'59 Slow Progress

I've barely seen my truck in the last ten days or so.  I've had some other things going on.  For example, last weekend, my only real goal was to clear out some space in the shop so that I could move some of our "project" furniture being stored in the garage out to the shop.  It has been getting cold here in the Ozarks and I was determined not to spend another winter morning scraping the night's precipitation of my car windows.  Up until this last weekend, we have had this oversized two-car garage with only one car and a whole lot of stuff being stored in it.  Though, I'm happy to announce that after just 367 days of owning this place, I finally have spaces for both our main vehicles indoors.  :)

With that not-so-little project out of the way, I'm happily back to doing '59 stuff. Yesterday, I worked out a deal with a guy who was selling this front bumper on Craigslist.  It's for an 87-91 GMC van but it fits beautifully across the front of the '59.  Those vans were called a "square body" which works out perfect on the very flat front end of my truck.  Before I bought it though, I wasn't sure how it would look on my truck.  There was no way I was going to drag my truck to Springfield to dry fit it to see and it was highly unlikely that the seller would let me borrow it until I made a decision.  It's in situations like these that GIMP comes to the rescue.

I went online and found a photo of one of these vans that was taken at roughly the same angle as another photo I found of a '59 without a front bumper.  With GIMP, I copied the front bumper from the van and superimposed it on the '59.  I had to do some resizing, rotating, and perspective shifting to get it all lined up and believable.  With the end result looking fairly convincing, it was easy for me to make a decision on whether or not I thought this bumper would be a good look for my truck.  I decided that it was and proceeded to wheel and deal for a good price.

I also found a nice chrome rear bumper yesterday, as well.  It was priced to sell for sure but I was the first one to contact the guy and still managed to knock the price down a bit.  The guy I bought it from couldn't remember which of his many vehicles he's owned in the last several years that it came from.  I don't really care, I guess.  It's in great shape.  Most of the '57-'60 model Fords didn't come with a rear bumper.  It must have been an option at the dealerships because I've seen several online that do have uniform rear bumpers, but the vast majority of ones that I see in person or online have no rear bumper.  Some people even go without a front bumper.  I don't like the look of the front without one, though.  It's a bit too cartoony and feels lacking.

I like the rear without a bumper just fine but I have a good reason for why I wanted one anyway.  When I drove the '59 it was at stock height.  I was able to reach over the side of the bed and touch the bottom with ease.  I could grab almost anything out of the bed without getting in it.  But, now, with it's lift on the '84, the top of the bed comes up to my armpit.  So, not only will the rear bumper provide some balance of chrome from the front to the back, but it will also make getting in and out of the bed a world easier by providing a step.  And, of course, it will serve its actual purpose of protecting the truck from potential fender benders, I hope won't happen.

So, in the above's poor example of a well-lit photograph, I've got the bumper being propped up to almost the height it will be when installed. I couldn't get it all the way in place because I have to notch out the bumper on each side as indicated by the blue line in this photo.  This cutout will make the bumper appear as if it were custom for this truck.  Once cut, I can slide it up another couple inches and there won't be any gap left between the bed and the bumper.  That will make it look a lot more natural.

The rear bumper already has brackets that appear like I can just bolt them right on to the back of the truck's frame.  I'll know for sure once I make the aforementioned notches in the bumper.  The front, on the other hand, is going to need brackets.  I removed my OEM '59 brackets and they won't fit.  However, I think that I can modify them.  More on that later, I'm sure.

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'59 DIY Instrument Panel

Example of a '59 instrument panel

One big challenge I was sort of dreading even thinking about with the 59' body to '84 frame/drivetrain, was how I was going to get the electronics to work.  Obviously, the '84 wiring harness wasn't going to just plug into the '59 gauges.  And even if it did, then I'd still have the minimal information that the '59 had: gauges for speed, fuel level, engine temperature, and two dummy lights for the generator and oil pressure.  That limited knowledge would leave me guessing what's going on underneath the hood more than I would like.

Forum photo with four new analog gauges accompanying the OEM speedometer

I found a forum online where a guy shows how he kept his original speedometer by buying an adapter to the sender, and then replaced the other four gauges with new gauges from Summit Racing.  His OEM dummy lights were replaced by proper analog gauges and looked great.  I loved the finished look and quickly rushed over to Summit Racing to look for some gauges.  I found them.  And, they added up quick.  I am not prepared to spend $350 on replacement gauges.  My original plan of keeping everything one can see looking like a '59 has been tossed out in favor of getting everything working properly and functional on a nickel & dime budget.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money when I already two perfectly operational instrument panels.  Surely, there was a low budget alternative.

My solution was to make a new instrument panel plate to match my '59 dash from scratch and insert the gauge cluster from the '84 in it.  This way, I can simply plug in the '84 wiring harness to it and BOOM, working gauges!  I took a piece of thick aluminum plate that was left in our shop by the previous owner of the property.  I traced out the shape of the '59 instrument panel plate on it and cut it to size with metal shears.  I cleaned up the edges afterwards with an angle grinder, cut out the holes by drilling 3/8" holes in all the corners to the "windows" then connecting those holes with a metal blade in my jigsaw.  Then, I used a steel brush in my drill to give it a brushed aluminum look.  It's a little rough and I'll spend some more time on it cleaning up the cutouts.  By no means is this the finished product.  I also, haven't decided if I will leave it like this or if I will paint it.  It's pretty reflective right now which may hinder visibility of the gauges while driving.  But, due to the angle of it while installed, I don't expect direct reflection of sunlight to the driver's eyes.  So, I'll probably leave it unpainted and try it out.  I can always pull it off real quick and paint it later.

I also have 5 indicator lights that were part of the '84 dash.  These were in the rectangular holes above the gauges shown in the photo here.  My issue is that the little plastic pieces with the words on them were long gone when I bought the truck.  I'm fairly certain that the outside ones were for the left and right turn signal indicator lights.  I know for a fact (because of a photo I saw online) that one of them is the seat belt indicator lamp.  I will refrain from installing that one.  I don't know what the other two lights are for.  Perhaps, engine light and high beam indicator?  That sounds logical.  I'll figure it out somehow.  Either way, that means I have four more little holes to cut in my DIY instrument panel plate.  I'll put the turn signal indicators near the top corners and then put one of each of the remaining indicators (whatever they are) centered on each side.

I like that I chose to use the OEM '84 gauge cluster because I'll like having a tachometer and analog gauges in place of no tachometer and the '59 dummy lights.  I think that the gauges will look a lot better in the '59 than they did in the '84, too.  Ah, the 80's and its love affair with wood grain paneling as far as the eye could see.

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'59 Ford Inspired DIY Forge

I bought a piece of 3/16" thick stock steel last week to make a couple of custom brackets to mount my '59 bed to my '84 frame.  These are the last of the brackets that I need for the body.  Woo hoo!  Mounting the body has proven to be a challenge and I'm glad that at least this part of the project is coming to a close.  It's been a fun learning experience, but I'm ready for the part that actually begins to make the truck functional again.

I already have the front two custom bed mounts and the rear two custom bed mounts in place and bolted.  The bed isn't going anywhere.  That's for sure.  However, I wanted to give the bed two more mounts in the center to ensure that there can be no allowance for warping it in the event I wind up carrying a heavy load which, inevitably no doubt, I will.

I measured and marked the pieces of metal where I wanted a 90-degree bend.  I began to shape it using a hammer and a large, thick piece of angle iron as an anvil.  I started to get the bend, but it wasn't going to be anywhere near a 90-degree angle.  It was going to curve instead with a fairly large radius regardless of how much I would try to convince it otherwise with the hammer.  I needed heat.

I watched a couple YouTube videos of people creating makeshift forges of their own with some pretty commonly found household items.  I looked around a bit and realized that I could make one.  If for no other reason at all, I'm glad I did this exercise just to know that it is now an option for me to create other items in the future.

The video is a small non-polished documentary of me trying it out.  I had never done this before and I openly admit in the video that I don't know what I'm doing.  However, it was a success.  I needed a compound bend with both brackets.  One is a mirror of the other one.  It's hard to tell from this photo, but I got the exact compound bend I was aiming for.  The only way I was going to get this 3/16" steel to bend this sharply was with heat or a very large metal brake.  Since I have no such metal brake (nor can afford one) but can make heat, I only truly had the one option.

With the '59 body mounted and ready to go, my next step is likely getting the steering column installed and secured to the dash.  Keep an eye out for the next update.

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'59 Progress

The actual application of the front cab mounts have worked out exactly as planned.  I'm really happy with them.  They're really stiff and give the cab just the right amount of support.  I was a little worried that the offset would allow the cab to have too much vertical flex, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the cab to be just as solidly mounted to the new frame as it was on the old one.

I made the upper bushings out of an old tire.  This is an old trick used by all the older motorheads.  The resulting "bushing" is a little stiffer than the original rubber ones.  You can stack them like shims in the quantity that you need to get just the right height.  All you need is an old tire you don't mind destroying, a drill, and a 2" hole saw.  Also, just a tip, I stopped just short of cutting the tire all the way through with the hole saw all the way around.  If you cut it all the way then the resulting bushing goes up into the hole saw and has to be laboriously pried out.  Stopping just short allowed me to pull the drill out and then easily cut the last remaining threads with a utility knife.  I love a time saver.

The rear cab mounts are as solid as a rock.  I used two spare bumper brackets I had lying around.  I painstakingly managed to long bend both brackets to a 90 degree angle.  The cab is now level and fully secure to the frame.  Afterwards, I started leveling out the bed that my friend, Rodney, and I wrestled into place last Wednesday.  There's a line that runs the entire length of the 57-60 model Ford trucks that helps to get everything in proper alignment.  It also betrays you if you didn't line things up properly, so I'm taking my time getting it just right.

This part is getting pretty exciting because it's beginning to take shape and actually look like a truck again.  I can't hardly believe it but it's been since May of 2014 that I initially dismantled the body from its original frame.  Two and half years ago!  Some people don't own the same vehicle for that long let alone just the body parts to one.  So, needless to say, I'm getting more and more motivated with every new step that gets accomplished.

Check back soon for the next update.

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'59 Ford Update

Firewall cutout to accommodate engine placement.

I was pretty nervous about cutting into my Ford, but after checking the measurements over and over again I finally worked up the courage to do it.  It was easier to cut than I thought it would be.  Between my angle grinder and my reciprocating saw, I knocked it out in about 30 minutes.

With the freshly added cutout, I was able to walk the cab into the position it will be in when mounted.  So, the next step was to get the precise measurements of the front cab mount offsets. 

Theoretical driver-side front custom cab mount ('59 cab to '84 frame).

This was a little tricky to do in a three-dimensional environment where there's an offset in every direction, but I figured it out.  As sketched out here, I'm using large steel brackets I bought from Race Brothers to cover two of the three dimensional offsets (forward, inward).  It's fabricated out of 3/8" steel so it's total overkill but better safe than sorry.  These brackets will be mounted to the original 84's front cab mounts and turned back towards the frame and towards the front so that the 59's cab mount points will be directly above the brackets' centers.

Borrowing some metal from a useless Chevy. :)

Another challenge was reinforcement.  The 59's front cab mounts, like pretty much all trucks up through the 80's, were exposed to the front wheels so decades of water being thrown up by the front tires had rusted away much of the original structural integrity of the mounts.  It was necessary to add some sheet metal to the inside corners of the cab just above the mounts.  The passenger-side mount was so bad that I had to fabricate a bracket out of 1/4" steel to wrap the underside of the original mount.  Luckily for me, I was able to pick up a '79 Chevy K20 tailgate for only $10 on Craigslist last Friday.  I wasted no time cutting out of it the metal I needed to reinforce my floor pans.  It requires more work getting metal from this since I have to "unshape" it before I can shape it, but getting this much automotive grade steel for only $10 is a no-brainer.  Already, it's saved me about $10.  Thick steel sheet metal isn't at all cheap.

I'm pretty proud of the floor pan reinforcements.  This exercise has also managed to make me pretty confident that I can effectively make a removable cover for the cutout in the firewall.  After picking up the drill bit I need today, I should be able to drill the holes in the mounting brackets and get the cab off it's temporary stands and mounted on the frame where it belongs.

Driver-side floor reinforcement.

Passenger-side reinforcement.

I should have it mounted for my next blog.  I'll take some pics of them and hopefully they will look like my drawing above.  Until next time...

Grinding on metal makes for a pretty cool photo opportunity.

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'59 Ford Project Update

In my last blog on this subject, I talked about the removal of the '84 F-150 body from its frame complete with some photos.  Since then, I sold the complete body to a young guy from Carthage, MO.  Pictured here is the body sold, all loaded up, and being carted away.  I got a good price for it and was thrilled to have both the cash in hand and get all the body parts out of my shop and out of my way.

That was almost 3 months ago.  You'd think that I'd be eager to get to work on my '59, but my wife's birthday took priority.  The truck got rolled out of the shop to make room for all the work I would soon put into making things for her party.  More on that in an upcoming blog, I'm sure.

Back to work on the '59, I changed my strategy some.  Before, my plan was to clean and paint the entire frame before putting the truck together.  If I were building a show truck that would be a great strategy but since I am building something to be driven and used, it seems more a monumental unnecessary effort.  So, I remounted the newly-painted fuel tanks back under the frame and got to work hoisting the cab into the air.  I spent a lot of time trying to accomplish putting together a system for lifting the cab while I would be on the ground, but neither of my two theoretically-sound designs realistically worked.  In the end, I hoisted it using pretty much the same system I used to remove the '84 cab off the frame in the first place.  The big difference was that this time I was up in the rack operating the winch on a platform I threw together rather than dangerously standing on a ladder right by the cab being lifted.

With the cab roughly in place on the frame, I measured how the front clip and bed would line up to the wheel wells.  They didn't.  My measurements would require the cab to be scooted forward seven inches.  The problem is that the firewall-side of the engine is sitting about two inches from the firewall.  In an effort to gain stability and better handling through improved weight distribution, Ford began mounting the engines closer to the center of the vehicle in later model pickups in comparison to the 57-60 model.  As you can see from these two photos, the '84 cab has a nice indentation in the firewall to accept the engine being mounted further back on the frame.  The '59 doesn't have this.

So the best solution I have is to cut out a section of the '59 firewall.  Then, I'll have to fabricate a panel to cover that hole.  Initially, this reminds me of the E-150 vans I once owned.  The engines of the E-150 vans intrude so much into the cab that they have a removable panel so that it's easier to service the engine from the inside of the cab.  What I have to do to the '59 will not be near this dramatic.  It should only be about four to five inches deep of a bump.  In fact, from the inside of the cab it would look similar to how the '84 looks in this picture.  The '59 has no bump, but I'll have to change that.  However, unlike the '84, I believe that I'll make my panel removable so that the engine is much more accessible when in need of maintenance.  Also, the '84 bump extends into the floor in the form of a raised hump to make room for the top of the transmission and driveshaft. I won't need a raised floor in the '59 like shown in the '84 because I am forced to give the whole body a minimum 3" body lift.  This is due to the fact that the '59 frame rails are flat from the front to the back.  The '84 frame, however, has a 3" drop between the axles.  So, to get everything to mount and line up I have to ignore the drop and raise the cab to level out with the bed and front clip.  This will consequently remove the need to fabricate a matching hump in the floor of the cab since the '59 cab will sit above that requirement.

Cutting into the firewall is no small job.  I'll be busy with that for a while since I will want to measure thirty times before I cut.  I want to remove the least amount of firewall as necessary but ensure that any required maintenance has the space it needs to be performed whether that be the removal of the valve covers, spark plugs, etc.  Once that is complete, I can then move my cab into its future location and start working on fabricating my custom cab mounts.  I'll post an update here when I have one.

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Nice Weekend

I really enjoyed this past weekend.  It was jam packed full of things that I really enjoyed.  So much so, in fact, that it's almost hard to know where to start.  I suppose that chronologically is best, so here goes...

The weekend before last, while camping in Texas, I managed to bust a hole in the passenger tail light of Jodi's car.  I bumped it with the cooler's plastic wheel while trying to load the cooler back in the truck of the car.  The plastic of the tail light was the weaker of the two plastics, evidently.  It wasn't a hard bump but was more than sufficient to require a new tail light.  I say all this to say that the blinker also quit working and made me nervous because the bulb looked fine.  However, I bought some replacement bulbs after work on Friday and that was the problem after all.  So, that was a relief.  A good start to the weekend.

Goodbye, 84 body.  We hardly knew each other.

Saturday morning was a nice homemade breakfast with my family followed by the sale of the body to my 1984 Ford F150 at full asking price.  Woo hoo!  As mentioned in the last blog, I had it listed for sale on Craigslist and while I had talked to lots of people who claimed they wanted to buy it, I started to wonder if I would get it sold since no one had made any effort to actually see it in person yet.  I'm glad to make the space and liquidate the unnecessary asset.

I had time to mow and weed eat which is a huge chore, but one that I kind of enjoy doing.  While doing the weed eating, I listened to Leeland's new album, Invisible.  It was available to stream for free for the weekend only.  It's a great album!  We went ahead and pre-ordered it.  It is set to be available on July 22.  Afterwards, some family showed up to come with us to a church fireworks display to which our neighbors had invited us.  It was good to get to hang out with them and get to know them better.  They're a really nice family.  The children got to play on inflatables, the fireworks were fun to see, we had some good food, and got to spend some time with family and new friends.

Lyric successfully frog hopping his way across the balls.

Sunday afternoon was a small watch party at Qdoba to see the Euro 2016 final match between underdog Portugal and host country France battling it out on the pitch.  Portugal's star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was injured shortly after the game began and despite making a valiant effort to continue on through the pain, he reluctantly and emotionally called to be taken off.  Without their captain, Portugal held off France well into extra time when a Portuguese substitute managed to blast in a goal from almost 25 yards out.  It was an unlikely goal from an unlikely source, but it was the only one of the match and it gave Portugal their first ever major tournament trophy while breaking a 41-year run of France defeating them.  It was certainly an amazing game to see as well as a satisfactory finish to a summer of international soccer watching.  With Copa America complete and now with Euro 2016 over, I go back to being a non sports-watcher.  Not that I'm complaining!  While I enjoy the tournaments, I'm equally looking forward to all the things I will have time to do now.

After the watch party and a stop at Lowe's for some trim, we headed down to Busiek State Park to hang out and let the kids play.  It was a nice finish to a nice weekend. :)

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1984 Ford F-150 before I did anything to it.

Two months ago, I wrote about how I brought the '59 body home from it's temporary resting place.  It seems like yesterday, but doesn't everything?  Either way, I've started the project of reviving the '59 Ford by putting its body (the only thing I have left of it) on the frame of the '84.

It's been going pretty well so far.  I have the entire '84 body off and listed for sale on Craigslist.  I have had several people interested in it, but no trigger-pullers yet.  It's a really decent body, actually.  I never cared much for the seventh generation (80-86) F-series Ford trucks.  Of all the different models, it was my least favorite.  But, owning this one has changed my mind a bit.  Fourth generation F-series has taken it's place as least liked.  That's as far as I will go.  In my opinion, it's far too modern in styling to be a classic, yet it is also too dated to be considered modern.  It's in that no-man's land in-between nice and neat.

Removing the bed.

Back to the project, I rather easily got everything off but then felt the brakes get hit when I started on the cab.  Taking on a project like this takes a certain level of craziness.  Stupidity may certainly substitute, as well, but all along the way, one just has to hope that it's the former and not the latter.  Once to the cab, I started to get a bit overwhelmed when trying to figure out all the wiring.  The only solution was to completely dismantle the dash.  There was no way I was going to make sense out of any of it without seeing the big picture.  So, that's what I did.

Everything removed.  Cab resting on back of frame.

Here's the cab precariously hanging from my makeshift lift system comprised of pallet racking, several well-used and fraying ratchet straps, and a come-along.  It's partially sitting on the back of the frame for peace of mind.  I left it like this overnight because I understood that someone was coming the next day to buy it from me.  But, since that deal fell through, I rolled out the frame and lowered it back to earth. I half-suspected that I would find it on the ground the next morning full of broken glass but, much to my relief, that wasn't the case.

With the entire '84 body removed, I have dropped both fuel tanks and started the tedious task of cleaning the frame and preparing it for paint.  This will take some time, but I've got a pretty good little jump on it, so I suspect that if I keep up the pace, I may have the whole thing painted in the next couple weeks.  Then, I'll get to start the task of placing the '59 cab on it.  That's super exciting but equally as intimidating.  There will be a ton of measuring involved and some customization to make the body mounts work.

Rear of the frame with rear gas tank.  So much cleaning to do!

Once the frame is all painted, my plan is as follows:

1.  Jack up the frame to get it all level and resting on blocks.
2.  Set the cab on the frame where I think it should go.
3.  Attach the front clip to the cab.
4.  Line everything up where it should go using shims.
5.  Measure all the gaps at the connection points so I know what thickness of bushings to get.
6.  See where the current mounts are located versus where the cab will require them to be.

Hopefully, with some Ozark ingenuity, I can make the current cab mounts work for the '59.  If they won't, then I'll just have to add some new mounts where I need them.  Only time will tell. Until my next update!

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Hot Wheels Collection Organization

From the blog: a Low and behold life (link in 1st paragraph)

My wife found a really nice solution to store our son's HUGE Hot Wheels collection online.  I can't recall if it was Pinterest or Google Images where she found the photo, but regardless of where it was seen, it's true source was from a blog called a Lo and behold life.  They repurposed a wooden shoe rack from Bed Bath and Beyond into a really cool and useful shelf system for their twins' toy cars.

We decided to give the DIY project a shot. The shoe racks were available at our local Bed Bath and Beyond store, so we picked those up last Friday.  We commenced to painting them the following day using our new handy dandy Wagner paint sprayer.  It took Jodi some trial and error with the sprayer to figure out what works best, but she had everything painted in record time.  She also used a ton of paint in record time.  I expect that we will get the settings all optimized the more we use the sprayer.  However, right now, it appears that there's a trade off of paint usage to speed and ease of application.  Maybe, I'll do an official review of this sprayer once we have used it a lot more and figured out how to better balance ease and efficiency.

We hung our shelves differently than how our inspiration did.  They connected two shelves in tandem so that each shelf was wider than the cars.  We stuck with one shelf because the vast majority of the cars easily straddle the single shelf.  By straddling the shelf, the cars don't roll around when you take them down or put them up like they would if they were sitting on their wheels.  This makes them more stable on the shelf.  And, as a bonus, we were able to make twice as many shelves as we would have otherwise.

With the cars having to straddle the shelves, however, I was going to have to space the shelf out from the wall about a half inch.  I could have bought spacers or used washers or something, but the cheapest and most customizable option was to get a 30" PEX water supply line from Home Depot (pictured to the right) and then cut it up with a utility knife to make the perfect length spacers for this application.  One of these lines is only $1.58 at my local Home Depot store.

Here's how our shelves turned out.  Lyric loves them and meticulously placed all his cars on the shelves himself with pride.  Now he has easy access to all his cars.  He can see them all, so he can pick which ones he wants to play with.  And, he'll have fun putting his cars up when he is done.

We also built a bunch of shelves out of pallet wood that was being discarded at my work.  I snatched it all up  and Lyric and I made a bunch of shabby-chic shelves in no time.  

All the shelves displaying his Hot Wheels collection.

A little more detail to show the shelves spaced off the wall.

   

Two of the shelves we made from pallet wood being held up by standard shelf brackets.

  

Four more super-long shelves for the craft room.

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The '59 Comes Home

The '74 with the '59 stacked up on the trailer.

When we sold our house last December we bought another.  We did this on the same day so for a few hours we were homeless.  While, obviously, a few hours of being homeless during a nice afternoon doesn't cause any suffering or struggle like that typically associated with homelessness, it does, however, cause an incredible amount of work for a family moving from one 4-bedroom home to another.

We had two options:

1. Rent as many U-Haul trucks as it would take to put everything on trucks while we closed on both properties. (Probably would have required 2 of the largest available trucks.)
2. Rent as many storage units as it would take to put everything in storage while we closed on both properties.

Delivering a load from storage to our new shop.

We went with option #2 and rented storage units.  It took four of them and we really put the '74 Ford to work.  Our reasoning was simple but the work was very difficult.  This option forced us to move everything twice, once into the storage units and once back out.  The simple reasoning for choosing this option was that any number of things could have arisen on closing day that would have caused a delay and an unplanned reschedule.  If everything we owned at that time was sitting in U-Haul trucks, we would be forced to move it into storage at that time to return the trucks or pay for extended truck rental.  Either way, it could have been financially devastating if a delay occurred.  But, one didn't.  Oh well.  Better safe than sorry, right?

One thing that didn't get put into storage was the '59 Ford.  It went to my wife's aunt's field behind her house.  I never intended to leave it there beyond a week from moving, but you know what they say about good intentions.  Lyric and I made two trips there last night to collect all but the front clip.

It is exciting to have the '59 back at home with me.  It's now making friends with the '84 sitting mere feet away that will soon selflessly donate it's chassis and power train to reviving the '59, upgrading it with 25-year newer equipment.

Lyric, once again, was a big help.  He's become my little go-to for help moving big ticket items that require engineering-minds and tools to move in place of brawn.  Couldn't have done it without him.

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'59 Ford Version 2.0

In May of 2014, I wrote about and posted pictures of the removal of the '59's body from its frame.  I laid out my plans to take that body and put it on a newer truck's frame to gain all the pretty little things I wanted for the '59 such as power disk brakes, power steering, a beefier frame and suspension better suited for towing, a carbureted 302 engine, etc.

In that blog, I shared this screenshot of a Craigslist ad displaying just the kind of truck I thought I needed.  I'm glad I didn't have the means at the time to purchase a truck because I would've wound up with this truck or one just like it and it wouldn't have worked.

Much to my disappointment but also relief that I hadn't already made the mistake of making a purchase, I found out through online forums and one particularly helpful website that my '59 had a 118" wheelbase (measured distance from the center of the front wheel to the center of the rear wheel).  The '59 is a long bed so, naturally, I was in the market for a long bed.  But, not all long beds were created equally, I have since learned.  My requirements for power steering and power brakes meant that the truck I bought would have to be a '73 or newer since that's when they started making those things standard.  The problem is that in that time span Ford had increased the stability of their long bed pickups by increasing the wheelbase from 118" to 133".  If I had bought a long bed, I would've been horrified when finding that there would be a 16" space between my cab and the bed when putting the '59 body on it instead of a normal 1" gap.

If I would've done that, the only way to fix it is to chop the frame shorter, but that is super complicated and precision work that I am not qualified to do.  Also, that requires shortening the driveshaft, replacing brake lines, etc, etc.  Much more work than necessary.  And many more expenses, at that.

The solution:  Look for a short bed.  Short bed ford pickups with the standard cab, starting in '73, had a 117" wheelbase all the way through '96.  With only an inch difference, no one will notice that the wheels are each 1/2" closer to the center of the vehicle.

The requirement of a carburetor though would give me a maximum year of '84.  In '85, fuel injection became standard.  Carburetors are less fuel efficient and get worse fuel mileage, but they are adjustable and easy to work on.  They require no computers or sensors to make your motor run correctly unlike fuel injection systems.  With computers and a multitude of sensors, diagnosing engine troubles becomes a sophisticated guessing game where the needless replacement of parts is common and emotions can run high.  In contrast, carburetors get the job done even if they need some adjusting.

I also discovered on this online forum that I should avoid an '80 through early '82 Ford because they were made with what is now referred to as the "swiss cheese" frame.  Ford did this to lighten the vehicle,  I hear, but it also significantly weakened it. A quick Google search will return many photos of trucks with twisted frames.  Ford learned from their mistake in subsequent years.

So, I was looking for a good-running carbureted 302, automatic, short bed, standard cab Ford truck that was a '73-'79 or '83-'84.  Oh, and did I mention super cheap, too?

With all the requirements I had, it was proving to be something of a unicorn, it seemed.  Short beds weren't all that common in those years to begin with.  And, for good reason.  I don't like them.  4x8 sheets are common in construction from drywall to plywood to foam sheets, etc.  You know why?  Because, it's what fits in a truck bed.  Granted, you can haul them in a short bed with the tailgate down.  But, nothing beats loading a stack of drywall sheets in your long bed truck and casually shutting the tailgate.  No need for straps or flags.  Just a lift of the tailgate and you're done.  Now, you could argue that the long bed was designed for the standard size sheet of construction material instead of the other way 'round.  But, I could, in turn, call you names to your face.  So there.  ;)

After some good long searching, I finally found it.  A 1984 Ford F-150 with a good-running carbureted 302, automatic, short bed, standard cab.  It was a little more than what I wanted to pay, but I got a little more than what I expected to get, too.  It came with a nice "mechless" head unit with remote, 400w amp, and quality 6x9 speakers so I'm all set to put a good little sound system in the '59.  It also came with a full set of custom 8" wide wheels with 33" tires (seen on the rear only the picture here).  The tires are pretty worn, but they'll do until I'm ready to put on some new ones.  I love the lifted look.and it has me considering installing a 3" body lift as I put the '59 body on it.

The '84 body is in really great shape.  I will list the body at two prices once I get it off, all together at a good price as well as individually at a higher piece price.  I suspect that I should have no trouble selling it since I have personally seen lots of body parts being sold quick on Craigslist for these models in all my searching.  Especially, in the good shape that this one is in.  That will help to offset the cost of buying the truck in the first place.

This is what I'm going for.  I don't know if I'm settled on the paint scheme, but right now I feel like this it what I will likely do.  This is the original two-tone paint scheme and I think that it shows off the style of the truck the best.  The original designers knew what they were doing to highlight the features of the shape.  When these are painted a solid color, they look good, for sure.  But, I feel like the solid color lacks proper definition of the unique shape of the body.  I'm not a huge fan of red, normally.  But, for some reason, I'm not sure what, it's red that stands out as the color I like most for this truck.

Here are some other colors.  What do you think?  Leave a comment of your favorite.  I promise not to call you names to your face. ;)

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