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My daughter and I are co-owners of '59 F-250. My dad owned it for about the last 40 years. It's a red and white Custom Cab with a V-8, 4 speed, radio and Magic-Air heater. The previous owner, before my dad, said he bought it from a utility company. He replaced the engine with a Mercury Y-block from a junkyard. It hasn't been driven much lately, and I'm trying to get it to a point where it's at least safe to drive. Brakes were first on the list. The rear brakes are done, with new shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, etc. All the parts have been ordered for the front. Missing some parts for the parking brake, but I'll make a separate post for that. Rebuilding the carb now. Hope to have it running next summer.
Welcome, nice truck, enjoy the time with your daughter working on it.
What ever you do, replace the brake master with a dual piston master!!! I Iost all of my brake fluid due to a bad wheel cylinder and ended up smashing into 2 cars. No fun at all! With a dual piston master, if a wheel cyl goes out, you'll at least have two working brakes, front or rear!!!
Make sure parking brake works. I grew up driving old cars. I practiced driving with parking brake just in case. It is an emergency brake, not just for parking.
Great looking truck. Your engine might be a 312. Alot of Mercurys had 312’s. Great project. Brakes and steering important to look at. Send more pics please. Alot of knowledge on this website. We are here to help.
The previous owner - replaced the engine with a Mercury Y-block from a junkyard.
Didn't Mercury have the biggest Y-block @ 332"? Even if 312, do some research on the bits like heads to see what you have. A "souped up" Y-block is so cool IMO; you might have one of the better combos. I see dual quad setups for sale from time to time, but all that stuff is getting hard to find and expensive when you do.
Good luck and post up, looks to be a great project.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I wasn't able to visit my folks yet this year. The truck is at their house, about 450 miles from me, so little has been accomplished on it. The carb is done and sitting on my workbench. My daughter was able to take a couple pictures when she visited her grandparents. The engine block casting number is ECZ-A, which I believe makes it a '56. If it was pulled from a Mercury, and not just the valve covers, it should be a 312. I was able to decode most of the info on the rating plate. It's an F250 4x2, born on March 6, 1959, at the St Paul plant. It originally had a 292 2v engine, which is long gone. The transmission is a T98a, and it has a 4.56 rear end. The DSO number I have no idea. From what I've read in other posts, there's no way to know what it means. The previous owner told my dad he bought it from a utility company. The engine was shot, so he replaced it with one he pulled from a junk car.