50 Ford F-1 Drivability

I've got a 50 ford f-1 and I want to be able to drive it down the road with out the engine screamming ****** murder at me. Seen a lot of info on T-5 ****** swap but dont realy understand the whole shift ratio thing ,also what year for mechanical speedo? Or do I switch out rear end or just gears. And what gears will get me down the road at 70 with know screamming? Oh yah everything is all stock wright now 8BA flathead , 3 spead on flloor, and rear end all stock. Cheapest sollution would be great. THANKS FOR ALL INPUT JIM

 

Easiest and probably cheapest thing to do would be to swap rear ends. The 57-72 Ford trucks 9in rear are a bolt in, and you should be able to find one with decent gears in it pretty easy.

 

A local shop put a late 90's Jeep Cherokee (Chrysler 8 1/4") w/ 3.07 gears in a friend's '51 8BA powered pickup and it worked out great. Did have the axles redrilled from 4 1/2" to 5 1/2" wheel bolt circle to use original wheels. Width was just right and since both are intregal housings, it even looked stock. There are, of course, several other choices. 8" or 9" Fords, several GM and Mopar axles would work. The 8" Ford is often overlooked, unfairly in my opinion, and would make a very good choice for this. They are about 25 to 30 lbs lighter than a 9", plenty strong for your setup, very commonly available in 2.79 and 3.00 ge****ts.

Ray

 

I put a 9" in one, had 2.70 gears(or there abouts) I had the 215 "6" still only run about 65 without the motor sounding too fast. It was a 52

 

What is considered a good cruise RPM for a flatty?

 

IMO, based on running one in a '47 Ford, somewhere in the low to mid 2000's @ 65 to 70, really the same as for any engine with reasonable power. I ran 2.79's in an 8" Ford rear end, 235/70-15 tires and a 276" Merc flathead. I went to that rear axle from the original 3.78 which ran the engine closer to 3000 at cruise. Much more highway friendly.

Ray