FRS6 - An Audi RS6 hidden under a 1950 F1 truck

[Max Power]

WOW! Looks good!!! Glad you arent having to as much cutting as expected...One of these days my plan is to do a swap but not to this extreme. More like a F100 to Dakota change over. Its great seeing all the hard work going into this. Keep it up

Thanks!

We had a Dakota as a hire car for a few days in LA. I was impressed. We don't get many bigger trucks here so it was fun experiencing a newer one.

[jlcustomz]

Today's pictures do show the wheels looking much more centered in the wheel openings. I was referring to actually lengthening the entire front end which would give more room for stuff. I know that wasn't in your plans, but with the older thicker metal making cuts in the right spots & welding in filler strips to lengthen front wouldn't be so bad. I only mention this as a thought being that you're fighting for space & fitting all these components in a tight spot can get time consuming, possibly more so than extending the front sheet metal..

For crash protection , are you considering making brackets to drop down from frame height & install some sort of bumper or at least a steel bar between the rails behind the lower sheet metal ?

Haven't come up with any better ideas for the radiator situation. Just as a joke, how about a roof spoiler/ radiator combo.

Is looking good there. I'm excited for ya. In my head ,I pictured the Audi wheels looking good with the pickup body & they really do. When it's a positive thought, I love being right.

[67SSDan]

That is so bad a$$!!! I'm loving those wheels with this truck also! Super cool stuff. Are you just dead set against running the stock bed? Or do you just not have it? The more I'm looking at it, I think it'd be really sick all stock body.

Dan

[Max Power]

Today's pictures do show the wheels looking much more centered in the wheel openings. I was referring to actually lengthening the entire front end which would give more room for stuff. I know that wasn't in your plans, but with the older thicker metal making cuts in the right spots & welding in filler strips to lengthen front wouldn't be so bad. I only mention this as a thought being that you're fighting for space & fitting all these components in a tight spot can get time consuming, possibly more so than extending the front sheet metal..

For crash protection , are you considering making brackets to drop down from frame height & install some sort of bumper or at least a steel bar between the rails behind the lower sheet metal ?

Haven't come up with any better ideas for the radiator situation. Just as a joke, how about a roof spoiler/ radiator combo.

Is looking good there. I'm excited for ya. In my head ,I pictured the Audi wheels looking good with the pickup body & they really do. When it's a positive thought, I love being right.

I need to build a cross member to tie the two front rails to each other. This will hopefully hide behind the grill. I think the alignment and space there will allow it. I'm going to have to set the grill forward about 50mm but in the long run, I don't think this will be overly noticeable.

Everything else in front of the engine that is relocatable, will move. I have all this space here to work with. It's nearly a trunk size space. ha

I've had a few people now say to me they like the wheels. I had thought they would suit ok being the colour they are and they are a subtle pattern. It's great to see it together now to see my thoughts were working out. I'll leave them as they are and if down the track I want to paint them a patina, I can. I really like that they are not offensive as so many modern wheels on old cars are.

That is so bad a$$!!! I'm loving those wheels with this truck also! Super cool stuff. Are you just dead set against running the stock bed? Or do you just not have it? The more I'm looking at it, I think it'd be really sick all stock body.

Dan

Thanks, Dan!

Yes to both, I don't have a stock bed and I don't want to use one. I have two other trucks/utes, one is a dual cab Amarok and the other a tray back Falcon. I hate that I can not fit my motorbike in my Amarok. I have to take my wife's Falcon ute if I want to go riding. I love the Amarok for every other aspect but it annoys me that I can't use it for that. The bed/tray/tub on it does fit a pallet, which is a lot for our Aussie cars, but apart from carrying smaller stuff, it's useless. And I can see a stock F1 bed being the same thing. If I'm going to have any argument when this truck is done for it to be staying close to home, it has to be useful. Plus I'm a tight ass and don't want to spend silly money on this build. My 69 Mustang has done and gone beyond expectations in that aspect. haha!

This will also give you a bit of an idea at the asking price for these old parts are going here in Aus. And this bed doesn't even have a tailgate. It's ridiculous.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1951-52-...kAAOSwTLlZu2aN

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1953-56-...UAAOSw4CFY11yU

[andrewb70]

You need Marty and Moog documenting this!!!

Andrew

[67SSDan]

This will also give you a bit of an idea at the asking price for these old parts are going here in Aus. And this bed doesn't even have a tailgate. It's ridiculous.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1951-52-...kAAOSwTLlZu2aN

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1953-56-...UAAOSw4CFY11yU

Oh holy crap, yeah that's dumb! In any case, this is going to be the sickest driver ever!

Dan

[JRANGER]

maybe try marK o, midfifty.com, or lmctruck...Maybe cheaper

[Max Power]

maybe try marK o, midfifty.com, or lmctruck...Maybe cheaper

What was that for, sorry?

[brawls43]

Pretty sure those are all aftermarket vendors that sell new reproduction beds. Freight to you would probably kill pricing though and lack the patina of the rest of the truck.

[Max Power]

Ah, rightio. I can tell you without looking that freight would kill it. Probably cost more in freight than those original ones in the ebay listings. Not to mention the import duties on top of that. It'd probably be cheaper to import a whole truck.

[JRANGER]

What was that for, sorry?

For the parts you were looking for. Might be able to score them cheaper granted shipping may cost a bit

[Max Power]

For the parts you were looking for. Might be able to score them cheaper granted shipping may cost a bit

No worries, thanks for that. Sorry for any confusion though, I don't plan to use a stock bed. I was only putting those ones up as an example of how stupidly over priced things are here compared to what you guys have available to you.

Out of interest though, does anyone have any experience with purchasing from the LMC website? I was looking at them last week, it'd be great to know if they are good or bad to deal with?

[JRANGER]

They use a lot of chinese parts like a lot of dealers but ive ordered some odds and ends from them. I know a lot of chevy guys use them as well. they a good company

[MrBlonde]

To say I'm excited is an understatement!..

Looks great mate! Loving this thread.

[Widetrax]

Max, I have really enjoyed reading and watching your thread! I started watching it because We are getting a customized 49 F-1. My uncle built it this way about 30 years ago with a 58 Chrysler drive line. Which means it’s got a stock 392 hemi in it. keep up the awesome work! Looking forward to seeing you drive it!

[Max Power]

Sorry guys, I've been distracted with life and didn't get any emails to say there were some replies.

They use a lot of chinese parts like a lot of dealers but ive ordered some odds and ends from them. I know a lot of chevy guys use them as well. they a good company

Thanks for that! I placed an order for some small parts and they got back to me with a postage quote. I'm still waiting on a reply since, time will tell. I like the site though, it's easy to use to find what you are after.

Looks great mate! Loving this thread.

Cheers, mate!

Max, I have really enjoyed reading and watching your thread! I started watching it because We are getting a customized 49 F-1. My uncle built it this way about 30 years ago with a 58 Chrysler drive line. Which means it’s got a stock 392 hemi in it. keep up the awesome work! Looking forward to seeing you drive it!

Thanks very much! That is a cool looking truck you have there. And it looks quite solid too. What are your plans with it when you get it?

[Max Power]

I've been scratching my head at how to mount the cab. It was either use the original cab mounts and make supports for them, or use the original supports on the chassis and make cab mounts. I decided to go with using the original chassis supports on the Bronco as they are solid. Plus the cab mounts are sitting hard on the top of the chassis, I can only raise the cab to fit a mount and I didn't want anymore height in its position. I'd actually like to drop it about 20mm. So, that's my plan.

The original Bronco mounts are past their useby date. They are rusted solid.



Here's one of the rear mounts which nearly fell out on it's own. It had rusted quite badly between the two halves. I looked at buy a kit but they all seem to come with at least 8 sets or more and I really only needed 4. So I found a plastic company that sold blank lengths of polyurethane, which is what the aftermarket kits are made from, and I purchased a piece of that.



A little bit of time spent on the tools and I came up with this







This is where I'm up to. As I said, not a huge amount of progress as it's been a busy week with work and family.
I didn't want to weld a mount straight onto the cab, not sure how much strength is in it. So I made that triangle shaped base to fix to the cab and then I'll extend the mount down off it. I worked out too that I should also be able to tie the left and right side triangle plates to each other under the cab body in a straight line. So I'll do that too.

As I also said before, I wanted to drop the cab an extra 20mm from where it is sitting now so I made an extra 20mm spacer to stand the mount higher to fabricate from that fixed position.
The black crap running off the support is just some rust convertor I sprayed on a few days before.

[Motown 454]

Nice fix! A friend of mine used this on a Jeep he built, it worked great.

[Max Power]

Thanks, Wayne!

[Widetrax]

Max, the truck is being fixed up for my wife, she wants it lowered a bit, with a set of Detroit Steel wheels with moon caps, and chrome rings. Also add a visor. After we play with it for a while in the patina it has, I will probably paint it a aqua green. It still has all drum brakes, so that’s gotta change soon! The hemi is stock , bit it still runs about 345hp, with lots of torque. So it really needs the big brakes.
I like the body mounts you are making! I used to old urathane skate board wheels for engine mounts on my old Pontiac Fiero, it tore the factory rubber ones up pretty quick. Keep up the great work!!