I got the old car gene from my dad. I wouldn't have my 34 Plymouth if not for him. He bought my first car, a 69 Thunderbird that had been sitting for ten years that we fixed up together. He fixed up a 66 Mustang for me when I was High School. I wish I would have helped him more on that one. When I was in the Marine Corps he fixed up a basket case 58 Chevy Del Rey that I picked up. We would work on it together when I would come home on leave. My parents move from Washington to Texas last year so they could be closer to me and my family. He left behind his 53 Studebaker project and 65 Impala so he could lighten the load for the move. He's always had a project as far back as I could remember, until now. Money is tight and he's been looking at projects but just can't. So when I saw this 49 International I thought of him and bought it for him to tinker with. I'm looking forward to us working together on it to bring it back to life. The truck hasn't run in 30 years but the motor turns and looks like it has been sealed from the elements. The first step is to see if we can get it started, then get the brakes working and see if we can drive it. If we can get it going reliably then he can teach me how to get after the rust and paint. Or just let it wear that 63 years of patina with pride. Either way I think it will be a great experience. I told him once we get it running we can go into town and load up a bunch of college girls in the bed and we will have a Binder full of women!
IF you keep the Green Diamond six, and it needs to be rebuilt, hold on to your socks. The main and rod bearings, if you can find them, will be expensive! May be they are being repopped by now. I rebuilt one several years ago, it hurt. Neat to see an old International, though.
I'm crossing my fingers that the motor is okay. If not then I will need to consider the challenge of a swap with getting rebuild parts. I found a source for the rebuild parts.
KB's are as good looking truck. Remember IHC didn't build pickups they built small trucks. Good Looking project.
Look in my album to see what I did to mine. I drove mine for 35 years before putting the v8 in it, it fit like a glove. If you need parts or help(I have a book that has every nut and bolt in it) PM me. If you decide to restore the truck you cad go to Binderbooks.com and order all the info you will need. Allot of the rubber seals and mounts are available from restoration specialties website. I have rear ends ,hoods, fenders, trans.s(3speed on the column), and little parts such as wiper motors, handles lights, wheel cyl.s, drums and a frountend. So get ahold of me if you need something. Go to OldIHC.org for more info on your truck and help with whatever you want to do.
Looks good and solid,,it's all there. Front bumper and headlight bezels are usually missing and you are only missing one piece of chrome trim. I think they rolled off the ***embly line with those dents in the fenders. Mine took 3 1/2 years to complete but I did a complete frame off.
Thanks for the responses and encouragement. Trailered the truck to my dad's on Saturday. He'd never considered one of these as a project but he seems to like the style. So far we've learned a few things about the binder. Rolling the truck off the trailer seems the clutch works. The engine oil is on full and is black but not foul with no evidence of water. There was water with antifreeze in the bottom of the radiator and the drain on the block had the same. Five of the six plugs came out with some effort. The #3 plug finally broke free with some penetrating fluid and a cheater bar. I suspect this is the cylinder with an intake valve open. The motor won't turn so there is some marvel oil soaking on top of the pistons. I hit the starter with a worn out 12 volt battery and the starter made a little groan then stopped. I'm pretty sure my battery was shot anyway. Going to let the marvel oil work some more then hit it with a proper 6 volt battery to motivate the motor to let loose. There is a little more rust than I initially found, but not too bad. The worst is the rot in the header panel above the windshield. This must be where the wiper holes leaked. Found some extra grill bars in the cab. There is no oil bath filter, or any oil filter to be found. How can that be? Can't find where oil would circulate from and to the block had the oil bath filter been on the drivers side like I've seen in other '49s.
That's mouse piss rotting out the header,, you'll find the nests when you remove the wiper motor cover
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