Greetings,
I just bought a 1959 C-600 COE that caught my fancy. Never owned anything like this (my Bronco is the closest thing to it), so I've got lots of learning ahead of me. Current engine in the truck is bad, and it comes with a 2cd engine (don't know anything about either one yet ...). If anybody can get me pointed in the right direction for parts, information, manuals, etc., or provide bits of wisdom on what to expect as I began to tackle the job of getting it running again would be greatly appreciated !! I'll be spending some quality time with it later today and will have more info tonight. For the moment, here's some pics on my personal website - the last few pics at the end are of the 2cd engine, that was known-good (running) when purchased by the guy I bought all this from:

2010 Mar 17 - Cab-Over Ford Car Hauler

My hope is to drop this 2cd engine in, repair or replace cabling from peddles, etc. -> engine/transmission, maybe a temporary gas tank of some sort, give the brakes a going-through, and drive it home from it's current location. And toward Summer, get started on a nice restoration of some sort ...

P.s. - my wife doesn't know about it yet ... it you happen to run into her, please play dumb !!! Let me break the news first.

- john s.

 

The one thing I might suggest is to make sure that other engine will run before you change it. If You can support it somehow, hook up a battery and starter,hotwire the coil and give just a little drink of fuel down the carburetor and crank it over it should fire.If there is something wrong with the other engine it's nice to know before going through all the work of changing it.

 

Welcome to the site. Glad to have you.

The one thing I can say with certainty is that its wheels are the safe 22.5" tubeless style having 6 lug x 8.75" stud piloted bolt pattern. You're a luck man. So many trucks from that era still had the killer two piece widowmaker kind. You'll have no trouble getting tires mounted on yours.

The spare engine looks like a Y block out of a smaller model Ford to me, but I'll defer to the experts.

General parts you can probably still get at Napa. Unique parts you can probably get at Job Lot Automotive. Here's their web page. Stu

http://www.joblotauto.com/

 

Good luck with the "wife don't know yet" I did that when I bought a 56 f600firetruck, I tried to clean it up as much as I could before having it towed to our house. That was 15yrs ago and I still own the truck and I am still married.
Try to turn your y-blocks over by hand at least two rev. of the crank to make sure you don't have any stuck valves. I did'nt do that and ended up with a bent push rod when it started.
Great purchase, have fun with your project.

 

Everybody - thanks very much for the help and advice. I'm rapidly going from knowing nothing to knowing it all now :-)
Just brought the replacement engine home, googled "Ford Y-block", and came up with a very informative site (FORD Y). Found my casting numbers - the replacement engine is a C2AE 6015 C - a 1962->1964 292. The orig engine supposely "threw a rod" - when I get it out, I'll do an autopsy to see what's what inside of it. For now, the replacement engine is being cleaned up ... might go so far as to buy a gasket set and open it up to see what rod and main bearings look like, and to put all-new gaskets in (engine is very dirty right now - no doubt everything is leaking on it).

Can anybody tell me what's what with the brakes? I found a hydralic cylinder next to the brake pedal - these looks like it runs back to a vaccuum canister mounted to the frame, just behind the transmission, and that canister drives the brakes. The canister looks to be in very bad shape - hope I can find a replacement for it - I doubt this one is functional.

 

The master cylinder is under the dash.The canister on the frame is the hydravac or booster which gives you power brakes so to speek
The hydravac is available online in places or at part stores that sell large truck parts

 

That truck has a hydraulic clutch. So you'll have 2 master cylinders. check the bellhousing for the push cylinder. You''ll have to transfer the fan mechanism from the bad motor to the good one, as well as the exhaust manifolds.

 

I am no expert on the C Series, but I know a little.
The engine in the truck looks to be a medium duty Ford Y block. Most likely a MD 292. Same basic engine as used in the F100 through F600, but with a few differences. For the C Series, you need to use the exhaust manifolds and front accessory drive from the original engine. The spare looks like a mediun duty Y block also. (the HD 292 Y block had a 4 barrel carburetor with a governor, a different distributor, and some different internals.)

As the C Series has a different brake master cylinder setup, different shifter setup, etc. than the F Series trucks, I recommend you get a shop manual and a parts book on CD so you have the illustrations of how things are put together.

The brake system is typical for medium trucks of its day. Standard manual master cylinder is used, the brake fluid line goes from this to the remote mounted vacuum booster. Outlet from the booster goes to the wheel brakes. Replacement boosters are available, but not very cheap. You probably have 2 wheel cylinders at the rear wheels, and singles at the front

Big old trucks are fun, so have fun with it.

 

<style></style>Thanks again for all the help. Been hard at work on - this is the biggest, greasiest, dirtiest, heaviest auto-mechanical thing I've ever done. Here's the status as of tonight:

• Orig (bad) engine - 1959 casting Ford Y-Block 292 ... very high probabily that this is the truck's original engine. Casting dates and numbers match the trucks model year and manuf. date - i.e., it was a numbers-matching engine (if that matters with trucks). I tore that engine completely down to:
  
  1. See if there's any significant internal differences between it and the replacement that I got with the truck and plan to use.
  2. To see if there are salvageable components ... particularily the crankshaft
  3. As an autopsy - to see if I could learn anything more about what caused it to fail and the extent of the damage
     
  • The orig engine was very clean inside - it had been rebuilt in the last 50,000 or less miles (my guess) and run with modern detergent oil. Cylinders were bored .030 over .. crank was ground .010 under on rods and mains.
    
  • The failure and grenade'ing of the cylinder/piston was caused by an exhaust valve that broke off. The fracture point was the valve stem, in the exhaust chamber area - i.e., it was not a spot that was in contact with anything, not wear-related or caused by a lack of lubrication, or by human error during the rebuild - it was a component structural failure. I've got a whole pie dish full of aluminum shrapnel from the disintegrated piston. Connecting rod was bent, and there is a hole in an internal cylinder wall (just out of curiousity - can something like this be fixed by drilling and sleeving that cylinder?)
    
  • LESSON LEARNED: I plan to spend the money to replace all of the exhaust and intake valves for this rebuild - modern components = modern metallurgy, engineering, and reliability. Okay - I just jinxed the rebuild ...
    
• Replacement engine - casting date/code is 1962, so it's a few years newer. Significant data:
  • Virgin engine - never been rebuilt .... I'm told that this is a rare find for a Ford Y-block of this era. Most that are still around have been rebuilt at least once.
  • Not rebuilt = old fashion oil = no detergent = huge, horrid build-ups of sludge and carbon = clogged lubrication channels = multiple forms of confirmed damage
    • One of the cylinder heads (rocker arms and shaft, valves) was receiving no oil at all. When I took the cover off, it was dry and dusty in there.
    • The other cylinder head was not totally dry, but it was completely clogged with sludge/carbon. Lubrication oil was not going to flow thru this area.
    • Two of the cam bearing had lost their hardened surfaces - cam was running on underlying soft metal ... meaning rapidly heading toward full failure
    • Camshaft lobes were on their last leg ... most were already pitted
  • On the other hand ....
    • Cylinder wear was amazingly low relative to estimated mileage ... maybe 100,000 miles or so on that engine
      • estimated mileage based on amount of sludge build-up in oilpan and carbon build-up in internal engine areas above oilpan and the cylinder ridge.
        
    • Crankshaft in very good shape relative to rest of engine
  • After seeing the condition of the valve train, I decided not to simply drop the engine into the truck and try to drive it away. At this point, I'm sitting here with 2 bad engines and about 3 days left to remove the truck from this guy's place. I chose to not take a chance on destroying this 2cd engine - to go ahead and rebuild it, salvaging the good that was still in it. And - that's where I'm at - trying to make that happen in time to get the engine back over to the truck, installed, and to still drive the truck out of his place and back and forth between various, temporary storage locations. My wife ain't gonna let me keep it at the house !!

Thanks again for all in help and info ... block is at the machine shop. Heading out to tackle brakes and steering today.
- js

 

Yes, the block can be over bored and sleeved. I have done this to 2 -292 Y blocks.

Good luck

 

Sounds a lot like my "project": '62 C600 with MD292 - swapping in a short block from a '63 or '64 F-series.

 

Can anybody tell me what's what with the brakes? I found a hydralic cylinder next to the brake pedal - these looks like it runs back to a vaccuum canister mounted to the frame, just behind the transmission, and that canister drives the brakes. The canister looks to be in very bad shape - hope I can find a replacement for it - I doubt this one is functional.[/quote]

Bleeding brakes can be a ordeal. Bleed hydra-vac first, then right rear wheel. (farthest wheel from master cylinder first). Then left rear and so on. Sometimes raising front of truck as high as possible overnight allows air to escape through master cylinder reservoir.

Best tip I can give a heavy truck rookie:
A medium truck needs wheel bearing preload and probably more than you think. These drums and wheels are heavy and need to be centered and preloaded.

Besy to you, Dennis/Ohio...

 

Dennis
Look back to #7 of this forum. What part of Ohio are you from? I'm in Cleveland.

 

Hey 1960fordF350, I am just east of Cleveland.

 

Hey 3414 nice pickup. You say its a 1960, but you have a 59 front end. sure the title may not have been changed? do you belong to ATHS? try neo-aths website

Pat