The Great 1939 Ford V8 Project

[HealeyBN7]

Looking good Steve.

Was the "Made in the USA" something that was popular pre-WW2? I thought that was something that started in the 70's as a blow back from the Japanese imports... I could be wrong.

Dean

[Steve Simmons]

Unfortunately I'll have to order them. I haven't found a local source for most of the things I need.

Was the "Made in the USA" something that was popular pre-WW2? I thought that was something that started in the 70's as a blow back from the Japanese imports... I could be wrong.

I don't know, but it's worth looking into I suppose. Since the guy bought the truck in the 60's and parked it in the late 70's, he could have replaced these parts in that time frame.

[Steve Simmons]

Today's progress: Dropped off parts at the blaster, but more importantly..... the engine turns!

The two most important tools...

Flathead Engine

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One of the cylinders that had the piston up...

Flathead Engine

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...and one where the piston was down...

Flathead Engine

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All sealed up again, waiting for the next step...

Flathead Engine

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Wrapped up and ready for tomorrow's rain...

Ready for the rain

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[Steve Simmons]

Today's progress: I'm running a bit behind schedule, but finally got the front suspension, brake and steering parts blasted clean and acid etched. I will paint on Sunday and hopefully begin the rebuild on Monday. Most of the larger parts are seen in the photo. I also discovered that someone added an extra leaf to the front spring, so I need to decide whether to remove it or leave in place. I think I'll leave it since the truck appeared to sit about right. Maybe someone added it when the springs began to sag?

[gorms68]

Nice progress Steve. Are you painting with POR-15 like you have done on your other cars?

[Steve Simmons]

Yes, I'm doing POR15 with Chassis Coat on everything. The leaves will get POR15 only, and only a single coat. I may decide to put a layer of Chassis Coat on the visible parts of the springs but I'm not decided yet. I've also decided to spray paint the hubs and drums rather than POR15, partly because I'm not positive if I will want to keep the hubs black and partly because I didn't want to have to clean stray blasting sand from inside the hubs.

In other news, the Ford guys who were coming to look at the engine tomorrow have postponed because of the rain. I may use this time to pull the rear axle and give it the same treatment as the front, except that I don't plan to rebuild it inside. I will only inspect it and replace any leaky seals. I have to pull the hubs and drums to replace the wheel studs anyway. Other than the fact that it's a huge and heavy axle, it should be an easy project.

One more note, if anyone needs to paint anything with Chassis Coat, I bought way more than I will need for this project so I'd be happy to split the can for a small fee. I have enough here to do at least two full cars worth of suspension parts. I will be opening the can on Sunday so speak up soon if interested!

[Steve Simmons]

Today's progress: No painting was done as I had planned, but the engine is now out (thanks Gene!) and I have a plan of attack (thanks Malcolm and Chris). I also got some cleaning up done in the engine bay but there's still a long way to go on that. Gene found a severely bunged-up head stud hole so that along with the four broken studs will be tackled by a professional. The Model T will be carrying the engine to a machinist tomorrow.

[gorms68]

I think you made the right call to pull the engine. You'll feel a lot better when Linda takes the truck to run some errands.
Since you were a bit busy under the hood listening to the experts I took a moment to document the event. Sorry Gene I didn't get your better side.

Make sure you post pictures of the T making the run with it's younger brother's engine. That will be pretty cool to see.

[Steve Simmons]

Make sure you post pictures of the T making the run with it's younger brother's engine. That will be pretty cool to see.

Your wish is my command!

Today's progress: Took the engine to the machine shop, who said it's too hard to do on a built engine so I took it to a place nearby with an EM machine. They will burn out the four studs, plus the fifth one inside the bunged-up stud hole. They will also helicoil that hole. Unfortunately I can't pick up the engine until next week because I'm busy working the next few days during their business hours.

I also (finally) managed to paint the front end parts. I've put a coat of POR15 on everything, plus a second coat on some of the parts. It got too cold in the garage tonight to put the Chassis Coat on top so I'll have to do that tomorrow night.

I also found a new problem (problems = $$$) which you can try to spot in the last photo.

[Larry Kluss]

You're making great progress, Steve. So much for that broken carburetor body. I hope replacements can be had reasonably.

[olson]

carb is probably fixable. JB weld and drill and pin across crack.

[Steve Simmons]

I thought about gluing it, but a used replacement is only $25 so I'll probably go that route to ensure there are no problems. Then again I haven't disassembled it yet, so I'm only assuming that the break is in a place that will case a leak or other issue. You can see it lifting at the break though, so maybe the base is warped.

[Steve Simmons]

Progress has been slow because I've been working a lot, but now with a bit of time off again some progress has been made.

The front end is coming together. I've been held up by a couple small parts that should be here in a day or two. When they arrive, the front end will be completed (except for brakes and wheel studs) and ready to be put back on the truck. While waiting for parts, I'm busy stripping and painting any rusty little parts I come across.

Buffing the black off has been very slow and boring, but I worked on it for an afternoon and made real progress. But... in the meantime I have finally uncovered the evidence I was looking for that this truck was originally gray, not green. The only previously existing proof of this was the gray underneath the hood hinges. Today I found the door structure behind the interior panel painted gray. I then also found gray under the old door seals, and the final discovery was what I was digging for this whole time... on part of the door I found gray paint with green paint on TOP of it. Mystery solved! Whoever painted the truck green did a very professional job. I know it was done more than 30 years ago and I suspect it was much earlier than that, perhaps 50 years ago based on the truck's history.

The last issue to report is the four broken head studs. They are now removed. Unfortunately an additional stud had broken off at some point in time, and whoever removed it seriously bunged up the hole. I don't even think a heli-coil will fix this, so I'll have to use an insert. Once that's sorted, I will get back to the engine itself. For now, I've been bolting parts on to make sure everything is good, and that I have all the bits I need to complete it.

[max71]

The grey is called 'primer'.

[Steve Simmons]

You might think so at first glance but a dark green truck would have had red primer, not gray. Also, the gray paint is very well finished in some areas, not very primer-like. An additional clue cropped up today as well - I found out that hubs were originally painted black, not body color. Since mine are green, that pretty much confirms a respray.

[Jimmy]

In the boogered head bolt hole, why not use a Helicoil with a "dual-diameter" stud?
Oh, that's right, it wouldn't have the mandatory "F" marking, so that wouldn't work...

[Steve Simmons]

I considered a special stud, but using an insert would allow a standard stud to be used which in my opinion is a better idea. I'll know better once I take some measurements on the hole and on the correct size insert. The only potential catch is if the hole for the insert will be too large, and protrude into an oil passageway. If that looks likely then I'll probably go with a special stud instead since the helicoil is slightly smaller in diameter than an insert.

[Steve Simmons]

Still waiting on two little parts before I can put it all back together. In the mean time I've spent a couple days cleaning and painting a few parts, and most of today was spent scrubbing 70 years of grime off the cross member. Tomorrow I'll post photos of before and after, once the painting is done.

I've also assembled the spring with liners between the leaves and no grease, so we'll see how that holds up. One surprise was how well the side badges cleaned up. They aren't quite done, and I still need to re-paint the background blue.

But the most exciting event was when the previous owner managed to find an old registration slip from 1970, and it shows the black plates being registered to the car. That means I can probably reassign them even though they aren't the correct year plates. Without this piece of paper, it would likely be impossible to do which means I'd have to get modern white plates, or pay hundreds of dollars for 1939 plates. I'd rather have the black plates anyway since they're part of the truck's history.

[max71]

Looking amazing. Good job Steve. Can you do my springs?

[Steve Simmons]

Well, I've been busy working out of town but progress is again being made. The front end is finally reassembled and 90% back on the car. I still need to do a few things... rebuild the lever shocks, replace wheel studs and nuts, finish the brakes, set the toe-in, paint the wheels and get new tires.

These three photos show the nearly completed front end, mounting back in the truck and how it looked before I started. A little bit better, eh?

1939 Ford V8 Pickup front end

1939 Ford V8 Pickup front end (before restoration)

1939 Ford V8 Pickup front end (after restoration)

I've also finished cleaning and painting the front cross member of the frame. It's far from perfect but a far cry better than how it was. I scraped a LOT of gunk from it before going to bare metal and painting. Here is before and after...

1939 Ford V8 Pickup engine bay

1939 Ford V8 Pickup engine bay

[max71]

Niice! Any word on the engine?

[Scott Pettit]

Your project looks like it is coming along nicely.

What did you paint your floor with and what did you fill the floors control joints with?

[Steve Simmons]

The engine is still sitting on the garage floor exactly as pictured a week or two ago. I plan to get back to working on it this week.

The floor is painted with an industrial epoxy, and top coated with a special urethane. It's the same stuff they use in aircraft hangers. There are no joints in the floor.

[Jimmy]

Any pickup that was in the USA during the Sixties is bound to have at least one joint somewhere on the floor, no?

[Scott Pettit]

Hey man, that is like funny man. Pass the doobie