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49 F3 Truck

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  • 49 F3 Truck

    Well, it happened again - this one followed me home, this was my college roommates Father's truck, lots of sentimentality around it. Unfortunately we lost Dave Senior to Cancer last December, this was one of his toys that had not moved in many years, we had to load it onto the trailer with a bobcat and tow strap....

    There's always something new to learn.

  • #2
    So far, I've gotten the 1972 302 2 barrel running (originally a flat head, which is long gone) that required draining the nastiest ethyl-methyl-hydrocarbon rubish from the fuel tank, my nostrils took days to recover from the stench, it was the worst kind of foul, and nearly rootbeer brown in color.
    New fuel pump.
    Rebuilt the motorcraft 2V carb.
    Put a pertronix 1 I had laying around into the stock distributor, bypassed the ballast resistor.
    A bit of fresh fuel and VRROOOOOOM...... it ticked and smoked for a while, but then settled into a nice idle, with the oil pressure stable at 30psi.

    That's when I noticed the coolant leak.

    New aluminum radiator is waiting to be installed.
    Last edited by milner351; October 17, 2018, 10:20 AM.
    There's always something new to learn.

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    • #3
      Then - I started looking into the brakes.

      The rear axle appears to have been swapped in from a newer 8 lug truck, if the tag is correct, it's got a 3.55 limited slip differential.
      The drums turn over by hand - so - I'm going to leave those alone for now (and miracle of miracles, both bleeders broke loose on the back of the wheel cylinders)

      The fronts - well - they have put up an epic battle.

      So far I've only gotten the left side taken apart - that required the blue tip wrench, air hammer, and I still ended up cutting the drum off with a cut off wheel, allot of air hammering, prying, and a few new cuss words.

      It took some searching, but I figured out that it was not worth trying to rebuild the stock 8 lug front drum brakes.

      I don't want to have miss-matched wheels, so - some googling found me this:

      https://www.tsmmfg.net/ford-truck-8-...-kit-1849.html

      I just talked with them on the phone and got the kit ordered, we'll see how things go once I go to install it. It's all new parts, not rebuilt, and they're in Colorado, USA, so I'm hopeful things will go together smoothly. They also have some interesting Watts linkage options I'd not seen before.
      Last edited by milner351; October 17, 2018, 10:22 AM.
      There's always something new to learn.

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      • #4
        That's a sweet truck, we are going to have to start calling John "Mr. Drivesdifferentcareverydayoftheweek!"
        http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
        1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

        PB 60' 1.49
        ​​​​​​

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        • #5
          My paps first truck was a 49 F3, I'd love to own one!

          That's a beautiful rig, congrats!
          If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

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          • #6
            Click image for larger version  Name:	IMG_20180716_193159.jpg Views:	1 Size:	972.4 KB ID:	1218438This is one of those completely unplanned things, but it was the right thing to do.
            Unfortunately, just a few months after Dave's passing a neighbor of the family was trying to talk the widow out of the truck for an insultingly low price.
            Dave Junior called and asked if I had any interest.
            This family pretty much adopted me when I was in school, I've known them since '88, I felt it was a way I could thank them for all they'd done for me.

            I'll probably end up selling it once I get it road worthy and have a little fun with it, time will tell.

            The leaf spring packs on the rear axle look like something from a dump truck!

            How about the "bend it yourself" corrugated exhaust pipe - that wraps around the fuel pump and oil filter? Yea - there's some work to do, but it looks great from 10ft away!
            Attached Files
            Last edited by milner351; October 17, 2018, 10:19 AM.
            There's always something new to learn.

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            • #7
              dang man, you deserve this kind of good stuff, but I'm pretty jealous
              Doing it all wrong since 1966

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              • #8
                I couldn't let that one go . Nice truck !
                Previously HoosierL98GTA

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                • #9
                  The wife said she always wanted an old truck....oh boy!

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                  • #10
                    I love it!!
                    1997 Ranger 5.0L HO, GT40 heads/tubular intake, 65mm TB, 1.7rr, B303, Tri-Y headers, dual 2.5" exhaust, Flowmaster mufflers, T5 trans, Tri-Ax shifter, CenterForce Dual Friction clutch, 8.8 Traction Lok 3.55 gears, Cobra 13" front brakes, Cobra 11.65" rear discs.
                    1997 Mustang GT
                    sigpic


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                    • #11
                      Guys - John is one of The Good Guys and deserves whatever good luck comes his way. ME would LOVE this truck (but no extra $$).

                      Dan

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by milner351 View Post
                        , both bleeders broke loose on the back of the wheel cylinders.
                        My friend, I was about to call your honesty or vision into question, but then I read on to the front drum debacle.......and it appears balance was restored to the universe. Soldier onwards!

                        Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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                        • #13
                          Blue tip wrench.........love it. Like calling a crescent wrench a Mexican socket set.
                          Ed, Mary, & 'Earl'
                          HRPT LongHaulers, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.


                          Inside every old person is a young person wondering, "what the hell happened?"

                          The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. -Vince Lombardi

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by oletrux4evr View Post
                            Blue tip wrench.........love it. Like calling a crescent wrench a Mexican socket set.
                            As a youth I heard many names for the torch. Blue tip wrench, fire wrench, hot wrench, etc. And that's without Googling it - I'm sure there are a ton more.

                            Dan

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                            • #15
                              Well - last night I managed to get the driver side front drum brake assembly off without having to cut the drum, but I did have to use the flame wrench to remove the three tapered slot head screws that retain the drum to the spindle.... it's been a while since I "washed out" a fastener with the torch, thankfully in this case the melting point of the fastener was much lower than the stuff around it, so it was pretty easy. Even after that much heat was introduced to the assembly, it still took quite a bit of hammering from the air hammer to get the drum to break loose and come off.

                              At this point I have the front disc conversion ordered.
                              In the assembly instructions for that kit, they mention the shocks must be moved from the rear of the straight axle to the front in order to make room for the caliper when the wheels turn. Swapping the shock attachment at the axle is easy, unbolt the shock, and the shock mount, flip it around and bolt it on the other side. The upper mount is something else. I'm not sure how that's going to work out yet. I think I'll wait until I have the disc brake parts in hand to mock things up and see how it works out. At this point I think it may be easier to leave the shocks where they are and move the caliper to the 10 o'clock position instead of the 2 o'clock as proposed in the directions. We'll see how much flexibility the caliper brackets have built into them.

                              On to the master cylinder. From the factory, this was a single reservoir master cylinder 4 wheel drum system. I'm converting it to front disc, leaving the huge by large rear drums in place (full floating 8 lug HD Dana 60 rear axle from what I'm guessing is a 60's or 70's era truck).

                              The master cylinder is mounted under the floor... .I have no desire to change that. I'd like to put in a dual reservoir master cylinder set up for front disc rear drum. I've used a granada master cylinder for the falcon that worked out fine, but I'll have to look at that carefully to see if it will work with the under floor inside the frame mounting set up (and still have through floor access for filling) I'd also like to keep the brakes manual. It's an old truck after all, and a one ton at that. I don't expect it to ride, turn or stop without some effort.
                              There's always something new to learn.

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