1951 f16

[wfo guy]

This will be a "catch up" thread. I was working diligently to beat the cold weather on this so I didn't do much in posting about it. I'm more shut down from the cold than not so I will cover the chassis and drivetrain. I think there will be some items of interest along with the goals of pro-touring. There are many on this forum who have a far better skill set and resources than I so this is from the limited budget perspective. To provide some background, this is the 3rd 48-52 truck I have done. This is the thread on one of them: http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/102449-51-Ford-pickup
The name is derived from what I started with, a 1951 F6 truck cab and front clip. The rest is based upon a F1 half ton in dimensions. I did not have a donor car on this one so there is a mix of components. I purchased the F6 from a friend who collects projects but seldom finishes any. This was the 4th that I have purchased from him. :) I removed the cab and front clip and he hauled the chassis away. I thought it was rust free. Time proved that to be incorrect. :) I had a crown vic front end left over from a 1972 F100 project that I did where I bought 2 front suspension units. This one was from a cop car with stiffer springs and larger sway bar. I had purchased a 96 Lincoln Mark 8 IRS in 2020. I started with changing the bolt pattern on the rear to 4.5". The crown vic front had to be narrowed to even begin to fit under the fenders of the 51. I believe that I narrowed the crossmember 4.75" . I used a rack and pinion from a 95 Tbird. The mounts were the correct dimension to fit on the crossmember but the tie rod lengths had to be changed to shorten the width. The timeline is about the end of may, 2021.

[wfo guy]

Moving forward to the 1st of June, 2021. I had purchased a 1987 mustang gt engine that was stored in a shed. It had more sludge than I had seen in a long time. I did a tear down and was surprised to see it was low mileage with very little wear. It went to the vat to get clean and I freshened it. I went to a metal supplier and bought enough metal to build a chassis. Finding somebody that had what I needed was difficult because of the shortages that abound. I went to work cutting and welding. :) Note that the pic of the engine shows a t5 connected to it.

- - - Updated - - -

More pics of the chassis fab:

[wfo guy]

More pics of chassis fab:

[wfo guy]

More chassis fab:

[wfo guy]

More chassis pics:

[wfo guy]

Body test fitted:

[wfo guy]

Engine mounts:

[wfo guy]

Fuel tank mounting:

[wfo guy]

More chassis work:

[wfo guy]

Engine mounts:

[wfo guy]

My original plan was to use a Tremec TKX. After waiting 6 months, I thought it wouldn't happen. All of a sudden, Holley Performance got a ton of them. So I purchased the TKX and modified my T5 bell housing to work with it.

[wfo guy]

Some exhaust work:

[wfo guy]

I had no bed or rear fenders. I purchased a new bed from Mack Hills and reproduction fenders. The freight company stabbed one fender with a fork lift. I'm still trying to get a claim settled. :) The bed frame is 1 x 2 .125 wall tubing. The mounts are setup so the bed frame is brought in from the rear and set down on top of them.

[wfo guy]

More chassis work, This is around the 3rd week of July, 2021. The steering column started out as a 1988 F150 unit. I used 1.625 chrome moly tubing for the center portion.

[wfo guy]

Moving along:

[wfo guy]

Time for some bed work:

[wfo guy]

Some rework:

[wfo guy]

How about some color?

[wfo guy]

I adapted a 4g alternator and a standard sanden compressor to the strange mustang mount.

[wfo guy]

I used a 2000 explorer power steering pump for compatibility with a hydroboost.

[wfo guy]

I decided to use a different grille. I purchased a 53 on ebay that was supposed to be bondo and rust free. Maybe to a blind guy. LOL. I narrowed it and removed the reveals on it. It uses the same headlight assemblies as a 51. :)

[wfo guy]

Cab mods:

[wfo guy]

Cab bottom, this is late in September:

[wfo guy]

Doors turned out to be full of rust in the bottoms. I rebuilt the driver's door hinges with machine work and bushings.

[wfo guy]

Conversion to bear claws:

[wfo guy]

More cab work:

[wfo guy]

Power steering reservoir mount:

[wfo guy]

Still more body work:

[wfo guy]

About this time I was painfully aware of running out of "good weather" time. I started priming as much as I could knowing that I would have double work in the spring and summer to finish everything.

[wfo guy]

Time for some interior work:

[wfo guy]

More progress:

[wfo guy]

Bolting more parts on, I used the hub from the 88 F150 steering wheel for my adapter. You can see the cable clutch and the beginning of the power steering hoses to the hydroboost.

[drummerdad]

Wow. Thats some really nice work. That should be a nice truck when you are done. I go back and forth on the crown vic swap for the 67 F100 I have. I have even considered the IRS swap. Im just not sure.

[wfo guy]

I needed to make kick panels, door panels and a console:

[wfo guy]

More fun ahead:

[wfo guy]

Let's change gears for a bit:

[wfo guy]

The crown vic has "quick take up " calipers. My mustang master wasn't getting the job done so I made an adapter to use a crown vic master. It did make a difference.:)

- - - Updated - - -

Some assembly required. :)

[wfo guy]

Some assembly required. :)

[wfo guy]

I had started out with a Volkswagen hood latch that many use. I hated it. Light duty latches have to be babysit. I came up with a copy of one on the market with my own mods. This uses a bear claw latch.

[wfo guy]

This is just an overview of this build and is current as off 12-31-21. There has been some more done. I apologize for the abbreviated thread. The complete thread is located on the Rodders Roundtable if you're interested. I will update this as I have something interesting to add.

[wfo guy]

This week, I received some different springs for the rear. I had used the Ridetech calculator to arrive at the spring rate for the rear. They were too soft. I called and got George. I explained where I was at. he asked for a few simple measurements which I provided him with. In a couple of days I had new springs. I installed them and now have what I expected on both ends of the truck. This drives like an oversize go kart. I'm using mid-level suspension components but it is really good how everything works. The combination of the crown vic and the Lincoln IRS are proving to be the next step up from the previous 51's suspension. The Ridetech coilovers make this possible. A couple of years ago I did a 1972 F100 with a crown vic front and a T-Bird Irs using stock springs in the front and shortened crown coil overs in the rear. It's a Cadillac. I hated it. It's not a sports truck. Now I can see that with some money and a little time, it could be completely changed. :)

[Dodge383fi]

I used a 2000 explorer power steering pump for compatibility with a hydroboost.

https://www.pro-touring.com/blob:https://www.pro-touring.com/4bb56092-044a-4733-a6c4-6c0b02d04dfb

Just out of curiosity, is that enough belt wrap on the crank pulley?
I think the truck is awesome!

[wfo guy]

^^^
It seems to be fine. No squeaking belt with power steering or ac operation. Thank you.

[wfo guy]

I was unhappy with the location of the relays on the firewall. I spent the better part of the last 2 days relocating and shortening wiring under the dash. In hindsight, I could have done some things differently. This was done for cosmetic reasons. There are 7 relays in the system. The plastic block I used was only available in one orientation or the wiring would be hidden. The relays I used have a fuse mounted in the power feed. Unless they prove to be of poor quality, that looks like a way to simplify things to me. I was very satisfied with the operation of all the components. If you have looked at what I do, I struggle with cosmetics. :)

[TANKMASTERJ]

First I have seen this thread but I'm very impressed. Reminded me of a 49 i did with a buddy whereby w used a 79 trans frame in front and a c5 independent rear in his 49 Chevy. It handles VERY well.
Very cool project and you sourced what you needed very budget conscious and wise.
Awesome build
Jason

[wfo guy]

^^^^
Thank you for the kind words. :)

[c91x]

Very nice. What gauge setup is that?

[wfo guy]

Dakota Digital VHX universal.

[drummerdad]

Beautiful truck. I love it. How do you like the crown vic front suspension? I am thinking about doing one on the F100, but with a narrowed cross member.

[wfo guy]

The crown vic takes the mustang 2 to a whole different level. The geometry is very good. It has big rotors and calipers. The rack is on the front so there are less clearance problems. In about 2013, I had a discussion with "Elpolacko" who was Steve at Industrial Chassis. They made Dakota crossmembers for a better front than the mustang 2. He was a very talented guy. We discussed the popularity of the crown vic and the down sides of it. The one point he made was that aluminum crossmembers weren't designed to be used on flexible frames. If you noticed, my rear cab mounts are solid on the chassis. The 48 through 56 all have the pivots on the rear to compensate for chassis flex. I can jack up one side of the chassis and depending on where the jack is, either the rear of front comes up with it. It isn't as good as new vehicles that have no flex but it's very strong. I think I have provided the crossmember with a strong foundation so as to not cause problems. Time will tell on that. :) So my thought is that if you stiffen your chassis, you will be very satisfied with that front end. These will get rare so if you really want to do that, I would suggest you get a front purchased. 2003-2011 is the correct years. Thank you for the kind words. :)

[drummerdad]

Thank you for the information. I would probably use a narrowed steel cross member on the F100. The biggest reason I didnt use the CV IFS on the Dodge was the track width, it would have made the front tire track wider than the rear. Most people fix this with wheel backspacing in the rear, so its no big deal. The narrowed crossmember uses all the other CV components, except the steering rack and it welds right in place. As for getting the parts, Im working on that. I have the engine and trans for the F100 already. Most of my efforts are going to the Dodge right now though.

[wfo guy]

O&S accomplished 2 things today. No.1: I now have back up lights. When backing out of the shed, I had a fair amount of light shining from the led tag light. These are about 1/2" in diameter. I mounted 2 in the roll pan. When this get's taken apart for paint, I'm going to french them so the lens is flush with the face of the roll pan. No. 2: I'm going to add this to possibly save someone some grief. :) I had a problem with some fuel coming out of the rollover valve after it was parked with a full tank of fuel. I thought the valve might be too low for it to work so I mounted it under the top of the rear fender. I filled it with fuel and drove home. It did it again. I removed the cap to make sure there was no residual pressure. 2 days later there is a damp spot on the floor. ???? Today I ran it in the shop and turned on the heat. I came back an hour later and there's a damp spot on the floor. Now I'm thinking the hot rod god is messing with me. :) I decided to relocate the roll over valve as it wasn't working any better being 12" up in the air. I pulled the line off the vent on the tank and fuel came out. I plugged it and removed the cap. No pressure. Un cap the line and a little fuel came out. Then the light comes on. Both the mounts for the fuel gauge and the pump are around 3/4" lower than the top of the tank. I'm sure that was done so you could flush mount the tank and not have obstacles. When I fill the tank, I fill to the bottom of the neck. That means it's over full. Most tanks have the filler neck lowered into the tank a ways to prevent this from happening. I always fill up as much as I can for consistent fuel mileage measurements. I won't be doing that anymore on this one. All of the others I have installed have the gauge and pump attachments level with the top of the tank so this doesn't happen. So color me a slow learner. :) I have not hesitated to tell when I make mistakes and this is just one more. I hope that this info might be helpful at some point for someone. :)196773196774

[wfo guy]

The weather god has let it warm up some the last 2 days so I decided I would shoot the bed floor prior to putting it back in. Bare in mind that there will be a bed mat over this so I spent no time with bondo on the welds. I shot epoxy on both sides and then 2 coats of black urethane on the top side. The bed mat I ordered is black so it seems to make sense to have a black floor. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S had a pretty good day. I finally received the check from the freight company for the claim on the rear fenders that was filed July 1, 2021. LOL. I have the bed floor bolted back in. Some how, I scratched it. At least I think I did. There is a chance one of the grandkids did last night when they came over. It's nice that it's a bed floor and I have a mat ordered to cover it. :) I was unhappy with all of my connections on the battery posts. I made some brackets to move some of the connections. The maxi fuses on the positive side are still ugly but I haven't decided if I will do something about that or not. I tend to be concerned with function rather than appearance on some items. When I had the batteries under the bed floor, it sure made this easier. :) I have the center outlets for the ac temp. mounted. I was going to make sure I'm satisfied with their functionality before making a more permanent mount. I installed throttle pedal setup number 3. The f150 pedal had a catch in it. I had changed the geometry on it and it didn't help at all. I bought a 96 mustang pedal on ebay and mounted it. I had to miter it some to change the height of the pedal. I'm not 100% satisfied with it but the catch is gone so that was a good step forward. The 2 colors for the hood arrived this morning. I looked in the cans and have mixed feelings. I may spray 2 panels and lay them out side to see how they look before doing the hood. :) Decisions! LOL.

[Vimes]

Can I suggest rethinking that gas cap? It won't take much of an accident to shear that cap off even if it doesn't get into the tank, and an accident like that will be making a lot of sparks.

[wfo guy]

^^^^
That's an interesting thought. It's very common to have the fuel tank at the rear in pickup trucks. I think I'm safe in saying that the 2 to 4 inch riser is what's used most of the time. Are you suggesting that I have a flush mounted cap?

[Vimes]

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) I have an eye for potential problems that might cause future pain. Comes from being in too many accidents, with only one or two being my fault, I guess. I don't know what to suggest on the cap though, other than lowering the tank (or raising the bed) so the fill cap sits below the opening enough that a straight push won't slice it off. Or, maybe a larger, reinforced opening in the bed floor so that if something does hit it won't be able to slice the top off. From the picture it just looks like it would be an easy open in a rear-ending. Theoretically I'm also doing a truck (STILL waiting on a contractor to start) and the fuel tank is going in the same place, but mine will sit low enough under the bed that I can use a sidewall filler. Either that or if the area under there won't fit a tank, I'll have to do an in-bed tank up against the front of the bed.

[wfo guy]

O&S went to the shop to make some progress today. I have the frame for the bed cover welded up. I have to attach the hinge, latch and gas spring mounts before shooting some primer on it. The 1/8" strap on top was to give it some arch so water shouldn't puddle on it. We'll see if that is enough.

[wfo guy]

O&S tried to set a record for least accomplished today. Somedays, not much goes right. :) I started off by bolting the hinge to the frame. I doubled the frame where the gas springs attach and welded the ball mounts on. I fabbed a pin for the bear claw latch and have it mounted. When I put it in the bed, I found out that how I planned to mount the hinge wouldn't work. I removed the hinge and flipped it 180 degrees. I mounted the bear claw latch and started on the gas springs. This cover will have 1/4" plywood and Haartz convertible cloth material on it. It will be way less weight than the steel unit on the white 51. I had ordered 2 gas springs of the same capacity as the white 51. They were way too strong for this. I had some that were less than 1/2 the capacity of those. I installed them and used them for mock ups in reality. The frame works well now but there will be around 30 lbs. added with the cover so I will possibly be buying more gas springs. :) My plan was to get the frame mounted and in primer by the end of the day. I'm just one day short of my goal. LOL.

[wfo guy]

O&S ended the day at where I wanted to be yesterday. :) I have the latch operational. I welded nuts on the frame to run the elevator bolts through. The elevator bolts are spaced a foot a part on the perimeter to hold the bed cover on to the frame. I had thought about machining some spacers to fasten the bolts to and decided that I had spent enough time on this until I'm sure all my design works as intended. I shot black epoxy on the bed frame for time being. After I did the latch, I had a couple of thoughts. The 1st being that I could machine a rod to align the 2 rod ends to where they are parallel while operating. I didn't have any 3/16" rod to do that with. That will be rectified. The next was that if the latch handle was flush mounted in the tail gate, It sure would look nice. This would involve making a wood buck in the shape of the handle. Then forming a panel and welding it into the tailgate. I would have to cut a an access panel on the inside to be able to planish the weld on the outside skin. This would be something I could do later on in the year. I need to make a gasket to go behind the handle also. When I ordered the handle, they didn't have a gasket listed for it. I should have done some more research to see if one was available. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S was tying up loose ends in preparation for the next cold snap. I made some brackets for adjuster / stops at the end of the bed. This cover doesn't encapsulate the tail gate so there wasn't anything to level it out. I'd like to tell you that I made it and the pressure in the gas springs perfectly level but that isn't true. :) When putting the bed cover frame back on, I had no. 8 screws attaching the hinge to the front bed panel. I drilled and tapped them to 1/4". I believe that I'm ready to move to gluing the foam and Haartz material to the plywood for the cover. I have a friend who is an interior guru who told me what to do, not how to do it. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S had a plan today. 1st thing this morning I was moving vehicles around and had the heater started in the shop. My wife commented that I was moving with resolve. :) I removed the bed cover frame and sat it on saw horses. I clamped the plywood to the frame and drilled the holes for the elevator bolts. I bolted the plywood to the frame and seated the elevator bolts. I removed the plywood and placed it on the saw horses. I laid out the landau foam and glued it down. I used a 9" paint roller to apply the glue. I laid out the top cloth and made sure there were no wrinkles in it. Then I glued it down. I left the underneath side edges longer than they need to be. When this gets taken apart for paint, I will probably trim some excess back to around 2" of overlap per side. My left over gas springs aren't strong enough. I will look over the charts and get 2 more on the way. I need some kind of wiper to seal up the edges. Time for more research. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S had a plan. It met failure. :) I thought I could trim a piece of abs sheet and make most of the headliner in one piece. After a couple of hours of trying, I admitted defeat and cut it in two. The seam is overlapping and glued together. The ends have 2 more parts. One is the tight radius in the corner behind the door heading to the rear window. The other goes straight up from the door frame to the top. I'm not done trimming those parts. I used 2 more of the small led lights for the dome light. I have the area behind and under the seats left to do. I purchased enough black carpet to do all of that. I think I will use the abs to do the radius from the door post to the flat area on the back of the cab. I will have to heat it up and put a radius in the panels. Once I trim the carpet to size, I will need to get the sewing machine out and edge all of it. I am an amateur at this so it takes lots of time and the results aren't great. :) More learning ahead.

[speedfreakcobra]

The skills :cheers:

[wfo guy]

^^^
Thank you for the compliment. :)

[wfo guy]

The new gas springs arrived for the bed cover. I am going to have to install a brace on the cover frame. The new springs are the correct capacity but the frame has a slight bow in it when it's closed. I'm out of material so a shopping trip may be necessary. The bed mat arrived. I laid it out both directions to see if I could flatten it. I think it will be 100 degrees in the shade before it flattens out. LOL. I worked on the latch some. I made a spacer for the 2" bolt going through the bear claw end and flipped the handle bracket to correct the geometry some. Today is the 1st day that it has got above freezing in the last week. I plan on making some more progress in the next few days. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S plodded along today and accomplished a little bit. I removed the 2 brackets that I made for the battery cable attachments and drilled and tapped one more hole in each one. The hole is on the angle part of the bracket. This allowed me to cut off the furthermost hole from the post and shorten the bracket. There's still nothing cool about it but it's less obnoxious than it was. :) The sniper's throttle actuation was hyper sensitive off idle. I had changed the cable and pedal arrangement 4 times trying to find a solution. I improved it but it still wasn't right. I googled it and found Holley makes a bracket to move the cable connection farther away from the throttle shaft to change the ratio of leverage. I was a little skeptical that it would make enough difference. I was surprised at the difference it made. I moved the point .875" which is around 30% more than the original. It fixed most of the problem while creating another one. The throttle pedal is now higher than I wanted. The pedal has to have more travel to compensate for the increased travel of the throttle lever. Raising it up from the floor was the logical solution. I think modifying the pedal will be next. :) I raised the adjusters on the rear coilovers about .4" from where there were. I keep adding weight to the rear and loosing the ride height I wanted. I have a spare tire in the bed but I will need a floor jack and some tools to be road ready. What I did may not be enough. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S snuck away from yard work for a while today and painted 2 panels for color tests. In the photoshop pics my friend did, there was green and maroon in matt finish. In the low cost paint materials assortment, I ordered a quart of British racing green and wine red metallic. The green is very close to a color used on Mack and Chevy trucks. One look at it in the sun and that was a no sell. :) The maroon is a high intensity pearl metallic. The kind that only looks good in the sun. :) The panel didn't make me get real excited but it could be a very good color to go along with the shape of the truck. I took some pics later in the day and the colors don't look great in the pics. There are pieces of grass that have blown on them but not stuck to the paint. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S made a tiny bit of progress today. I removed the bed cover and welded the brace I fabbed up to it. Had I chose this option to begin with, all these parts would be in primer and I would be crossing something off the list. LOL. So much for hindsight again. :) I took the maroon panel out and tried to take a few more pics of it. The camera I'm using doesn't have enough resolution to show everything that's in the color but my thought is that it's not as dark as it needs to be to compliment the shape of the truck.

[wfo guy]

The truck got it's 1st road trip today, albeit a short one. 60 miles round trip. The distance from the seat to the throttle pedal isn't going to work for me. I'm not sure where I will make changes from here. The independent suspension on both ends makes a Cadillac out of a hot rod. The only time you know what's there is if you are pressing it around a curve or corner. :) It needs more bottom end power for me to be happy. Using an aftermarket efi and a double plane intake manifold lets the engine give up some of the torque that a factory efi engine has. No thought's on a solution to that. There is the obvious cost but the parts shortages have changed the option list substantially from 5 years ago.

[wfo guy]

O&S was unhappy with how the bed cover fit. The front was around 3/8" higher than the rear. The easiest way to remedy that was a new hinge with a longer flange. That got installed , nutserts were installed in the front bed panel and the frame was painted in black. O&S plodded along for a couple of hours today. I flipped the cover over and trimmed some of the material back to make the sides and ends closer to the edges. I bolted the unit together and installed on the truck. After leveling the cover I realized that the latch had to be relocated. I had made it non-adjustable. Quite brave of me. :) I adapted a bracket to the latch and attached the bracket to the tailgate. I may revise that when the tailgate gets' painted. By machining a slotted plate to weld into the tailgate, I could make this nicer. :) For now, this is crossed off the list. :)

[wfo guy]

O&S plodded along today. I had half of a plan in my head from months ago. That went out the door in less than 5 minutes. I had thought about carpeting the rear panel of the cab. After removing the seats and seeing how dirty everything was, I decided on easy clean to be a priority. I had some 1/8" abs left over that became the center panel. It is fairly rigid so I don't think any strange noises will originate from it. I used 1/16" on the radiuses on the ends. The carpet is cut but needs the edging sewed on. I have not done that before so there maybe room for some education there. :) I'm planning on carpeting the firewall above the dynadeck. I need to make a pattern for that and do some research on how to attach it to the firewall over the insulation. Lots left in the interior but there are less bare spaces now. :) I don't think the pics show much detail, just lots of black. There are some dirty spots on the rear panel that will need some chemical to clean them. A quick wipe of water was not successful. I didn't have any button head fasteners to install, yet.

[wfo guy]

After going to a spring show, it was time for disassembly and some paint. The body work wasn't finished last fall before the weather got cold. I'm going to assemble the truck and go to Pueblo and then finish painting after that before it's time to go to Salina. Yes, I know, lots of extra work. When you are down to one rod, and you want to go see your friends, there is some work involved. LOL.200556200557200554200558200555

[thumper877]

Looks nice love the color

[KiwiStarChief]

Looks nice love the color

X 2. Colour looks really nice.

[wfo guy]

Thank you.
O&S has the front inner fenders and the running boards painted. Moving along at a turtle's pace. :)200561200562

[wfo guy]

I did a 9 hour stint today. :)200591200592

[wfo guy]

Unless something major changes, this will be the last update for this thread. I have painted and assembled the truck. There is many small items to be addressed. For now, it will finish out the season of shows that I regularly attend. :)201055201056201057201058201059201060201061

[KiwiStarChief]

Lovely looking beast. Job well done for sure.

[Motown 454]

That's a gorgeous color! Nice job it looks great!!

[wfo guy]

I was unhappy with the front fenders so I removed them and repainted. While they were off, I turned the grille gray. The black was doing nothing for me. I was tired of cleaning already. :)201473201472201474

[KiwiStarChief]

Looks really nice. Are the cutouts in the lower valance for irons, and are you going to fit the bumper?

[wfo guy]

I'm going to build some kind of bumper or bar but I don't have an idea yet. The idea god doesn't always know where I am. What ever it is, I want it to be strong enough to lift the front of the truck. With a flat tire, it's too low to get a jack under the front. I can come in from the side but I'd like to be able to raise the front if necessary.

[wfo guy]

To close this build, the truck has been delivered to the new owner. I am without a driving hot rod again. :)

[eversaul86]

Dang, Love this build! Congratulations to the new owner!
Martin

[Bugzilla]

I hope you are planning on getting something else to replace the truck!

[wfo guy]

I don't think I'm done, yet. :) No good ideas at this point.

[Motown 454]

The new owner got a nice looking truck! I'll have to watch for your next project.