Hot Rods 1934 Ford Pickup build aka "Hot Garbage"

When I was a kid, and first dreaming of building hot rods. This would have been the late 80's - early 90's, I still had this idea that hot rods were built from cast off junk you gathered from the junk yard.(yes, we still had many junk yards full of old cars then) Not realizing that many people bought nice and complete cars and went from there.

It's amazing how many cars it takes to build a hot rod from pieces. Almost every piece will be from a different car when it is done. Even though those parts work together. They're a combination of stuff that never was. That was what I thought a hot rod was when I was a kid. It's funny how we look at things as children and how that fascinated me then. Obviously the truth is a lot different and more complex. But something about taking a bunch of parts all from different cars, still sticks with me. It's certainly a completely different experience to build a truck from the frame up, vs. the black truck which stayed in mostly one piece through its transformation.

Anyways..hot rods rule...here's a shot of @Flootiebuell 's new truck. He had to buy it since I wouldn't sell him mine.

 

Went with paint stripper. Box got the goo, sat for awhile, wire brushed it. ....then washed it off. And cleaned up as much as possible in the solvent tank after.






So I inspected the guts. The input and output shaft bearings were shit. Definitely not replaced when it was "rebuilt" Glad I took it apart to check things out. Everything else looks good. I had some new bearings on the shelf, so I swapped those out today. This is a 28 tooth cluster.

I like to lube all the bearings so they stay in place in the cluster and I hit all the thrust washers too... So they stay in place as well.



I stupidly did not get a picture with the cluster in. But I go ahead and put reverse back in it and then slide the cluster in. I just put it in the bottom. Then I put the main shaft and synchro in, without the rear bearing. Then the input shaft goes in. Make sure not to forget the bearing inside the input shaft for the mainshaft to ride on...(ask me how I know) And then I put the rear bearing on.







After that you can hopefully get the clustee gear aligned easy and slide its shaft back in. Then you're good to go.

Tomorrow I'll clean the outside of the case one last time, rtv a couple things like thr cluster gear shaft and the reversegear shaft. I'LL Add the front and rear bearing retainers and paint the case too.

Once everything is clean and ready to go, I can usually assemble these pretty quickly. The first one I rebuilt maybe 12 years ago took me hours.... I had no clue what I was doing. Now I am doing them in 30-45 minutes or so. They are pretty easy to rebuild. Cleaning them and inspecting parts takes the longest. I have many hours in that part of it. I highly recommend @Mac VP for all your parts need. Get his book too. Very detailed. Made a lot of things clear verses how I originally learned to do one.

Still undecided on paint color for engine and transmission.

I also got the front axle and wishbone painted again. I'm gonna clean and paint the rear axle tomorrow and get this thing to roller status.

 

And painted...

 

Also started cleaning up the rear end. I should be able to finish up tomorrow morning and get some paint on it. Then I'll throw the front and rear end in and we'll have a roller. I'm hoping this thing isn't terrible. I'll try and run it first and if it's garbage I'll tear it apart and rebuild it. I've been lucky in the past and haven't had to rebuild one of these... yet. Though I have several shelving units full of disassembled banjos. This is the only complete 33-34 rear end I have. At least it rolls...I'll change the fluid in it soon.



Next thing to figure out is checking out the clutch and getting the engine up on a stand and take a peak at the internals and cleaning it and painting it. Where just gonna give it the old once over and Rustoleum rebuild as well and cross our fingers. I have a 59 Ab, that may get rebuilt to replace the 221 further down the line. Right now I'm just looking for a yard driver.

 

Lookin good

 

Dang it - the man with a plan and backup to boot - cyh- cover yer hinney
Keep at it - looking good - Thank you kindly for sharing the pics and info

 

I'm assuming I need these for putting the 1939 ish 221 21A flathead in my pickup? Anyone know?

 

I don't know if I have any of "These" but if you post a photo of where "These" might go maybe I can help ya out.

 

Ha! Sorry.

 

Those are 49-51 Mercury front motor mount spacers. If you're building your own front mount stands off the frame rails, you won't need them if done right.

 

I'm trying to use the stock mounts in the 34 front crossmember. Was ordering up motor mount pucks and saw these and it kinda seems like I need them...judging by the listing.

 

My bad, I lost track. I thought you were doing a Model A frame. I have built those spacers using 2" tubing and caping with a stud and nut in the caps. Let me raise the motor a tad more and helped with steering to exhaust issues.

 

Looks great!

I am trying to put together a 33/34 rear for a project I am working on.

 

I have those in my '34 PU. I think you need them.

 

If you need anything, drop me a line. Got me curious about this project of yours as well.

I got the scoop on them... in case anyone else is curious... We need them because the engine mount spacing is different on the early frames vs the later engines. The spacers aren't necessarily spacers, but more of a way to get the holes to align and bolt on. Between the two. You can see the holes are kinda offset from each other.

 

Now...let me start this off with a disclaimer; no Hitchhiker's were harmed during this incident....

Now let me make it clear... I usually remove and take apart all the springs on cars I work on....mainly for this exact reason.

In all the springs I have built. Which is a lot...I've never had an incident. I have set some off before because I was curious. But never had one come apart on me until today.

While moving the rear end the center bolt of the spring let go.



While not the worst hit I've ever taken...it wasn't a light one either. I'll be sore tomorrow.

After I'd got done cussing, I took a look at the bolt.



This is the exact reason I usually take these apart and inspect, clean and replace. But not this time. Let that be a lesson.

Anyways....that kinda took the wind out of my sails tonight, so I'm inside nursing a cold snack.

Anyone got any ideas how many leaves I can remove now that I am gonna be into this thing?

 

Dang it - hope ya Otay - I’m enjoying yer pics and build - take care and stay safe Hitchhiker

 

R = Real
U = Unrestrained
S = Spring
T = Thrust
OUCH !
Glad you are okay !

 

Damn, man! There are some things that get my instant and undivided attention and respect. Springs is one of them. Table saw is another. Welding torch, too. Glad you're O.K.

 

In reference to how it's loaded and the handling problems you ran in to, moving the truck forward that extra foot and a half of available deck would have helped greatly.

 

Those pictures are very deceiving...That's not a foot and a half in front. More like 6-8 inches. Thanks for the tip though.

 

Thanks guys I'm fine. A little sore. Nothing broken but the spring bolt. Luckily I'm pretty lucky. Haha

 

Dang, Mother nature at her worst. Many years back when I was building my avatar and removing the stock rear housing, I had just loosened the 4 nuts on the U-Bolts but not totally removed any nuts and the center bolt snaped. The bottom plate kept anything from getting away but I had Skid marks in my Laundry in a hart beat. If I remember right the Truck spring pack is a 9 leaf package. I do remember on the Truck I built I removed 3 leaf's, it sat nice on 30" tall rear tires and road well. Oddly enough that Truck came with a set of Overload springs on it. I still have them but somehow lost track of the special bottom plates that the U-Bolts went through. May have stayed on the Truck, but not sure.

 

Well shit. Glad you’re alright

 

Hey Matt, glad you are OK. I have seen that before, never a good thing.

 

I know there is a lot of force there. I have several old springs I move and throw around from time to time, never have seen that happen before without being in the process of taking it apart . Glad you are ok.

 

Matt, great work saving this '34. It reminds me a lot of my '34 project truck a couple years back! Looking forward to seeing your progress, glad you caught the motor mount spacers, those are kind of obscure but they lined my crank pulley right up with the crankhole in the grille.

 

Here is the latest update!

 

Just read through your thread, a cool build. Thanks for sharing.
I'm glad I am not the only one who works on more than one project at once!

 

I’ll watch the video this afternoon, looking forward to a video update