My 1929 Closed Cab Pickup Project

[TexasLS1]

Nice work, love the before and after pics. I'm following along and looking forward to more updates.

[pooch]

Yes, one of the best resto posts yet, well done.

[31pickup650]

Nice pictures. Looks like a fun project.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Your old gas tank that is too far gone would be great for a hot rod project, so they don't cut up a good tank to add gauges.

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Your old gas tank that is too far gone would be great for a hot rod project, so they don't cut up a good tank to add gauges.

Don't you hate to see a good tank ruined that way?!?!
On the other hand, I know a guy whose tank was no good and he put a modern tank underneath the chassis and installed a fuel pump. Not a show car but a VERY good goer.

[Nathan_1929]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

For both Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, I spend the vast majority of my time working on the truck. I see some family by the fact that I'm staying with them, but I've not seen any friends. Maybe I don't have friends? Who needs friends when you have a Model A, anyway!?

A month ago, I was here:



I have my days laid out such that I could feasibly have the truck running/driving by the end of the year. Yes, I know that's a week away. But, I'm not going to sacrifice quality for a self-imposed schedule. This isn't a reality tv show. I'm just glad that I've come this far while living 2000 miles away from it. If it doesn't run in 2016, I'll be ok.

I've told myself that while I'm not interested in the cosmetics of the body, I want to at least clean up the drivetrain while I'm rebuilding it. Better to do it now while it's all taken apart. If the weather would hold out, I will finish sandblasting the frame since it's too big to fit in my cabinet. Wednesday would have been the absolute PERFECT day to do it, but I spent hours rebuilding every component of my Harbor Freight tank a dozen times. No wonder someone gave it to me. I think it's set up to work for one minute per every hour of fiddling with it.



I'm painting driveline components in Por15 chassis paint. It says you can paint directly over rust, but that would be cheesy as hell. I'm painting engine components in Ford green or high-temp black where necessary.

Now that I've finally (hopefully) got the blaster tank dialed in, I'm going to also clean up the wheels. With clean wheels coming up, I bought some more motivation:



Speaking of sandblasting, I've been hunched over my cabinet for several hours each day. Load parts, blast them, clean them, paint them, repeat. It would be a little more bearable if I could see through more than 1 square inch of the corner of my cabinets window. I have to crane my neck over and turn off the shop lights to be able to see through the scratched window.



Freeing up the original fuel shut off with heat and ultrasonic waves:



I don't sandblast things that will see the inside of the engine or that act as bearing surfaces. I do a lot of wire wheeling and scraping on a lot of parts, including the oil pan. I've never changed the oil in biscuit form before:



Also, I stated earlier that I would be using a head I've already cleaned up. Well, with the plan evolving (as explained below), and with the original head having cleaned up like this.. I'm keeping the trucks original head with the truck.



Concurrently, I've decided that now is the time to rebuild another block I have kicking around the shop. I have no body/frame for it, and frankly I don't want one right now, but might as well build two engines at the same time. The top picture is from 2009 when I first started thinking about that blocks future and started scraping some dirt off. The bottom is from earlier this week. It's been bored .060 over, decked, seats ground (not hardened inserts, I'm just going to see how it goes), and new 1-piece guides installed. I'm planning on taking it to the babbitt guy next week. Yes, I can machine it for main bearing inserts, but I want to keep as much of it as original for as long as I can. It needs another bath.



With two blocks in work, I had two flywheels faced. Before and after:



..and another thing: I am going to personalize my pickup a little. It's not going to be a ratrod because I'm not going to unnecessarily chop it or throw on a tractor grill or anything obnoxious like that. But, I did pick up a vintage Ludwig bass drum pedal to serve as my gas pedal. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I think the "Speed King" would be kinda cool. And no, I didn't take a good pedal out of commission to do this.



Speaking of personalizing, I have at least 3 horns in store for maximum toots; the original ah-ooga horn, a secret horn, and this bulb horn.

I can't find a "before" picture, but I got this as an extra freebie during a Craigslist deal probably 10 years ago. It is likely close to a hundred years old and was brown, crusty, dented to hell, kinked, bent, pinched, and split.. with a busted bulb. No wonder it was free.

I decided it was time this lives again so I recently took it to a local music store to have it straightened, rounded, and soldered back. Next day, he shows me this (sans bulb). Price? $20. Freaking nice. With a $10 ebay bulb, I'm back in action! It's much louder and deeper than I was expecting. Antique tooting to my hearts content for $30.



That's a lot to digest for now, but the work continues..

[wrndln]

Nathan,
From the pictures I think you have a 30/31 frame for your 29 pickup. The emergency brake shaft is through the frame, not inside the frame like 28 and 29 shafts are. Since your vehicle is a 29, you might have a problem when you mount the radiator. The front crossmember has different pad area for mounting the radiator between 28/29 and 30/31. I suppose maybe the front frame crossmember could have been changed, but I doubt it.

The progress you are making is great!
Rusty Nelson

[al's28/33]

FANTASTIC progress!!!! you have the eye for small finishing touches and when you're done I hope you have thousands of hours of driving and playing with the finished truck!! BRAVO!!!

[Tom Wesenberg]

The parking brake change is listed in the April 1930 SERVICE BULLETIN.

I see the added hole for the radiator overflow pipe in your frame.
Does anyone know when this change was added?

[Bob C]

Steve Plucker does.

"December 5, 1929, saw the addition of a
7/8 inch hole on the Front Cross Member
for the radiator overflow tube. "

Bob

[Nathan_1929]

Originally Posted by wrndln

From the pictures I think you have a 30/31 frame for your 29 pickup.

Mr. Nelson,

I suspected that but it's nice to see some confirmation.

[SoCal_Alden]

Great looking progress Nathan,
Every guy needs a truck !!!

[Nathan_1929]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Alden

Great looking progress Nathan,
Every guy needs a truck !!!

Indeed. My uncle has the Tudor which was my introduction to Model As. I'm glad it's in good hands, for sentimental value, but I think a truck will be a little more useful for my style. This will be a daily driver, not a trailer queen.

I see you're in Carlsbad. I was there a couple months back for the finish of the Motorcycle Cannonball (100 year old bikes ridden coast-to-coast). It's a great little town!

Originally Posted by forever4

The 1929 style cab was built until June 1930, when the 1930 cab was introduced. It could be the newer frame with the spacers.

Good to know. If anyone wants more pics of the frame for further discussion, I can take some.

[TexasLS1]

I've been thinking about this build for a while, any new updates??