Scruffy49

Send me your address and I can have 2 stems and mirror heads in route to you if you still need/want them. Like the one on the driver side of your truck. I don't need them. Or i can pop the factory short arm driver side mount off and send it instead.

GM 1 tons through the end of model year 1991 could be either body style. With the vast majority I've seen being the 87 cab and front end.

Just looked at the daylight, "good side" truck pic. Better than I expected. I have a set of those mirror heads if you need/want them. I actually have the complete mirror assemblys, but, one of the rubber retention cords snapped. I think it can be replaced with truck stop bungee rope fairly easily though.

Those are a dead ringer for 49 Cadillac back up lights... Check the "usual suspects" in aftermarket/replica rod and kustom bits. Chev's of the 40s, Night Prowlers, Wirth's Custom Automotive, Sacramento Vintage Ford, Mac's, Hagen's, Speedway Motors... one of the old standbys is now called Kustom Car Parts, but my computer is acting up and I can't bring up the page. How do you plan to activate them? Toggle switch, momentary switch, lever operated brake light switch adapted to the shifter and transmission casting... Thought about doing similar with mine, but I would have to plate in the cheesy panel truck style c-channel rear bumper after getting it straightened, and frankly, I'm not that good a welder.

Plain old soapy water. It'll flush the crud out and the soap leaves a removable "lube" behind temporarily. If you actually want to go with the "incinerated look", John Deere Blitz Black paint. It can lay out smooth and even, or play with th gun while spraying to get the "charred" effect. Source doesn't matter, you can get it in Krylon, Rustoleum (rattle cans, quart cans, gallon pails), PPG good lines, etc. I'm going to be using a different seat set in my B1B, I may have a set of pearlescent navy blue vinyl bench seat covers around here still. If you want them and I can find them, they're yours. They aren't perfect, they were made in the late 50s or early 60s, but they were very servicable the last time I checked them.

I tie one horse to the front bumper and one to the rear bumper on lunge lines when the grass gets high around the truck and the hay shed. Our horses are small, but they have pulled the truck off the jackstands when they were both tied to the front bumper... American Miniature Quarter Horse (Max, the brown one, aka Sir S***s-a-lot) and a Shetland Pony (Boudini, the escape artist paint).

Pulled the battery out of my 69 D100 a year ago when the mice started eating the wiring harness. The 49 battery is not only disconnected, it is 20 years old and probably so far beyond flat lined that it is irrelevant. I'm just too lazy to pull it until I absolutely have to...

That was my take as well. I like the PW as shown, and the bike hauler works for me visually. The extreme top chop, on a 5 window no less, is just ridiculous. I've never understood cutting a roof down that low. Even if he was building a racing rig, that's too low. Okay... ... I like these ones, mainly.

So... these wouldn't "cut it" with you guys?

Forget about the truck, I know you love it, but it is just an old truck. It made it through and can be rebuilt, or it did not. Doesn't matter right now. My heart dropped into my stomach as soon as the forum loaded. Will be thinking of you as well. What do you and your family need us to do?

Truck and bike will be finished to this level, eventually... Just in time for my brother's daughters to fight over who will get it...

You need to check from Nashville to the Mississippi River. Expand your search area. Sweptlines (61-71) are scarce here, Power Giants (57-60) are a bit unusual to find, but PH/Functional Design (48-56) and 39-47 trucks/panels seemingly came here to die. I know one parts store in the city tht I can walk in and 10 minutes later be on my way home with brand new engine/trans/brake parts. The commercial airport retired its last L6 powered plane tugs and related in 2011, the Air Guard still uses them... A running but rough looking PH is a grand or two here. I'll start "buffalo hunting" for you, see what I can find. I know there is a clean 48-50 B1B panel at Reelfoot Lake...

Doing up a small (652cc) OHV single cylinder to pose in the bed on cruise night occasionally. 8 or so wires and the bike will be off to get cables and front brake shoes. Came with a disc front wheel that looked awful, had a Titan wheel and early CB450 brake plate. They fit, I like the look, sold the stock wheel... Same cream I'm using on the truck, old Cub Cadet Beige, which is the same as several 30s through 50s Dodge truck colors. Hate the grips, they aren't going to be used. Mock up windshield, it has been in a wreck and is no good anymore. Mock up front fender light. Almost as big a project as the 49 B1B-108 is...

It's a 60 year old short bed that was only rated as a half ton brand new. Have fun with. I intend for my 49 to be about 2-3 inches further off the ground than this one is sitting, with no load. If it will haul a cooler, a couple chairs and a couple fishing poles, good enough. I'd rather beat the stuffing out of a 73-87 C series or a 73-86 F series than my Pilot House. I'd have added 72 and newer Dodges to the list, but they're just parts donors for 71 and older trucks...

1959 stock 230 compression ratio was 8:1, and the guy in the Bunn book says you can run as high as 10.5:1 in an L6 (expect head gasket issues).

That's a nice truck. Good score, very good score. "Ancient Blue" is really "Eddie". My grandparents, who traded in a 33 Hudson Terraplane on it brand new in 1949, were Edward and Dolly... You've got the visor and wide whites, needs some "dummy" Appletons or a set of real spotlights, and some round yellow foglights on the bumper...

48 through mid 49 truck 3 speeds are top loaders... other than that, I can't tell a car 3 on the tree from a truck 3 on the tree. The 56 or 57 car 3 speed I gave away last year looked just like the 3 speed sideloader truck transmission I scrapped out after pulling a couple small parts... Other than having an extended tailshaft housing, they seemed to be the same basic core.

I actually like your low side Hank. The ones I've seen in real life were beat to pieces, to the point I'd consider them, at best, parts junkers. Even the one at the cruise nights with the obligatory Ford 9" and 350/350 General Mistake Corporation engine/slushomatic combo. And "booger" or "bubble gum" welding... everywhere. I'll freely and openly admit that my 49 high side would make a better flower bed than it would a truck, for now...

Can free up 5 of each fairly soon. Need to pull and swap spring perches on the Ford 7.5" going into my 49 B1B-108. Real parking brakes instead of that useless output shaft band/drum!

He doesn't specify why. And I have no idea, other than metallurgy. I'd guess, and that is ALL it is, a guess, that the 55 up is forged instead of cast.

One more time, THE hot rod L6 shopping list... Block: any 230 Head: alloy or stock cast iron milled .060-.125" Crankshaft: 1955 or newer Camshaft: stock 1957-60, regrind specs from Howard or Isky via your favorite cam company Induction: 1957-60 intake and 2bbl carb, dual 1bbl intake Exhaust: split manifold or headers, with a Smithy or similar muffler Distributor: 1951 to 1960, with removable plug tunable vacuum advance, 4 degrees initial to 36 degrees total advance Porting: match block and manifold passages, do not waste time/money relieving, polish the combustion chamber instead Oil system: oil groove in mains 3x as wide and 2x as deep as stock; 1/4" spacer behind oil relief valve spring; rotor type oil pump Match starter, bellhousing and flywheel. In other words, if you run a truck bellhousing and starter from an original 218, use the truck 218 flywheel as well. Ditto with cars, starter ring gear change between 1956 and 1957, so 56 back is fine, and 57-60 is fine, but don't try to mix and match a 55 starter with a 57-60 flywheel. You WILL break something expensive. Specs from David Pollock, from Don Bunn and Tom Brownell's Dodge Pickups History and Restoration Guide 1918-1971, Motorbooks International, 1991 edition. ISBN 0-87938-491-3

I'm amazed they didn't "Coug it" this year...

Nice link. Wonder if they have one for d.i.y. external visors, I'd love to have one for my B1B-108.

Did you need to use the factory hubs, or do the rotors come with them built in? I REALLY want to send the factory mess to a new home and upgrade the fronts along with the rears. My truck has very good condition hubs and drums, be a shame to toss them in the shred bin when I do have a chance to upgrade the fronts. The whole rear axle, with immaculate drums/backing plates is getting swapped as well. 40s consumables are too hard to get locally, and I don't do business with Roberts. Been burned a couple times, enough is enough. Gas pedal was wrong, arm rests were wrong, interior visors were wrong... I've heard he does a much better job now than 20 years ago, but...

You'll grow to love the high side bed if you ever see a low side truck in real life. There is one that attends the same cruise night I take the C10 to. He wants my highside bed something fierce. I told him I'd sell him the fenders, maybe, since I want 39-47 rear fenders on my 49.The low side bed, while rare in most areas, really does look a bit like an afterthought. I've only ever seen 3 low side PH trucks in real life, and a few on this forum. If you don't want the high side bed, you should be able to jettison it to another site member fairly easily. You can buy 100% new lowside beds from Mar-K and Bruce Horkey, high side bed parts are hard to get your hands on. Your pic says 54, but that is a 48-52 bed... in 53 Dodge went to the big rear fender used w/o change through 1985. 1956 and newer has flat bed rails, 48-55 high sides have angled bed rails. Your wheels look fine as is, maybe paint the centers body color, leaving chrome rings and cap as is. That has potential. Hope you can get your hands on it. Oh, if the wheels/bolt patterns match, odds are it has a 10 bolt GM rear axle... they bolt right in if Nova/Camaro/S10 sourced.