spun one tire.

A few years ago at work they had a 1960 Econoline van that they decided to get rid of. I was very tempted to buy it and put a FWD drivetrain in tit. Read "wheelie" mobile.

 

Be careful as you are still light in the rear end. Although you will get better traction going straight ahead, on corners in heavy rain, snow or ice it can be worse than an open diff if the coefficient of friction is less than 275 ft-lb. Then both wheels will lose traction instead of just one causing you to spin out. Overall you are better of with Trac-Lok but you can easily over drive into an over steer condition under certain conditions. Just slow down your use the right pedal when the weather is bad.

Some people add weight in the bed over the rear wheels.

 

Thanks das, I really think it will change the way it handles a lot. I hope the FWD suspension holds up, I need to brace it so it can't turn or flex.

 

I got way farther than I thought I would today. I would have gotta a nice test fit if the rear diff hadn't gotten in the way. It seem like I need to move that table...


I'm lucky I had some dollies to move this.

What a waste, I think i already has limited slip.

Lift off!

Bound up on the dang table, my car port is too small for this maneuver.

 

Those are some sketchy looking hangers on the rear suspension...

 

Yeah, those little ones are pretty flimsy, the other side is pretty good though.