Sorry for the repost, Just learned about the COE specific area...> 1941 Ford COE project, very rough, came home the other day. It's truly an open slate right now and the next year will probably be used to get some ideas on that "slate". It is currently behind several other projects including some house projects. Early thoughts are: Donor 4x4 F-150 or Dakota underneath. Reasonable V8 power at a minumim, maybe more but must be DD friendly. Maybe chop the top a bit, but don't ruin the view from the cab. Extended cab or 4 door. Tossing around engine placement.. It seems the original location is the right spot, but floor area is a concern also. Pickup bed 6.5 feet. Lowered, but not dragging on the ground. I'm guessing I can do this w/o bagging it. Headlights "flush" mounted. maybe a pair of 1940 Ford sedan units? No bumpers. Thinking about something behind the apron for crashes. Hoping, of course, that I NEVER use it. Taillights "hidden". I'm not sure what's used here, but I've seen them on motorcycles where you can't even tell they are lights until they are turned on.
Pros and cons of engine placement? Front, original spot. Pro Donor truck would be essentially setup for this spot already. Harness would be in the right place. (I wonder if its long enough to reach the dash) Extended cab and pickup bed could both have a flat floor. Con Large engine doghouse in cab. More possible fumes in cab. Heat from engine in cab. Behind the cab. Pro Better handling? Cooler cab? flat cab floor. Con Engine doghouse either in extended cab or pickup bed. Engine access issues. Tilt cab or bed? Dog house in extended cab? Would need to extend a factory harness. (late model EFI donor) Drivetrain length issues (engine, trans, TCase) What say the experts? thanks, Rick
Cleaned a bunch of animal chewed **** out of the cab last night and ditched the seat bottoms that smelled like the previously mentioned ****. Buford is smellin much better now! Noticed it's still got almost all of the headliner. Not that I'll use it, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. If someone needs it for an example lemme know. The sheet metal I'm seeing is looking good so far. Managed to turn over the flathead using the starter, but didn't start it. I was using a 12v battery and I suspect it's a 6 volt system. It cranked pretty slow. I seem to recall 6 volt amps are much higher than 12 volt. Do I have that right? I am excited that the engine turned over. Maybe I'll be able to find a home for it. I'd love to do a hotrod using it, but I'm guessing, in reality, that probably ain't in my future. I really would like to get started on my build and playing with the flathead doesn't help cuz I have a couple projects ahead of Buford so he'll get stuck on the car trailer for a few months. In the meantime, I'll be making plans. Last night my buddy and I talked about: - How can I hide the door hinges? - Grab bars on the cab sides are handy but don't work with my plan for a smooth flow. By buddy says, just build in flush, reach in behind ones... I thought that was a great idea. - Door handles will go for poppers or something like that I think. Thanks all for now! Rick
Planning is half the fun of a build but be practical in the build. Decide on what the end result will be used for. Get the cab mounted, the engine placement decided and worry about body modifications after this is done. It's a process that must broken down into many small steps.
Thanks for the words of wisdom. I like to write things down as they come to me so I can go back to them later. Otherwise I'm likely to forget them. But, yes you are absolutely right, Donnda, step by step and broken down into manageable pieces. To stand and look at Buford right now and think of the whole project, would just be downright oeverwhelming. Once I get rolling, first will be removing the cab, breaking it down, sandblasting, then evaluating what's left and how to go about it. I'm torn on the engine placement right now. I'd love the floor space in front, but since I'll have an extended cab or 4 door access to the engine with it moved rearward might be tricky. I'm leaning towards some fancy mechanisms for the seats to allow swivelling into the back seat... Lots of time to ponder this. Rick
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