Long story short, Ive decided to go back to daily driving a classic. Ive found a stock, older restoration on a 50 Ford truck with the 8BA and 4 speed that I think Im going to pick up. Just wanted to get some opinions and bounce some ideas around. To preface this, I have daily driven some old school(straight front axle, straight 6, 6 volt, 3 on the tree, 4 wheel drum and so on) stuff with out all of the creature comforts and modern ammenities. Due to bad past experiences with the reliability of old 6 volt systems I will be swaping it over to 12v asap, but thats pretty straight foward. Im not familliar with flatheads. Anything specific I should do if I plan on driving one quite a bit? Maybe an electronic distributor(Pertronix unit any good? The Mallory?)? Maybe plan on replacing the waterpumps? I will also want to do something with the driveline. I have a S10 T-5 (thats currently installed behind a 235 in another project) I could use for a swap. I Think if I went that route I would want to retain as much of my stock clutch pedal and linkage as possible. Ive read a lot of T5 swap threads and have been overloaded with information, but have not found one specificly as it relates to an 8ba in this era truck. Im guessing its out there, I just havent found it. If I dont do the T-5 swap I will definately do a rear end swap(and Ive been weighing in the pros and cons of each, and have come come to the conclusion that the rear end swap would be cheeper and easier, not perform quite as well, but my be stronger; let me kow what yall think). What are some rearends to keep my eyes open for, and what gear ratio have you had good luck with?
Personally, I'd try an Optima 6v before you go 12v, I used to have a Porsche 356A as a DD and was ready to do a 12v conversion till I got one. Otherwise, yeah as long as you're up on the care and feeding of a 61 year old truck do it! You live in Texas so you don't have the winter salt worries that I have up here in Jersey. Remember, millions of people had these as DDs back in the 50s.
I had a 48 ford pickup as my only transportation in POrtland oregon in the 70s..had 6 volts and a merc flathead. Also ran a 49 ford pickup with a 289/automatic as my only transportation for a year or so...had 4.27 gears! I'd swap to a higher gear and I'd definetely go with 12 volts. Kevin Lee [here on the HAMB] has a 50 1/2 ton with a flathead he uses as daily transportation in K.C. It can be done
Ive seen the 6v Optimas, and considered going that route, but where Ive had bad luck in the past has been with generators and voltage regulators, which usualy arent available localy, I figure going with a GM 1 wire, and Optima, and a little later adding a nice aftermarket starter will knock out 3 of the most common things that leave an old car stranded... Then replace the fuel filter and pump... Plus going to 12v will give me the option of adding A/C, and/or some sort of hidden stereo system down the road(I really liked the recent Tech post to hook an I-pod up to an amp under the dash...)
I don't really understand what you're trying to do. It doesn't really sound like you want to keep the truck uber-traditional, so if that is the case (please correct me if I'm wrong) then I don't really understand why you'd want to run the Flathead. I think it's a cool idea, I probably wouldn't run the Flathead if I were going to daily it extensively, but let us know what the truck's schedule is going to look like and I'm sure we'll all do our best to steer you in the right direction.
I always had a ritual before I threw any old car into daily use, costs a few bucks but worth it. Fuel filter, rubber fuel lines, ribber brake hoses, brake fluid, wheel cylinder, master cylinder and clutch master/slave seals. Adjust and clean brakes. Fuel pump rebuild, carb basic rebuild kit and a good cleanout, generator brushes, check voltage regulator, lube EVERYTHING you can, flush fluids, ALL of em, repack wheel bearings, change belts, check hoses very carefully and usually change em all out, check distributor very carefully and usually replace cap, rotor, condensor, points. Usually change but at least check and gap plugs, new filters, etc. Do that and you've eliminated probably 90% of what's gonna leave you stranded. A properly working generator and voltage regulator will keep that battery charged just fine. AC is another story tho, I can kinda understand wanting in in the Texas heat.
A rearend swap would be the easiest. A 9" rear from a 1957-1972 F100 is a bolt-in. To figure your gear ratio, punch your numbers into a RPM calculator. Here's one: http://www.ringpinion.com/Calc_RPM.aspx You can use the 6 volt starter with a 12 volt system.
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