Rusty Fifty One

Friday: Bryan and I fire it up and after a minute of rough idling the water pump blows. Sprayed coolant everywhere. Luckily, I have that spare motor with a working pump and Autozone had the gaskets in stock. So, we drain everything, pull the radiator and replace the pump. Went smooth, no leaks.

Saturday: Greg comes over and we start trouble shooting the fuel issue. Flow is a trickle at the carburetor. After a beer and another trip to Autozone for a fuel pump gasket, we pull the 62 year old mechanical glass bowl fuel pump off the spare motor to replace the cheap 20yr old aftermarket pump on the “running” motor. I figured I should open up the pump we’re using and clean it out a bit before installing, so I do and, POP!, there goes the sixty-two year old bell shaped top cap that holds the glass bowl on. Gone. Can’t find it anywhere. Did I mention it was SIXTY-TWO years old. No replacement parts. Then I remember that I have another non-working but complete fuel pump in the basement in a box of parts from the previous owner. Problem solved. Pump cleaned, reassembled and installed. Still no flow at the carb but the bowl eventually fills and the fuel is clean. It filled slowly so we know the issue has to be upstream which means a clogged line or tank outlet. We push the ol’ bitch the rest of the way out of the garage, slide under and there it is! Some farmer, in what had to be the 60’s or so, cut the metal line and installed a directional fuel filter the size of a softball. We pull it off and there isn’t much flow out of the tank above us. I point the filter down and the fuel is clear but pink, point it the other way and red sand. The whole thing was full of rust. I swear the previous owner told me the tank had been relined or at least cleaned out … oh well, no worries. I replaced the old filter with a cheapie from Autozone, turned it over and immediately we got a quarter beer bottle at the carb. Flow restored! We button everything up, Greg heads home and Bryan comes back over. We reset the timing. She idles well again. I spun her around the block. Ride was shaky, almost stalled a couple times but things are looking up! I’ll just keep replacing the fuel filters every couple drives until they stop getting cloudy.

The clutch is in and she shifts like a 3OTT dream!

Shade tree repair #3:
Noticed the transmission mount is actually a cut of bias-ply truck tire tread with the bolt holes drilled thru. Decided to leave it be since the tread is way stronger and will last longer than the correct rubber mount ever will. Plus its one of those touches that give the old girl true character.

Been cruising in the ol’ girl as much as possible. Fast food, the hardware store, friends houses, aimlessly around town, you name it.

The more I get to know this truck the more I’m starting to notice the shade tree modifications and repairs that have been done over the past 60yrs. For instance, the rear bumper isn’t a rear bumper at all. Rear bumpers were offered as an option in ’51 and the farmer who originally purchased this particular truck opted not to get one. Instead, sometime later when they added the home brew hitch they used a ’47-53 fromt bumper and braces mounted to the frame at the rear as main supports. …it’s probably plenty strong but I don’t trust it and its all coming off in favor of the bumperless look.

Its actually pretty well made. Heavy steel, solid welds and even a license plate light.

The tail lamps are an interesting mess too. Not sure what the brackets came off but I’ll be replacing them with the correct repop brackets when I redo the wiring.