'51 F-1 job

[jaybee]

Who doesn't love an old truck?

[idrivejunk]

Everybody does.

I want to be like everybody. To that end, the first step is for me to stop doing what I do on forums. This is the best forum I found and I believe as a knowledge resource it is all I will ever need. From here forward I will just use it like the rest of you do, and from a decade of posting build after build I have learned it isn't worth doing. I can just be like the rest and that will improve my quality of life by leaps and bounds. So I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run. The boss will get more work out of me this way. Thanks for your participation but the F1 thread trial period has expired and what I needed, I didn't see. Now is as good a time as any to exercise my right and retire.

See you around.

[chimp koose]

Well thanks for doing what you have done . I learned a lot .

[idrivejunk]

Well thanks for doing what you have done . I learned a lot .

You are welcome. I just gotta at least have a vacation from thread duty. Weary from it. I did coax the pan in there today. It was a pain but the width of the front mount holes was right on when I let tension off. Thats about all the excitement though, the rest would just be pages of blah blah rust blah whine blah boast blah blah. And I hope they didn't want a stock floor!  

[enjenjo]

I don't know if you were aware of this, but that isn't a 50 cab. It's at least a 51, and it's possibly a 52 Bonus cab. The difference is in the dash, completely different, and the rear window, bigger on the Bonus cab.

[idrivejunk]

The thread name says 51. I might be able to ID 65-75 GM intermediates fairly accurately, the rest is just me parroting what I am told. I thought the hood trim made it a 51. I noticed it has a generous rear window also but didn't know it meant anything.

[idrivejunk]

I don't know if you were aware of this, but that isn't a 50 cab. It's at least a 51, and it's possibly a 52 Bonus cab. The difference is in the dash, completely different, and the rear window, bigger on the Bonus cab.

I don't plan to get any more cozy with the subtleties of the F series than I did Panteras, but are you saying that it is technically perhaps an F-3 or other version? I did read enough of the F series wiki page to conclude that for my purpose, I was satisfied to call it an F1 with no embellishment. Because thats easier to type than 51 Ford pickup a hundred times. Which is an estimate of how many times I would have to type that phrase were I to post the whole build.

[enjenjo]

No, it's likely a F1 or F2 cab 51 or 52.

[idrivejunk]

No, it's likely a F1 or F2 cab 51 or 52.

Should be easy enough for me to satisfy your curiosity. 51 has the VIN plate on the glovebox door, 52 has it on the driver's door. A half hour of researching gave me no reason to believe its anything other than a 51 F1. I can check Monday and decode the VIN.

[kb426]

Mine had the vin on the frame, the glove box and I believe a tag on the firewall on the right hand side. Short of looking back through the build thread, I don't remember for sure about the firewall. Mine did decode to a 51.

[idrivejunk]

Yes, my research indicated that the number is also on the frame.

I''ll just go with whatever you guys determine it to be. I said 50 to the customer initially and was corrected. Just like with the 33 and 30 jobs, readers seem to expect me to know all nuances of things in my stall and wish to correct. "Old Ford truck job" would have been a more appropriate thread title.

I only do sheetmetal now. To me, year of manufacture doesn't matter. I just fix whats in my stall. When the 41 truck came in (by the way I hear its for sale now) it may have had a couple different years of panels or more, and some may be for a car. It never matters, its just my responsibility to work with what I am given. On the other forum, I said I wasn't satisfied with the bumper chrome on the Cat and found myself mired in a page of speculation, sales pitch, and contradictions.

I am no hobby rodder, I was born in 1966 and l like GM muscle but will fix any steel sheet object if given the task at work.

[idrivejunk]

This is like taking calls on vacation, but since I am spilling my guts anyway heres every unposted Friday pic I have. I am aware that at some point, serial number is the correct term rather than VIN but you guys know what I mean. That being said, would part of the info off that tag on the top passenger side of the firewall provide any undisputable facts?

For the record, the owner made no claims as to the body or the truck being composed of it's original components. When he was indicating hood trim differences to me, he saw that I was lost and not terribly intrigued or knowledgeable about his particular vehicle and let us both off the conversational hook by dropping it. Now I feel like I ought to get to the bottom of it so that I can provide facts. Because originally for example boss man was playing heck finding sheetmetal for a '68 Impala then I reminded him it was a '66 and voila, tripping over sheetmetal now. Theres a responsibility that I now presume I am to assume since I get paid for metal repair and fab.

My sensational social media style milestone-people-like-to-see shot- Setting Body on Chassis with New Fabricated Floor!



the actual proof of work done-



a straight on shot



which could be compared to this prior shot-



a reality note-

To remove the cab from the old chassis, I cut the brake pedal lever. Two mechanics were standing right there agreeing that was a suitable solution for this scenario but I felt like a junkyard dismantler in doing so. I had just slipped getting the cotter pin out to remove the thing and in retrospect as I sit here now, probably did bone damage to my right thumb's top knuckle. Looks and feels like it. The cab could not travel rearward to clear the pedal due to A pillar bottoms being wrapped around the cab mount brackets. Once enough firewall structure exists to hold the pair of front cab mounts' current locations, the improvised scrap brace between lower hinge areas of the A pillars, inside the cab, can be removed and I can proceed with pinpointing the locations of the front pair of mount holes in the pan. Lining those up nice with the brackets.

Then once cab rear mounts are re-established and satisfactory, I can do any shuffling of cab on pan and pursue symmetry of door and window openings and chase center lines of chassis, cab, bed, and hood all to the ends and tweak gaps to satisfaction of powers that be. Then same thing with aprons and fenders and then... unscrew it all for blasting and epoxy then build it back perfect. A snap, but a long one. And so you know, yeah the cab corner and door bottoms are toast. I still need that bondo and window screen or whatever for now so I ain't knocked it off. Now I am gonna knock off but will see if I can ID the cab tomorrow.

[kb426]

Here's what I use for identifiers: Big rear window did not happen until 1951. The reveal that starts at the bottom of the dash and rises to above the glove box began in 1951 the same as the car dash. The hood is different in 51 and newer. The 51 has wide set headlights and a grille that is similar to a 53 unlike the fishmouth of the 48-50.  I'm glad you posted the view from  the front shot. I didn't think there was anyway a coyote would clear the inner fenders and my crossmember mount on my 51. The edge of the valve covers appears to be outside the frame rails on both sides. If I want a coyote, I need to build another truck which confirms my thoughts. I've had the 51 for sale for several months. No interest as of yet.

[idrivejunk]

Don't give it away yet. I sat my torpedo level upright at the inside face of these Roadster Shop rails and the Coyote is pretty much exactly that width. 29". Sooo....

Cleaned paint off that firewall tag, info gone 4 paint jobs ago. The only legible markings on the cab are just above the top seam of cowl top and firewall. It says:

MPC 81 M 5A 423

Is that anything? :?  :?:

I requested some thin wall 1x4" tubing for rockers. Stock style is just too weak, bends by hand.

[kb426]

Those numbers aren't anything that I have seen being used as an identifier. The 1 x 4 will be a good idea. I would call the originals a splash shield.