I'm preparing to do a restoration of my 1940 Ford half ton truck, this is going to be THE first vehicle restoration I've ever tried to perform.

What I'm wanting to know, is would putting hydraulic brakes on it be a good idea or no?

I also need 2 air filters, and housings for them too, but I dont know where to get them from for this engine.


I've got plenty more questions that will come as I do the restoration work, but those I'll save for later on.

 

Your '40 already should have hydraulic brakes, Ford first used them in '39. Certainly good to rebuild the brakes.
Filters for your truck should have been oil bath style, usually they are some kind of mesh material, I've seen straw type material to steel wool style.

 

After I posted this, I went out with a flashlight and looked, you are right it is a hydraulic brake setup on there now, I AM going to replace those hoses though, since I DO NOT want to drive down the road, hit the brakes, and have them fail to stop me.

 

Replace everything in the system. These are single reservoir setups, meaning, if you have a leak anywhere, the whole system fails. Been there myself, not fun. At the very least, replace all rubber hoses, rebuild or replace the wheel cylinders, and maybe a new master cylinder, and then test it slowly and someplace you can have room for emergency braking. But plan into your budget a total rebuild if the truck hasn't been on the road in a few years. Better to spend the money now on new brakes than later on body work and repairs.

 

it hasnt been driven even in about a good 10-15 years, most of my life I think. I'm going to put that into a plan, and replace ALL the brake parts so it will stop when I hit the brake pedal. I'd rather replace brakes than body panels. lucky for me, I've got a road I can drive on safely and not have to worry about braking, given its around 4.5 miles of open dirt road, I think its pretty good for this purpose.

btw, are there any other things, besides just the tires, which are obviously dryrotted, and in dire need or replacment that I should work on? like the clutch system, or anything like that? I KNOW I need to rebuild the carb, and clean out the engines old oil, put in fresh, and probably I should do the same for the transmission, plus the cooling system, which I know I'm going to flush out for sure. I've got most of it planned out, I just want basically to know about anything I havent mentioned already. the bed is going to come off, and be totally replaced since its not even CLOSE to original, its more like a blend of parts from 50's trucks, and not what I want on there. the fuel system is going to be cleaned out too, since I can tell those hoses are dryrotted, and in need of replacment, and all that. plus fresh filters.

 

Sounds like a pretty good plan you have so far, replace the fluids, flush the radiator, rebuild carb and clean out fuel lines. Run a filter somehwere between the tank and the fuel pump to avoid getting any dirt in the carb. So far sounds like you have covered the bases in starting up a vehicle that has been sitting for a while.

 

You ought to remove and clean the gas tank also. If I remember right I had mine done at a radiator shop. If it has a lot of rust inside you can seal it with POR 15 (which isnt cheap) after having it cleaned.

 

The fuel tank on the truck, is a fairly new stainless one, probably a good cleaning would do it a great deal of good though.