MBF

I think I've got a square blank plate for the lower right side (sans ashtray) if you need one. I'll have to look. Mike

Starter should be ok as long as its used in short bursts. An internally regulated GM alternator simplifies the installation and eliminates the firewall mounted regulator. You'll need to fabricate a bracket for the alternator (numerous examples are shown on this forum). Make sure that the alternator pulley width matches your crank and water pump pulleys if possible. You'll have to change from + ground to negative, switch the wires on the back of the ammeter and on the coil. In addition to replacing any bulbs (head, tail, dash, cab, etc) you'll need a resistor for the fuel guage. A 12V coil, or a ballast resistor will need to be installed to protect the coil if you're not updating it. If you have a heater, a ballast resistor will also need to be installed on the fan motor circuit. If you've got electric wipers, some type of step down resistor will be needed there too. Advantages: better lighting, quicker cranking, and ability to use modern accessories. You can also get by with lighter gauge battery cables as the amperage will be half of what the 6 volt system.

A previous owner of my 1 ton replaced the cover over the floor shifted 3 speed. Kind of a crude job with a piece of heavy guage sheet metal, but whoever did it used all of the existing bolt holes. It's heavy enough guage that it doesn't need a flange bent in it to stiffen it. Every other one I've had from a parts truck was pretty much trashed. I'm thinking this was due to a leaky cowl vent causing the underlayment on the floor mat to get and stay wet.

You may also want to do some pm on the speedo head while you have it out. That long screwlike item that appears on the input shaft of the speedo head contains a wick that should have some oil on it to keep the input shaft lubed.

If you remove the steering wheel, and jack up the truck and support it by the frame (with the front suspension hanging, the boxes can easily be changed by sliding them out/in the bottom. That way you don't have to mess with removing the floor panels.

Keep up the good work and the pictures. This will be a great documentary when it's done. Mike

Fleet!

Also check to make sure that your mounting bolts (steering box to mounting bracket, and mounting bracket to chassis) are all there and tight. I'd also check the cast mounting bracket for cracks. Another thing to look for is left framerail flexing as well as the drag link and tie rod ends. Hopefully you'll be able to get by by tightening hardware and adjusting the steering box. Mike

The wire feeds up through the cover plate at the bottom end of the steering shaft. There is a standpipe in there that keeps the lubricant in the box. This is the ground side of the horn circuit. Leave enough slack or a sweep in the wire at the bottom of the column to allow for the turning of the wheel.

It is a Model A. The gas cap in the center of the cowl is the giveaway, but it does have a '32 grill shell. Nice looking car!

I used the wide foam when I did mine. My fame and springs appeared to be in good shape. I don't think I'd want to do 8 hrs in any of my vehicles.

I saw this episode when it originally aired. I thought to myself-what a pompous ass. Go find another PH woody tucked away someplace if they're so common. He says its "all about the cars", really-its all about the money. Just like OC Choppers that are about 10 miles from here. Poster children for dysfunctional family relationships -never been there, never will. I was down at Macungie at our annual national antique truck show last week. Just under 600 trucks, and tons of people. I didn't meet anyone that I didn't like or identify with. Good old fashioned non judgemental truck folks. They could take all these tv talking heads (the exception being Chip Foose, Ed China, and the guys on the Spike channel) and put 'em all together and still not have much for those with a grass roots interest in the hobby.

Mark-when we brought my 1 ton home it was on a Ford F600 roll-off. When we brought the 2.5 ton with the dump body I had a friend pick it up with his Dodge 1 ton w Cummins on an equipment trailer that he uses. I would estimate that the big truck was about 5-6K, and the 1 ton handled it with 4 guys in the cab w out a problem. We didn't even have to take the outer duals off to get it on the trailer. Mike

The Antique Truck Club of America based in Boyertown, PA used an article I wrote about my Dodge collection, and then surprised me by using is as the cover story for our club magazine Double Clutch. Folks, this is a great organization, and if you're anywheres near PA this Father's Day weekend, please join us for our 36th Annual National Meet in Macungie, PA June 19-20. Check us out at: http://antiquetruckclub.org Check out our calendar for upcoming truck shows that may be in your area. Mike

Before I retired, I worked from home for awhile. I regularly took one of the PH's out on the daily coffee run during good weather. I'm assuming that this counts. I always wanted to take it to the IBM plant in Poughkeepsie, but the commute during peak hours would have been rough with that left hand entrance to route 9 from the Mid Hudson Bridge. Accelleration is not one of the strong suits of these vehicles and with some of the idiots on the road today, there is no patience for others.

Nice going. They're still out there!

Is there oil in the steering box? If its dry you may have a bearing going in the box, or possibly the bearing at the top of the column right under the wheel. I'd remove the nut from the wheel and soak it with a good penetrating fluid to get it ready to pull using the proper tools (a bearing puller and some padded blocks of wood will work with a jaw type puller if you're very careful. The bearing under the wheel (if I remember correctly) is a captured ball bearing that rides on a race that is part of the column's outer tube. Mike

Good luck. I had one like that years ago-got it running on 2 cylinders, and two or three more came loose with Marvel Mystery oil, but we did end up pulling the head to free them up. I run a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcases of all my flatties. Some think its snake oil, but I've got two Gravelys that will hang valves while running if it isn't added to the gas.

My 49 1 ton has it attached to the embossed horizontal groove in the door. Looks like it was factory attached with some type of paper clamp type clips. Mike

One thing that I didn't see considered here was the formulation of the new gas with the ethanol. I took my 78 1/2 ton with a slant six on a 300 mile trip to pick up a John Deere LUC power unit. The slant was newly rebuilt about 10K ago. It ran fine on the way up with the truck empty, but on the way back it started pinging pretty badly. I did a fillup with a higher octane gas, but still ended up backing off the timing a couple of degrees in a rest area. When I bought the truck 34 yrs ago I could tow a 1700 lb boat with three guys, and two full sets of scuba gear w/o any pre-ignition, now I'm running less base timing (about 5 degrees btdc instead of the 10 I used to run) and getting less mileage too. Talking to engine builiders I know, the higher percentage of alcohol that is actually showing up in some gas is causing damage to even new car engines. I'm wondering if that played a contributing factor given the headwind causing the higher operating temps. Mike

For that column top bracket make sure you get the correct one for the year of your truck. The 48-50's are different to the ones used on the 51-53's. It has to do with the angle of the steering column. What year is your truck?

Behind the side covers in the valve galley there are holes in the bottom that allow splashed up oil to return to the pan. Clean those out with an engine brush to chase whatever sludge you weren't able to remove by scraping down into the pan. Once the valve galley is clean, I'd drop the pan and see what it look like inside and clean it really well.. Also remove the oil pickup canister and clean that to make sure it isn't starting to plug up. Working from underneath with the pan off scrape or brush whatever you can from inside of the block to get rid of the crap. Before putting the pan back on I'd blow compressed air through the oil filter feed and return fittings, and pull the pressure relief valve to make sure it's freely moving. Once you've done all of that I'd put a new set of side cover and pan gaskets on and fill it with oil to run it. The pcv system is a positive crankcase vent system that replaces the road draft tube, and which will vent the crankcase gases to a constant vacuum source to get rid of the moisture in the crankcase after the oil comes up to a high enough temp to allow the vapor to boil off. Use the search function-there is a lot of information on this forum, and if you can get a factory service manual for a flathead 6 which you'll find very useful in the future. Mike

You did put a resister in the circuit to the guage right? If you've got the other side grounded (sending unit wire) and put 12v to it w/o the resistor you'll fry the guage just about as quick as you can turn the key off.

Years ago I had a flat on my work beater Nova. It needed new tires anyway, so I went to the local dealer to buy two new front tires. He only had one in my size after he replaced the one that hadn't gone flat. He put a smaller one on the other side since it was Saturday, and told me to come back Monday afternoon to have the matching tire mounted and balanced. That leaned and pulled so bad I didn't drive it all weekend, and was down there noontime on Monday to get the mate installed. That reminds me of another story. Had an AH Sprite that needed tires the day I graduated from high school. Took it to another dealer like a Sears type store. I was looking around the store when they paged me. IT seems that the Einstein assigned to my car twisted off 3 of the four lugs on one side, and one on the other side. Um-you didn't think it was a good idea to stop after the first one broke? It aint real easy to find lug bolts for a Healey on a Friday afternoon, but somehow I did, and made my graduation.

Merle-do you have a heat shield on your fuel pump? Mine used to vapor lock after sitting from a run until I installed the shield. The high temp may have been bringing the ethanoled gas to a boil, and from there just kind of snowballed. Glad you cleared up the girlfriend of the day statement-that'd cost more to fix than your overheating / loss of power problem. Mike