Finally...after two surgeries on my shoulder, I am finally healing. Hopefully I can get back to my COE this summer. I'm sure my battery is shot and the tires have flat spots by now...my poor truck, sitting all alone in the dark.
Glad you are healing up. I hope u can get some help with the heavy stuff, get that coe moving around.
Got my COE out of the "dust bowl" today. It Patina is valuable, my COE must be worth millions. Soooo dirty and full of cobwebs. Tempted to leave it alone until someone writes "wash me" in the dust. Replaced the battery and amazingly, the engine runs good again. Must have been really low voltage before causing issues. Also discovered that my aftermarket battery cables for the GM side post battery, have really short bolts. Only going into the battery 1 thread...if that! Need to solve that issue soon.
Been messing around with the design of my COE on Paint.. I feel like the proportions of my truck are off and it has been bothering me for a long time. Having serious thoughts about lowering the actual roof height of my COE, but leaving the windshield and doors alone. Basically removing about 2" of height from the roof dome itself. This is an "after" rendering. with the roof lowered. I also want to lower the front end an inch or two, add a headache rack behind the cab. ( Maybe a short one with a winch mount, some tie brackets and bed lighting), and some driving lights above the bumper, maybe inset them into my grill bars. (not the 41's, I have some spares bars that are dented)...maybe add a visor too? Also tempted to put a some kind of modified body-color painted bumper on it Thoughts? Here is it with the chrome bumper...might look OK if I paint the truck silver
Maybe cut the top center out of a stock bumper and lower the edge, then make a stepped gravel pan between the cab and bumper. Lower the driving lights and bring the bumper in a little? I can also lower the mirrors about 2"
I would not do much, looks really really good, only thing I would do is Put 1940 Ford or Volkswagon wipers on it, they "lay down" when turned off. Gosh, I love COE's had 6 early and later models... p,s, Have you ever seen those headlites / and stanchions mounted beside grille ? did you like it?
As you may remember I attacked the proportional thing quite aggressively when I built my Autocar bed. So, in the concept of "see one, be one, teach one", here are my thoughts. WARNING, you're getting what you paid for! I'm not a big fan of pancaking the top, I think it confuses the whole design era of the cab. (40s rounded cab with a 60s flat roof) If your avatar is representative, I think you need to raise the bed 2". This could be accomplished by putting a railing around the edge. (not actually raising the bed) This will give the illusion of lowering the cab. I like the addition of a headache rack and/or winch, it will give your cab more "length" which will also trick your eyes into thinking the cab is lower. When it comes to the bumper and driving lights, you have many options, so I would do real world mock-ups to get the best combination. (BTW in Wisconsin, driving lights have to be in or below the bumper or they have to be covered when on-road) Good luck and show us pics as you move forward.
All good things to consider. I've already raised the bed 3". Maybe I can lower the cab? Guess I'll start with mock-ups on the headache rack. or just wash the dirt off it
I'm just not groovin on those driving lights.... sorry... Could they be integrated into the bumper somehow hiding them a bit? I guess I've never seen your grill/hood before... It looks like the hood portion is kinda tall... maybe longer grill bars and shorter hood more like stock would remove some of your too tall feeling???
Actually the grill is the same length as stock, it was just so rotten on bottom that I moved the bars downwards. It was the best I could do at the time. I now have anther stock grill I could use, but I don't have the gravel pan and Northern Truck threw away all they had when they closed up shop.
Thanks for the details! Very interesting way to solve a difficult problem. Given the same issue, I would hope that I could be just as creative... If only we were closer, we could flop my hood onto your truck to see if my theory might be correct. Short of that maybe Eli could make a pretty picture for you...
Thanks for the ideas. I am currently leaning towards the following bench-top design ideas - Lower the mirror heads, raise the grill bars using my current modified hood (already louvered and filled), add a headache rack with two lower x-braces and a winch mounted in the center, and add the rail around the bed to raise the edge. Also going to increase the front tire diameter a little bit with the next set of tires. I'll have to fabricate a gravel pan...probably make it from fibergl***. Going to stay with the bottom hinged grill.
Good news...Wescott's Auto makes a fibergl*** gravel pan for the 41-47 Ford COE...the bad news, it's $175
My bed tilts right now. I may convert it to a rollback on the next go-around. Who knows. I am still busy trying to figure out how to make the truck feel balanced between the large cab and the thin bed. This is my latest bench-top design idea. Ideas - shorter wheelbase, shorter bed, reverse the panels on the boxes, top rail on bed, raise bed 3/4", short headache rack, maybe shift cab backwards 2" on frame to move front wheels forward in wheel well. Might build a "mini" running board to connect to the boxes. Basically a 1" bump out connected around the bottom of the boxes.
Here's one I did many years ago, it's a conventional pick-up but the results are what you are looking for. (I think) The cab is un-chopped, but the bottom of the cab was trimmed 4", the front fenders were raised 3" in relation to the cowl and the lower front edge of the fenders and grille were trimmed. (I don't remember the exact number, but would guess at 3") Before t******* and relocating the fenders, the bottom of the grille had 3" negative ground clearance The box was shortened from 8' to 6' and the sides were re-made 5" taller than original with the rear fenders installed where I thought they looked good. I mocked up the cab, front sheetmetal and box then drew up and built a frame to fit. (along with locating all the other components) Note that the windshield looks much somewhat in mine, due to the originals being swing-out and I cut my gl*** to fit without the original frames. (glued in) If there is any way possible to lower your cab on the frame, it would be a big step in the right direction
I emailed you some months ago regarding your steering setup and requested some photos of yours as well as specifics as to what you used and did. If you can find the time I'd greatly appreciate that info.
OK...Here it is. IMPORTANT - NOT FOR THE NOVICE. This takes a lot of work and skill to build, but it does works great. Also, this may not be legal in many countries or places due to welding onto the center link. NOTE - If I were to build another COE, I would probably use a 1987-88 Dakota front frame section. I think that it would be much easier to graft in place. My steering in a nutshell...Used a basic GM 1 ton front suspension, removed truck steering box, added second idler arm, mounted car steering box inside COE frame, made new flat pitman arm, welded plate with tapered hole to early year GM center link, connected steering box to plate with 4x4 drag link., connect steering box to column with one short piece of DD shaft My Parts 1. 1987 GM 1 ton center cross member. Note - Need the frame horns too, to locate the idler arms and maintain correct geometry. 2. 1976 1-ton center link (same size tapered hole on both ends) mounted between two 1976 idler arms. Do not change geometry. Note - Have to heat 2nd idler arm mount bracket to bend in opposite direction. Lots of heat, cherry red, slow bend. I also heated and slightly bent first bracket, in order to center the center link. Used straight edge to align them level and square to each other. 3. Discard the truck steering box 4. GM car steering box mounted inside COE frame. 1987 Monte Carlo, Normal ratio, not quick steer. 5. Flat pitman arm made by Pete and Jakes (using splines cut from the car pitman arm, welded into new pitman arm). Taper hole to match (# 7 below) Watch direction of taper and splined when building the pitman arm. They are opposite directions. Length matches original truck pitman arm. Note thickness of pitman arm steel (pic 1) 6. Large flat plate (approx. 2" x 7" x 5/8" thick) welded to center link...preheat everything (a lot), and slowly reduce heat after welding. Take a BIG welder as it is a lot of m*** to fuse together. Multiple p***es on the welder. Tapered hole in plate (again by Pete and Jakes - they have the correct tapered reamer). Watch location of hole in plate so nut clears center link, and plate clears frame...hole is not centered.(see picture) Make sure nothing hits, test move everything full side-to-side, watch for grease fitting clearance too. 7. connect center link to pitman arm with GM 4x4 1-ton drag link. 1976 or maybe 1974. 8. Connect steering box to column with simple Borgenson joints and straight DD shaft.
The Jalopy Journal
