I also have a running solid 52 f3.gonna change to 12 volt , original harness is toast. I am torn about what wheels or transmission to run,as i am planning on flathead v8 remaining for power,straight axle for steering. I plan to ger the truck drivable,then let the truck "tell " me what to do.Its kinda like my Dad said,you might like it just like it is.

 

Cool cool . Yeah my cab and front end are in immaculate shape the box and tailgate and fenders need some work . I'm in search for fenders right now f3 parts are alot harder to come by that's for sure . Like I said previous I'm gonna swap my rear end gears to 4.11 from the 4.87 that it originally comes with to get me some more top end . Then do from there do a 4 barrel car and heads and air filter all edelbrock . All bolt on parts that really will look nice and help the performance side a bit . Once I get the truck running the way I like and brakes good then I'm gonna start my tear down to do a frame up restoration. Wheels and tires are the main thing in torn on what to do about . Good luck !! I know I'm gonna need it it's my first real restores run project should be a fun one !

 

Don't waste your time restoring those widowmakers unless you plan to remove and replace your own tires. No shop will touch them. I don't mean to dampen your enthuiasm but a 4:11 gear is not going to give you highway speeds...unless you call 50 MPH highway speed. A 4bbl on a stock flathead is going to be way more fuel than it can use and finding 8-lug wheels in the aftermarket that will accept the original hubcaps will probably be impossible. Finding wider 5-lug wheels that accept original looking hubcaps (45-56) would be easy.

 

Yeah I dont know about the rims and tires yet but just looking breifly there are a bunch of after market wheels you can get for them so im not to worried about that. Maybe not to accept the orignal hub caps. Theres a few guys on here that have the 4.11 on there 1952 f2 and the guy you order it from also says that if you stay with stock diameter you can cruise at 60 mph no problem. I will look more into the 4 barrel carb. Im not sure what it puts out im sure you can get something that the engine can handle. thanks for all the information lots of things to ponder.

 

So what would you guys reccommend,
I wanna go with some extra performance parts:
-4 barrel Carb
-Different Heads
-Chrome Airfilter to go with new Carb

Will the 4 barrel be to much or can you get one that will work with the stock set up??

Edit.. Found the awnser to my question from the good guys at speedway motors , they have special 4 barrel carbs made my edelbrock that regulate how much the engine can handle and in this case around 390 Cfm so the carb won't send anymore then that of which the engine can handle . Going to go with that the new filter heads and gearing ratio of 4.11 and hope I like it . Thanks everyone for there opinions and suggestions!

 

You seem to have it all figured out...good luck with it!

 

Yes, that is a common carburetor size, even for very mild flatheads. You will most likely have to buy an adaptor, or maybe it's included (costy). Another option is a 1950s Carter WCFB, no adaptor needed.

Regardless of which four barrel, you will need to think long and hard about a new distributor. The stock one may not work too well with that carb. GMCBubba on Fordbarn can set you up with a converted Chevy distributor that will.

 

I hate to rain on your parade, but before you spend money on heads, carb, and air cleaner, ask yourself what you really want the truck for. You have a pretty big pickup with a flathead, so I doubt you are interested in racing. Do you want to haul stuff with your truck? Do you want a weekend cruiser? Do you want something in between?

Ford designed your truck to haul loads at up to 45-50 miles per hour, while getting the best economy possible. The rear axle ratio, carburetor, and distributor all work together to accomplish this. I have driven flatheads on and off as daily transportation for the last 16 years. In my experience, stock flatheads get the best fuel economy at around 1800-2000 r.p.m., and cruise happily up to around 2600 r.p.m. With your truck stock, this means you get the best gas mileage at around 35 miles per hour and can cruise happily to about 48 miles per hour.

With the 4.11 rear axle the best fuel economy speed is around 42 miles per hour, and the upper happy cruising speed is about 58 miles per hour.

If you choose to change the rear axle to a Dana 60, you can get a 3.54 ratio. With that axle your best economy would be around 49 miles per hour, and your upper happy cruising speed would be around 66 miles per hour.

I used a 30.4 inch tall tire for all the calculations, since this is a bit taller than the tires on my F-2, and seems consistent with what most people run on their F-3s.

Unless you want your engine to look non-stock bad enough to purchase the heads, intake, carburetor, air cleaner, distributor, and any related linkages and hardware, I think you will be happy with the performance of the stock engine with a good tune up. I highly recommend spending money rebuilding the brakes first, wheels and tires second, tune up third, and then just drive the truck for a while. While driving you will find the things that you want to fix to make the driving more fun.

Remember, Ford put a lot of engineering effort into your truck. Any changes you make affect the whole driving experience and may require lots of other changes to work well.

 

Yeah that is a really good layout of what I am going to exept from this truck with the different modifications for sure. Definetly helps.

What my plan is, is to keep the origonal engine, transmission , and rear diff. only swapping out the gears so I can get a little more top end so I can cruise comforatably down the highway. Thats why I dont wanna go with the Dana 60 because thats just not orignal.

This is going to be a weekend cruiser. I am trying to keep what I can as origonal. But with the engine I want it to be a show peice origonal is cool, and I know everyone likes it that way but I want to get a little shine and a little bit of a modern spin on a old engine. The truck the way it is old engineering and everything is cool im not trying to make it a hot rod or a drag racer. Its not meant to be fast that I know. I just want to give it that little extra touch but still keep it origonal as much as possible. If you know what I mean. My grandpa drove this truck when he was younger and thats one of the major reason to not swap out the flat head, Im just trying to get a little of both worlds and not deplete the coolness of this truck and thats the fact that its 60 years old and everything about the way it was made and how it was made is cool.

 

The 750 16 tires I'm running on my F2 are listed as 32.2 " in diameter . Not a huge difference , but the extra diameter does help with the RPMs . With a 4.11 rear the taller the tire the better .

 

Your running the 4.11 rear eh? How do you find highway cruising speed? What is it comfortable at? Will it be fine at 60 MPH cruising speed on the highway?

 

I plan on a weekend hauler /cruiser,back road special.want 50-60 mph to be happy groove. I have considered going to 1/2 ton running gear,but if drum brakes are sufficient,probably go with later dana 60 and stock front.plan on handing it down to my 10 year old son,as i have a 64 c 10.

 

After i play with it a few years!

 

Please show me where you found these wheels. I'm putting an f-3 back on the road in the next couple weeks and rims and tires are one of the last roadblocks. That and those rediculously large drums are like hens teeth.

 

Well to go back to this 57 to 72 would be the year to look for when looking for a rear end with 5 x 5.5 ? No newer then that ?