1956 F100 (Project Fat Max) Build Thread

[Dr G]

Well, a lot of work without much visible progress.

I did get the power steering hoses finalized:



I take a lot of care when running hoses to make sure they do not (a) rub against another hose, especially a rubber hose, and that they do not (b) rub against any wiring, and (c) that they run as straight as possible to reduce pressure losses, and lastly (d) that they look somewhat visually appealing. It takes time to get the lengths and routing correct.



On this truck I use almost exclusively Earl's Ultra-Flex hose and connectors. This is a crimp-on style, but has a super tight bend radius (more so for the stainless than the Kevlar). It also just looks clean without the bulky reusable hose ends. I live close to Earl's Store #1 in Hawthorne so I just go down there and they make them on the spot. The guy Tom who owns the place is pretty tight with Holley (who owns Earls) so he is a good source for advice.




I also made some brackets to for the new upper front shock mounts. The old shocks were way too long (7" stroke) so the new ones are shorter. I also wanted the shock to mount to poly bushings to help absorb road noise and shock. We'll see how much that helps.



I try to TIG weld whatever I can. Once it comes to welding it to the frame I resort to MIG.




I also mocked up the front suspension to check the wheel travel from full droop to full bump (not including any bump stop which will limit bump travel a bit). The three pics show full droop, app. ride height, and full compression:








Lastly I got the new brake fluid reservoirs plumbed up. Now that the master cylinders are in the engine compartment instead of under the dash, this was necessary. I also wanted bigger volume. The previous reservoirs were mounted on the dash where the ash tray used to be. That was the only place I could find that was higher than the master cylinders in that configuration. But the reservoirs were only 1 oz each, which meant they had to be refilled frequently during bleeding. And like an idiot I had the reservoirs black anodized, which made it almost impossible to see the fluid level - resulting in a lot of brake fluid leaking down the dash onto the shifter. I did not repeat this mistake with the new Wilwood 4 oz reservoirs.









That is all for now, more to come. Gustave