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This is the motor as it looked before it was bolted to the frame then after it was installed. I took liberty with colors in this area. I really had no idea what this motor would have looked like when it left the factory. I used an assortment of Hammer Finish and Eastwood paints to detail. This 248 never looked so good! You might have also noticed the alternator hanging around - 12 Volts is a must!! Also shown is the freshly rebuilt transmission (4-Speed) bolted in with a fresh clutch assembly. The last picture also shows the rebuilt Hydro-Vac Brake booster. The pedal assembly is in with a re-sleeved master cylinder
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This is the Differential Assembly Step. I was dreading this step! I disassembled the assembly planning to sandblast the next day. Little did I know we would experience historic fires the next day. I wasn't able to sandblast the housing and cover until the next week. I could not remove the brake backing plates because someone had welded them to the axle tube flanges. No problem - everything blasted fine. I painted the housing with Eastwood's Chassis Black. I installed the third member before bolting to the chassis. The rest of the parts can now be installed. Take a look at the rear frame cross member. This is where the engine stand was bolted on. This gives you an idea of what the whole chassis looked like before blasting and painting.
I believe the technical term for this one would be "donor." This is the truck, or what is left of a truck, that will be providing the cab for our project. I was lucky enough to find this 1953 Jimmy about 40 miles away from me in the mountains east of San Diego. I couldn't have asked for a better donor. This is actually an F-351-24 so it is really correct for this project. The five window was also a definite plus. Now we disassemble and strip, strip, strip!
Drool if you must! Here are a few parts as returned from Burlington Engineering in Orange County, CA. These parts almost brought a tear to my eye when I picked them up. Absolutely beautiful - if you look close, you can still read the company name on the outside of the door. I can imagine these parts looked something like this when they were manufactured over fifty years ago. I can't wait to see the cab after stripping!!
Here is the Cab a loaded up and going to the stripper. The cab is a little rougher than I had expected. There are a few stress cracks in the floor and firewall. Also some damage to the rear window area. Although the cab looks simple at this stage, it is a real bear to strip the cab to this point. It took me a good part of a day to remove all the small parts in the dash - junk!
Here is the cab back from the stripper. Looks like it needs both lower rear cab corners, both front floor areas around the cab mount, and a bunch of smaller repairs. Also, the back of the cab looks like it was beat with a baseball bat! Next we start cutting and welding. Will it make the April Meet?