TubularFab
Active member
Ok, I am in the very early stages of working out a plan of attack on this project. I bought this truck from an old country guy in about 1996 and it looked like this:
I knew it wasn't in nearly as nice shape as it appeared, but it was a good deal so I went for it. It was pretty much all original with a recent paint job. Idled like a new engine, but didn't have enough power to get out of its own way - specially when warmed up. I later discovered 4 burned exhaust valves and 2 places where the head gasket was blown between cylinders. I also discovered the previous owner had sandblasted the outside of the truck without covering up anything mechanical, shoved bondo in all the rusted out areas, and painted it. I found the sand stuck to anything that was greasy - engine, tranny, suspension, etc with a nice amount of overspray over it all. Anyway, I played with it some over a few years then removed the flathead and tranny in the late 90's. At that time I happened to have a Chevy 6.2 diesel, so I fit it to the truck. I never drove it on the road with that engine, and haven't done much of anything with the truck since then. Here are some pics after removing the bed and even one after getting the 6.2 in it. Without realizing it I had a ratrod look going on then with the cab clamped to the middle of the frame.
Needless to say, 10 years of sitting with that poor of a paint job has resulted in a lot more rust... It definitely does not look like that any more. My original plan for the truck was to make a ramp back truck to haul my antique flywheel engines, tractor, or even sportscar around. I wanted to keep it as original looking as possible right down to the tall spindly wheels but upgrade the drivetrain, suspension, and brakes to make it a little more reliable and safe. I wanted a diesel engine and manual tranny with as many gears as possible. I was going to build the bed from scratch...
Over the years I did happen to trade the 6.2 diesel for a Detroit Diesel 4-53 turbo project engine. It needs to be rebuilt, but came with all the cylinder kits, gaskets, bearings, etc to do it. I also got the smallest Eaton Roadranger (a 610) 10 speed tranny. You go through the first 5 gears in a normal H pattern, then flip the range switch on the shifter as you start over in 1st gear high. The 4-53T is a 2 stroke 212 cubic inch engine with a rootes supercharger for scavenging action and a turbocharger to push the air in at over atmospheric pressure. I even have some nice big military spec injectors for it that ought to make lots of black smoke.
So, I've recently been thinking about taking a rat rod approch to the truck. I really like the idea of going with the rust patina look and have worked out good preservation methods over rust with my antique flywheel engines. I kind of want to keep the tallness of the truck - the bottom of the windshield is about 6' off the ground! I also want to retain the big tall wheels and tires - and stay dual on the rear. I'm thinking about going away from the ramp bed and making the truck rather short with a little bed on the back. Might eventually come up with a 5th wheel ramp trailer like from the 50's... I don't think there's much point in chopping the cab as the windows look pretty short in comparison to the overall height...
I like the front fenders since they were specific to cab-overs only. But, retaining them and keeping the tall wheels pretty much prohibits dropping it any. Maybe move them up higher?
Another thought was ditch the fenders and drop the cab as low as possible, then mount the engine right behind the cab since it would no longer go under...
So, while I'm still brainstorming I'd like to hear some opinions of how you might build this thing...
I knew it wasn't in nearly as nice shape as it appeared, but it was a good deal so I went for it. It was pretty much all original with a recent paint job. Idled like a new engine, but didn't have enough power to get out of its own way - specially when warmed up. I later discovered 4 burned exhaust valves and 2 places where the head gasket was blown between cylinders. I also discovered the previous owner had sandblasted the outside of the truck without covering up anything mechanical, shoved bondo in all the rusted out areas, and painted it. I found the sand stuck to anything that was greasy - engine, tranny, suspension, etc with a nice amount of overspray over it all. Anyway, I played with it some over a few years then removed the flathead and tranny in the late 90's. At that time I happened to have a Chevy 6.2 diesel, so I fit it to the truck. I never drove it on the road with that engine, and haven't done much of anything with the truck since then. Here are some pics after removing the bed and even one after getting the 6.2 in it. Without realizing it I had a ratrod look going on then with the cab clamped to the middle of the frame.
Needless to say, 10 years of sitting with that poor of a paint job has resulted in a lot more rust... It definitely does not look like that any more. My original plan for the truck was to make a ramp back truck to haul my antique flywheel engines, tractor, or even sportscar around. I wanted to keep it as original looking as possible right down to the tall spindly wheels but upgrade the drivetrain, suspension, and brakes to make it a little more reliable and safe. I wanted a diesel engine and manual tranny with as many gears as possible. I was going to build the bed from scratch...
Over the years I did happen to trade the 6.2 diesel for a Detroit Diesel 4-53 turbo project engine. It needs to be rebuilt, but came with all the cylinder kits, gaskets, bearings, etc to do it. I also got the smallest Eaton Roadranger (a 610) 10 speed tranny. You go through the first 5 gears in a normal H pattern, then flip the range switch on the shifter as you start over in 1st gear high. The 4-53T is a 2 stroke 212 cubic inch engine with a rootes supercharger for scavenging action and a turbocharger to push the air in at over atmospheric pressure. I even have some nice big military spec injectors for it that ought to make lots of black smoke.
So, I've recently been thinking about taking a rat rod approch to the truck. I really like the idea of going with the rust patina look and have worked out good preservation methods over rust with my antique flywheel engines. I kind of want to keep the tallness of the truck - the bottom of the windshield is about 6' off the ground! I also want to retain the big tall wheels and tires - and stay dual on the rear. I'm thinking about going away from the ramp bed and making the truck rather short with a little bed on the back. Might eventually come up with a 5th wheel ramp trailer like from the 50's... I don't think there's much point in chopping the cab as the windows look pretty short in comparison to the overall height...
I like the front fenders since they were specific to cab-overs only. But, retaining them and keeping the tall wheels pretty much prohibits dropping it any. Maybe move them up higher?
Another thought was ditch the fenders and drop the cab as low as possible, then mount the engine right behind the cab since it would no longer go under...
So, while I'm still brainstorming I'd like to hear some opinions of how you might build this thing...
