New member saying hello
 

I would like to introduce myself! My name is Chris and I recently purchased a 1956 Ford F100. I look forward to learning a lot from this forum and can't wait to get started, as I already have some issues with the truck...but who doesn't?

Can't wait to talk to the knoweldgeable group of people here.

Chris

Welcome Chris, you are currently in the hands of the best and brightest in Ford trucks. And the rest of us will try and help also! :-D Jag

I thought I would post a picture to give you an idea of what I am working with.


https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/...19000001_1.jpg

Answers? You want answers?? No problem we can give you some answers. It will be up to you to figure out which ones are the right ones.....

Just kidding. Welcome to the board. this is a great group of people who are truly very knowledgeable and helpful.

After you get settled in try and get a gallery set up so we can see some pics of your truck. We love pics

Again, welcome
Bobby

Looks like a nice truck. Are you going for a restored original or a tricked out hot rod (we call those Darkside)? This site has people doing both and every degree in between. Set up your gallery to post your progress. Lots of pix will be greatly appreciated. Ask your questions. With >10,000 members, somebody will know the answer. Jag

Seeing your truck Chris I would think your only issue would be having enough time to drive it. Nice ride!

the knowledgable group stops by every now and then... but till they get here, we're here for you. :cool:



Let us know what your plan is.... you got to have a plan first.... stock or custom... low buck or high dollar.... driver or trailer queen... remain married or will except divorce for the right end product. lots of decisions...

once you know where you're going, this group can do two things... lead you on the rightous path or run you off in the bushes.... either way, we're here to help... :rolleyes:

get your questions together and ask away... and when you can start a gallery and post some pics.... we like pictures... engines, interior, bed and such.... shiney things make us giddy...

welcome to FTE and all it's insanity... this is one place where the keeper lets the inmates run the asylum... mostly... as long as we stay generally in site of the guidelines. Have fun and join in

later
John :-X06

Welcome, also put your location in for us to see how close you are to other FTE members. You may even get help like I am today. Jim Hackney is on his way down to help me adjust my hood. FTE is a great place with lots of helpful people. I would still be staring at mine without their help! Now mine drives down the road. Painter called he is putting the first coat of black on as I post!

Chris,
Welcome to FTE!! #1 for all your Ford truck info and random facts.

You got a great looking truck can't wait to see what your plan is

Once again...WELCOME!!!


Alec

Well, it is great to see that there are some extremely nice people here! A little background:

About me:
I love in Orange County, CA and am 23 years old. I am always in the garage, as I have a lifted 1999 Dodge Dakota, a 2006 Honda RC51 (race prepped) and the latest addition, the 56 F100.

The truck:
As far as I can tell, it is a California truck. There isn't a spot of rust on the body...anywhere. The cab is as original as you could hope for. No rust anywhere inside, all of the original gauges and knobs are there. The gauges don't work, however the lights do work inside of them. There are no inside door handles, and no passenger side window. I do have the brand new glass and all of the mounts and linkage. It was originally a long bed that had been converted into a short bed. This caused a 3 1/2" gap between the bed and the cab. The brakes are in great shape, as is the original bench seat (It actually is amazing how good the condition of the seat is). It has the original straight six, with a Holley carb. The water pump leaks, as does the fuel pump. This brings me to my problem. When driving, the truck will drive fine, as long as you are at an extremely low throttle position. When you give the truck gas, for example climbing a hill, it will run fine for 30 seconds, then fall on it's face. It seems as if the carb's bowl is emptying faster than it is filling. The fuel pump is running very well, and after breaking the carb down completely, there seems to be no problems internally. However, to confirm or eliminate the carb as a problem, I am purchasing one as we speak. Also, does anyone have any ideas on taking the slack out of the steering column? It seems that I can rotate the steering wheel 1/3 turn before it wants to engage.

Sorry for spilling out all of this information, and if you didn't read it all, no sweat. I am a moderator on several other forums, and am eager to join the family here. I will try to get some pics together this week if I can, however, my week already seems pretty jammed up with trying to get her running right.

Any and all ideas are very much appreciated.

Chris

Also, my plan is to try to keep her as original as possible. I am steering (forgive the pun) towards more of a rat rod look. When I purchased the truck, she had a brand new paint job on here. White isn't really my favorite color, and the body work done by the previous owner is rather lacking. I plan on lowering her, slightly, then finishing the bodywork prep myself for a matte black paint job. If I can get the original straight 6 running right, I would prefer to keep it. However, if it turns out to be more of a problem than it is worth, I would like to get my hands on a 351 cleveland powertrain. First things first...I would just like to get her running dependably and all of the electrical rat's nests smoothed out.

Chris,

The fuel filter might be plugging up or the fuel line in the tank may be sucking up some crud. Either that or the fule pump itself might not be up to par. Is it the style fuel pump that has the large spin on canister and a large paper element? If so its easy enough to check the filter.

The steering can be tightend up a bit, but you got to keep in mind you're driving a truck. Not what passes for a truck today, but a TRUCK.....lol
If you look opposite the pitman arm on the steering box there will be an adjuster bolt with a lock nut. Loosen the lock nut, tighten the bolt slightly and see how it feels. Don't overtighten it.

Bobby

Chris - Welcome to FTE. You and I are practically neighbors. I live in Riverside and moved here from OC a few years ago. Where in OC are you?

BTW, If you go to your personal profile, scroll way down on the page where it asks where you live. Whatever you put in there shows up in your thread post header.

Run a magnet over the cab and doors, especially along the hood front edge and door bottoms as well as the rear cab corners. I thought my California truck was rust free too. 50 years is a long time not to rust...even in California.

Get a Shop Manual. It is invaluable, especially when you start messing around with electrical and inside the doors. The manuals are available on eBay all the time and from our sponsor, MotorHaven. Here is a website (Earl's World) with an excellent parts vendors list: http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/Pa...dor_Links.html

Is the bed on it a short bed or a shortened long bed?

If the fuel pump is leaking enough, your carb bowl is probably just running out of gas. I would replace the fuel pump for sure.

Please feel free to babble. The rest of us do. :-D

I look forward to meeting you and comparing notes on our 56's. I'd love to look over a stock one. BTW, I run a warmed over 351C in mine. I suggest keeping the six and at least running it that way for a while. I believe that if you get to driving it ASAP and just drive it for awhile, the truck will tell you what it wants to be when it grows up.

Again, welcome! :-X25

P.S.: MAKE SURE YOU ATTEND THE F100 WESTERN NATIONALS. It's right down the road from you. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...6-23-07-a.html

I am in Mission Viejo.

Great idea! I would have never even though of it!

I agree, as I only bought the truck last week, this will be on my top priority list.

It is a short bed.

The fuel pump isn't leaking very much at all. Barely enough to coat the pump itself, and maybe a drop every few minutes at high throttle (without load). The pump itself is supplying more than enough fuel to the bowl. Either the jet is too small, or there is a problem with the float. However, the float seemed to operate perfectly fine when I broke the carb apart. It is a mystery on whay is actually causing the problem. My future father in law (carb brainiac) was even stumped after 2 days of continual tweaking. We did get the timing and points sorted out so she runs dead smooth at idle though.

Done and done. :-X22

It would be great to be able to meet up! Sounds like you have a nice project going yourself!

Chris - Sounds like you may want to shorten the frame to set that bed on there right. It's not too tough a job, actually. By the sound of your past projects, I'll bet it is well within your skills also.

Welcome Chris
Good to have another "young" guy balance out us "old" guys.

Welcome to the board. A real great place. Nice looking rig


JimG

Welcome! Nice starting point you have there. AFA magnets for bondo detection, one of the flexible sheet magnets works great. Our phone book comes with a calendar advertising one on the cover or look for one of the magnetic business cards or advertising that are popular with realtors and pizza shops, last resort would be a flexible refrigerator magnet from your local novelty store. They are less "sticky" than a solid metal magnet and will simply slip or refuse to stick over even a thin layer of filler. Slide it around and where it sticks will give an indication of the repaired area's boundaries. Some might be due to collision damage on the fronts and sides of the fenders for example. Our panel doesn't have a spot of rust on it, but the magnet told me where collision damage was filled over. I was actually glad a PO hadn't done more than fill in the dents, saved me a lot of work not only repairing the areas but in not having to fix someone else's messed up work.

The frame has already been chopped in the rear to compensate for the bed. However, they did it in a rather quick and dirty way. They simply cut the excess frame rails off of the rear instead of shortening it in two places. So my current situation is I have a 3 1/2" - 4" gap between the bed and cab, and the bed is so far forward that the rear end of the bed is nearly touching (about a 1/4" gap) the rear wheel fenders. Basically, the bed needs to be longer, or the frame needs to be trimmed down 3-4" in front of the bed. This will bring up other issues as well, so I am curious on some ideas people have on how to fix the situation. Extend the bed maybe?

I feel a group hug coming on here. :-D

Thank you much!

And a sense of humor! :-missingt

You'll fit in here alright!

Start your gallery and put in a side shot. I can't quite get a picture of the geometry. The fenders on a short bed don't leave a very big gap at the back between end of fender and end of bed. That gap may be about right. But the gap you have at the front is no bueno.

Sounds like some frame sectioning and lengthening may be in order. I can give you some measurements as my bed is off the frame.

We have several members here who have cut down the larger trucks to make half tons. The one that comes to mind is GreatNorthWoods who cut down his 49 F3 to make it a F1.

Its a fairly straightforward process
Bobby

Best solution is to cut a 4" section out of the frame behind the cab to reduce it to a 110" wheel base, the size of the standard shortbed frame. If you have never shortened a frame before but have the welding skills to do a structural mod just ask for the best methods otherwise it would be safer to take it to a welder or have one come to you. You are fortunate to live in the heart of hot rod country so it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to have anything you need done.

Welcome to the forum! It's always good to have new blood on here. Hmmm, fresh meat! :-fire

Great a local O.C. person. If your looking for some good parts check out John's F-Fun Hundreds in Anaheim. It's about a mile away from Disneyland. I drive by there everyday on my way home from work.

In fact I'm stopping by there in about an hour to get some parts suggested by some great guys here already. So keep those questions coming. Eventually, you'll get the right one.

Jeannine

I appreciate the quick and informative responses. I have to take it down to a local classic car night tonight, so I will try to get some more detailed pictures of her. Shortening the frame and welding are certainly within my limits. I have a fairly long history with welding and my own machine, so that doesn't scare me at all. However, shortening the wheelbase will also require modifying the driveshaft as well, correct? Any other mods needed to successfully pull off the change?

Chris

Jeannine, are you going to the El Toro Fuddruckers car night tonight?

Sorry, no. She's not ready yet. But when she get's her flat black paint job, radio, and carpet she'll be going out on the town.

But if you can PM any info on the next meet or any other local meets I'd be intrested. My '53 Desoto needs to stretch her legs too.

Welcome man im sure you will enjoy it here on the site wow very clean truck good soild condition with not much rust pretty clean good project good luck with it

Welcome to the board. Another one of those "my truck is complete" guys, makes me sooooo jealous, lol. IMO, don't make verticle cuts on the frame, make 45's. Lessens the chance of cracking.

Chris,

Shortening a driveshaft is easy, you could even do it yourself. Its easy enough to carefully grind down the weld around the yoke, dress it down, cut it and reweld it. Then you can take it to a driveshaft place and have them balance it. There are several articles about it on the internet.

The easiest would be to contact your local driveshaft shop, ask them what kind of measurement they would need, take them the driveshaft and the measurement, hand over a bit of cash and in a few hours, you're good to go.

No biggie
Bobby

Welcome to the forum. I too am relatively new here and have learned so much in a very short period of time. These guys are a ton of knowledge and support.

Something else to think about for some additional reassurance in shortening you frame is to fish plate the the seam on the inside of the frame or as you indicated you could extend the bed forward. The previous owner of mine had done both...I guessing he wished he would have measured twice and cut once instead of cutting once and making up the difference....

I prefer a stepped cut to shorten the frame. Cut vertically 1/2 way down, horizontally about 8-12" and then vertically down to complete the cut. Cut out the desired amount and slide the pieces back together along the horizontal cut. A doubler plate is then added to the inside extending another 8- 10 inches past the vertical cuts and cut the ends of the plate on the diagonal. Never cut vertically thru the entire frame or end a doubler plate in a straight vertical line, you'll be asking for it to fail at the joint or just along side the weld seam in the heat affected zone.

Great bunch of guys and gals on here. You'll find the answers to all your Q's. I've learned a lot in the past year. Nice truck, and welcome to the FTE. ..............RUSTY

When I shortened my F-3 I was able to eliminate a two-piece driveshaft and replace it with a one-piece shaft I made myself. I was rather surprised at how easy shortening the frame was. In my case I took out 8 inches behind the cab to reduce the wheelbase from 122 to 114. The 53-56 wheelbase is slightly different. The shortening did not require moving any running board brackets and did not interfere with spring hangers. A 'Z' cut as Ax suggested is best...pictures of the cut are in my gallery. :-wink

New member
 

Welcome to our world. Z frame cutting has been around for at least 50-60 years, a proven method of frame shorting. If you have a rear gas tank, don't cut fuel lines. Other items to consider, brake lines and exhaust system.Have a great day,chuck

Thanks all for the advice and warm welcomes!

Welcome,

You're in my general neighboorhood, Valley Center.

very nice truck and welcome