I suppose this thread is a bit over due for an update. Sill piddling away with the project as I get time. I decided that instead of dumping a bunch of money into rebuilding the OG flathead 226 straight 6, I would swap in a 300 inline 6 and a 5 speed manual trans. This should end up making for a much more usable and drivable truck in the end. The 300 is far from a hot rod motor, but is known for its dependability and torque ratings, plus they are cheap to work on and buy parts for as they made them from the mid 60's to the mid 90's.
I ended up buying a running 1995 ford F150 with a 300 straight 6 mated to a M5R2 5 speed (overdrive) for $600 to pull the motor from. The frame and suspension were rotted beyond use, but I drove it to the spot where I gutted it in the driveway. I then sold the rolling chassis for $200. Also you learn something new every day. This day I learned that when you pull the driveshaft all the trans oil will dump out the tail shaft of the trans.... ope.. add $30 worth of floor dry to to tally...
The 1995 model was fuel injected, and I didn't want to mess with any of that for the sake of what this truck will be, so I found a guy with an earlier carburetor intake for free fiddy. I'll run this with a factory carter weber yf carb. Again not a horsepower gainer, just simple dependability for this setup.
Since the Fuel Injected engine came with a distributor that operates off of the computer, I picked up an HEI unit to run in its place. Simple one wire and a vacuum line hookup to operate. Im also going to do a cosmetic cleanup on the engine with fresh seals, but dont plan to really open anything up as it was a good running motor with no ticks and 142k miles. I am however replacing the timing gears while I have it out. The factory ones are phenolic (which are quieter) but are known to get pretty brittle after a few decades. $45 for steel ones are cheap insurance while its apart. If it needs rebuilt later on, so be it, but for now it aint broke so..
One of the other bits Ive been looking for over the last several years has been a Dana 60 rear end out of a 67-72 F 250 which is basically a bolt in replacement. The stock 1949 rear end has huge 14" drums that make running 16" wheels impossible. The stock 17's have the look I want, BUT they are the 2 piece "widowmaker" rh5 design that was outlawed in the 70's.
I found this rear end an hour away down in Columbus for $100. The brakes need a full service, but I was still happy to even find one at this point. (I think the whole cash for clunkers thing really put a hurtin on finding this old iron) The other nice thing is that this one has 3.73 gears, which linked to the O.D. trans im installing will make this thing much more happy on the road than the factory 4.86 timken.
Also it seems that when you are rebuilding it on the bench, the 40 year old rear end oil attracts 4 year olds as finger paint when you turn around for 2 minutes...
As mentioned before the 17" OG wheels are a safety issue, but I like the look of them for the truck. The Dana 60 will allow me to run 16's and as luck would have it, I found a set of wheels from a 1953 F250 for $250. Another think that may not be as common to find as youd think. I have also been after a set of these for some time now. the wheel center is the same as the factor 17's and will even accept the factory hub caps if I ever track a set down, but they are mounted to 16" one piece rims. The tires will eventually need replaced due to age, but Im sure theyll be good enough for a little bit once the truck is ready for some shakedowns.
Thats the condensed "Catch Up" for now. More to come.
