51 Ford pickup

[wfo guy]

End of the day. All apart for finishing.

[wfo guy]

Mid-day break. Had a bend to remove from one fender. Fill parts welded in. I'm closing up the gap on the rear of the wheel well, not reforming the whole thing.

[wfo guy]

Mid afternoon break. It's 104 degrees in the shop. I'm ready for a little hammer and dolly and then bondo.

[wfo guy]

Pinholes to fill and more work on the right hand wheel well lip and it's time for primer.

[wfo guy]

The pics are: ready for primer, epoxy primer and the 1st application of high build primer. Now I can see how much work I have to do. :)

[wfo guy]

Tiny bit more progress. After I primed them the 1st time, I found some bad spots. I know I will find some more after block sanding but I'm going in the right direction.

[keepat]

Looks great! Prime, sand, prime, sand, prime, sand.......
Pat

[wfo guy]

Thanks, Pat
Another pityfull update. I painted the underneath side of the hood yesterday. Today I realized I forgot to repair the cross brace. i have block sanded most of the hood for the 4th time. It will take 1 more time to make it good enough. :)

[wfo guy]

I am so boring! More sanding and 4th application of primer on the hood. Maybe this will be the last one. :)

[Godbolt]

Worth it in the end though and progress is progress. Looking forward to seeing it back together.

[wfo guy]

Primered and in the solar booth.
2nd time on the small parts and 5th time on the hood. When sanding the hood yesterday, I noticed that the crown flattened out at the rear of the hood. More work. :) Maybe this is the last time for the hood. I think I've said that before. :)

[Motown 454]

When sanding the hood yesterday, I noticed that the crown flattened out at the rear of the hood. More work. :) Maybe this is the last time for the hood. I think I've said that before. :)

At least your sticking with it and knocking it out.

[wfo guy]

I've been something of a worker today. This is the front fenders sanded and primed. :)

[minendrews68]

Primered and in the solar booth.
2nd time on the small parts and 5th time on the hood. When sanding the hood yesterday, I noticed that the crown flattened out at the rear of the hood. More work. :) Maybe this is the last time for the hood. I think I've said that before. :)

Geez, you sound like me. I've sanded my passenger door so many times I think I could do it in my sleep.

[wfo guy]

Here we have the fenders primed again. The hood in epoxy and then painted. The nats got in the clear but I'm going to sand and flowcoat so I'm hopeful that they will be removed. :)

[Motown 454]

And we have color! Nice progress.

[Gojeep]

So frustrating when bugs land in the wet paint! You don't even know they are around but they suddenly appear when there is wet paint around.

[wfo guy]

The HOK clear almost smells sweet. I don't think it's helping any. I'm trying to hurry because fly season is getting near. :)

[wfo guy]

1 bug, 1 piece of crapola, way better than before.

[Centerforce]

All the body work is going to be worth it! The trucks gonna look so clean when its done!

[Motown 454]

Sweet!

[Gojeep]

Effort paid off. :)

[wfo guy]

Thanks, guys.

[wfo guy]

Some dirt, no black bugs. :)

[Motown 454]

Did you get some cooler weather to paint? Movin on!!

[wfo guy]

Wayne, only 87 today!

[Motown 454]

I just went in the garage to check something, 100 degrees spun right around and closed the door.

[wfo guy]

Wayne, that temp is uncommon for you, isn't it?

[Motown 454]

Yes, about 7 day over 90 this month with dew points in the mid 70's, it has been higher than normal. Usually in mid to upper 80's

[wfo guy]

The hood isn't finished but close. Sanded and buffed. Little things left.

[wfo guy]

Stopping point on the hood until some more buffing compound arrives. I have 1 fender sanded with 600 before I quit. Lots more work to do. :) I'm sorry there isn't more to say. :)

[Motown 454]

I remeber when we did my 73 split bumper and my buddy gave me a stack of 600 and a little tine teny weny squege to cut it so he could do the buffing. Thank God I was only 19 my arms were falling off back then. It looks good.

[wfo guy]

Several years ago, I developed a problem. Every time I would take a friday off bad things would happen. So I quit taking fridays off. :) The last 2 months I've taken many fridays off. Some for car shows, some for work on the 51. Today has been a test. Old times returned. I started out setting up everything ready to put a coat of clear on and be done. For some reason, I forgot to paint the radiator splash shield that was hiding in the corner. I shot white on it and got started on clear. The small parts all looked fine. Both fenders got crap in them. I moved all the small parts to the storage shed and waited for the fenders to dry. I then sanded them and re-shot them. They have some orange peel. I didn't get them as good as I wanted. After they are outside in the sun, I'll make a decision on whether to buff or not.

[wfo guy]

This is the last part of the front end to be done. There were dents in the grille bars that I couldn't get to. I drilled out the spot welds and removed the real bad bar. I spent a fair amount of time with hammer and dolly to get the bar where a skim coat of plastic will fix it. I straightened the headlight holders where the grille bars attach and they're ready for the next step. On the back side of the grille bars, I'm going to weld in tabs in each end to bolt the assembly back together.

[minendrews68]

What do you mean.....! You don't like sanding? I started a thread a while back that started " sanding sux!" I still think that way.

[wfo guy]

^^^^^ :)

[Gojeep]

Grille bars came up nicely. :)

[wfo guy]

The tabs are welded on the rear of the grille bars. I used the drilled spot weld holes for line-up with clecos. There is a 1/4" and a 3/16" fastener per grille bar end. Back to really boring sanding and bondo work.

[wfo guy]

Grille parts moving along.

[wfo guy]

Next step.

[wfo guy]

Now this.

[wfo guy]

1 down, 1 to go

[Dave B]

Awesome! You never stop.

[wfo guy]

El Completo!

[Motown 454]

Busy guy! Going to be nice.

[wfo guy]

Saturday total activities: remove doors, finish cutting and welding drip rail area on both sides, first coat of bondo sanded, 1 door's hinge pins were froze in, removed and holes checked for new pins, other doors hinges flat head bolts were seized in their mounts, drilling and removing them by various methods. Enough fun for 1 day. :)

[wfo guy]

I've spent the day doing bondo work. The doors are on for line up. Let's just say it needs more work. Insert expletives here.

[cbpldc]

I was in your town on Saturday to look at a truck and I was thinking about what a great day it would have been for you to be working on your truck!

Chris

[wfo guy]

Chris, did you buy anything?

[wfo guy]

I'm making a little progress. I'm surprised how long this is taking. It's not finished but you can see where I'm going with this.

[cbpldc]

Chris, did you buy anything?

I didn't. The truck looked like someone painted over terrible prep work with a brush, the bed had made contact with the cab on the passenger side and the engine sounded like it might have a rod or main starting to knock. Were I buying the truck for myself, none of those issues were unfixable, but I was hoping for a quick flip.

Chris

[Motown 454]

Your moving along pretty good.

[wfo guy]

Today's tasks were to get the rest of the cab sanded and get the door frame area sealed and primed.

[wfo guy]

August 26 is when I came up with the bright idea to redo half the truck. :) Now it's September 3rd and the paint work is done on the outside of the cab. For those of you that are curious or just like numbers, I have around 48 hours in this from removing the bed to the pics attached. One pic is of sealer, the rest are cleared. It's not perfect by any means. There's some dirt but the only 2 bugs landed in the first coat of clear. They held still will my tweecers removed them. :) I may cut and buff but I won't make that decision until next week. I still have the grille to paint and some more work on the interior.

[keepat]

The shaved drip rails look awesome! Great job!
Pat

[wfo guy]

Thanks for the comments, guys. :) I had a day and a half vacation to go to a concert. The pics are of the grille parts in sealer and painted. Another step closer. :)

[wfo guy]

Back of the cab where it's covered by the bed color sanded and buffed. Some hand work at the bottom left.

[Motown 454]

It looks good. I like the way the grill pieces came out.

[wfo guy]

I just spent the last hour working on the wiper assembly. I bought what I perceive to be the best wiper motor and hooked it all up. This was last year. The wipers would lock up if there was any moisture at all in a few swipes. You could bump an arm and they would start again for awhile. My thought was that the arms to the wiper posts were wore out. This truck spent it's life in semi-arid climate so the wipers being wore out doesn't sound logical. It is 65 years old but sat in a pasture for at least 30 years that I know of. :) I'm ready to cut, weld, machine, do whatever is necessary to remedy the problem. I connect the motor to the wiper assembly laying on the floor. It's obvious there's a problem. I start analyzing things and wonder if the stroke is too long or short on the new motor. I measure and don't see anything that stands out as a problem. I loosen the mounting bracket and re-tighten it and the tight spots go away. I pull the screws out and start clamping and moving the mounting points around. I found that if I clamp the motor to the mounts 1/2 of a 10/32 bolt, that all the tightness seemed to disappear. I reminded of production tolerances from 65 years ago. I don't know if I found all the answers but I let it run for 15 minutes and there was no sign of tight spots. :)

[wfo guy]

This is going to be love it or hate it! The white truck needed a dash of color for the inside. This is electric lime candy.

[brawls43]

Nice! Can't wait to see it with the masking off.

[wfo guy]

Front fenders cut and buffed. I haven't done the wheel lips yet. That will wait for a day of lots of time. :)

[wfo guy]

If this doesn't put you to sleep, then superman should be worried! :) I rebuilt the glove box hinge. The pin in the spring end was 3/16". The hole in the arm is worn to 5/16". I welded, drilled and installed a hard fastener with a locking nut so I can adjust tension on it.

[wfo guy]

After an embarrassing amount of time today, I have painted both sides of the hinges white. The mounting surfaces were in epoxy primer and they rusted. Then the rust ran down the door jamb. Sad I spent lots of time installing the new ac controller. There are some flanges on the inside of the dash panel that are left over from the original Ford design that were obstructing the 2 hold down clamps that are with the control unit. Took an hour instead of 5 minutes. Smile Those of you that have fabulous memories will remember that the ac controls and vent used to be below the dash. Now everything is in the dash. The fan override switch will be moved to a panel to cover the area below the dash to clean everything up. Tomorrow I plan to finish the dash and get to the under dash panel.

[wfo guy]

After way too many hours, I'm at a stopping point. The pics are before the steering column is in and then after. The after pic also was with the lights on but the camera didn't pic up the blue light from the inverter on the white face panel. I ordered the speedo with the blue light also. For those of you that remember, the speedo was hung from the dash and it's now sunk in the new gauge face panel. It's not perfect but I think unless I purchase an aftermarket gauge kit, this may be as good as I can get it. I ran out of ideas. :(

[Motown 454]

OK I'm still awake better tell Supernam to watch out! :) Some of the smallest things take the longest time. Nice update.

[wfo guy]

The gauge cluster mounts have been redone. Way better. :) The next task for today was to change the throttle pedal. I moved it to the right about an inch. We all know an inch is important. :) Lunch is over, back to work.

[wfo guy]

Afternoon break. Slightly more progress.

[wfo guy]

Under dash panel on the right side. Covering the column is going to be a task.

[wfo guy]

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have doors.

[linkstar69]

Keep chipping away

[wfo guy]

Really boring update. Color sanding in the driveway. Being really careful to not break through the clear.

[wfo guy]

Pitiful update. Pitiful pics. The rear fenders and most of the cab have been color sanded with 2000. Tomorrow will be a buffing day.

[Motown 454]

It's looking good!

[wfo guy]

There's a tiny bit of hand work left and the cab is finished. This isn't show quality by any means but it's going to be as good as it gets. :) The fly is still freeloading on the top. I've buffed the fenders the 1st time but I couldn't see good enough to do the rest. The box will be coming in the shop to finish the buffing.

[wfo guy]

I gave the chassis a little bit of of a bath before proceeding. Moved the bed inside and buffed the fenders. Then picked it up and pushed the frame outside. Backed the 51 in and very carefully set the box back on. 3 days shy of a month, it looks kinda like it did!!! LOL

[wfo guy]

Today's 1st task is completed. The pics show the adapter that was supposed to work with the airbag clock spring. :) The machined adapter and the new wheel. I may paint the adapter flat black to match the column.

[wfo guy]

Task no. 2 for today. I wanted something different than the Mustang latches I used. I did some investigating and found that there are lots of latch pins that were the same size as the Mustang's without any support. Because these doors aren't near as substantial as a Mustang convertible, I decided a single pin would be adequate. I made pins from 1/2" cold roll steel. The 1/4" plate was the support that was behind the Mustang latch I used. The 1/4" plate was machined for adjustment slots and the new pin welded in. There is flat black paint to keep it from rusting. The nuts on the back side were difficult to get in place so I welded them onto a plate that has a 90 bent on to it so I can hold it in place during assembly. I've played with the doors for a while and I think this is good. There's no vibration or strange sounds when the door closes. :)

[wfo guy]

I just spent 2 1/2 hours with mis-matched parts and poor quality to make the horn button work. The horn button was made for the steering wheel but not the adapter. I figured out what was different from the 2 adapters that was necessary to make this work. I made a spacer for under the wheel to hold the button in place. I used a pvc coupler from the hardware store. Machined the id on the lathe and cut some recesses for the tangs to go through to allow assembly after it was in place. The coupler was 74 cents. :) I put everything together and no horn. After trying repeatedly, I figured that one of the parts wasn't the right depth for contact upon pushing on the button. I removed the metal contact from the outside part and took a punch and drove it towards the contact direction. Reinstalled and I have a functional horn. FINALLY. :) It only has 1 moving part. How can this take so long?

[wfo guy]

Thanks for the comments. :) Today's first task was to install the new tag bracket and plate holder. This is a Bob Drake unit that is widely used. I re-bent the tag bracket so the tag is perpendicular to the earth. The connections are heat shrink crimp style. I'm using a SAE 2 prong for a disconnect. The next task was to remove all the brackets around the radiator that weren't painted when the truck was put together for test fit. They will be finished and painted in the next couple of days.

[wfo guy]

About a year ago, I was asked how I was going to clean up the engine compartment. I thought about that for quite a while. My 1st thought was to never open the hood. :) But as most of you know, the " I can do better" syndrome started to take over. These pics show the relocated wiring harness and relocated air intake. I made a tube to replace the mustang air intake tube. The wiring will be fed through cutouts in the radiator supports that I'm painting today. The power distribution box is relocated to under the master cylinder. So far I only had to lengthen 3 wires that all were 12v. There maybe some short wires feeding to the turn and headlights but that will wait until the grille is back on to find out.

[wfo guy]

That mess looks like it's been in a dust and mud storm. :)

[wfo guy]

2nd task for today: parts in epoxy and then gray to match the rest of the chassis.

[wfo guy]

This morning I installed the radiator supports and ran the wiring around them. I washed off the painting residue. This is as clean as this will be. :)

[wfo guy]

Stopping point today. I'm feeling the affects of TB.

[wfo guy]

Ok guys, Tired (fill in the blank) All body parts are eligible. :)
It's together. The hood hinges are giving me fits. I had it working when I disassembled for paint and now I'm starting over. I still have some parts to make for the interior and mess with the hood adjustment. I'm not real pleased with the pics. The white is giving my camera some difficulties or it's about to go to the camera graveyard.

[Motown 454]

It looks good all in one piece! Nice job.

[Centerforce]

YES! Finally all together and it looks perfect as far as we can tell from those pictures. You're so close!

[brawls43]

The white looks awesome, I have a thing for white vehicles anyways, and it works well with these trucks. I'm sure its hard to photograph, especially with any sun out.

[rustomatic]

The truck looks killer! Don't feel bad about the underhood picture--I live on a gravel road, and there is just no winning against the dust . . .

[wfo guy]

Thank you for the comments!
This has to be the most lame update ever! This is the first time in 3 years that letters are on the front of the truck. :)

[wfo guy]

I tried to get a shot of the dash to show the sparkle but I may have failed. I made a cover for the steering column where it bolts to the dash. Not real good, just effective. :)

[Motown 454]

The finishing touches make the differance !

[wfo guy]

The shock springs had settled enough that I raised the back end to the middle shock hanger position. I like the way it looks in relation to the amount of tire being shown rather than with it in the lowered position. What do you guys think?

[Mach1_Ron]

I Like it..........

[wfo guy]

I bought 2 different styles of peel and stick weatherstripping from Steele Rubber products. It was expensive but it's supposed to be the best. ???? I've gone for a test ride and I now have no wind noise. They advertise that this is made from the same material as the windshield rubber gasket. It came with 3M adhesive so it's probably as good as there is. Time will tell. :)

[Gojeep]

Stance looks like a good balance between rake and tire exposure. :)

[wfo guy]

Thanks for the comments, gentlemen. :)

[wfo guy]

I have a dilemma and need some input. I'm not happy with the amount of the ratio of sidewall versus wheel diameter on the front to the rear. I rolled one of the 17" Mustang wheels that I couldn't use in place to do a comparison. The tire is very close to the same height as the one on the truck. My first thought is that I need some 16's on the front, not 17's. What is your thought? Compare with one of the above pics.

[brawls43]

What size wheel and tire is in post 594? Vs the new post 599? I think the 17" mustang wheel/tire combo looks really good.

[wfo guy]

The rear is 235 65 17 and the original fronts are 215 70 15. The other front is 235 55 17. Those wheels have to deep a backspace to clear the front end parts. I bought them before I had the front end to measure. That was a real surprise.

[brawls43]

Bummer about the mustang's not working. How big of a spacer would you have you to use? They're not ideal, but lots of people run wheel spacers, even thick ones. Its interesting to me that the side wall you currently have is basically the same:
Rear tire: 29" OD, 6" sidewall
Front tire: 26.9" OD, 5.9" sidewall
Mustang front: 27" OD, 5.1" sidewall

IMO, it seems like the 15" wheel size is throwing off the look more then the tire, the center section being so much smaller. It makes the silver barrel of the wheel look thicker, even though they seem to be the same (front to rear). I'm not sure a 16" wheel would help fix the look enough. But maybe I'm just a bigger fan of keeping wheel sizes the same. I like the staggered, raked look on tire size, but to me, I just prefer the same wheel size. I think its easier to pull off different wheel sizes when you're talking 19" vs 20". Just my $0.02, your truck still looks amazing!

[wfo guy]

brawls43, it would take around 3" of spacer to make them work. Not doable by any good standards. I agree with what you said about wheel size. Big n littles is part of hot rod culture but there's no hard rule about wheel diameters. I'll probably do a lot of thinking before I spend more money. Thanks for the compliments. :)

[brawls43]

Wow, yeah 3" is a LOT. I'd maybe do an inch, but feel weird about it. Good plan on thinking it through, its so hard spending big money on wheels without knowing how they're going to look. I did the crown vic suspension on my 1950, and I need the deep backspacing (high positive offset). Luckily for now I can just run stock Crown Vic wheels, and worry about bigger wheels in the future.

[Gojeep]

All you need to do is cut the rear wheel arches bigger to match the front!
Will give you something to do seeing you have had a break from body work. ;)

[wfo guy]

Gojeep, I'll consider that! :)

[Gojeep]

Here is a quick a dirty photochop. Think i went a little too high and big, but gives you an idea anyway.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[wfo guy]

^^^^^^
Food for thought!

[wfo guy]

New wheels. It now has 17's front and back. I raised the rear 1 inch to allow some more sidewall to be seen and to facilitate removal of the tire without having to need 2 jacks in case of a flat tire. Better safe than sorry. :) This should be a stopping point as far as wheels and tires are concerned. :) I also added blue led lights to the rest of the dash controls so everything matches the gauge panel.

[brawls43]

Wheels and tires look good!

[Motown 454]

I agree, They do look nice

[keepat]

New wheels. It now has 17's front and back. I raised the rear 1 inch to allow some more sidewall to be seen and to facilitate removal of the tire without having to need 2 jacks in case of a flat tire. Better safe than sorry. :) This should be a stopping point as far as wheels and tires are concerned. :) I also added blue led lights to the rest of the dash controls so everything matches the gauge panel.

Very nice wheels, and great stance!
Pat

[brawls43]

What size tires did you up with for reference? I'm still trying to decide on my tire size.

[wfo guy]

235 65 17 and 215 60 17. 29" and right at 27" The 235 is the same height as a 255 70 15.

[wfo guy]

I just installed rack and pinion number 3. At least this one was under warranty. I'm not a real fan of rebuilt steering gear. :) I had a man that does lots of these front end installs tell me this would happen. If this one fails, I'll buy a new one. They're not cheap but if 1000 miles is all the others will last, there won't be another discussion.

[windows]

Just got up to date with your build. Looking really good man. Hope you get the steering sorted out without having to spend a G-note.

[wfo guy]

The replacement rack is doing as it should. Maybe I got a good one this time. :)

[wfo guy]

The last item to be rebuilt was the hood hinges. I spent a lot of time on these. I probably won't ever open the hood enough to see if I did good. :) I welded up all the 3/8" holes and machined them to the original size. The rivet ends were bored to size and bronze PTFE bushings installed. I used shoulder bolts to replace the rivets. They hinges will have to be removed later to paint them when it warms up. Happy New Year, everybody!

[Gojeep]

Having good hinges can save a lot of aggravation when trying to line the gaps up and stop chipping edges from too much movement, so worth while spending the time doing them.

[Motown 454]

They look good.

[wfo guy]

The Dodge Dart seats don't like me. :) I needed to do something different so I bought a 1987 Dakota bench seat. I had bolted it in but this is some more of the story.
This is today's 1st project. The seat was disassembled to facilitate cutting the foam. The shifter needed clearance for 2nd, 4th and reverse. There is a shot of a front mount bracket for the seat. I'm going to drive it for a while before recovering it. I want to make sure this one allows long trips without pain. :)

[Gojeep]

I have improved the comfort of a stock seat before by just adding a layer of high density foam from a camping mat over it. Building it up under the thighs also helps taking weight off your behind too!

[HotRod47]

Track looks good!

[wfo guy]

Thanks, Glenn.
Gojeep, that's what I did on my 32 where I used a minivan seat. I don't know why the Dart seats hurt me. It may have been the density of the foam or just how they sit. The back on modern seats is pretty thick for safety reasons and that limited for and aft room. The bench is already more than 2" farther back and I'm expecting that to help. I'm aware of the age factor also. As in "my age". :)

[wfo guy]

I was going to put fog lights in the 2 areas where the bumper brackets used to be. I couldn't find any I was happy with so I moved on to the next plan. Me being the ex-dragracer, I thought a push bumper might work. This is an abbreviated version of that. I used an old 2.75" diameter drive shaft. The mounts are 2" x .375" flat stock. When I mitered the shaft, it had twist in it that I had to deal with. It will be painted when it warms up. The question is gray or white?

[linkstar69]

I think that looks neat

[Protour_Pinto]

Your truck turned out pretty sweet, Needs some Good Humor stickers on the doors!

[Gojeep]

Match the grille colour for sure. :)

[wfo guy]

Thanks, everybody. It was almost unanimous for gray. Only 1 person thought white would be good. It will be several months before it warms up enough to paint. I will not look at it until then when I walk by. :)

[wfo guy]

This will be the last update unless I find a coyote sitting in the drive. :) I got tired of looking at the rusty bumper. This was quick and dirty. I blasted it and shot primer and color on it. If this grows on me, later it will be removed and some filling done and reshot.

[keepat]

Good choice on painting the bumper gray. Looks great!
Pat

[wfo guy]

The dakota seat I installed had original upholstery. Yesterday it was time to fix that. This is the stopping place for the day. i had to clean up the shop to put my wife's car in. The forecast has a possibility of hail. There is several small items left to finish. You get the idea what it's supposed to be like. :)

[wfo guy]

I spent several more hours on the arm rest cutout. I quit unless I have a better idea. :) I'm going to make some covers to shield the tracks and mounts from the door ends. That's another item that I need a good idea for. :)

[wfo guy]

I have noticed that some of these threads disappear without closure. In case there might be some curiosity about how this has ended, it's in regular usage. :) It's close to 12,000 miles. I took it to the 50th NSRA nats in August. Didn't quite make 20 mpg for the trip but there was some extended idling periods getting around Louisville. That was almost 1900 miles round trip. It has proven to be a wonderful driver. In case anybody wants the condensed version, this is a link to a video that I did so people wouldn't spend too much time seeing if anything was worth looking at in the build thread. https://youtu.be/u7Vno_9-ejU

[Motown 454]

I just watched your video, wow forgot how much you did to it! lol Glad you got to enjoy it as much as you did. It came out great.

[chunger]

Thanks very much for posting the update. Too many threads here that just stopped. No idea what happened to them.

Good job - now you get to enjoy the best reward - just driving it!

[jaybee]

I've enjoyed this project from start to finish. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.