Marten's '53 Ford pick up

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

RE: Marten's '53 Ford pick up

parklane · St.Thomas On Rod-side member

Lookin REAL good Marten !!

Lightspeed Mike · http://lightspeedmetaldesign.com/

Looking good, nicely done.
Making your own stuff, that's what's hot rodding is all about.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Been working on a lot of little things, mostly checking everything over. Found a few loose nuts. I finally got the hood to be close to aligned to the fenders. Going to stay that way for now until I can find someone to guide me otherwise. Most exciting thing for me was being able to put the truck on the ground this past weekend. Looks a lot different and smaller now.

123pugsy · Tin basher Metal shaping guy

She's looking good Marten.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

I think I can be one of the cool kids and make and post videos. Hope it works. A few little things to do then off to the garage for a safety, hopefully.

wuga · Prince Edward County Ont

Marten
This has been an incredible journey for both you and the observer. Congratulations!
Warren

123pugsy · Tin basher Metal shaping guy

That's a really sharp truck you built Marten. Congrats on getting to the road worthy point of the build.

parklane · St.Thomas On Rod-side member

Looking REALLY good, Marten. You have every right to be very proud of your work.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Thanks guys. Been both very challenging and very rewarding. I fixed the settings, you can now leave comments if you want.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Well it looks like I started something and never finished it. I should have posted this a few months ago.

Well not a big update but thought I would show you what is going on. Got everything done that I could do for safety. Made a list of stuff I could not do. 4 wheel alignment, charge A/C, exhaust system made and install, fix tranny and safety. Hoping they don't find to much wrong. Then the call to the tow truck company to pick her up and take it away.

Now I can clean the garage. Done, room for another project biggrin

Found a bunch of parts I will try and sell off. Otherwise they will go to be made into something else.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

And now for the recent update. I got my baby back this week from the garage. I need to do a couple of little things to get the safety but should be able to handle them myself in the next couple of weeks.
I wanted to show this video. My son took it. I think it truly shows the difference between my wife and myself.

[video=https://studio.youtube.com/video/x3Mh8oWiuIU/edit]

-- Edited by Marten on Saturday 29th of January 2022 10:24:45 AM

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Lets see if this works better.

www.youtube.com/watch

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Thought I would give a bit of an update. Got the truck back and super excited. Needed to fix the parking brake lever as it was not holding. Got that done, mechanic stopped by and gave me the paperwork I needed to get plates. While at the garage they did the exhaust. Used Magnaflow mufflers, hope they sound good. Needed to get the tranny fixed. I guess when I put the torque converter on somehow I did it wrong and broke the alignment pins on the pump, or something like that. disbelief . They also recommended a lock up torque converter so I said yes to that. That was pricy. They charged the AC system. Needed to put a vacuum pump on as the booster was not working good enough. They also put on a different throttle cable, claiming that mine was sticking once in a while. I did not see it but they said my brake booster was broken inside so needed to be replaced. Not sure how that happened. Any way, more money then I expected but it is ready to drive. Picked up plates and they are on. Not sure why people cover their plates when taking pictures but because others do it, I did it as well. Bring on summer.

Lightspeed Mike · http://lightspeedmetaldesign.com/

Good stuff.
I don't know why people cover their plates for pictures. You drive around with them for all to see.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Bring on summer!!!!!!!!!

Looking like I will be able to autocross it this summer with the local club. their rules are different then every other club in Ontario for sum reason and frown on trucks being used.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

It was nice enough that I decided to take the truck out for a short scoot. I was more than a little nervous and excited as well. Great to fire it up and drive it. Noticed a couple of things that need to be addressed before going out again but glad I did it. My wife came with me so we had to stop here.

And I needed some gas. Never knew how bald I was getting.

And I currently have water front property.

123pugsy · Tin basher Metal shaping guy

Nice to get out for a cruise. I gotta get my car out soon.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Mechanic stopped by this week and took a look at the brakes. In testing says it was the switch. Took it back to order a new one. Bench tested it at his shop and it worked, of course. Brought it back. Suggested cleaning off the paint where it was grounded. I NOW HAVE BRAKES. Had it out yesterday for about 60km. Worked great, it is a bit loud, rattles a bit, has some air coming in around the doors and kick panels, takes off like a rabbit and stops. Feels way different than my daily but that was expected. The ride was smoother than I expected and it tracks straight so super happy with that. Bring on cruise nights.

Lightspeed Mike · http://lightspeedmetaldesign.com/

Good stuff, just in time to get cruising.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Last weekend being the long weekend I thought I would spend it working on the truck looking after some small issues I have. Got the cab insulated.

Was still having issues with my vacuum pump, brake booster system. Ordered up a new switch as that seems to be the problem (thanks to Lightspeed Mike for help figuring that out). Replaced it. It was now Monday afternoon and very happy with what I got done. Was fun to be back working on the truck. Off the stands and out for a test drive. Got about 2km into my test drive in a sub division around the corner from my place. Started, stopped going around corners, all good. Stopped, turned left and heard a big bang. Crap! now what. Stopped, looked but didn't see anything. Started going again and heard a thud and another and another, that's not good. Slow drive back to my place and up on stands it goes. This is what I found.

Wreaked a half shaft, stub axle and u-joint. That put an end to this coming weekends auto cross. furious

Happy it was close to home and was able to drive it. Had I been much farther away it would have been much more costly for sure. So, not sure how much different the insulation makes but for the half dozen stops the brakes worked.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

Time for some updates.
I have a son in Petawawa that found a complete Corvette rear end, in Cambridge. Called the guy up. Says it came out of a '85 Vette with a 3.54 rear gear. Cool that is what I wanted anyway as my rear end is a bit tall. I have another son that lives in Cambridge so I called him up to see if he could get it for me. No problem so far, all good, he picked it up. The following weekend Petawawa son's girlfriend was going to Cambridge for something that I don't remember but she could pick up the rear end at the same time and take it back. Once back in Petawawa he took a look at it. It needed new universal joints as this is a weak spot in the set up. Also found out it was a 3.07 rear gear, crap, strike one. In the mean time I spent most of my time working on the dining room set you have read about here. Son came down on the Sept long weekend and we tried to install the new to me set up. It would not fit, crap, now what. After much reviewing I found out this new rear end came out of a '88-'96. Can only tell this from the stub shafts, strike two. And now the search was on for a correct stub shaft. Eventually found one in Niagara Falls area. Had it shipped to me, way pricy on the shipping. Finally got around to putting things together on the Oct. long weekend. Had some other stuff to do as well. Had to add an idle up switch, new rad fan, etc. Got some but not all of it done. And now curling goes into high gear. I lead 3 separate groups of people throughout the day on Sundays, so not much has been done. A couple of weeks ago I finally got things together. It was warm out so drove the truck outside just to run in a bit. Now have to wait till spring to see if the rear end works. Not much to show so no pictures. Not sure what else I can do on the truck so it sits.
Trying to convince my wife to let me get another project truck but not having much luck right now.

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

I have been able to drive the truck all season. Super happy dance here. Still had issues with the brake system. Would work for a week or two then decide to stop working. Seemed to be a bad relay once but most of the time it was a sticking pressure switch. Went to the Syracuse Nationals in July and talked to a rep for Leed Brakes. super helpful telling me what to look for. We also talked about his vacuum pump system. After more frustration I pulled the pin and ordered one up. We are now up to 4 weeks with it on and not a problem to be found. I can now stop on a dime and still get some change. Super happy, perhaps the bug has been solved. Been cruising around with the truck as well as autocrossing it. That has been a blast. For the Aug long weekend my middle son and I both used the truck for autocross. he has more experience but I am more familiar with the truck. Guess who was faster. Turned out we were close to identical times all day. Last weekend I shared the truck with another guy. He is super nice and helpful to everyone on top of being a great driver. Turns out his times were 2-3 seconds a lap faster than me. On a sub 50 second lap. So clearly the driver has more to do to get faster. And of course a picture.

henrystoys · Carleton Place On Rod-Side Member

Great to hear that the brakes are working as they should.

-- Edited by henrystoys on Tuesday 10th of October 2023 09:11:29 AM

Marten · Kemptville Ont Carpenter/Renovations

A little while ago I was asked for some pictures of my truck for a calendar. I gave them a few and waited to see what happens. A couple of days ago in the mail was the calendar. Super excited to see that the truck is now Mr March. It's part of a club called canadian custom ridez club. It spans canadian wide. Over the moon happy to be picked.

Lightspeed Mike · http://lightspeedmetaldesign.com/

Congrats