My 56 ford project..

[jdmwannabee]

im guessing this is where this thread belongs. sorry if its not the right place. i know its not an import but its defenatly old school.

so anyway, i have a 1956 ford f100 that me and my father are working on.

the story of the truck is that it used to be a us forestry truck when it was new. my great grandfather bought it at an auction some time in the early 60s. he drove the truck till he passed away in the late 70s. he left the truck to my grandfather and has been sitting in a barn ever since..

so about a month ago my grandfather told me that his original plan of fixing the truck and driving it would never happen. he is almost 80 now and its starting to show. so he offered the truck to my father and me.

we acepted his offer in hopes that one day we can get the truck back on the road and give it back to my grandfather.

here are just a few pics of the truck as it was when we got it.

[BKgen®]

Nice. I'm jealous. Those were the second best looking trucks ever built, IMO. Great project, keep us updated. reps

[Glides]

Thatsa pretty cool man. First thing I would do is sand that rust, not off but smooth, then clear it. Save the Patina man.

Other than that, doesn't look that far gone at all. Can't see any rot but I can't see the floors and whatnot. I would Rat Rod it until you can get a nice resto on it. Time deadline though and if you don't have a garage it's even tougher.

[silversol]

Looks very solid!

[Drew]

Looks like a great new project. Best of luck!

[jdmwannabee]

thanks guys, and it will be a rat rod. maybe not forever but for a while..

my plans for it as of now are to keep as much of the original truck as possible and i originally wanted to do what glides said and keep the rust and old paint and just clear it, but im starting to see that the truck is a little to bad for that. im going to keep the hood like that and maybe the grille, but the rest of the truck needs so much body work its gonna have to be painted. it has a few rust holes but nothing that can't be patched, but due to the fact that my great grandfather used the truck as a work truck its covered in dings and dents. and there is a small crack in the frame.

im planning on just fixing the stock frame and boxing and c notching it. i already have a motor for it, and its gonna piss the ford guys off cuz its a chevy 350. im not to sure what all im gonna do to the motor yet but im about to get my hands on some vortec heads so ill probably use those.

im going for air ride suspension, not sure of the name brand ill use yet.

and as for the paint and visuals go, i hate to go there but its probably gonna be flat black first with red steel rims, chrome original hub caps and white wall tires.

ill post some progress pics soon.

[bdydrpdmazda]

looks like it will be a fun project

[civic95]

I've wanted one of those for a long time. I think I'd be better off buying a completed build, compared to restoring one. But you HAVE to keep that one in the family!

[koi]

Once that thing gets some real paint on it. It will be a attention grabbing truck. My wife's grandparents have a truck just like that. But they sold it to my wife's uncle and he has let it start to rot. He keeps refusing my offers to buy it or just to help restore it for just the cost of parts and material ;o[

[On_Her_Face]

Looks like a lot of work. Good luck.

[tnomud]

looking forward to this

[ducati 1198]

cant wait to see it finished

[vinayak]

and as for the paint and visuals go, i hate to go there but its probably gonna be flat black first with red steel rims, chrome original hub caps and white wall tires.

Flat comes in more than black only.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx

[ekcivic1991]

damn i like it, keep it low
ill get some pics of my uncles he has one just like it but lifted up on 35's.

[quickdodge®]

ill get some pics of my uncles he has one just like it but lifted up on 35's.

I can't imagine that looking good at all. Later, QD.

[ekcivic1991]

it doesnt it looks like its gonna tip over and my bad it is a 56 chevy kinda the same but not really

[Total_Blender]

I'd keep and rebuild the original engine before I'd put a Chebby engine in there. The original Y block V8's are neat motors. And the 215 OHV sixes are neat motors too. A decent Y block will be more than enough to power that truck. It will get it as fast as you want to go in a heavy vehicle with a 60 year old suspension design and drum brakes on all 4 wheels, anyway.

GM motors are actually pretty common in these trucks. My dad has a '48 with a Nova IFS and 350/350 in it. Most people just weld on the front clip from a Camaro or Nova, as it has SBC motor mounts, IFS, and usually disc brakes too. Back in the day it was harder to swap Ford motors because until the Mustang II came out they didn't really have a motor/suspension that came as one unit like Chevy did.

[§treet_§peed]

Whenever I see this truck and a few other trucks and cars I think of the movie Dazed and Confused. Nice project either way, those trucks look great if done right.

[Total_Blender]

It reminds me of the truck the hillbilly kids drive when they're chasing Forrest Gump. Put it back together in stock form, attach a rebel flag license plate, and drive around playing "Rabble Rouser" by Duane Eddy really loud.

I wanted to do a "Sanford and Son" theme on the '48. Dad wasn't having it.

[jdmwannabee]

the truck will have 4 wheel disc brakes when its all said and done. and it had the old straight six in it, we actually cleaned it up alot and got it to run without replacing anything more than the fuel pump.. but i got my hands on a wrecked chevy truck for next to nothing and the motor was in great shape so i decided to go with it. its on a stand in my shop right now waiting to get its new vortec heads.

as for the flat black paint, its only temporary. im thinking about going with a dark matalic silver for the final paint job..

[TheGrillMan]

good luck man

i poored a year of my life into a 76 c10


again, good luck sir

[Total_Blender]

The best way to go might be to put the body of the truck onto the frame of a modern truck. That way you get modern suspension, disc brakes, etc in an integrated package. If the frame is good on your Chebby parts truck, you might consider that, if the wheelbase is the same.

[jdmwannabee]

the frame on the chevy is good but its a totally different frame.. the ford frame is flat and the chevy lifts up in the front and rear. i have looked at alot of different truck frames because what your saying was my original plan, but i couldn't find one that was flat like the ford frame.

[jdmwannabee]

so somehow i lost most of my progress pics, but here are just a few.




this is the truck that i got the motor from..


before:
















after:












and here is the ford frame, and why i can't use the chevy one.









and just a few random pics.

[Total_Blender]

Maybe an S-10 frame? I know its not exactly flat, but the wheelbase should be close. Dad and I measured one and it was just right for a '50 F1 we were working with. We had started swapping a 350/350 onto the frame, but the parents hit hard times and he had to sell the project.

The portion thats raised doesn't seem like too big of a deal... our plan was to channel the bed down onto it. Theres nothing much to the bed but a square frame with 3 or 4 braces that run laterally across the bottom, which can easily be raised. You'll lose about half a foot of bed depth, but since you're going to run air ride anyway you can use that space to hide plumbing etc. Not to mention that fitting air ride to an S-10 is probably a bolt-on affair since its the most popular minitruck .

I did a google search and found these threads...

S-10 frame swap thread on the HAMB:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=274702

Some dude's step-by-step guide for S-10 frame on an F-1:
http://www.geocities.com/lakota_circ...cer/swap1.html







His photos are not the best, but you get the idea.

[jdmwannabee]

thanks man! im gonna have to really think about this one now, lol.

[94excoupe]

seems like it should be a fun project. the 350 are cheaper to build. gl keep us posted

[Thegrizz]

well you got the project part right. but it's definatly one of the best looking trucks when its done contradictory to other opinions.good luck with it bro. post up build pics

[jdmwannabee]

ok, sorry its been so long but ive been between jobs and pretty busy with life. but i have a few updated pics since the last time i posted.
we ended up keeping the cab back part of the frame pretty much stock, but the front end was donated from a 70 something chevy full size truck. there was alot of work to be done to the chevy frame and suspension but luckly i have an uncle who owns a junk yard full of older trucks, so that helped out a lot. just springs for now, but bags will be ordered in the near future.







we also found a nice rear end out of a un expected source.



a 98 lincoln mark8.

independant rear suspension, disc brakes, and pretty much already set up for bags.
here are a few pics of the process.









once again i have lost quite a few pics, but you get the idea.. we boxed the lincoln rear sub frame and smothed out a few rough edges but its still far from done.





ill try to find better pics of the rear end as it sits now. but untill then...

on to fitting the cab and front fenders. we had to do just a little cutting to the fire wall and floor to get the trans to fit but you won't be able to tell when its done.













and thats all i have on my comp as of now. so more pics soon!

thanks for looking!

[SUBY_RUE]

Vette rear end?

[jdmwannabee]

lol. i wish. its out of a lincoln mark 8.

[dilbeckskate]

Starting to come together, I cant believe Ive totally looked over this thread till now, many props man , great project

[GlennsEK]

It going to be a beast of a truck when your done with it.

[jdmwannabee]

So its time again for another update.. The frame is pretty much finnished for the time being. more work will be done in the future but we are really trying to get the truck on the road before the end of the year. The frame has been cleaned up alot since the last time i posted and has been painted with catterpillar black paint so it won't have any trouble dealing with the weather. The rear end has also been cleaned up a lot. We are working on the body work now, and there is a LOT to be done. We are trying to save as much of the original sheet metal as possible but some patch work has to be done.. we are starting with the rear fenders and i will have pics of that soon but my phone is being an ass at the moment, so here are a few of the frame and the new bed. Not sure which bed will be used yet but both are in about the same shape.









New bed..


Old bed and a possible rim choice.














Hopefully my phone will start working soon so I can get the other pics up.

Thanks!

[dilbeckskate]

looks great man, mad props

[FasTech]

Semi-gloss flat black if anything and wet sand it. White wall tires with red wheels. Thumbs up.


Sweet truck BTW, man.

[JDMDA_1.7]

looking good man!

[4g638u]

great job man, love it!

[bignic86]

cool project ive always wanted a 56...i have a 50 that im building

[GhostSTI]

nice project man, looking good.