New 63 owner

[Day 2]

Hey Jeff. that is looking good. Just curious as to where you are having problems with your headers. I have the same engine mount setup and mine fit perfect, what brand of header do you have? Mine were with the truck when I got it. Don't know the brand, but they are OLD as grandma....and will need to be replaced soon. So I don't want to buy ones that have a fit problem.

Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi Robert,

They were the headers that were in the truck, aftermarket, dont know what brand. Previous owner rigged up engine perches from the donor vehicle . A 73 truck i think. It caused the motor to be jacked up in front, but with the extra clearance, the headers would work. When i put the trans-dapt mount on, it dropped the engine a couple of inches (3 i think) and more importantly it used engine mount thatbwas about 2” back from where other mounts were. The combination caused the headers to not fit. I looked at some “shorty headers, and it appeared that they may work, but i could not find any to hold in place and test. I ran accross some local stock exhaust manifolds, and they definitely will fit. I will put them on and post some pictures.

[Toyz]

Hi, Jeff, I don't know if you are running power steering or not, but that Trans-dapt crossmember does not appear to maintain the factory engine offset. Skip, here locally also has a'63 FE flare; with that crossmember, he was hard against his steering box, to the point of overheating it. He worked around that with the beam mounted rack and pinion, then had to drill a hole in his inner fender for pump clearance.
Regardless of exhaust type, there are advantages to maintaining Ford's offset, especially when installing an FE.
Another caveat from another local member, He found the engine mounts provided by TransDapt to be "powdery" and flaking; he opted to chase down some quality replacements.

[Day 2]

After reading the comments about offset, I went out and measured mine, its offset half an inch to the passenger side. I have plenty of room for the headers that are on the truck. Since it was over 25 years ago that I bought the cross member, it doesn't appear to be the Trans-dapt part. Something tells me it is Competition Engineering!! Just don't remember....

Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Well, i started on the cab metal today and i have a lotbofvrespect to the people out there that make it look so good. I officially suck at it, but them floors aint going to weld themselves, so here we go. I will use it as a learning experience.

Started with the normal stuff, rust out in floor, door pillar and cab mount. Drivers side is worse so starting there. Bought some sheet metal floor pans, cab mounts and drivers side door pillar from carolina classics and broke out the cutting wheel.





Cut out the floor basically in outline of the replacement panel. I left about a 1” lip and my plan is to just use the lip as an overlap and weld to that.



The side panel was rusted out, so made a template and clamped in place. Used a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal from tractor supply $12. Used jigsaw with metal blade and cut like a charm.


Busted the cherry on the new hobart 140, and started to tack this in place.



I struggled a little with the welds along the side seams, wasn,t sure where to weld, and didnt seem to do as well on the old metal, perhaps better prep. I am using my grinder to grind down to raw metal, but there are some rough spots, pehaps a wire wheel would do better. Any advice ?

Cut the door pillar down (cut about 1/4 “ too short) and clamped that in place. The side panel covers the side, and i aint forkin over another $75, so it is going to have to be good enough. Used the hinge and bolt to help align. Replacement door pillar uses normal thread, vs the stock fine thread bolt so one more trip to tractor supply.



I have everthing sort-of lined up, but still hesitant to pull the trigger because i am not certain about alignment of the panel, proper location of the hole for the cab mount etc. i also have some additional metal to repair. Couple of inches above the floor pan on left side and a place on the tunnel where previous owner butchered a floor shifter.

Floor panel is just laying in here, not tacked yet.







The other element i am am not sure about is the placement of the cab mount bracket under the floor. Should i weld that in first?

A lot to this , and i am big time rookie. While i am am concerned with how it looks, i am more concerned that when i am finished, it will go back on the frame, be level square etc. i think i need to reposition the cab on my cart so i can position and measure the placement of the cab mount brackets. Well, like i said, it aint going to weld itself, so i will stay at it.

[JeffinMooresville]

A little bit more progress, got passenger side floor cut out, it was not as bad as drivers, but still had to replace cab mount.

Drivers side, still have a sliver to fill in.



Also had to replace the hinge pillar.



Passenger side.





Also made a addition for welding cart for gas bottle, previously, the welder was hitting the bottle and would not slide all the way back on the cart.



My litte hobart 140 is working out well, I know the welding looks like crap, but what can i say, is my first experience with welding and any sheet metal work. Thank god it will be covered up with carpet. I am envious of many of the people on this site that have sheet metal skills, I will keep at it.

Ready to finish the metal work and get this cab back on the chassis.

[Masterguns]

Your doing a great job! by the time you get finished with your repairs, you will have the "skills" also. If you look in my album I think I have some photos of the same repairs, if that could help in any way.

[JeffinMooresville]

Took a couple of days with grandson Riley this week, so didnt get to finish up welding... but did piddle around with steering column prep.

63 has straight steering column, no rag joint, so watched aprils video, and tore it down.







Whole outer shell basically slides off of steering box with fixed long shaft.

After scraping off 55 years worth of dirt and grease, preped for paint and reassembly.




Steering box seems to be fine and i bought replacememt parts for the column which turns out to be a bearing that goes at top, and a plastic bushing. I also bought a couple of aditional rubber seals - one was for a fairlane, but april suggested trying for bottom of column between outer sleeve and steering box. Appears it may fit.

I pulled the electrical turn signal, horn stuff out, i think it was working. But felt real loose. 63 must have oddball part for replacement cuz dennis carpenter wants 95 bucks for replacement an no picture on website. I live near concord, so perhaps i will go by and take a look at this gold plated part.

Engine reassembly coming along as i buy replacements or clean and paint old parts and put back on. Hopefully engine will be ready to go when i put cab back on.

[Day 2]

Jeff, have you tried the fan yet? Looks like it will be pretty close.

Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi Robert, yes i did and it clears top of cross ember by about 2 inches. The motor has not moved forward with this new crossmember. The transmission mount is in same place and is fixed, however it did drop the engine down a couple of inches.

The previous owner uses perches out of 70 era truck and thevresult was the engine was “jacked up” in the front.

You can see in these “before” pictures. Notice location of lower belt wheel before vs after.





I pulled the fan off to paint, will put back on and post some updated pictures.

I also have the original pulleys on and looks like it had AC and power steering, so i could put single pulleys on, for some clearance on the front crossmember, but i dont think it makes a difference on fan position.

Have to remember what the truck looked like - give me some motivation to get busy andcfinish it.

[Day 2]

"give me some motivation to get busy andcfinish it.


Just think about the day when you load eveybody up and go for that first ride!!

[grump]

Jeff, I don't see any thing wrong with your welds, I think they look pretty good. Waiting to see it all done. I'm doing a frame off on a 66 flareside so I've got a pretty good idea what you're going through.

[JeffinMooresville]

Hey Rbert... yep ready for that first ride.

Thanks grump, some ok, some really bad ... perfecting my booger weld technique. Makes me appreciate people that are good at it. Would love to check your project out, let me know if you have any pics.

[grump]

I've taken lots of pictures but I'm pretty much computer illiterate. I put photos of my shop on here but had to have help to do that. lol

[JeffinMooresville]

Made a little progress this weekend. I had a sliver in the floor where the rust was higher than the floorplan replacement.



And it had a weird bend, to follow the floorboard and i have no metal working tools, so i did my best vice and hammer. I think it turned out ok.



I also got the passenger side cab mount welded in. I still stink at welding up. I am using sheet metal screws to try to pill eveything tight, will go back and remove the screws and hit the holes with filler weld. I had also done some cleanup on the firewall, so threw coat of primer on that.



So maybe next week, with a little weld grinding , sanding and coat of primer on the new metal, i will be ready to put the cab back on. I pulled out the rat infested firewall insulation on the inside of the cab, so i assume i just throw some primer on it and out some of that adhesive thermal roll stuff that looks like foil. Anyone have preference, source?

[JeffinMooresville]

1st step to reassembly today.

Debbie and Rocky even came out to check progress. “Is this that thing you are spending all that money on?”



I did a little cleanup on the firewall before putting back on chassis. Sprayed some undercoating on the fresh metal underneath.

Nice to have some extra hands and the borrowed hoist with cab fixture works like a charm. I have borrowed so much, i feel like i owe rent on it. Thanks to local forum member for allowing me to use.



Went on really easy , dropped right in place. I was worried about the exact placement of the front bolts due to replacement of floor panels and cab mounts, but my measurements worked out perfect. I guess we will find our for sure when the fendors go back on.

[jercasche]

Looks like you are making some good progress. Keep working at it and you will be on the road in no time.

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, with steering column semi-reassembled, i figured i would clean up the dash while i had access. Pervious owner just flat blacked the dash, one door etc. Combination of black, blue silver, blue with a good coating of butt ugly.





Yes, that is 5 year old painters tape that was never removed.

So I removed all of the switches and such and gave dash a good sanding, while i was figuring out what color to paint. I was able to get thru most of the black paint and decided to just shoot with clear and go for old truck look. Easy enough to change in future if i want. Turned out ok, painted the instrument cluster and vents a metal grey.





So still have to deal with wiring, but moving the thing around with no steering is a chore. Next, put the steering column and box back in.

[Day 2]

Like the dash!!!



Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Nice truck, what year.... is that a tilt wheel?