The Blue Truck Saga

[beater_renix]

So my wife was visiting her sister last week in Charlotte. I gave her a shopping list and sent her to Dennis Carpenter's. Got floor pans and cab supports. I Hope to get that started this weekend.

Still no progress on the 460, It appears to be locked, maybe a bent rod. I lent out my hoist, so I can't get it on the stand to get at the bottom end.

We are in the process of selling our house and moving (and hopefully finding a bigger garage). That leaves me awkwardly wanting to leave the truck together, and wanting to tear it apart at the same time.

[shipwrecked]

Oh I could do some damage to my bank account if I went to Dennis-Carpenters.

Do little projects on the truck till you have a solid plan- I left mi e together for a few years till I knew I could do work on it with the remaining time I live in this home. Good luck with the floors. Mine came from
dC and fit okay. The driver side was bent so I had to adjust it. I welded an old bolt to the corners so I could hold it up while I tacked in place- then just knocked the bolt off when the pan was in a good spot tacked on.

[orangeRcode]

Beater, did you get to go on the Power Tour? They came through OKC yesterday but I was on nights and unable to go with TR.

[beater_renix]

Sadly I did not make the power tour. My buddy out of Waco had the guys from Road Kill sign his glove box door. I wish I had just saddled up and went. It just wasn't in the cards.

The more I work on this truck, the more it just crumbles away. While gaining access to the pans I realized the Cowl vent (or whatever the little door is called) was completely rusted away. It got down in the door pillar. I'll try to get some pictures of it this weekend. In order to assess what I need to do there (and in order to find metal to weld to) I decided the fenders have to come off. So 50 years of rust and under coat.... The nuts just spin behind the panel, I can't get anything on the back of them cause they are a ball of under coat. Most of them I cant get to to cut off with a wheel. What fun!

I've started a fastener collection: Any single fastener I spend more than ten minutes on, goes in the jar.

Once I get this fender off, I'll see if i need the cab support and door pillar or not.

[390fastback]

I feel your pain. Every bolt on the front end of my truck either broke off, or got cut off. And that bolt on the back side by the door pillar, well a hole saw to the fender let me grab the captured nut that broke free. My inner pillars and lower pillars were gone also, some parts were repoped, some were hand made. In the end it all came together. You'll get it!!

[robertrpeak]

Hey beater, if you need any help, I'm just an hour or so away, And if your in the market for a set of Cal Custom valve covers for that FE, just let me know, also have an Erson cam with around 500miles on it. Very mild lope. Later neighbor.

Robert

[beater_renix]

Thanks everyone for the kinds works and encouragement. I'm having a lot of fun just getting things ready to begin.



Does anyone know a vendor that make cowl panels for a 65? I'll probably just end up fabing something together, especially since no one will ever see it. I'm going to have to be careful cutting away to find good metal to weld to... there might not be a truck left. My buddy rebuilding his Chevy is light years ahead of me, I've found out there are just not as many ford parts available.

[bruceandersson]

I've never seen these for sale, always had to fab patches.

[beater_renix]

Digging for fossils.

Might as well keep going till the truck falls apart right?




Actually getting some thing done on the truck. All of my fun ends when the semester starts back up. Then I'll be relegated to watching everyone else build their trucks.

[shipwrecked]

keep going! I have been picking away at my truck for months and I am seeing some progress finally. Its going to come together!

[The Big M]

I've never seen the lower cowl section repopped anywhere either, though I haven't looked in several years. You're not alone though, the welder that fixed the floor on my '62 went as far as my budget allowed at the time so the same section on mine is still mildly ventilated.

[beater_renix]

So I have an impending move to another house, with a detached garage. I decided I needed the personal victory of getting the old motor running. I threw all new rubber at it hoses, water pump, thermostat, Coolant, gaskets, Distributor points/ condenser. I rebuilt the carburetor, and while I know nothing about how to adjust it, it still managed to fire up. It probably hasn't ran in over ten years. I didn't let it get to temperature, because it smoked so bad it set the smoke alarm off. Test drive will be Thursday. School is the hole in which I sink all of my time right now, so there have been few updates. I"ll have it in its new home soon, and I'll post up some pictures.

[foodstick]

I see the pdf that printed to the wrong size is gone, but I still have the picture of the parts you need, some of these are for the 61-64 cab, others the 65-66 cab.

[beater_renix]

So I've been too busy with this semester to update;

The truck drove fine to the new place. I used a small gas can when I was testing things. I found out (the hard way) the spout, which served as a pickup, couldn't reach much below half tank. I got about three miles down the road. 55mph is really about all you have the way it is geared. The new house is six miles away. At mile four it overheated, I rolled it to the side of the road, and it died before I could shut it off. It wouldn't re-start, though it sounded like it wanted to. So it got left on the side of the road at ten at night (the night before the closing). So I have to be out of my house, and its dead on the side of the road. I deiced to leave it till the morning. Worst case I'll get it towed. I go to both closings in the morning, and get back to looking at it, it's obvious then its out of gas. Being unfamiliar with carbureted things, I didn't realize what was happening the night before. It looks like it went lean (running out of gas), causing it to overheat. I topped the tank off and drove it the rest of the way to my new house without a single hiccup. I did have to wear safety glasses to keep the dust and rust out of my eyes, with no floor and all.

I had quite the roadkill moment. But I'm proud of myself for getting it running again, it was a good feeling.

Not much progress otherwise. I don't have enough power in the new garage for the welder, so I'm stuck until I save up enough to install a 100 amp sub panel.