Projects Cheap ass 34 pick up

So here it is. My super cheap build thread. Given that I have not much time, two kids and a wife in nursing school building a hot rod is probably not the best use of my time or money but who cares it is fun! I bought a friends stash of 32-33-34 truck stuff. Picked it up at Christmas time and dragged it home. After cherryicking what I got I sold off enough stuff to make what I had kept free!

 

As soon as the weather smartened up I got to work on the better of the two frames. Although it had been butchered and still needs some rust repair it gave me a good start. I cut what was left of the X member out and used it to box the rails.

 

Then I mounted up a Plymouth 201 flat six and assorted parts I have been holding for years. It actually bolts up to the Ford mounts in the front. But it needed to go up quite a bit so I cut two motor mounts in half and welded one on top of the other.

 

At that point I stuck the cab on a built some new wood mounts for it. The cab just clears the back of the engine. The cab needs to go up just a touch to square up the door openings and that will give me just enough room to fit the stock throttle linkage and spoon pedal.

I have a mini van seat for it but it is getting tossed....

 

I am junking the minivan seat in favour of this!

 

A friend got it for me. For free! A local guy is redoing the interior of his A roadster and was giving it away to whoever wanted it. Needs a couple of hundred dollars worth of work on the top but I have to wait till the shops are done fixing boat tops.

 

Am I correct in assuming you will run fender less ? It just appears from the pictures due to motor length the radiator will need to be pushed forward?
Cool project done on a Scroungers budget, awesome .

 

A friend and I dropped the front axle. 2" and I got to work blasting and cleaning everything and building some ends for the wishbone mounts. I reverse eyed the spring and set it up with seven leaves.

 

I built a new tie rod out of some 4101 HTSR and bent the arms down to clear the axle.

 

Picked up some 1954 date code curved lense gauges for cheap of the buy and sell. They are out of an Essex coupe that was never finished. 76 miles total use age. And the panel I got at a boat swap years ago for $20

 

I have been working on the rear suspension. F100 front suspension parts. Split the packs down to three leaves and fixed the mounts and shackles. Then I rebuilt a 55 F100 Dana 44. I got it and all the front brakes from a friend for free. He is going independent and air ride. I rebuilt the diff this weekend and swapped in a set of gears out of a 77 jeep wagoner axle. Nice that 55,77,85, and stuff from my 2005 jeep all fit this axle. Chrome cover is cheap and will get some acorn nuts to hold it all on.

 

I got the rear stuck in today and it needs different mounts. I may reverse eye the spring as well. It sits way too high. But it is coming along.

 

That's beautiful, you cheap bastard! (and I say that in the most envious way possible)

 

I don't think I will have to mount the rad forward. I just got my rad yesterday and haven't had time to look. Might get time today.

 

Lookin' Good, dumprat!
Keep on truckin'

 

Looks like you kept some pretty solid parts for your truck. Coming along nicely.

 

Nice project, looks like you had good stuff to start with. Bob

 

Rad clears with tons of room! Needs a fan spacer actually.

 

Too cool when things work out to fit in the space you have.
This looks like a project that will prove imagination and skills are more valuable than throwing a bunch of money at it.

 

love the build on the cheap! flat 6 mopar is nice touch!

 

Very nice. What sort of power does the Mopar 6 make ??

 

Nice build dumprat, its cool to see what people can do on the cheap!! I also am a fan of the flathead mopar, what year engine is that?

Waxhead:
Depending what year that 201 ci flathead is it probably makes around 80 hp. The 201 ci that was in my '39 Plymouth Coupe was rated at 82 hp. I bet dumprat knows the exact number.

-Chris

 

Pretty sweet build you got going on.

 

Great build, love these use what you can find projects. Total antithesis of check book rodding. We need more of this. Town I lived in as a kid had a fairgrounds short dirt track for roundy round racing, was a non-Ford track so there were lots of Mopar sixes, this being the early 50s, and they are neat and there is some equipment for them if you hunt.

 

Looks great so far, It's cool seeing something come together with parts others don't think to use

 

Thanks guys.

The engine is a 37 P4. 82 hp. I got it rebuilt by the second owner of the Plymouth. The guy had owned the car since 1948 and had taken his wife on their first date with it. He was a pretty lively dude for his age and had restored the car after it had sat for years. This engine has a couple thousand miles on it. He pulled it out in favour of a 318 and an auto.

I have a 54 230 engine that if my info is correct I can pull the crank and rods out of. Which should make it a 216. I also have a new Offy intake for it that I bought years ago. I plan on building some tube headers and getting a cam re ground as well.

 

Really cool build x2 on the awesome cluster.