Projects 1949 M47 pickup. Basement barn find!

I still didn't do anything to the truck.
I spent a day just cleaning up from the mess I made the last time I was in there. I also moved a bike I just bought to shove into the corner for winter.
But here's a basically not good picture.
Maybe I'll get in a day this week.
It's hard.

 

Tony, so sorry to hear the bad news. I hope you get back on track soon.

 

Hey, you did something. Hang in there.

 

I offer my condolences, Tony.

 

Hey Tony, I was actually just thinking about you last night. Do what you need to do during the Christmas season. Now if that means working on your project so much the better.

 

It's been a while. To say it's been a rough go is an understatement. I moved in March. I have my own garage now. It's not very big, but I can finish my truck in here. I haven't really touched the truck since September, it's just not been a priority. This week I went and finished he floor pan repairs. Then a buddy got a new flat trailer and wanted to use it so we moved my truck to my garage! It's now just fifteen feet away from where I'm sitting and I feel like I have the energy to work on it again. I'm currently on leave from work for PTSD from the day of the accident so hopefully this will help me work through it all.
Anyways. Here's some pics. Hopefully some real updates coming in hot. I have something I'm aiming for on May 20 and that is VERY soon.

 

Congrats on the new garage! That should be a big help having it right there. Looking good!

 

Finished up my floor pans today and sprayed them down with a quick coat of rustoleum just to protect a bit while I keep working. Then I mounted the cab to the frame!!! Slid in the steering column and placed the steering box in place. Dragged one of the front fenders to try to start putting the puzzle together but I couldn't figure it out. I'll pull out the body manual tomorrow and start figuring that out.
Next up though is making a quick brake adapter so I can mount the brake and clutch pedal assembly and hook that all up. This week I'll be working on it every day, so I'll keep y'all updated!

 

Had a minor "what the fuck have I gotten myself into" moment with the truck today. The first one, somehow. Then a friend showed up and we very loosely hung the front clip on. I don't think I'll be able to get that reinforced enough for it to drive on Saturday, BUT I do think I will be able to reinforce and replace the rotten parts enough to not have to buy a ton of expensive and almost nonexistent body panels.
I'm going to pivot my focus tomorrow to brakes, clutch, and steering. I do think I can get it sorted enough to move under its own power but without the whole front clip. the show I wanna get it to is only four blocks away so I think I can avoid cops for four blocks....
Anyways here's the front end very loosely hung. The drivers side inner fender is totally roached so I'll have to replace a bit of that, or just save my energy and buy one since those are actually available. I also don't have either of the front fender braces.
Today felt good despite the minor panic.

 

almost" plaintive ".expression on that truck!

 

I think I have some of the fender braces. I'll look tomorrow. Iirc, I bought a pair (from a boneyard), had them sandblasted, and epoxy primed for use on my F-1 panel truck. Turns out we just used the ones already on it.

If I still have them and you want them they're yours.

 

Tony, I have been away for a while...I am catching up with Threads I've been following...I am truly sorry for the sudden loss of your beloved wife...deepest condolences to you and the family...

Glad you are still with us as difficult as it must be at this time...sounds as if a major milestone is fast approaching...congratulations in advance on that...careful with the Highboy/Jalopy ride...do all the critical checks before you head out...

I look forward to some pics from the event...especially Ole 597...

 

That would be fantastic!!! I'll gladly pay for shipping and some wobbly pops.

 

In the thick of it still but needed to take a break.
I made a adapter to hold a new two pot master at the same time as the clutch/brake assembly.
I of course forgot to take a pic of it once it was done. Oops. Basically bolts going on either side. Cut the heads off and welded them into the plate.





So imagine that all stuck together haha

Then I bolted it up to the frame. Loosely assembled the whole brake/clutch assembly because I don't have a grease gun with me to lube it all up. I need to grab a few bolts and pins too. But here we go.



Now I'm gonna probably replace u-joints and install the drive shaft, fill the trans with oil.
Also going to connect the steering tonight too and mayyyybe do an alignment? See how the evening goes.

The goal is to wire this up tomorrow and maybe fire it off?! Ambitious. But the wiring is dead nuts simple and I've already done it once.

 

Didn't get it started today. Missing two 12ga bullet connectors and two 5/8" coolant bypass caps.
The rest of the wiring is done.
Tomorrow I'll grab those parts, bleed the brakes. And start it off a bottle.
The fuel lines arent connected yet, but I might be able to do that too before the parts I had to order come in. I'm gonna test the fuel pump out if a can before I go nuts filling the tank with gas.

The clutch plate is stuck, which is a bummer. But it's only been a year since it spun freely so I'm sure some jamming on the brakes will free it up once it's rolling.
Here's the only picture I took today.

 

be sure and check the steering box for oil,lots of times they leak out and nobody ever thinks to fill them up.It will save the bearings in it,plus make it easier to steer. harvey

 

alright. some parts never came in the mail until sunday so the truck couldn't get started, which is a bummer, but such is life.
I do have a question though.

i THOUGHT my clutch plate was stuck to the freewheel but when i remove the inspection cover i can see it spinning when i push in the clutch pedal.

with the truck in neutral, i cant push it. if i push in the clutch pedal...i can move it. with the truck in neutral, if i turn the motor over by hand it spins the rear wheels, if i push the cluch pedal in...it doesnt.

so my question is....what in the world is going on with my transmission?
could it be stuck in a gear somehow?
i will be pulling it today.

its the stock trans so a 49 light duty 3 speed.
is this a constant mesh transmission?
im going to pull the trans. put it in neutral spin the shaft then roll through the gears by hand off the truck. before i installed it i did this and i could feel resistance going through each of the gears when i would shift it into those gears.
but if i pull the shifter off the top when its in neutral, if i spin the drive shaft, should all the gears inside move, or should nothing move?
i can't seem to find info on whether or not this one is supposed to be constant mesh or not.

 

I fiddled with it and finally got it to go back into neutral! I guess when I put the top back on after inspecting it I didn't put it back on properly and it was constantly stuck in gear.
Got that all sorted. Now to finish wiring and start it, eventually.

 

That is a common thing that happens but you beat me to the solution. Keep on keepin on and it will reward you.

 

@MTL Tony

Any progress to report?

 

after some time dealing with estate stuff that required me to travel stateside, and then participating in a demolition derby i had signed up for over a year ago....im back at it.
went in today to prep it to run and pull fuel for the first time on its own. filled it all up with coolant.
both water pumps leak from the center hole and both of my thermostat housings are cracked at the ears....YAY!

im gonna get an order out tonight, but it looks like rockauto can get me the water pumps (carter ones) by wednesday, and then thermostat housings im still trying to source a canadian source for them, otherwise ill try LMC with my next order going out to them this weekend, or somewhere else.

big thanks to @atch for sending me some front fender braces! I am still going to move forward and see how the fuel pump is holding out (though ill honestly probably just order one anyways) and then once the motor can sit at idle for a few seconds pulling its own fuel I will start to mount the front end. im comfortable letting it idle for a very short time without coolant, but im not gonna do it for long enough to even get hot

I had hoped to take my son for a road trip in this in a few weeks but he messed up real proper and has summer school til mid august so it looks like ill have to stick to long weekends at best. i figure we can still get down to NYC or Massachusetts in a long weekend though, so all is not lost, and I still have a deadline to do work with.

so theres an update! hopefully itll be idling on its own by end of the weekend!


im also on the lookout for exhaust, going to run duals that dump out/down in front of the rear axle. top of my list right now is a set of red's headers and then building the rest back myself.

 

Got my dash installed. All the various sending units are connected. I bent a fuel line and got that in place. Went to install a little.inline filter between the pump and the carb and I had some 1/4" fuel line to bridge the gap. Cut off a section for one side of the filter and the other piece evaporated into thin air. I looked for it for over an hour to no avail. It's probably somewhere very very dumb and I'll find it one day. But today's a Canadian holiday so I couldn't pop into a store to buy another piece of fuel line. So annoying no test start for idle today but first thing tomorrow for sure.
Here's some pics.

 

Oh yeah, neither of my door mechanisms work for the outside door handle so that's incredibly annoying. They slide into the right spot but there's no tension or anything at all, just tfloppy boys. The inside ones work fine and the big springs seem to be ok, so it must be something in the mechanism itself that's broken.

I guess I'll add those to the order for tomorrow on top of everything else!

 

I think a filter goes in here, it did on my old Cadillac with a glass bowl, anyhow.
Then you don't need another one in the line.

 

I think one goes in there too. I had a filter and line sitting around and the line I had wasn't the right size so I was just gonna "make it easy".
I suspect I'm gonna have to get a new fuel pump and they come with a filter too.

Edit: actually looking at all the fuel pump pics, none have a filter there for 48-50. So who knows!

 

Fuel pump doesn't work.engine fires off right away with some gas poured down the throat, but I couldn't get it to idle long enough to see if the generator is wired right and working.

It also started spewing oil out of the top of the oil filter. I'm on my way to a BBQ so didn't have time to trouble shoot, but I'll check the gasket next...I guess. All the lines were clear when I installed them so I'm gonna assume it's the gasket.

Here's some spilled oil pics.


And here's a instagram link to one of the times it fired off.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuNEWF3L9ri/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I don't think you need an account to watch one post.

 

Yep it is the gasket and also check the seating surfaces for the gasket closely for any imperfections. Also, always "presume" and never "assume" as the latter makes an "ass out of you and me".

 

The gasket had slipped into the canister. Flipped it over and carefully tightened it down so hopefully that will do the trick.
My ammeter wasn't working so I removed it and I'm gonna send it off to get converted to a voltmeter using the original face. Shortened the wire to the voltage regulator so that's all settled.
My LMC order got in in upstate New York so I'm off to go pick it up tomorrow and I can replace the water pumps and leaking thermostat housings.
Gonna finish off the bit of body work I gotta do in the next day or two so I can start mounting up body panels.

I went to an antique fair yesterday and a guy had a mercury tailgate for a whopping thirty bucks! Same year range as mine so now I've got a back up, but in the mean time it's a wall hanger.
I also had to clean up and organize the garage a bit, combining three garages into two means there was a lot of loose things floating around!!

Little things, one at a time I guess.
Here's the tailgate!

 

Water pumps I ordered were wrong. They were pre-48. It is their error, not mine.

I had my fuel pump routed backwards. It has suction and everything works fine in theory. But I mounted the new fuel pump anyways....now I have a spare.
But my fuel lines are in the wrong spot.
Just fixed all of that today.

What a kick in the dick for set backs though.
I should have just ordered water pumps from LMC instead of messing around with rockauto, but I think I couldn't find them initially on LMC and got impatient.

Anyways. Lots of parts came in. I'm installing them. Progress, despite the set backs.
Here's a pic comparing the two fuel pumps, they are angled different which is why I had to really re-route fuel lines. But it's done at least.


There's no hopes of getting this thing on the road before the end of the month I think. Such is life.
I have a new seat cover kit for my seat so I'll get my son on it tomorrow and we will tackle tearing it down, doing any repairs, painting and re-upholstering. He likes to sew so this is sort of like that (not really haha)

 

You should have asked here first because the fuel pump can be re-clocked and you wouldn't have had to re-route your lines. All is good and now you know.