"Brill" may be British but Ive haven't heard it in oz for 20 years and even then it was only used by 10 y.o kids.

 

No fee to use the historical info I used. I contacted John by phone and he responed in 3 days to my email address and had the info. I was very pleased with the response time and more importantly with the fact that it helped me to convice the motor vehicle branch that the vin# was valid.
No harm in trying.
I'll have to eat crow, since my wife firgured it meant brilliant.

 

Well how bleedin' marvy for you, olde son , as I've friends in Canberra & it's used there all the time.

 

how did you find out how many were produced that year?

 

I contacted the gentlemen below:

JOHN ALBANO
Ford CRC Historical Consultant
Tel: (905) 845-2511 Ext. 1428
Fax: (905) 844-1198

I live in Canada and my 60 truck was built in Canada. I am not sure if this will work if you have a US made truck. Hope this helps.

 

I have a 59 1/2 ton 4x4 and it has 3.90 gearing on the ford 9 inch rear. I think the 223 six would be good for around town daily driving and offroad. I don't know if you are going to tow what kind of power you are going to have. I would keep the current dana spicer 24 t-case. I have a friend that has had great luck with them and has had over 250 thousand miles on them. I would make sure though that the U-joints and splines are in good shape since you have 3 drive shafts to contend with and especially if your truck has been raised. I would like to see one of these old trucks going to work. It would make my day. Good luck.

 

My '59 F 350 with a 292 4 speed and 5.14 gears was only getting about 8 MPG, so I mounted a 3 speed backwards behind the 4 speed. Now when I'm on the freeway in 4th, 1st, at 75MPH, the engine is at 1500 RPM. And 15 MPG. I just used what I had to get 6 speeds. diesel john

 

Colonel, I know you're dedicated to the sixes but I have never seen a 223 in a stock truck, stock 2x4 drivetrain that turned in more than high teens mpg. I had a 53 with rebuilt 6 and on the flat prairies of Illinois it never did better than 15 mpg, back in the days of the double-nickel (stock 3-sp, no OD). Are you using magnets on your gas line, or what?? or are you talking metric (kpg)? Even with OD, I would not expect a 4x4 to do better than 18 or so. Not even the modern EFI trucks can do much more than that.

 

As much as I love my stock 223 2X4, I have to agree: the best I ever saw out of it was high teens when it was my daily driver. That's with a 3-sp and OD. I was one of the people who never objected to the Double Nickel since Old Horse topped out just around 55MPH on a good day. I might hedge a bit if the Col says he re-geared. Mine runs the 4.10 rear end.

 

I didn't catch did it have a 3 speed or 4 speed?

I did some calculating and if he has a 4 speed and running 31 inch tires his rpm at 60 mph would be 2500 rpm and if 70 mph over 2900 rpm.

If you are running smaller tires of course the rpm would be higher.

I based this on you having the 9 inch ford differential with 3.89 gears which were standard for 1/2 ton 4x4

I don't know if you have to travel on the interstate for a daily commute which would make you a little slow.

Plenty of power for offroading and I agree that the Spicer 24 case is rock hard
and it is good you have manual hubs. Let me know if you need with 4x4 stuff. I am working on a 60 3/4 ton 4x4.

 

Father achieved those numbers, In U.S. M.P.G. on average, w/ a 3-on-the-tree, 3.70 rear gears, 9" ford differential & running 7.10x15"LT tires, Cruising @ 65 MPH on the Hwys/Fwys in Southern California, N.M., Colorado, Nevada, Texas.
Plus he did all his own tweeking & wouldn't let anyone else touch his work afterwords.
That's the milage I achieved w/ my 223c.i.er, w/ an almost indentical set-up, before swapping it out for the 300c.i.er.

Are you talking about a Falthead/L-6, a 213 I-6 or the 223 I-6 in your '53 & is it the stock engine that came w/ the "Olde Girl"?
Because there's are some difference between any of the afore mentioned & the 223 I-6 from 1960.

Believe it or not, no skin off my nose.