Projects My latest project

I have been trying to find an original 4x4 conversion pickup for a while with no luck so I decided to build one in the driveway.

It isn't a hot rod but I figured the pickup guys on here might want to see a 4x4 pickup truck that isn't a chassis swap and lifted. It sits a tad higher than a stock truck and I could probably remove a few leafs and get it lower.

I saved this chassis bed and cab this past winter from the crusher for scrap weight. The frame was nice, the cab floor boards were in good shape but the area above the windshield was completely rotted out. The exterior metal is pitted pretty bad but I plan on running it in salt to a perfect paint job isn't to big of a concern.



A combination of parts from a junk early bronco, a chevy truck, a dodge truck and an early CJ brought me to this point this spring:





I picked up a junkyard ford 200 I-6 and put it in with an early bronco 3 speed and t-case with some motor mounts made from scrap metal I put a header on the motor for a little better performance (the manifold that came with it was cracked anyways):



I had to cut and brace the original cross member (so I could keep the stock pedal setup) and make a new one right behind it to get the engine as far back to the firewall as possible to give me room for the radiator.



currently I have the cab painted inside and out with 1944-1957 OD green. I put a light coat on the hood and bed to get an idea of what it will look like.

I would like it to look like a korean war era army base truck.






It is now running, driving, and stopping. The final things I have to do to get it ready for the road are:

Tie up loose ends.

Make a wiring harness (right now it is just wired enough to run and charge...no lights or guages.).

Install the side glass and wing windows.

buy and install headliner.

buy and install some non directional military tires (I will be running original 16 inch rims).

put a tailpipe on (right now the exhaust ends at the muffler at the back of the cab.

install the bed floor.

Finish up fixing rust in the bed and hood and paint the rest of the truck. (I am going to paint the fenders and running boards black and the rest of the truck OD green.

 

I really, really, really like that. Great work.

 

Perfect for pulling old crusty tin out of the bushes. Put a winch on that sucker. Were going tin huntin'! YeeHaw!

 

Yes, I plan on driving it daily.

I currently drive my 1952 f-1 (2wd) most of the time BUT apparently i built a little too much motor for it and keep going though rear ends and transmissions (I just blew another tranny in it this weekend...that makes 3 trannys and 3 rear diffs). I park it in the winter anyway due to it not liking wet or snowy roads and I drive my 79 f-350 4x4......the mileage sucks in that truck so....here I am building this "new" one.

 

looks good

 

Now that's cool!!! I love the little six!

 

Thanks guys.


Curbspeed, I have no plans of adding a winch (all the old tin in PA is usually rusted too bad to pull out of the woods) BUT.......I do have the air conditioner compressor that came with the motor. Once I get the truck on the road I may put the compressor back on the motor and plumb it as an air compressor so I can use air tools out in the middle of nowhere. There have been times where a cutoff tool would have been handy, cutting off parts with a hacksaw isn't fun.

 

that's really cool.

 

Looks pretty "stock" to me - nice job!
(I like Rocky's new one too, even if it is a chassis-swap)

 

Very cool. I really like the Korean War era theme you chose for the truck. Nice work...

 

Very Nice John! I bought these 7.50 16's from Les Schwab (I don't know if you guys have them there) for like 65.00 a piece. About 33" tall. There non directional and have been on my 1960 factory 4x4 for years with no problems!
Keep it up

 

2 words.....Bad Ass!! I had a '60 2wd...same color...same rust spots...I wanted to make it 4wd...But I scraped it and got a '57 Big Window.

 

Well I am tailights, tires, a couple bolts and a bed floor away from getting it inspected.

 

Good save, that truck rocks!

 

Great truck, very cool. It will be lot's of fun to drive.

 

here are a couple more pics.

 

Cool truck! Check out "DL Bensingers" website, they have lots of cool military stuff for fair prices.

 

Very cool truck! The interior pannels look to be in great shape.

 

Well I got everything done....bed floor, aligned it.....etc...etc
I also got the coker firestone military tires for it installed and drove it around a good bit yesterday (it runs stops and handels pretty well for a cobbled together pile of junk parts).

The only thing left to do before I get it inspected and start driving it everyday is to go over everything and make sure that everything is tight and to be sure that I didnt' miss anything. I also still need to hook up a couple of the guages (I had to order some balast resistors to cut the voltage down to 6v at the guages and they aren't in yet).

 

WOW! That thing looks super bad ass!!!!! Great job!

 

That thing rocks, great job. I have always thought those trucks had the coolest interiors of all.

 

Very Kool looks super tough,I all fits well toghether!

 

looks great man good job.love that green was it rattle can?

 

Nice. Now you need one of those govt. issue NOMENCLATURE tags on the dashboard just to make it official...

 

Thanks guys.

The paint is rattle can OD green that I bought form a jeep restoration place. It is the correct color for 1944-57 vehicles.


I plan on ATTEMPTING to make a brass tag that mounts above the rearview mirror similar to the tag that was put on marmon-herrington conversions. And a tag showing the shift pattern of the T-case.

I read an article on here how to do it but I have't ordered the materials yet.

 

Your truck turned out real nice! I like the black and OD. Despite the cobbling of "junk" parts, it sure looks stock. Also like the spare and jerry can in back.

 

Chrysler Town and Country seat? Looks like the one I put in my Willys..


Nice looking truck, I like the fact the the engine is super detailed, looks like it grew there. The whole truck has a nice "authentic" look to it

 

Nice rig...ought to come in handy back there...nice color choices

 

yea, pretty damn sweet

 

I new update on the truck.

I now have over 14,000 miles on it and it has been VERY reliable!!!!!

Since We had a baby I realized the bias ply tires were a tad to bouncy so I took them off and put some radials on untill the baby gets a little older.

My band has been playing out a lot more and I got tired of always renting a trailer when it rains of hauling with my 79 f-350 4x4 which gets 10MPG.......SO i decided to build a easily removed and assembled canopy that matches the military theme of the truck.

Here is what it looks like with just the hoops....I made it so I can tear down or put up the hoops down in under a minute.





Here is a pic of me originally test fitting the canvas with the hoops 9 inches higher...... I am still working on a simple reliable method of attachment since the test run with the rope thought the grommets resulted in tearing out the grommets. That is why I lowered the hoops 9 inches....less wind and I can now double up the material at the attaching point.



I wouldn't have needed to hunch over as much to load out equipment BUT it looked kinda goofy and the grommets tore once I got over 40 MPH on a test run.


In addition I found some even older looking locking hubs that matched the truck better and made a minor adjustment to the ride height in the front. ( I raised the front a 1/2" so that I could add more caster.....I was limited by the tie rod hitting the springs and I didn't have quite enough caster when I first built it. It auto-centers much better now and the deathwobble that it initially had has just about gone away.

I also upgraded the truck by adding on board air... so I can run air tools anywhere and can air down and re-inflate my tires when I offroad......It was pretty cheap and easy to do.


Here are some other random pics from the last few months....