Time marches on

It has been a while since I updated this blog. A follow up on the old truck I sold for 1000 dollars. It is still sitting in Lake Park, Mn and has not yet made it to Europe. Oh well. The summer was not too productive. I did manage to get the paint off of the rear fenders and the box. I completely took the box apart and cleaned and painted the box frame. I sandblasted the sides and removed the rusted areas and patched in new metal. A word of caution. I even know better. Do not get in a hurry when welding in the panels because you will be dealing with warpage issues if you build up too much heat on those flat panels. I finally got them patched up as well as the rusted areas on the rear fenders. My running boards were not rusted but one had a crushed side and I did not know how to fix that and I didn't want to spend the money to take it to a fab shop so I sold them on Ebay and bought a new reproduction set from Dennis Carpenter and they fit really well. I also bought a new tailgate and front panel for the box. I have been trying to get organized enough to prime the rear portions but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I am cramped for space in my double garage as I like to keep my real vehicle garaged at night. I was also having problems starting the truck whenever I wanted to move it so I made the decision to switch to a 12 volt system. It was relatively easy. The rebuilt engine has a lot of compression and the 6 volt just would not spin fast enough to start the truck and the starter seemed to lock up and the battery would die. I had enough of that. I replaced the new 6 volt electric fuel pump with a new 12 volt of the same brand. The new one is loud and you can hear it running when the truck is running. I will have to work on that. It is a Carter from Summit. I then lucked out and bought a 12 volt generator on ebay which was a converted 6 volt and it bolted right in without any modification. I replaced the coil, starter solenoid and battery. I kept the 6 volt starter so far but I may change it for a high torque starter at a later date. That was all I have done so far because I still do not have the gauges installed yet and I will need to reduce the voltage to use the original gauges. At least now I can install a 12 volt radio and have tunes. It really made a difference in starting. It fires instantly now without and grinding of the starter. Love it. I am now assembling the body parts for fit so I don't have to deal with problems after it is painted. I guess the winter months will be filled with more body work. I forgot to mention that I changed the starter plate because the one that came with the engine had a tapered mounting plate for the starter and it sat at an odd angle and the starter would rub against the bell housing. I put on a straight plate from Reds Vintage Ford Parts and it solved that problem. I took the truck for its first real drive tonight and it really runs well. The steering is good and I have adjusted the brakes and parking brake and they work well also. They are however not as good as power brakes. I have been contemplating putting in a different manual transmission so I would not have to use the stock double clutch unit but after my drive tonight the original tranny shifts pretty good so I guess for now I will keep using it.

A Little Profit

Way back when I told you about a couple of parts trucks I had bought. One of them was pulled from a ditch full of water. I paid $100 for that truck hoping I could use some of the parts. There is a place in Lake Park, MN that has a collection of old pickups. This guy buys these trucks and then sells them to buyers in Europe. Well I told him about my truck and said I wanted $1000 for it and that it had a clear ND title. He went to look at it and gave me the money on the spot and we loaded the truck on his trailer and as far as I know it will possibly be off to Europe some day. Right now it is still sitting with the rest of his trucks in Lake Park.

Body Work Continues

I have been filling the various dents and dings with body filler over the last few weeks. It is slow going. Some of the areas are pretty rough and it takes a lot of time to get the profiles close to what they should be. There is a lot of eye ball work and the best gauge is by feel with the hand. The drivers front fender was the worst area. The corner was pretty beat and it took a lot of filler to get it to look right. The front of the hood was another tricky spot trying to get the lines to look ok. I have removed the epoxy paint in the areas where I need to apply filler. The guy at the paint store said to paint it before the filler goes on but anything I have read says to take it down to bare metal before applying filler so that is what I did. Maybe there is something about epoxy paint I don't understand. Time will tell. I have the truck assembled so I can match up the panels better. I will need to take it apart again in order to finish and paint the hidden areas. I am now working on the right front fender and the doors and top. Next will be the back of the cab and the upper and lower grill valance and the lower front fenders. I is only December so maybe by sprint it will be getting close. I haven't done anything with the box or rear fenders yet.

Body Work Sucks

I am now into the body work on the Ford. I have never been very good at it mostly because I become impatient and get in a hurry. This time I hope to do a better job and take whatever time that is needed to get a decent job. I got the entire body and front end stripped down to bare metal. I used a combination of wire brush attachments for the drill, various discs for the grinder and paint stripper. The stripper worked well to get the heavy stuff off without making a dusty mess and then finish off with a 80 grit disc. I did sandblast a few parts but that is really a mess with the sand going everywhere but it works well on really rusty areas. I used a hammer and dolly on many of the dents and dings and also cut out the rusty areas and replaced with new metal. I didn't want the bare metal to flash rust so I shot the entire truck with epoxy primer before I started the dent repair. This was my first time with epoxy primer and it did not turn out very well. I failed to thin the paint so it went on to thick and has an orange peel effect. I will have to take it down to the metal again once I finish the body filler and reshoot the primer before I get it painted. I am sure it will take me all winter to get to that point. This is the third winter it has been in my garage and it will probably be there for at least one more.

First Drive

I finally drove the 48 for the first time a few weeks ago. It drove fine and seemed to have plenty of power. I didn't do any shifting and kept it in third gear for the trip around the block. When I got back it seemed like the engine was running hot. I don't have any gauges hooked up yet except the oil pressure. After some checking I found that the new thermostats I had installed in the beginning were not working so I put in two NOS thermostats I found in one of my other trucks and it cured the problem. I put in a temporary heat gauge and it is running cool. I then discovered that my battery wasn't charging so again after some hair pulling and cussing I found that the generator was not working which led me to the voltage regulator which also being new was not working. I installed the old one and problem solved. I also put in a ammeter just to make sure. After all that then the clutch would not disengage so I couldn't take it for a second drive until I pulled the transmission and replaced the clutch pressure plate which was not that easy to find because the engine and flywheel I discovered are from a 1950 Mercury and not a 48 Ford. The guys at carquest were able to fine one. After this was all installed then the engine would not turn over so I replaced the starter and the solenoid and it still would not turn over. Finally I recharged the battery and this seemed to do the trick. The starter still seems to turn slow so I think I may need to get a better battery. I took the truck out for another drive this weekend and it worked good. I seemed to shift alright and handled well. I took it about 2 miles down the county road and then around the block. Remember it has not fenders or front and the glass is still out so it looks a little strange. I probably would have gotten more than one ticket if the Sheriff would have stopped me. I had better not press my luck. I seems that most of the bugs are being worked out so now it is back to body work. Fun.

Grill

Here are a couple of pictures of the grill and seat that I picked up at the local junk, UH excuse me, I mean the used parts store. Hard to believe these hadn't been picked up before. The grill needs cleaning and painting but it is really in good condition.

Summer is going FAST

The progress on the truck has been relatively slow. I have managed to remove the paint from the two front fenders, upper and lower grill sections and the body. These items still need a lot of attention but at least it is some progress. I hate body work. I found a pretty decent grill and seat at the local salvage yard so I think with a little effort these parts will work fine for now. I was going to start the truck a few weeks ago because it had not been started since last winter and I was getting to the point where I needed to hear it run and maybe take it for a short spin to check out the brakes, shifting, and steering. Wouldn't you know it the new electric fuel pump I installed didn't work for whatever reason. JUNK. I ended up ordering a new one from Speedway. The recommendation was to use a pressure switch and a momentary switch in combination with the pump. If the engine would die while no one was in the truck the fuel pump would continue to pump fuel until the switch was shut off. This way the pressure switch will shut the fuel pump off when the oil pressure drops. The momentary switch is to prime the carb while starting until there is enough oil pressure for the electric pump to kick in. It took some doing and a few unnecessary parts to get it to work but I finally got it. I fired it up and it sounds great. I still have the coolant leak problem. I put some industrial strength epoxy on the block where it leaks hoping that it stops or at least slows it down. I still haven't been for a drive but maybe this weekend it will happen. I also made a battery tray from parts from the 1950 parts truck and some angle iron and plate. It is more heavy duty than the original which is good. I got that in tonight. So I have cleaned and painted the inner fenders and front fender supports. The inners are on and I will need to put the supports on before I can assemble the front of the truck to see how the parts will fit before I get excited about any paint.