Well, I'm 4 years in, and have finally pulled the cab from the chassis. All the chassis mod welding is completed and the frame is 2/3 sandblasted, almost ready for Zero Rust and clear coat. Switched engines from 302 to 460 (John!)

Moved and now have a nice 3 car detached garage all to myself, my kids will be away in college and my wife will be working, so I'll have plenty of time.. target is get the frame done, drivetrain installed and running. Cab corners and cab floor redone. Cab blasted and primed.

Too much? yeh, but shoot high, take what ya get!.

Sam

 

WOW, cool thread. Started with 2 rails in March done is ( are): Volare installed, Rear 9" w/3:50 on TCI, Chassis sandblasted and powdercoated in hammertone grey, Mustang 16g tank in, 351 Engine built and fully dressed in polished alum, Elelbrock Perf plus and 750 CFM, Trans painted to match. 2nd cab stripped of needed stuff to customize 1st cab, 1st cab at media blaster, off to body shop on Friday .
On the way: powerbrake sys., shifter, painless wiring, 1 pc glass, P/W and cadillac seating , new bad, hood flip kit, Crager S/S 15 x 7 and 8.
This is a test project that should be done in 3 years as I work alone and use phone,web,and mag order parts. I will be getting help with the parts made on an english wheel. I am documenting every step in JPG format with dates. No projected budget. Truck name: "Tymnbux" . Having a great time. E.L.

 

does tymnbuxs stand for ten million bucks? lol

 

Yo nixer, whats up??? no its short for time and bucks
P/S there is a red 56 cab with a sawed off roof. I got the mail today. Ship by friday.

 

From Janruary on, finished up porting and polishing the heads and EFI intake on the little 5.0L. Had the bottom end completely rebuilt – new pistons, rods, bored .30 over, new Comp Cam, painted engine and tranny, installed shift kit in the tranny. Refurbished the headers I got on Ebay. Positioned the drivetrain in place on 2 jackstands and a milk crate.

Am making very slow headway on the engine and tranny mounts. Plus I need to notch the frame for the passenger side header to fit. Should have those items done by the time the snow flys. Would like to pop the cab off the frame by Oct./Nov. and store it elsewhere so I could maybe run all the brake lines, install shocks, exhaust, etc . over the winter. Although due to the money thing, I may just use the winter to build my grille......

Things are going very slowly on her (mainly the money thing), although the neighbour is very happy with the progress we’ve made on his 66 Galaxie convertible…..

Still hope to be road-worthy by 2008... (seriously).

By then, Mr.4spd would be old enough to drive, he could cruise up and pick up Penn Dick from the home and stop by for a beer and a cruise. (You only have to be 19 in Ontario to drink - you'd be old enough by then wouldn't ya 4 spd?)

 

"By then, Mr.4spd would be old enough to drive, he could cruise up and pick up Penn Dick from the home and stop by for a beer and a cruise. (You only have to be 19 in Ontario to drink - you'd be old enough by then wouldn't ya 4 spd?)"

By then, 2008, Ol' 4spd may need to install a bed in the bed, so's I could make the trip

 

I wasn't even planning on buying my truck a few months ago and now it rules my free time. Let me tell you my story.

My friend and I where complaining about the cost of gas here in CA. He drives a lot and I drive a fair amount and we both drive fullsize trucks. When you have to fill up every week at the gas station and the pre-athorization they do on your credit card isn't enough to fill your tank (usually $50) then things are getting bad. So we started talking about alternative fuels. I had been dreaming about CNG (compressed natural gas) and he had been talking about diesels. After thinking and talking, talking and thinking we both started to focus on diesels and running biodiesel which can be made from used cooking oil.

To make a long story short we sort-of got into a race to see who would purchase a diesel first. Neither of us wanted a little VW diesel so we where searching for something that appealed to our sense of manhood. On the same weekend he bought an F350 with a 7.3 Turbo Diesel and I purchased a 56 F100 that someone had dropped a Detroit Diesel into.

It was a very cool looking truck and since it is pre 1976 it doesn't have to be inspected in CA and it has a Diesel engine, so it seemed to make sense.

Now that I think back I really don't know what happened but I got another truck and another project. This of course has taken an unexpected turn. When I got the truck it needed a new steering box and the brakes needed to be overhauled. Which led to me trying to install an Aerostar IFS. Hopefully solving both my brake and steering problems at once (does that make sense).

I don't really have a schedule because I never planned on buying the truck in the first place but it would be nice to get it on the road and start burning some vegtable oil

 

Some mighty interesting projects going on, with so many variations. No such thing as “Just like yours” around here. The one joy in owning one of these old classics seems to be that you can do so much to them and they remain truly individual.

I started back working on my running boards yesterday, it seems they are in worse shape than anything on the truck. I’ve cut out the top sheet metal and migging in some flat steel just to see how it works, maybe even save the $500-600 for new ones. I can do that in front of the fans without running the old body temp up too high.

Keep up the good work and good luck to all of you!

 

Fergie, would love to come up for a beer and cruise, not so sure about the pen dick idea though.....

Boiler, neat project. You have a one of a kind truck.

John, the truck looks more complete than I thought. Garage looks cleaner than mine so I'll cut some slack, -4speed

 

I'm on schedule, though I've invested about 2X the time I had expected.
Projects completed:
1) Remounted box on metal (no more lumber and stacks of rubber sheet).
2) Installed new speedo, temp gauge, and fuel gauge
3) Installed coolant recovery tank
4) New wheels and tires
5) Installed exhaust pipe

I'm not planning to start anything else until I put it in winter storage, but the truck may choose to present me with an unforseen project at the side of the road. In storage, I want to remove and paint the grille (silver or white; not yet decided), and install rear shock mounts and shocks. I am investigating changing the rear end ratio to a number lower than 4.86.

 

4speed.... the problem is... I've been to and past this point two times already before backsliding... but hey... all I like is finishing

as for the garage.... it's really messy in this pic... I've got to do some major cleaning so I can walk again..

john

 

OK gents and ladies,

So far this Year i have accomplished the truck getting some original front rebuilt leaf springs (ebay), battery box (www.speedwaymotors.com), bumper brackets (junkyard), front and rear bumpers (www.ccgtruck.com), 1954 license plate covers (ebay), dome light kit complete (midfifty.com), running board piece DS (midfifty.com), MSD distributor (free), coolant overflow kit (autozone), cab fuel sending unit cover (midfifty.com), cab master cylinder cover (midfifty.com), 302 mini-starter (ebay), original 1954 grille (ebay), stopped the leaks on the oil pan and tranny (due to sitting in the garage so long), rear air shocks (ebay), door panel access covers and door covers (ebay)....now that is what I have done so far....still need to work on the windows, handles, cranks, vent windows, upholstery and maybe diamond plate the bed....still have about 4 months but i think that will not happen until next yr....this yr went by fast and in a hurry but I have the wife on my side now on the truck...all i want and need is TRUCK parts!!!!

James

 

Hi Everyone,

I towed my truck home last December and I think I've made some good progress so far. I got the truck striped down to just the frame and cab. Installed Jaguar IFS and IRS. Right now I'm working on my motor and tranny mounts. My goal is to have this truck pretty much done by next August so I can drive it to Hot August Nights.

Well good luck to the rest of you on your projects.

Paul

 

Well, I did get most of the mechanical stuff finished earlier this year. I was hoping to get the bodywork started, but got sidetracked on a new garage. Went to a home & garden show, talked to a couple of manufacturers and had them come out and give estimates, then refinance the house (with cash for the new garage) and I'm currently on the queue. Hopefully by the end of this month I'll have a new 2-car (well, 1-car and 1-pickup) garage. Then I'll see how my financial situation is and approach the bodywork from there.

 

What the heck - I'll chime in. I've gotten TONS done! On my '60 Olds, that is. My Effie is out in Kansas. Once we get back there this month, I will have the whole front end/steering rebuilt and new shocks on. It should be a dream when I drive her compared to before! Yikes!