For truck use, you want torque. If it's to remain visually stock, you aren't going fast (brakes, suspension). Repowering would be best served with a small diesel. Say something that powered a generator.
That little ecoboost puts out like three times the torque of the banger lol. I would probably be retaining the stock rear end, it can handle 65 mph with OD which is as fast as I'd want to go in this truck. I considered a Cummins 4BT but I don't think it would fit under the hood after measuring...
30.6″ in length, 24.6″ in width, and 37.7″ in height Yeah, that's not reasonable. That truck with a quarter ton on the back (500 pounds) would be a handful at 45!
I had it up to like 35 or 40 and it was tracking straight. Other than the square wheels and wobbly cab it seemed completely comfortable at speed. But the brakes are a big question mark. I haven't really driven the truck enough to get a feel for the brakes. Actually, I haven't touched them at all. They worked while yard driving and up and down a country road but I don't know how well they really perform. I know I have faith in the mechanical brakes on my other car after rebuilding, but that car weighs nothing... this truck is almost 5k unloaded. I have learned that the hydraulic brakes from later trucks (through 48 I believe I read) will bolt directly on to the AA spindles. So that's something to think about.
So this lug nut was free spinning (with the cap nut) from the time I picked up the truck and I guess that explains why. I had to use an 18 wheeler tool called a Nut Buddy to remove the lug nuts after the old breaker bar with a 6ft pipe trick wouldn't do it - pretty cool little device, has a hand crank that goes through a torque multiplier that's something like 1:36. Now I have to figure out how to remove the cap nuts. These fuckers are TIGHT. Again, the 6ft pipe didn't do anything but break a 12pt socket and destroy a wrench, so I've ordered a square socket that will fit the Nut Buddy. Also I forgot to take pictures but we got most of the inside of the front section of the frame painted. And I now know the rear is going to need wheel bearings...
Quick update, I haven't had time to mess with the truck much because I have been packing my shit... Closed on a sweet little mid century house today with a big yard (third of an acre) where I can finally build a shop of my own. But I stopped by Shelley's to pick up the trailer, and while I was there I tinkered with the tools I ordered. The square socket with the nut buddy works perfectly on the cap nuts. I probably won't be out there again until the dust settles from moving house but I can now get the wheels off and investigate the bearing situation.
Congratulations!!! I'm sure you will get a bunch of advise and accolades, so here's a couple to start. The big box stores often have a discount on the first purchase for signing up on their card. I won't offer financial advise on getting into more debt, but IF you are going to do this, hold off for a month or so and write down everything, then prioritize the list. Cover as much as you are comfortable with on that first buy to get the discount. Window screens, appliances, yard stuff, basic plumbing tools, HVAC filters, electrical upgrades, fire extinguishers, Brooms, mops, paint. Get that list together and figure out needs over wants. BTW, Emergency 911! Also, if it came with a warranty (common on house purchases), when something dies, make sure to price out the EXACT thing that died. The warranty place will try to pay for the cheapest junk that will satisfy 'fixing' it. I had a stove hood croak. They wanted to pay for a $30 one. That exact one was 150. Video everything as it gets moved in. This will document what's there and give you a time stamp of progress.
I sold a '30 AA to a young friend. He built a flat bed for it and hauls lots of hay with it! Also has brought it to out campouts with Model A's and T's and runs along nicely with us. Not a rig for actual highway speeds tho. Bear in mind if you ever need a new radiator that the truck radiator and shell is different than the '30-'31 cars. They are thicker than cars and will not readily accept a car radiator. Just really don't fit, plus you need that bigger radiator for cooling on a truck. Have fun! Dave
Finally got internet at my new place. Yay. Still haven't touched the truck, but while packing I did find a floor pan I thought I had given away which will fit my truck cab perfectly. Installing this will be the first thing I do once the cab is back in position.
Nice truck. Indented firewall started on May 1931, all steel roof started august of 1931, looks yours falls between those dates.
@trevorsworth, just wanted to give this a bump. Hope the house is keeping you busy in a good way! Truck updates can wait, but would like to make sure you are still alive 'n kickin'.
The house sure puts plenty on my plate but that's not the only thing. My shop is growing fast and I am pulling 60 hour weeks trying to keep it up. I've also picked up a pretty off topic project, a '75 Benz to be my brother's first car, which has needed a ton of work and has kept me busy during a lot of the time I might have been able to go wrench on this truck. Beyond that, it's hard to end a 10 hour day at the shop and still want to drive to someone else's place to work on my truck and then still have to drive 45 minutes home after that. But the good news is - they are pouring concrete for a private shop in my backyard in August. Currently planning on a 30x60 steel building. Maybe I'll get more done then. My self control is pretty poor so I might be bringing home a kustom Kaiser too, not that I need any more projects. More on that later if it pans out.
When I was a kid, I saw a BB in Rock Moss Green, and ever since that day I have always wanted a truck in that color. I believe they also built the AA in Rock Moss Green. Back in that time, they used black paint as a primer, so it was a very dark green. I wanted to buy one until I found out they were only good for about 45 MPH on the roads. In fact, they were mostly designed for farms to haul stuff around.
I was just talking about it with the owner at my shop when you posted lol. Haven't really had time to get over there. I have been crazy busy and it's hard to want to drive 15 minutes after a 10 hour day working on cars to work on the truck in 110 degrees when I could just drive home and drink a cold beer instead. Maybe if there was beer where the truck is... I'm just waiting to put it back together. A good day's push could probably have it driving again & I really want to but every time I get a day off something seems to come up.
Had time today (barely) to shoot some paint on the new fender braces. Supposedly later we are taking a shop field trip after work to get the fenders & cab mounted. With 6 pairs of hands that will hopefully go quickly. Update to come if that pans out. From there the plan is to move the truck to my work where we will finish the wood install in between customers. edit- Unsurprisingly that didn't happen but here's hoping we'll get another window soon.
Wow, that's a beauty. I have long been enamored by a BB I saw in Rock Moss Green with Black fenders. It is one of my favorite colors, mainly because it was in a time when we used black as the base of colors. One of the unique things about Rock Moss Green is that it changes depending on the light. Some of the modern olives do the same thing, but I'm guessing black is too dark for that as Rock Moss Green was very dark, in fact almost black. It was used on both the AA and BB AFAIK. I could be wrong, but I don't think Ford used the color on any cars, only the large trucks (AA and BB). Also, there are a lot of variants for Rock Moss Green. Since getting a Chevy, Bewster Green is in vogue for me now...LOL
Had a little window today and I wasn't gonna waste it. The fenders are in pretty rough shape and it took a lot of beating, twisting and stretching to get everything to line up with the new brackets. But the fenders are back on and the cab is back in place. We ran out of time just short of bolting the cab down.
OK... haven't touched the truck since last time I posted but we are done building the new building at work and the owner told me to bring it to the shop so we can get it done on company time... should be some progress happening from now on.
Cab is bolted down. Tomorrow or Wednesday we will have it running/driving again, then it'll be wood time.
Go, Trevorsworth, go! Probably a good idea to lube everything again. It's been 6 months! Also I went back to the top (Jan 2024) and some pictures are broken.
Thanks!! It was exciting to step back and look at it whole again, even though it doesn't look any different than when I first got it lol. I used to lazily hotlink images from Discord (an IM app), which has since stopped allowing that, so a lot of my old pictures are broken. I upload everything as an attachment here now. Before it runs again it will get another oil change and its first drive will take it across the property to our 4 post lift for a full lube. The transmission and rear end also need to get done. I have all new zerk fittings for every single grease point so everything will get done. So far as far as I can tell the only major chassis problem I have is that it needs rear wheel bearings
I pulled in to work this morning knowing today was the day. We've got some stormy weather coming up so the truck had to be able to haul itself into a garage. It didn't take long to get it going. The Marvel carburetor I built didn't work so I slapped the leaky Tillotson from my very first Model A on and... So what do you do when your 100 year old truck proves that it will run for 5 minutes after sitting for 54 years? Put some air in the tires and hit the road...
The machine gods giveth, the machine gods taketh away... was hauling ass home on the interstate in the Dart and the throttle cable snapped lol. I turned the idle up as high as it would go and drove 15 minutes home like that...
Truck is running and driving pretty good now. Somehow it does burnouts... It has floors now... And my guys restored my license plates.
The Jalopy Journal
