Projects 1948 F1 rattle can rebuild

[LowKat]

Last October, I went to look at a POS 1948 F1 for cheap which fits my very limited budget. My plan was to throw in a SBC and T350 I already had and make a beater / driver / trash hauler.

I get there and the old guy had a pair of trucks but was 'restoring' the #2. We talked a while and when he figured out I was actually going to fix #1, he offered me #2 for the same money, if I took them both. (#2 is on the tow truck)

He told me "this restoration stuff was a lot more work than I thought, so I'd like to see them go to somebody that will fix one".

Trucks were both last licensed in 1982. The seller bought them about that time as a pair for restoration. In reality he only had removed a bunch of parts.

I told him after I get one driving, we'll go for a ride.





The #2 truck is in much better condition than #1.
Good glass, very little rust. Pretty 'tight' rig.

I get 'em home, loosely put all of the missing body parts back on and cleaned up, so my neighbors aren't looking at crap.

#2 has the chrome wheels.
It's the one I'm working on.




Didn't do anything on them from Oct til after Xmas.

[LowKat]

Well, I did do one thing right before Christmas. All of my neighbors loved it.







So I put #2 truck in the garage and get ready to pull the crusty 1957 inline 223 six cylinder that was in it.

[LowKat]

I pull the front clip off and figure I might as well try starting up the 223. After getting the plug wires in order it fires up.... sounds good but needed the broken thermostat housing replaced.

Ah... to hell with the Chevy 350/350.
I'll go with the inline 6.

Put a gasket kit in the carb, a redi-sleeve on the harmonic balancer, timing chain, and a new oil seal.

Add some paint for a rattle can rebuild.





Found an air cleaner off of a '49 Ford bread truck that had an aluminum lid. The red 'original' one shown above was rusted out.

[torino_Joe]

I dig em both,especially #1.Nice score man.Keep the pics coming.

Keep the 6!!!

[LowKat]

Well, now the engine looks decent so it makes the firewall really look bad.

Found some Almond paint that nearly matches the truck perfectly....

Rattle can rebuild the firewall.



Couldn't find a wiring harness in a rattle can so I used one out of a 1969 Chevy pickup and got started on that. Also used the headlight and ignition switches from the same Chevy for plug and play.

[iwanaflattie]

holy shit what a little paint can do to an engine bay.
The 223 looks so good in there.
I am sorry to say that iI have a 350/350 on my 51 f1 but one day that will change.
nice progress

[LowKat]

I kinda lost steam for a month or so but went to the Portland Swap Meet in April and picked up a few pieces to fuel the fire.

1st thing was a hood ornament from a '49 Ford car with broken glass. I made another 'custom' glass piece for it but I'm not really sure if I want to use it yet. It does fit the curvature of the hood perfectly.



I was thinking about it lighting up from beneath.

[LowKat]

Also picked up a set of 1948? car hubcaps that fit the 1953-56 wheels that came on truck #1. I'll be using the 'stock' wheels as a trade-off from the chrome wheels for 2 different looks.



My wife repainted the one cap. She better get busy on the other 3... I'm gonna need 'em in a month or two.

[Old Lady Frightener]

Great..........looking forward to your progress.

[LowKat]

Next up was more wiring.

I went 'junkin' looking for a voltage reducer Ford used on gauges up into the 1980's on my stock gauges so they will work with the new 12 volt negative ground system.

(The voltage reducer is the little box in the lower left with the black and white wire)

Find a '69 Ford PU with the reducer. The gauge wiring harness looks like it will work on the '48 cluster so I grab it too.

I get it home and it works perfectly. The little connectors slid right on to the '48 gauge posts. Only had a couple of extra dash lights that needed clipped.

Spent the next couple of days tearing the cluster apart for cleaning and a rattle can rebuild. Then tracing wires to meld the Ford/Chevy harness, soldering and shrink tubing everything under the dash.

[LowKat]

While all the wiring was going on, I installed an alternator off of the same 69 Chevy PU that gave it's wiring harness. Modified the original generator bracket and used the adjuster arm from the Chevy pickup after shortening it.

Oh yea........ a rattle can rebuild and a wire brushing

[fuzzybear]

lookin good. so whats the plan? get #1 running and driving and use it as a parts hauler for the full rebuild on #2????

[LowKat]

I got this bugger hooked up but it was a trial of my patience.
Hunt and peck.....

Luckily my tail lights already contained a 2-bulb setup so no need for extra brake lights.




Needed a break from the wiring so I worked on a seat.

Found a nice lowback bench at the wrecking yard in a mid 80's Ford Ranger that is nearly perfect for width. It did need raised about 4 or 5 inches.

I got some seat brackets off of a mini-van back seat and cut them down on one end, added a piece of square tube across the top.

Then cut the floor braces on the Ranger seat square and welded to the mini-van brackets. Welded some tabs on the sides of the brackets for bolting to the original location on the floor.



I have my original seat and will probably get it properly recovered as the budget allows.

[LowKat]

Originally Posted by fuzzybear

lookin good. so whats the plan? get #1 running and driving and use it as a parts hauler for the full rebuild on #2????

Working on #2 (chrome wheels) haven't decided the fate of #1 yet.

I have a Model A as another project that could use quite a few parts from #1 to build a traditional rod but I kinda hate to cut it up.

[LowKat]

I had some seat sides from a 1950 Buick that I'm going to rattle can rebuild or recover to hide the seat brackets.





They'll tuck-in under the seat better after I trim a little off the back.

[LowKat]

Next up is the dash.

I don't have a 'before' photo of the truck I'm working on but here's the dash in #1 truck which was actually in better condition.



In #2, the radio hole was enlarged and some extra holes from people making different radio mounts over the years.

rattle can rebuild......
Navy blue and the same almond color as the truck's exterior.





Due too the enlarged radio opening, a stock radio block-off plate wouldn't cover the hole and I don't like the looks of the factory one or the speaker grill anyways.

I used a piece of beltline stainless trim off of a 73 Dodge Adventurer pickup, bent it to fit the curve of the dash and installed a hoodside emblem from a 48-50 P.U. The underside ends of the emblem needed ground to match the radius of the dash.



Speaker grill from a 1956 Ford car dash.

Here's a factory block-off and speaker grill for comparison.


The knobs, switches and heater controls are from a 69-72 Ford pickup because I had plenty of them (freebie). Maybe later I'll install some old school knobs.



Had to do some customizing to the Chevy headlight switch bracket to make the Ford face and knob work. Also had to enlarge the hole in the dash to accomodate the Chevy ignition switch.

[Bruce Lancaster]

This is great real world scrounging and fixingupping!! Keep it coming!
For future reference, there is a great Don Francisco 223 thrash in HRM, somewhere around 1954. He was building it for his truck. More on 223 hopping in Car Craft, same period, and also back in the old mags Manifold Guru Austin built fuel injection for one, using metering parts from an oil furnace...
"...another project that could use quite a few parts from #1 to build a traditional rod but I kinda hate to cut it up..." Hey, forget that. The way you're moving on this you should have all three on the road by this October!

[LowKat]

Got the dash all put back together.

Steering wheel is a deluxe 1957-60 Ford pickup.

The back of the steering wheel looked unfinished and had a gap where the original wheel tapered in to 'blend' into the column. I used the back half of an aftermarket steering wheel mounting kit and fastened it to the back of the '57 wheel to fill the gap. Painted to match. You can see it in the photo above.

Big gauge lower left is a "Mileage Minder" vacuum gauge.



Oh yea, look lower right...
I rattle can rebuilt the 'new' heater too.


6 volt from a 40's Chevy pickup, probably aftermarket.

Being 6V I used a 70's-80's Chevy heater resistor (speed controller) with a 2 speed switch on the dash.



On low speed, it works like a one speed 6V blower.
Medium really blows but not like it has 12V hooked up.
High isn't used.

Works great.

[charleyw]

Great work, digging the color combo on the dash. I'm still struggling with mine.

[2dr_sedan]

Can't wait to see more of your project