EBEARS BUILD
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
My most important objective was to get the firewall finalized and painted so the cab could be reinstalled for the last time . Since the interior was dismantled by the po I had a collection of at least three different heaters in pieces . Since I'm attempting to use an underdash ac unit I needed to shorten my heater by 10 inches . So with a combination of pieces I managed it while retaining my defrost and some floor heat along with the fresh air option .
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
It's still really an experiment in being frugal but as my donor truck had AC it left me with all of the engine bay pieces needing only a simple way of getting it inside . The unit is a cheap ebay , around a $100 , but is totally self contained . I know it won't be as good as a vintage air or similar system but where we live it certainly won't be a daily requirement as with the heater , I won't be needing it very often but was more concerned about fogged windows than winter quality heat . I will run the factory heater controls and the ac unit has all of it's controls on it .
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From: Austin
Hi Ebear,
You are getting there... keep plugging away! We are running a 351W/AOD in our '50 F1 - We also had to tunnel the
cab a bit to get that AOD to fit. 3.5 inches between the radiator & the water pump is tight. A lot of the electric fans run 4 inches.
Have you used a shorty water pump? You get some much needed room but it changes your belt set up.
We initially tried Ford Taurus dual fans - not enough cooling power for Texas. We finally found a Mark VIII fan out of a
V8 Tbird - 4000 CFM - nice …. We had to cut the heck out of the shroud to get it to fit. I would think through that fan/cooling piece
before you get it all permanently set up.
Nice build I like it.
Ben in Austin
1950 F1
You are getting there... keep plugging away! We are running a 351W/AOD in our '50 F1 - We also had to tunnel the
cab a bit to get that AOD to fit. 3.5 inches between the radiator & the water pump is tight. A lot of the electric fans run 4 inches.
Have you used a shorty water pump? You get some much needed room but it changes your belt set up.
We initially tried Ford Taurus dual fans - not enough cooling power for Texas. We finally found a Mark VIII fan out of a
V8 Tbird - 4000 CFM - nice …. We had to cut the heck out of the shroud to get it to fit. I would think through that fan/cooling piece
before you get it all permanently set up.
Nice build I like it.
Ben in Austin
1950 F1
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
Thank's Ben it's coming along . It seems like everything I tackle brings on another project but as the experienced ones on here have said if you look at the whole thing it's easy to get overwhelmed you just need to tackle one thing at a time .
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
Well more learning . Bearclaw latch time . I was saving myself more money with my ebay universal set . Immediately after starting I realized that the truck outer handle pushes in and my set needed to push down . After some choice words and a small time out something in my less than perfect memory told me that there was a mechanical pivot on some 80's or 90's trucks . As it so happens I had a 85 bronco and ya hoo . A small amount of engineering and they were moved . So after many hours of making linkages testing changing and repeating I have a setup that seems to work quite well ( locks are not hooked up as I need to purchase them ) . I would like to thank a po for the 3 or so extra hours spent trying to understand why there was room for linkage on one door and not the other ( had to be my f$%k up right ) but it turns out some one thought putting a right hand door rear window channel on the left door was a good idea . P.S. I will weld everything in properly I'm just a little gun shy from all my redoing things .
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From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
I have lost track but at least $ 6000 into this engine and this could have been the end of it .
Well a few more days and a few more challenges . Yesterday was my out of things to do before I start this thing day . This is a scary day , thankfully I had a manual oil pressure gauge installed . I decided to crank it with no ignition until there was oil pressure , there was none . Not good . Pulled the distributor and put a drill on the oil pump full speed on the drill 15 lbs oil pressure and about 30 seconds an the pan was dry " could hear the pump sucking dry " definitely not good . After a sleepless night and a morning coffee shop discussion I decided to pull the intake . As it turns out the machine shop forgot one small frost plug " engine destroyed if I didn't use a manual gauge " which is is the oil pressure gallery . After repair and re timing WOO HOO .This is me being happy .
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
2" removed
cut following the cab angle
inner lower window brace spot welds drilled .
lower window frame cut in the middle to allow for outward movement on each side
I have constantly changed the amount of modifications planned but after some pondering I decided to go ahead with my back window enlargement .
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
I also needed to move the ends of the lower brace for proper fitment
lower frame clamped in place
filler pieces made and spotted in waiting for hammer and dolly and finish welding - grinding .
One of the things I have always thought of as odd was the incredibly small back window as compared to the large front and side ones .
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From: Swan River Valley M.B Can
much cleaner
Well a little more documented today as I'm not the greatest at at it although I have done a quite a bit a few hours at a time . As long as I've been working on this truck I have been fighting the home made X frame ( mounts , exhaust , lines and very close to the cab ) . Today it got introduced to my zip cut . The frame is way over boxed along with the welded in front c4 cross member and allot of extra support for the c4 rear so my plan is to make a heavy cross member for the rear trans mount which I'm sure will be lots .
