Hey I just picked up a very nice find, it was my wife's Grandfathers truck. This is a new vehicle for me so I am searching for all information I can find on it. It currently has the flat head 6 cyl which is currently locked up. I am in the process of tearing it down and seeing how bad it is inside. I got the head off and so far it's not looking good. I do want to get this truck back on the road again, even if I have to do a chassis swap. Is there anyone out there that know of sites or anything that could help with finding parts for this truck? or just advise is general would be appreciated.

 

Has anyone rebuilt one of these engines before. just trying to find where I could find parts for it. Also what is a good way to convert it to 12v system?

 

Congratulations on getting Grandpa's truck. The engine looks good from the the outside; it looks complete! It has the G Series six cylinder which was all new in 1941 and was used until late 1946. You came to the right place. There are others here with the G Series engine and others have the '40-'41 ton and a half and larger trucks.

 

Nice truck! There are several suppliers with a decent selection of parts for your truck so that won't be much of a problem. From my experience dealing with a bad G series six cylinder engine, you won't be finding many repair parts for it without exhaustive searching and what you do find will leave you with a severe case of sticker shock.

 

Add my welcome. The other guys have you covered on the engine. I'll suggest that you gain some healthy respect for its stock two piece wheels. The one on the right outer rear, however, and any like it that aren't visible, is not an original wheel and is quite dangerous. Your outer right rear has what is called a Firestone RH-5° two part rim. First introduced to the market in 1948, and called an "Advanced Design" wheel back then, today they are called "widow makers". Can be deadly, especially on an outer dual mounting. The stock two part wheels having visible outer locking side rings are safe to keep in service if undamaged. Stu

 

welcome, and nice truck!

 

That thing looks great! What is the family history?

 

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes, I feel I am definatly going to get a lot of good information and tips for this truck.

After pulling the heads off and taking a look inside, this motor is not looking the greatest. My uncle, who has been rebuilding street rods for longer than I have been alive, says that my best route would be to do a body swap onto a 1ton chassis. Find a complete truck with motor and everything and swap it. For if I was to put in newer motor on this truck I would have to change out the whole drive train anyway.

My end goal is to basically Street Rod it and make it driveble. I am a member of the MSRA and live in MN. I just enjoyed an awesome weekend at MSRA's Back to the 50's Car Show.

What are your thoughts. and if I do a chassis swap, what chassis should I be looking for? Everyone says to go with Chevy, and do a 350 small block with a 350t tranny. For price and easier to work with. I would love to keep it all Ford on the truck, but my pocket book is not quite that deep .

 

oh and btw that is oil in the cylander's not water, i put oil in the spark plug holes before i tried to turn it.

 

I have 2 '46 tonners that have the G series 6 cylinder flatheads. One of the trucks was purchased new by my grandpa in early '46. When I got the truck it hadn't run in over 45 years and the engine was stuck. Got it freed up but wouldn't run due to rings being stuck to the pistons. I pulled this engine and totally reconditioned it....bored out .060, new pistons, rings, rod bushings, valves, reground crankshaft, new bearings, new camshaft bearings, new lifters, new gaskets, you name it...it was pretty much returned to 'as new' condition. As mentioned above, the parts were very difficult to find and I found them in every corner of the U.S. In some cases they were pretty costly, too. For instance, 6 pistons were $660 and were found in New Jersey. (I live in Nebraska). Parts come up on ebay occasionally and there are several websites with miscellaneous parts. Type in Ford 226 G engine in your search browser and see what you can find. Many of the H series 226 parts such as the pistons are not the same so don't confuse the two. If the truck would not have been my grandpa's, not sure I would have spent over $2500 on the parts and machining for the engine rebuild (I disassembled and reassembled it myself). But it is family history and my 90 year old father got to ride in the truck again after the almost 60 years since he had driven it. The other '46 truck I purchased at a very reasonable cost has a frozen engine. I found a used one that runs real well for $400 that I will put in it. Mine is a long story but I have learned so much about these engines. Good running G Series 6 cylinder flatheads engines do come up for sale from time to time as people pull them out to put in more modern engines. They were also used in cars so quite a few of them around. These 6 cylinder flatheads run very smooth and start very easy on the old 6V systems. They are not made for high speed, great for lower speeds with torque for pulling and have almost the same horsepower as the V8, 90 hp vs 100hp. The distributor on the front of the G Series are a little difficult to service when on the engine, but you learn that they are easy to remove and reinstall when service is needed. No re-timing is necessary as this is all fixed in place when you bolt the distributor back on. I can tell you the block type distributor caps for the G engines are almost impossible to find. The distributor rotors are scarce too, but the points are the same as used in the V8 flatheads. If you go this route, be patient and have your wallet ready.

 

Not 100% on the History of the truck yet. But I know that is has spent most of its life on a farm. My wife's father used this truck to build his house back in the 80's. It has hauled lots of dirt and rocks, the dump box show's all the wear and tear.

I will talk with the father-in-law and see what he knows of the history of this truck. and I will get back with you. All I know is I saw it just sitting in the back of the farm, and so I asked him what he was going to do with it, he said that he has had people tell him to put it up on Ebay, and I told him, how about I give you $500 for it and I will take it home and restore it. We agreed on that, then the next day his wife called us and says Congrats on a new truck, we were like huh? She said that he was just going to give us the truck for it really is worth scrap value, and it has way more sentimental value than anything. so here it is free truck in my garage awaiting to be amazing again.

So there is a little backstory on how I came across this in my opinion rare find.

 

Great story and nice truck! Look at tinman's thread on the 48-56 site. It's called something like 'low buck cabover build'. He used a chev one ton chassis. It's a really nice truck and something he can get out and drive in. I think I would look for an f350 chassis. In Minnesota there should be some rusty trucks with little value, but good donor chassis. A dodge or chev would work too. Good luck and keep posting.

 

Nice find, I would go the stock route but that is one mans opinion. Keep us posted.

 

Nice truck. I look forward to your future threads. I will be starting on my 41 3 ton this fall!

 

Well it's official, I will be doing a chassis swap. I found a 1983 Chev C10, with a 350 with a 700r4 trans. everything is there and engine is running.

Question for everyone, I have been on the search for the front grill of this truck. would it be difficult to make my own? and does anyone know of or have one laying around i could snag off of? once I have that piece I will have everything I need to start working on rebuilding this truck.

I will keep posting here with updates. Oh and I am probably going to part out the flathead for it is going to cost way too much to rebuild, plus finding parts is very hard. just thought i would let you all know if any of you are interested.