50s Ford F1 Build

[Torchie]

Hang in there DR. The fire will return !
Torchie.

 

[jclars]

ditto - sometimes a reprieve is all that's needed. I mostly drove my truck as-is this summer with my long overdue honey-do list on my plate. Driving it without side windows, wipers, bed, hood, etc. was still enough. Now I am heading into the non-driving weather here in the Pacific NW (rain), and I am still remodeling my wife's horse stable (her hobby rebirthed). It will be awhile before I hit the road again.

Not to mention adult children moving back in...

Life happens. Just glad to be in it.

John

 

[Dirtyrat]

Thanks guys!
Still no major fire for me just yet, but slowly tinkering and knocking out little things here and there. Hard wired in the new relay I talked about, and finished up the fuel filler area.

 

[Torchie]

Looks good Dr.
Keep at it no matter how little the task. Evrything done is one more item off the list. [cl
Torchie.

 

[Dirtyrat]

Looks good Dr.
Keep at it no matter how little the task. Evrything done is one more item off the list. [cl
Torchie.

Thanks Torchie,

yea you are right. I'm actually itching to get some more done on it as I kind of want it finished for a while. I'd like to start something new in the near future but not a rat rod. I found a car that I am very interested in, but have to really decide if we can afford it and how long it would be before I could really start on it.

I like both rats and some shiny stuff too, but one of the big driving factors right now is that I can't take my family with me in the rat truck which I really don't like... I'm ok with it being a toy, and drive it for my personal pleasure, but at the end of the day I sure would like to have something we can all fit in comfortably.

 

[Torchie]

Thanks Torchie,

yea you are right. I'm actually itching to get some more done on it as I kind of want it finished for a while. I'd like to start something new in the near future but not a rat rod. I found a car that I am very interested in, but have to really decide if we can afford it and how long it would be before I could really start on it.

I like both rats and some shiny stuff too, but one of the big driving factors right now is that I can't take my family with me in the rat truck which I really don't like... I'm ok with it being a toy, and drive it for my personal pleasure, but at the end of the day I sure would like to have something we can all fit in comfortably.

Sounds like you may want to push to get it done DR and then use it to fund the next build. Did I really just say that. You bet I did.
Having had many cars in the past that are now way up on the cool factor list I can tell you that the next cool car is always just around the corner.
And I applaud your wanting to envole your family.[cl [cl [cl
You will get it all figured out......
Torchie.

 

[Dirtyrat]

I doubt I would ever sell the rat, I do really love driving it!
It would take a lot of bucks to part me from the rat rod...

 

[Torchie]

I doubt I would ever sell the rat, I do really love driving it!
It would take a lot of bucks to part me from the rat rod...

That's what I said about every car I ever sold.
Torchie.

 

[soltz]

Same reason I sold my F-100, no room for the kiddies as they got bigger

 

[I-R-POPS]

It's a lot more fun if you can involve the family.
Hang in there.

 

[Old Iron]

It's a lot more fun if you can involve the family.
Hang in there.

I can imagine thats right.
I do almost everything by myself

 

[Dirtyrat]

Well, still moving forward a little at a time.
Got a latch that I forgot I had installed in the trunk, still need a key assembly, but a screwdriver works for now. Pontiac made a better latch assembly than did chevy in those years.

Also got quite a bit cleaned up around the trunk opening for the seal, at least on the sides. Still need to pull the trunk lid and do the front area. Need to tweak either the trunk lid or the hinges to get the front sides of the trunk lid down more. Seems when I added the shortened torsion rods back on to assist opening the trunk lid, it pushed up the front of the trunk lid when its closed.

Also I've been working on removing old paint and rust from areas I want painted.
Inside of the doors, and the sides of the truck in front of the doors.

Started welding pieces into the dash that needed to be filled in for the instrument cluster area, I have one small area to finish there, then its on to making a filler panel to mount all the switches and such into that.

I cut down the plastic housing for the instrument cluster so that it is almost flat, and I plan on gluing in a piece of plexiglass and getting that mounted eventually.

Hoping today to pickup a few things from the store to move forward on paint removal, and converting rust in the cab. I guess I've shifted to finishing the interior stuff, and going to start on windows as soon as I can buy the pieces I need. Plan is windows similar to stock (straight side glass) and where the vent window was, a fixed piece of glass.
I'm not willing to chop a vent window assembly, and mine were garbage to begin with.

I have good plans for fresh air entering the cab, on either side of the cab in front of the doors is a recess where the hood would reside and hinges bolt in. I plan on making a cover panel there that will open with an actuator and bring fresh air into the cab. I already have metal filters to keep unwanted bugs and other debris from coming in.

Sorry I've been away lately from my rat rod home. I've just been very bored with TV and internet lately, not wanting to tune into the things that are going on in the USA.

 

[Torchie]

I hear you on the TV thing Dr. Haven't had one for almost 20 years now and it drives me crazy when I have to sit in a waiting room some where that has one.
As far as a computer goes mine is mostly used as a file cabinet. And that got cleaned out when it crashed last week. Lost a lot of pics mostly. Oh well....

Good to hear that you are getting after a lot of the "Little" things to keep the project moving forward. Keep at it.
Torchie.

 

[gold03]

Hey Dr, How is it going. Truck looks pretty cool.

 

[Dirtyrat]

Sorry all for being gone so long! Lots going on! *LONG READ*

First off I want to apologize for leaving and being gone from this great board for so long, I've missed all the builds and banter and the home feel of this place so now that I have some things in order I plan on checking in more often and contributing to this great site!

Secondly I want to announce that my wife and welcomed our first child into this world yesterday, and we are proud parents of a baby boy! We've chosen a name that has a lot of great meaning to it and is pretty unique, Kai.

I have managed to still find time to work on the truck even though I was doing a lot with the house to get a baby room ready (which is complete minus hanging pictures). I did get a tilting engine cover on the truck, and also got the side glass in, but no handles yet - still in progress. I have exterior door handles but they are not what I want so those will change. Got sound deadening put in - the poor mans stuff peal & seal, and its great!

Some bad news along the way, we went up to central lake which is about 250 miles from home and the truck ate a fuel pump. So, I had to have the truck towed back home for repairs since it is propane and the pump is in the tank I couldnt fix it on the side of the road. I've gotten a new pump in the tank and switched over from electronic fill to mechanical so that I don't have to worry about that failing. New in tank filter and sock as well so that is good to go.
I'm now waiting on a new fuel distribution block which Roush says should help with the pump failures because it has a larger orifice for fuel return to the tank.

Now, on to the rest of the news, after working with ICOM on a new pump and the other internal work to my tank, they gave me a contact who is about 10 minutes from my house who is more than happy to do some tuning work with propane and CNG vehicles. They mainly do new CNG car conversions but they are also heavily hot rodders at heart and are building a couple for shows and to build interest in alternative fuels. So whenever I get the truck back together, I'll be taking it in there for some tuning to make this truck more of a beast.

In my spare spare time, I've been gathering parts for a custom trike build.
I've got a HF tubing roller and a bunch of parts from SWAG offroad to make the tubing roller powered by a pipe threader motor so that I'll be able to do sweeping curved round tube and other shapes. Hopefully I can get a garage night before I have to go back to work and I can get that all assembled to do some test bends on thin wall conduit to get some templates made and see how different shapes look for the custom frame work.
The powerplant for my trike is a 4cyl pontiac motor from 1963 which was basically 1/2 a 389. I've managed to find a 4bbl manifold and carb for it which are pretty hard to find. Since mine is a '63 it had the same cam as the 4bbl so thats good to go, and also all 63s had flat top pistons and they adjusted compression ratio with the head combustion chamber size.
So, out of sheer luck I searched for the head I needed and I found a pair for $50 so one will be going to the machine shop for tanking, and to be redone.
This will take my compression ratio to 10.25:1 should be pretty snappy on a trike. I'm going to use a 200 metric overdrive trans which is plenty strong and gives a nice .67 overdrive. (The other trike we are building will have the same trans but using a 215 buick V8, this is funny to me because its only 20 cubic inches larger but is a V8 compared to my 4-cyl)

I'll get into posting a build thread, but here are a couple pictures to hold you over.

 

[Old Iron]

Good to hear from you again.
Great lookin boy, congratulations [cl
Sounds like you've been busy

 

[Torchie]

Congratulations on the birth of your child and great to have you back here.
As OI said it sounds like you have been busy. My brother and I stuck a 215 Buick V-8 into his Vega wagon back in the mid 70's. Goint to be sweet in a trike.[P
Torchie

 

[jfg455]

Congrats and welcome back![cl

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Welcome back! (We missed you here. )

Congratulations and welcome baby Kai! [cl

.

 

[Dirtyrat]

Welcome back! (We missed you here. )

Congratulations and welcome baby Kai! [cl

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Thanks guys! I've missed this place too!