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Cast iron or cast steel?
- Thread starter tjb
- Start date
Nice. I see you took that photo last week in sunny Temple, GA!
The body looks like it's in very good condition. Does the front-end have leaf springs or coils? Don't know much about Ford suspension. Only two I ever had were a '40 Opera Coupe converted to a Nova front-end, and a '65 truck that had original coil suspension but a 327 Chevy engine/trans dropped into it.
Do you have the rest of the body? Truck doesn't look too far from drivable.
Here are a couple of before-and-after's of my '54:
Regards,
Terry
It is all leaf springs... this is what I started with...
It had the usual rust in the typical areas, like the cab corners...
I cut all the rust out and welded in patches...
I also had to replace the entire passenger cowl panel
The truck is driveable now (around the yard) but I haven't had time to finish the front metal or doors, I've been doing some necessary remodeling in the house this spring and summer.
I'll be back on it soon, I hope...
-Bear
It had the usual rust in the typical areas, like the cab corners...
I cut all the rust out and welded in patches...
I also had to replace the entire passenger cowl panel
The truck is driveable now (around the yard) but I haven't had time to finish the front metal or doors, I've been doing some necessary remodeling in the house this spring and summer.
I'll be back on it soon, I hope...
-Bear
Thanks. Nice work on your '51. I'm impressed. Here are a few more pix of my '54 in progress. In addition to sealing up cowl vents/side vents/etc., we made some not-so-obvious changes that make it a little more of a pleasure to drive.
1. Here's a shot of the drive train before reassembling the body. Again: 4.3V6 with 700R4 automatic overdrive. If you look carefully, you can identify the Firebird front-end clip and rear-end assembly. (That's my '55 off to the side.)
2. This a little subtle, but notice there are no vent windows. (A little hard to tell in the photo.) Chevrolet made this body style from '47-early '55, but for some unknown reason, they did not include vent windows in one year model ('49, I think). I liked the cleaner look without the vents, so I simply converted over to the windows for that year model.
3. Back-up lights. Back in the '50's back-up lights were optional or just not available on many pickups, so I modified a pair of '47 truck parking lights to fit below the tailgate. Those are dual element bulbs, so both are wired to give a fairly bright back-up light.
4. Relocation of fuel tank. IMO, this is one of the two most significant changes I made. I never liked the idea of the fuel tank in the cab. After much studying, I purchased a universal fuel tank and fabricated mounting brackets to put it under the truck (essentially where a spare tire would be on newer trucks). I also went to my local muffler guy and got some scrap pieces of tail pipe and welded them to the approximate size and shape I wanted the filler assembly to be. Took that contraption back to him and, together we bent the size and shape we needed from new tail pipe. The filler neck and cap are from the original tank, and the bezel was machined from a steering wheel bezel. (P.S.: Watching a machinist mill that bezel is what gave me the interest I developed in machining. Glad he let me watch!)
5. Metal bed. This is the OTHER can't-do-without modification. Wood beds are nice - if you're a purist and/or you want to show the vehicle. But if you want it to be more functional, a metal bed is far more preferable. The downside is that most conversions use a piece of thin sheet metal or diamond plate that just plain doesn't look good. I took some measurements and found that the bed out of any relatively late model FORD (yes, you read that right) short bed pickup fits the dimensions of the Chevy almost perfectly - dead-on lengthwise and about 1/4" narrow on the width. I went to a junkyard and bought a candidate and we welded it into the floor. It turned out very nice and pretty much looks factory.
Sorry to be so long winded. At the stage you're at in your rebuild, it occurred to me some of this might be food for thought for you.
Regards,
Terry
I actually discovered that a repop tank for a '69 Mustang is a perfect fit between the frame rails...
I did have to relocate the filler neck on the tank to route it out through the side.
I tried something a little different with the bed floor...
That is actually trexdeck, hand routed for homemade flush fitted steel strips... in the picture, I had not painted the strips yet...
-Bear
I did have to relocate the filler neck on the tank to route it out through the side.
I tried something a little different with the bed floor...
That is actually trexdeck, hand routed for homemade flush fitted steel strips... in the picture, I had not painted the strips yet...
-Bear
You're WAY further along than what your earlier pictures suggested! That's very nice work. Trexdeck is a very nice product. We have it on our back porch, but I never thought about using it in a truck bed. Nice detail on how you cut around the wheel wells.
The front end that I used on the trailer, which was the original subject of this post, came off of a '59 Apache that I've only so far did the front and rear conversion to a '79 Trans Am. Unlike my other two trucks (the '54 and a '65) this one is a fleet side instead of step side, and I've been pondering for quite some time how I was going to deal with wheel wells. You've given me a good idea.
Where does your filler neck come out? The bezel that I used came off of a Grant steering wheel and was very easy to machine to fit the filler neck. The inside diameter just needed to be milled down .050" - .100". If you need one, I would think you could buy just the bezel from Grant. Today, I'd probably make it myself out of a piece of 6061t6 aluminum. Seeing as how we're both on the H-M website, I'm sure you could, too.
If I ever head west on I-20, I'll try to look you up. If you travel east, you do the same.
Regards,
Terry
Most of the guys that use the Mustang tank bring the filler neck straight up through the bed floor... with a flush mount cap like is used on boats. I didn't like that idea, so I run it out the driver side over the top of top of the frame rail and out the bed side just behind the rear fender.
I'm still not sure I really like it there, but the options were pretty limited, so I'm gonna go with it for now...
If you are gonna be out this way, holler at me... I'm @ 6 miles off I-20...
-Bear
I'm still not sure I really like it there, but the options were pretty limited, so I'm gonna go with it for now...
If you are gonna be out this way, holler at me... I'm @ 6 miles off I-20...
-Bear
I don't like the filler caps out of the bed, either. Just doesn't look like it belongs there, and it's totally impractical. From the looks of where yours is, I think it would be a relatively simple matter to hang a left towards the front of the truck and run a fabricated hardline up to the quarter panel. That will give you a little more height for easy fuel-up. You've seen the photos on my '54. Here's one on my '65 which was done essentially the same way.
It's surprisingly easy to fabricate. Make a simple tack weld mock-up with scrap tail pipe sections, then have it bent by your local muffler guy. The section from the tank to the hardline AND the section from the hardline to the filler neck are rubber. That way, you can be a little off on your measurements, but it won't matter. Also, it's a good idea to have the muffler guy flare the ends - avoids leaks.
My wife has a sister who lives in Douglasville. Next time she goes to visit, I may contact you just to drop by and say hello.
Regards,
Terry
I looked pretty hard at putting the fill cap in the back of the fender, but had 2 issues...
First, I have a bed crossmember in the way... I would have to run the fill hose through it, or relocate the crossmember... either way, it is doable, but the other issue is that there is not a flat area on the fender anywhere, and I'm not sure I could trim out the fill neck on a curved surface and make it look anywhere near acceptable. A rubber grommet like the one used to seal the original neck in the cab corner may work... IDK. I'm going with what I have for now... if it doesn't work out, it will be fairly simple to patch and repaint over the hole in the bed and try something different.
The current filler neck setup is very similar to what was originally used on the panel trucks... it was fairly low, just over the top of the frame.
-Bear
First, I have a bed crossmember in the way... I would have to run the fill hose through it, or relocate the crossmember... either way, it is doable, but the other issue is that there is not a flat area on the fender anywhere, and I'm not sure I could trim out the fill neck on a curved surface and make it look anywhere near acceptable. A rubber grommet like the one used to seal the original neck in the cab corner may work... IDK. I'm going with what I have for now... if it doesn't work out, it will be fairly simple to patch and repaint over the hole in the bed and try something different.
The current filler neck setup is very similar to what was originally used on the panel trucks... it was fairly low, just over the top of the frame.
-Bear