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Was active in the forms in 2011 with my '76 F150, but got married, life changed, and the truck went down the road. Now after 7 years of marriage, wife decides she'd like another Ford truck she was partial to the late 40s early 50s F1/F100's, so I got her one.....sorta..... well it shares a couple parts with it....( and was considerably cheaper)
We found this truck on Craigslist, and fell in love with it. Paid the man today, and will be hauling it home within the next week or two ( surprisingly, finding a way to haul a non-running grain truck home from 2 1/2 hours away isn't the easiest thing )
It's a 54 F-500, 239 v8, 4 speed synchro, 130wb, 14,000lb gw truck, also has a dump bed. It has a little rust in the passenger cab corner and around both headlights in the fenders, but other than that, it's surprisingly solid. No rust in the drip rail and no rust in the floorboards. Aside from the last year that it's been sitting outside it had been sitting inside a machine shed since 1983. The engine is stuck, but I'm hoping that I can get it freed.
The one thing I am wondering though , if I can't free the engine, I do have a fresh 302 , would that go in easily?
Hey Sam,
Welcome back! Nice looking F500.... So what's your plan for it?
Any of the Windsor motors 289/302/351W will fit fine in your truck.
We put a 351W in our 1950 F1 - it's tight but it works. We moved our's
an inch or 2 over toward the passenger side to give us more room for
routing the exhaust & steering on the driver's side. We also had to go
with an electric fan up front ....not quite enough room for the mechanical fan in our application.
Good luck over there. Post some more pics when you get her home.
Nice truck. Seems to be in real good shape. Since you are new to big trucks I’ll suggest that you do some Google time reading about big truck wheels. I’m seeing that you have a mix of styles. Some locking side ring that you will probably want to keep in service, but others (fronts and left outer rear) look to be the “widow maker” “Firestone RH-5°” style that are probably some you’ll want to replace. Stu
Nice looking truck. Hopefully you can get the 239 unstuck. It took me quite a while. I think I put diesel in the cylinders and let it sit.
I took a breaker bar and put it on the lower pulley bolt and would turn it back and forth. It started out only moving just a little, but over time it freed up.
I would suggest pulling the heads to see what you have. You will need to do that anyway if you are going to get it working.
If you don't keep the 239, I would love to have the water pump. Actually, I wouldn't mind the whole engine, but shipping isn't practical.
The 239 isn't a very popular engine, but those of us that have them are always looking for the unique parts. (mainly the water pump)
And as Ben said, more pictures.
Welcome back. You will find the 48-56 group a laid back and very helpful group.
Nice truck. Seems to be in real good shape. Since you are new to big trucks I’ll suggest that you do some Google time reading about big truck wheels. I’m seeing that you have a mix of styles. Some locking side ring that you will probably want to keep in service, but others (fronts and left outer rear) look to be the “widow maker” “Firestone RH-5°” style that are probably some you’ll want to replace. Stu
That reminds me, there is a motor home two doors down from me that looks like it might have the proper rims. I need to go have a chat with him. I never paid much attention to it, but I don't think that motor home has moved in many years. It's a sickness, I have no use for widowmaker replacement rims, but I always keep an eye out for them.
My plans, for now anyway, is to pretty much just to use it like it is. Granted I'll probably be putting a little lower profile stake sides on it. Don't know that I'll have much use for the 5 foot grain panels, lol
I've been doing some searching through the site, and it looks like my best bet is probably going to be to find a set of the 19.5 RV rims. Not really crazy about dealing with anything that's called "Widowmaker"
Will probably see if I can get the engine unstuck, and maybe go from there. If I can get it unstuck, great, mess around with that, but if it doesn't then maybe just go with the 302, and thanks much for the info on the crossmember, that will really help out if I go that route.
Question, do you guys know if that synchro four transmission will bolt up to a 302?
There’s a hook sitting next to it. Borrow it for a few hours and tow it home. Looks like a fun project and if the wife is happy half the battle is won. Have fun
Yes, nice 54 flatbed with a dump hoist to boot! Looks very solid but I can't figure out why the front fenders rusted thru when the rest of the sheet metal is good?
Keep us informed of your progress with lots of pictures.
Welcome home Squrriel. That's is a nice truck, ready to do whatever work ,or show. you can ask of it, depending on what your plans for it. Love to see another big truck on it's way back to the road. Rock On Sir, Rock On.
Well, not sure that they would let me borrow that tow truck, and especially since I talked him down on the price, they'd probably try to recoup that with the tow bill, lol. However I did make a deal with a friend of mine to get it home.
Will definitely post it some more pictures up once I get it back. The picture I took of the interior is showing broken on my end, don't know if you guys can see it, but there's more mouse nest in the interior that than I think I've ever seen in a vehicle.
I'm actually very excited for the dump bed. Have number of scrub trees that need to come down, and is going to make unloading them at the compost site a lot easier
Not really sure why with the rust around the headlights, but I guess I'm not really surprised. Had a 55 Chevy (car) where the majority of the rust was also right above the headlights. I'm just thrilled to not have to deal with floor pans for once
I would suggest pulling the heads to see what you have. You will need to do that anyway if you are going to get it working.
Was rereading and was wondering why it would be a good idea to pull the heads? For breaking it free I was hoping just to do a few day regiment of pouring diesel through the spark plug holes, but I have never worked with a "Y block" engine. Was thinking of borrowing my brother's a flexible, borescope, whatever you call it, camera for taking a look at the cylinders
Was rereading and was wondering why it would be a good idea to pull the heads? For breaking it free I was hoping just to do a few day regiment of pouring diesel through the spark plug holes, but I have never worked with a "Y block" engine. Was thinking of borrowing my brother's a flexible, borescope, whatever you call it, camera for taking a look at the cylinders
It's not really necessary. If you have the borescope, that will really help out. I just recently got one and it is very useful.
My engine had acorns in the exhaust. Just do the diesel trick and the borescope and you will be good to go.
03-02-2018, 09:16 PM
she was partial to the late 40s early 50s F1/F100's, so I got her one.....sorta..... well it shares a couple parts with it....( and was considerably cheaper)
