1951 Ford F1

[Gastrick]

Very good progress DMW. You got a lot done.

 

[dmw56]

Worked on the truck some more today after I got back from town. Had to get more Argon CO2 and a Gennie Shifter.

Mounted my shifter knob on the shifter.

Repositioned and changed the brake pedal. Dropped it down and to the right and changed the angle. Cut the bottom off of the universal pedal and welded on one from the parts pile

Found a gas pedal that will work in the stash pile.

Put togther the gas line for the carbs. I'm using 5/16" line and compression fittings.I had a 6an line laying around so I'll use that from the pump to the carbs.

 

[dmw56]

Oh yeah, I also got the plate and registation on Friday. Know I just got to finish it and I can drive it. I'm getting down to all the little details that take forever. Once I finish mounting the shifter, finish the floor, and mount the bed I can take it all apart and finish welding underneath the body and frame, then paint everything and then put it all back together.

I'm going paint the floor with bed liner stuff ,the frame with hammered silver paint, and the suspension pieces black.

 

[The Rattler]

Really cool!

DMW,
i love old 6-bangers and yours looks really cool. When I was young my parents wouldn't let me have a V-8 (a smart move) so I always had a 6 and I'd fill it with premium and octane booster and scare small block V-8's on the weekends. In the short run I could take them easy but always let off when they started gaining, they'd get so mad! Are all 3 carbs working?

Rattler

 

[dmw56]

The plan is to run all 3. I've been told it should work OK here at 6-7000 feet altitude here in New Mexico. You can't get enough air in an engine here.

 

[Thunder1]

I can't say enough about what you've done with the truck DMW!! You've been a real inspiration. I didn't hold out much hope for my 51 until I saw your build. All your hard work should make building mine go so much better. As soon as I get a few more parts together me and my buddies should be ready to start on mine in about mid August. Thanks for doing such a great job posting all the pictures etc...

Thunder1

 

[dmw56]

Thanks Thunder. I'm about to post some more. My wife says I should write a book on how to build a Rat Rod. I don't know if I'm that qualified. There are a few guys on this site I know who definitely are.

Anyway, here's what I did today. I mounted the Gennie Shifter so I can finish the floor. I needed to see if I would have any clearance issues with the shifter but everything looks good. I am going to make a removable cover over the shifter so things are more easily accessed.

 

[dmw56]

I started working on the bed. I got a stepside bed free from a buddy that had bought a 65-66? Chevy truck for parts for his 55. It was pretty rough but just fine for what I was going to use it for.

I removed the fenders ,most of the bolts had rusted so they just broke off. The floor had already fallen out of it so removing it was easy. I then cut the back half 42" long.

This is whats left. I'll probably save the fenders and running boards for who knows what.

I removed the front stake pocket support and about 30" of the side sheet metal. I cut the top bed rail off and just welded it over the back half covering the unpainted part that was under the fender.

 

[dmw56]

View of the inside of the bed. I then did the same thing to the other side.

I welded some 1 14" tubing to the end of the frame to support the back half of the bed. I salvaged the floor support from the old bed to use as cross pieces to mount the bed and as a floor support.

 

[dmw56]

I set the bed in place on jack stands to see how it looks. I think that's about the right height and length. Pretty close to the original bed height.

 

[dmw56]

Women! If there's a mirror around they're lookin in it. I have Ford Tailgate and it's a little bit narrower than the Chevy. I haven't decided if I want to use it yet. It's almost as much Chevy as it is Ford!

That's my Rat Rod Chick Robin. She helped me move the bed and set it in place today.

Set the AC gas tank in the bed for a visual. I might want a bigger tank?

I still need to cut out notches for the axle in the bed sides and mount the whole thing and then build a floor. I'll just use Plywood for the floor.

 

[Gastrick]

FANTASTIC DMW. Looks awesome and you're very close now. Here's the cover I made for my shifter in my Anglia. It overlaps the hole in the tunnel. I drilled through the cover and the tunnel and then welded nuts to the bottom side of the tunnel. I don't use a carpet in thise one so I used small stainless button heads to secure the cover. Makes for easy access to all the shifter hardware and the auto trans lines.

 

[dmw56]

You have to plan ahead and try to make things so it will be easier to work on later and with all cars you will be working on it later!. The time to do it is while you're building it. I hate the way some cars are designed and put together. They're designed so they can be assembled at the factory the fastest way possible with no regard for working on it later by the owner. It's like my Challenger. I needed to replace the taillight lenses. I had to remove the rear valance, the bumper, and the rear panel to get to the taillight lenses. Crazy.

I love your shifter by the way Gastrick. Heck ,I love you're whole car.

 

[dmw56]

Wow, I even motivated myself and did some work done on both of my car projects and cleaned the shop to boot.

I did some more work on the floor where the firewall transitions to the trans tunnel had some bends going in several directions took a while but got it figured out. I was going to do it in one piece but much easier to do it it in 3. I still need to make a removable cover over the shifter. I probably will make it out multiple piece and weld it together.

I also mounted the accelerator pedal.

Made bracket to support the fuel line.

 

[dmw56]

I also made up a frame for the floor of the bed and cut out some notches for the axle in the sides. I used 3 of the original cross pieces and welded them to an angle iron welded to the sides of the bed. I still need to figure out a way to mount it to make it easy to unbolt and remove.

 

[Gastrick]

Good work dmw56. Looks like the beds about ready for a floor.

 

[dmw56]

I have pretty much finished all the fab work needed. There are few things I need to do but I can do them later. I've finished my mock up so I started taking the whole thing apart today. I hate that, it's all together but I'm taking it apart. I need to turn the frame over and weld up the cross members and braces. I don't even try to do overheads if I don't have to. I don't like catching myself on fire and the welds are ugly.

I also need to paint all the suspension pieces, the frame and undercoat the bottom of the cab. Then put it all back together.

 

[Gastrick]

Good deal. Mock-up is finished. I always get a little depresed blowing them back apart after I have them all together too. But it sure is fun putting them back together for the last time. C'mon dmw56, you don't like the feel of molten mig weld spatter crackling inside your ear?

 

[Boltbreaker]

Looks really good!

 

[50Ford]

Looks great, congrats on finishing with mockup