Thread: Project Special K

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Hi
I've been chiming in on Don's Project 3k pages, and have decided to start a new thread to go through my own project/rebuild of my 48 ford f1 truck. It has an early 70's 460 engine, with a c6 transmission. The body is pretty straight with just a few rust holes, mostly light surface rust on top.

The first challenge was to get it running, which Don, Denny and few others were very helpful. I've agganized for months over getting the brakes started, which after sound advice from Don once again, I dived into last week, and am continuing to work on today.
Issues ahead in terms of breaking it down into individual stuff are
1) Finish converting the front end to disc brakes.
2)Install power booster master cylinder and new brake lines
3) Rewire completely(anyone use a painless harness?)
4)Relocate the fuel tank back into the cab, instead of the bed, where it is currently
5)Body work, sanding, rust removal, and small dent repair
6)Engine and transmission work as needed(both seem to work now, but without brakes, it's a bit challenging to truely test.)
7)Paint and interior work, including new glass all around.

So a few questions that come to mind. Steering is stock, anybody have an old f1 with stock steering? How is it to drive? Secondly, the rear end is also stock, anyone have any thoughts to what will happen back there with a 460/c6 setup powering it?
Looking forward to advice and tips from those of you with vast more experience than me. Thanks, Steve.

Steve, I have an F1 or F100 steering box in my '27 and am installing one in my '39 Dodge too. Not sure how they are in a heavier truck like yours, but in my roadster it is like power steering. Parts are available to rebuild them too, but somewhat on the pricey side, especially parts like the sector shaft. Usually just cleaning the internals up and new seals will do the trick though.

Glad to see you starting a thread on this build.........it's gonna be fun for you and for us.

Don

Thanks Don.
I better tell yah why I picked Project Special K as a title. It is a bit of a joke from the 80's when I worked in the Florida Keys at Sea Camp. We had a guy we worked with who just didn't seem to have a clue. At the time there were three guys with his first name so we came up with initial nicknames like PB, PD and PK. Well PK secretly became Special K due to repeated acts of stupidity. (We were all imature and sarcastic then, much better now )

Thus Project Special K is in honor of PK and any stupid acts on my part here foward!
So have at it!

Happy Veteren's Day. Woke up to three WW2 fighters buzzing the back yard, pretty cool!
Started to reassemble new disc brake assembly yesterday. Bad luck, the bearing adapters were missing from the Classic Performance Products kit. Have to wait until monday to talk to someone about it. The good news was I didn't have to relocate my zerk fittings on the king pins, as they are angled back away from the new rotors. Here are few pictures of the spindle and my faithfull assistant Pretzel. He pumps the brakes, while I bleed the lines!

http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...urrent=005.jpg
http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...urrent=003.jpg

I called Classic Performance Parts yesterday about the missing bearing adapters for the F1 disc brake conversion. They responded with, if you didn't notice the parts were missing within ten days of reciept of the package, then we aren't responsible and you'll have to buy new ones. Well considering I bought the truck from Mel 2 months ago, and he bought the conversion kit at a swap meet three years or so ago, I think we missed the deadline.
The parts are $15 a piece so I wasn't too riled. It seems customer service really varies between companies.
I'd like to put a positive plug out there for Mikuni Carbs. About three years ago my Harley started peeing gas when ever the fuel stop cock was open. I had the carb rebuilt and the mechanic said it never leaked bench testing it, but it would immediately pour gas out when reconnected to the bike. We were all at a loss, so I called Mikuni who asked me to send them the carb. They went over it with a microscope and rebuilt it again for free(this was a four year old carb at the time). Under the scope they found glass beads which were causing the float to stick open. The guy at Mikuni said, you'd litteraly not have seen it with out a microscope. It turned out the liner in my gas tank was wearing out, releasing glass beads from tight seems that traped them, when it was customed painted. Mikuni stands by their products and has service second to no other company I have dealt with. If you guys have had any similar experiences I'd like to know and support companies that stand behind their products.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Steve, I have an F1 or F100 steering box in my '27 and am installing one in my '39 Dodge too. Not sure how they are in a heavier truck like yours, but in my roadster it is like power steering. Parts are available to rebuild them too, but somewhat on the pricey side, especially parts like the sector shaft. Usually just cleaning the internals up and new seals will do the trick though.

Glad to see you starting a thread on this build.........it's gonna be fun for you and for us.

Don

Don, I'm quite literally the other side of the world from you, my computer is dial-up, slow as, (gets down to 9Kbps when traffic is heavy,) so Googling is a long and slow process, but I've got a mate that's rebuiling an F1, and he's after steering box parts.
Do you have a contact for the steering box parts you mentioned?
Any help would be appreciated.
(I too have got two F1's sitting in a shed, gonna get stuck into them one day...........when I'm rich.....or have the time.)

So Steve, I'll be following your build page with interest.

Well the adapters for the disc brakes spindle came, so I started the assembly today. The diagram and verbal instructions were backwards for the caliber bracket which took about a hour to figure out and fix, and having to flip the king pin nut to the opposite side toward the front of the truck, so the bracket could be mounted properly.
Next when I mounted the caliber as diagramed, the caliber pins end up being too short, so a call to Classic Preformance revieled the wrong picture and instructions. Not to be fussed, I continued and mounted the rotor, finally getting to the caliber again for final assembly, only to find out the bracket is too short to clear the rotor with the caliber pins. Sounds confusing huh, see photos bellow.
http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...spindle029.jpg

http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...spindle032.jpg

So back on the phone to CPP with photos emailed back and forth, only to find out the brackets were mislabeled and the wrong pair sent to me, the correct ones will clear the rotor. Mario at CPP was real cool and will do a mail exchange for the right ones. Nothing like spending an entire day only to end where you started.
Well the positive side is the driver side will be a breeze after this passenger side!
Don what did you say a while back, after solving the electrical the brakes should be a breeze!

Steve at least you don,t have to worry about where the brake fluid is going to come from, you can always hold Pretzel up and squeeze. Seriously wish i had my old trucks back (50&51 Fords) kept the 50 til about 75 then traded it for a 29 Ford with a 389 with 3 2s. Don,t know what happened to the 51 i moved and left it sitting in a field in Griffin, Ga. I traded the 29 for something i don,t remember what but i do remember it wouldn,t start without spinning the tires. This kinda made me popular with the local cops. Keep us posted on your project.

Well I hope Don and the boys have fun and the cars do ok on their first test run. I am waylaid waiting on parts for the brakes, so I worked on removing the hood vent cowl that was rusted in place. The old addage one thing leads to another, rings true here as well. First I had to unfreeze the mechanism that pushes open the cowl vent. Next I had to break free the bolts holding the sheet metal cover off to get at the mounting screws that were rusted in place. A trip to NAPA for an impact driver later, and the 8 standard screws came loose. Next I had to remove the rusted glove box that was in the way, next an old antennae, and finally after some major swearing I pried the old broken mechanism out, what a pain in the butt! I'm glad I did this now, as the sheet metal cover to the cowl is very rusted and half cancered away. I planned originaly to ignore this, but Now I have access under the dash for a new wiring harness, and will be able to stop the corrosion from causing problems down the line. The worst part is starting one thing, just to get a sense of completion, only to have it snow ball into a hundred other projects. But............ I'm not in a race , so what the hay. As long as my wife doesn't complain about the costs, I can only smile. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Steve.

I know it may not seem that way,but you are always going foreward. Keep plugging away, Hank

Thanks Hank.
I find putting the frustrations into words always helps. And even though I complain, I really do enjoy it, especially when you finally figure something out, vs. having someone do it for you. I am getting some POR products to expereiment with for painting and rust suppression to the frame. Plus I'm trying out their brake caliber paint kit. I've heard good things about them, so it'll be interesting how they measure up on the old Ford.

Well Friday was a good day. I managed to finish up the rear brake drum on the passenger side, get all the parts, and get both rear drums turned for 15 bucks each. Not too bad. I worked this weekend, so tomorrow, I'll dive into the front disc conversion again, when the correct caliber brackets arrive from Classic Performance. I think after that Tuesday I'll work on getting the brake booster master cylinder in, and start putting in new brake lines. Our weather is finally wet out here, so rust removal and priming is on hold for a while. I may jump on to wiring for my next indoor winter project. Anyone use a painless harness? let me know, Steve.
P.S. Napa had a good sale on floor jacks, so I bou8ght one and told my wife thanks for the great Christmas Gift!

Update.Almost needed a rowboat to get to the garage. We've had 5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours!
Worked on mounting the power booster. I removed the brake lines that are in the way of the bracket that mounts to the frame. One of the two holes for this bracket that I have to drill, unfortunately goes between the running board and a valence plate, so the whole running board has to come off!

I called Classic Performance parts, because their directions are confusing beyond belief. It turns out that the second set of holes you need to drill in the frame to mount the bracket are already there! The guy at CPP said the directions are universal, as are the brackets they provide, so thus the confusion about drilling holes already there. They actually used the same directions for different applications, go figure. At least their support line is helpful!
After this project is over, I figure to tackle the wiring and get it on the road this spring. I am also looking into putting in the 9" 1971 ford f100 rear end down the line as this is a direct bolt in with no weld, etc... needed. A local wrecker said he'd give me a complete rear end with whatever gear ratio I need for 400, including the whole brake assembly. What do you think, mind you this is California, so prices may be high!

Although free would be good, $400 is not real bad (but it woud be a bit on the high side for around here).

Looking into lightening up the 429/460. I can't afford the aluminium heads, but do have an aluminium intake. I also have looked into water pumps. On ebay there are cheap noname brands I am quite suspicious of. I've looked at summit catalog and come across a few high flow ones between $140-$180.
Question high flow, and precautions like to high water pressure causing problems? Also looking for good oil pump and considering, changing out timing chain cover. Advice always apreciated.