1955 or '56 Ford F100

[exenos]

Pecan?

 

[Mcbreja]

A joke I made that went in a very unexpected direction.

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18903

Towards the end.

 

[exenos]

Ah, ok.

 

[supermanotorious]

didn't get it, way too much bondo, I was worried about what I couldn't see, lowest he would take (today anyway) was $2,100 and since my insurance will only cover it for $1,375 that's about all I'd be willing to pay esp in light of the skeletons it would reveal

 

[supermanotorious]

oh joy, here she is, only $850!

 

[souperman000]

How'd it get down from 2k to $850?

 

[supermanotorious]

I'm what you call a Craigslist Sith Lord (not a Jedi because I'm selfish and self-absorbed) In between these texts, I did go look at it, explained I liked the very little rust but made it clear I had better prospects, I never ended up hearing from them so I decided I would get this if I could haggle him down, I would've been willing to pay the $1k if he wouldn't budge, but since he did, it more than covered the Uhaul rental! Now, it has a 302 that needs rebuilt, I found a 390 with C6 tranny fr $300 which I think I'll go for (of course with a little haggling), but do you boys think the 390 is suitable? appropriate for this truck?

 

[Orange Krate]

The FE motors are real iron pigs. The 390 will git it! but $4/gal? I'd go with the 302..maybe upgrade to tbi, anything towards a little better fuel economy. My 360 really sucks the gas man.

 

[newrider3]

Do you want a daily driver, or hot rod? 390 is definitely more traditional and has more nut to pull a truck around, while the 302 is a bit lacking in the torque department unless you want to get deep into it and build it up.

 

[supermanotorious]

I want it to be a DD for awhile, the way I'm thinking of it will age with me, for now I can imagine the thrill of simply driving this to work with loud a ss pipes, then when I'm older and have less debt I'll get it all fancy and stuff

 

[B.M.800]

Cool truck.
Looks like a fun project...

Personally, Id stick a Hemi in it.

 

[Orange Krate]

I didn't catch that you might be towing with it when I said 302. Been meaning to post this pic I took at the show I took my '70 to. I've got that V8 emblem somewhere if you need one.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

What a great beginning to a wonderful relationship! Nice score, consider me green with envy!

 

[supermanotorious]

I've been scouring the web for an engine and I'm exhausted, got the tailgate 40% soda blasted

I got the odometer zeroed out, and will pull the motor soon.

 

[souperman000]

Just curious, how many miles were on it before?

 

[anderkart]

superman, a 390 would be cool but you'd probably find you'd kinda need to instal power steering and upgrade the brakes to handle the extra weight/power of an FE-engine. I'd suggest a 351 Windsor or maybe an old 292 or 312 (Y-block) V8, like I got in my 56.

 

[florida_mud_runner]

I didn't catch that you might be towing with it when I said 302. Been meaning to post this pic I took at the show I took my '70 to. I've got that V8 emblem somewhere if you need one.

dedicated ford truck man here ! That is one beautiful truck !

 

[GregMartin]

What about a 351 clevo? That would be ok for a dd and have a bit of power too
EDIT
Even though I have always preferred GM offerings a 428 would be a good fit for an F truck.
Oh BTW I used to drive an F250 for work in the eighties. It had a 351 and went pretty good. Had a stupid ford falcon steering wheel and floated all over the high way. Put it on a weigh bridge and discovered it was 4.5 ton fully loaded.

Can't wait to see some build pic.

 

[anderkart]

What about a 351 clevo?

I sugested using a Windsor simply because they're quite a bit lighter than Cleveland's or especially FE's. The stock steering gear box/pitman arm design is not very good on 53-56 F100 trucks, they require a LOT of effort to turn when trying to parallel park or make sharp/low-speed corners, even with a fairly lightweight 6-cylinder...

These trucks were also originally equipped with little/narrow bias-ply tires that didn't grip very well because they were hard as rocks, and installing modern radial tires on the front makes these turning issues even worse...

 

[newrider3]

Bias plys look better on old trucks anyway, unless you've got a pretty drastic static drop to hide the radials a little...