Alright, I have been lurking on the forums for a couple months and decided to my project on its own thread. I will try to post progress as often as possible. It is a quite ambitious project that I am doing mostly on my own. I have entered into a gentleman's competition with my brother and a couple friends to see who can get their project done first. My brother is building a '31 Model A rat rod, one guy has a '55 Chev Panel and another a '48 Ford car with a 460 and a blower. We are all at various stages so it ought to be interesting.
Back to my project, I have not decided whether I am going '50 or '52 as I have both trucks to use as needed. As for the chassis I have that pretty well lined out already. I bought a 1986 Jag XJ6 for the front and rear suspension. I also picked up a 1970 F250 that bears a BB 460 and a C6. With a little luck and a whole lot of work I plan to mold these 3 (or 4) vehicles into 1 bad *** F1! I will post up my progress from the last few weeks. I haven't figure out how to post pics in this thread yet but I have provided a link to the album I have made. When I figure out how to put pics in the thread I will do that.

Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - labgraphics's Album: 1950 - 52 F1 Build - Picture

 

Welcome! Looks like you've been busy. What part of WA are you in?

Here are the pictures.














As much as I like 51-52 trucks, if I were in your place, I'd use the 50. It's more complete and correct. The 52 has been pieced together. The bed is from a 53+ truck. The running boards look to be short like on F4-F6 trucks, or may have been cut down at the rear to accept the incorrect bed. The front clip and hood are from a 51 with the 52 hood side trim. I can't tell the exact year of the cab without knowing the distance between the heater tubes in the firewall and if there's a Data tag affixed to the firewall.

 

Wow, thanks Panelman! I am in the great pacific northwest on the olympic peninsula. I have been going back and forth on which front end.... that said, the 50 is very complete with dual wipers and a heater. It also has that sweet spotlight which I kinda like. On the flip side, the 52 was an Arizona truck so the cab and doors are in great shape compared to the 50 which spent for sure the last 38 years in the Northwest rain. I really only bought the 52 because it was cheaper than buying patch panels. It is someone's botched 4x4 project from Craigslist. The bed is 70's stepside I think and the running boards are cut which is too bad because what's left is very nice and solid. I can only speculate what great shape they were in prior to their desecration.

 

Hey Lab,
Good to see your build thread! Welcome again!
Hmmm... I've got a 1950 F1 - our cab was rough - floor rot,
cab corners, door sills, bottom of doors etc. It took 6 months to
get that all cleaned up. I would swap that Arizona '52 cab in there
in a heart beat if it's more solid. I think the cab itself is exactly the same '48-'52.

You can get after market beds for $1500, fiberglass fenders for around $300 ea., steel runing boards $350, etc. You can't find reproduced hoods or doors so be kind to the ones that are your best.

Not sure what your plan is - I would strongly recommend going with the
most sound cab you have & save yourself 6 months of grinding & welding.
It would be great if you don't have to remove the doors - they have this neat little hinge pin that is an unbelievable PITA to get out - just saying.

It looks like you are moving along on the suspension - How's that going?
The rear is a lot easier to do than the front if you want a quick win.
(I hate to see you cut up that nice looking jag - I've got a soft spot for those too).

Ben in Austin

(1950 F1's are one of the better looking models when cleaned up IMHO - See pic for motivation).

 

Thanks Ben, your 50 is certainly a nice specimen. I hope one day to have a truck that may look half as nice. I hear ya on the body work! I think the only real difference on the cabs is the back window being a little larger and the difference in gauges 51-52. I will have to make a decision sooner than later on which to use. The suspension is pretty well ready to go. The only thing left for the rear is mounting the lower links for the IRS. The front is basically ready for final bolt up. Hopefully tomorrow I will have all the suspension and fuel cell mounting done. After that I need to pull the 460 from the '70 so I can see where it's going to fit in relation to the front x member, rack and cab. Luckily my little brother wants me to help him put 5" exhaust on his Ram tomorrow so I think I will be able to sucker him into helping pull the clip off the '70.

 

Hey Lab,
Sounds like you have a fun day planned for tomorrow. In looking
at your pics - you took a pretty good sized piece out of the rear frame
for your Jag IRS? Then you welded something to the outside of the frame? You just wanted to get it lower in back or was it for some other reason? I'm not super familiar with the Jag IRS.

I went with an Explorer 8.8 in the back - seems to work ok - came with disc brakes & 3.73 gears which was nice. I do think the ride might be "choppy" when you hit potholes. RR Tracks, etc. Good luck over there.

Ben in Austin

 

You are correct. That large notch is for the Jag IRS. I wanted to keep the original mounting points on the IRS so I made brackets that came off the frame to hit them and notched to lower it. I tend to overbuild so I used the tubing to tie the 2 mounts together. Then I tied the mounts front and rear to the frame where the old spring hangers were. I have a cool pic looking down onto the frame so you can better see what I did but I can't load it into my album for some reason.
There are people who dismantle the entire unit to mount it higher in the frame thus lower stance but I noticed many of those people seemed to have issues when done or spent alot of time in fabrication or bought expensive kits. The other reason to dismantle it was because they thought they could save weight by ditching the stock housing just to find out the housing itself isn't that heavy. I thought why reinvent the wheel and left well enough alone. What I found is even though I took an inch and a half out of the frame the rear still sits about 2" higher than the front. I am trying to offset this a little by installing the fuel cell in the back. Once I get everything together I will need to address stance but that can be easily adjusted in the 4 coil springs in the rear housing.

 

OK, still can't figure out how to post pics in the thread. Looked at the FAQ's and it says there is a way to attach images under this box I am typing in...... not so much..
Anyway, I added a few more pics of the frame and boxing plates to my album.

 

I'll try to explain how to post pictures from your gallery.

Go to the album where your pictures are stored. Under the picture, there'll be a link that says "Enlarge" in blue letters. Click on it. The picture will open up in a separate window. Once opened, right click and select "Properties" at the bottom. The Properties dialog box will open. Copy the entire web address in the "Address (URL):" section. Go to your new post. In the new post, look at the taskbar section above where you type the post. Look for this icon . That's to insert an image. Click on it and the image insert dialog box will open. Paste the web address of your image that you copied earlier and click OK. Your image should now be visible in your post.

 

Welcome the the forum from those of us using the Jag in an F-1!
It looks like you have the chassis well sorted out with the Jag IFS and IRS. I am not aware of anyone that has combined a BBF with the Jag IFS in an F-1. I think that you will find that the drivers side exhaust manifold will want to impede access to the R & P on the Jag. Even with the narrower SBF or SBC acces is tight. The unique universal joint from the Jag that fastens directly to the spline on the pinion of the R & P is somewhat bulky compared to a stock borgeson u joint in a tight location. It looks like you are soft mounting the Jag IFS as Jag did (and I did). The reason for that joint in the Jag is to allow for motion of the soft mounted IFS relative to the body/steering column. Some guys have welded in the IFS crossmember and not used the unique u joint. I am not aware of anyone that has run the Jag soft mounted without using the unique joint. A number have chosen to offset the engine toward the passengers side to improve access.
Your plan to mock up the 460 in the chassis should start to determine if or how to make the two coexist.
Good luck with your build and keep us appraised of how you make out marrying the Jag to the 460.

 

Hey Lab,
I remember one of our users taking a creative approach to installing
a jag front end into a 48-50. His user name is rhopper (Rusty) - he has some interesting pics in his gallery of his install. Thought it might help you out a bit if you haven't completed that part yet.

Ben in Austin

1948 Ford F1 4x2 - Jaguar front end

 

Good luck with your project. This looks like an aggressive undertaking and the 50 looks so nice just the way it sits. To bad you dont just clean it up stock. But everyone has there own taste.

 

Thanks for the info Willard and Ben. Yesterday I went out and took the steering column out of the XJ6 with it's unique joint to get an idea of what I was up against. On Sunday I was able to get the BBF and trans. out of the '70 so I started to look at mounting points and did some measuring. Interestingly enough I found the engine was mounted 3" to the passenger side in the '70 using factory style mounts. This provided the needed clearance for the power steering box which is mounted directly above the frame. Initial measurements are telling me this setup would help tremendously in clearing the rack and allow plenty of room for the Jag joint. The '70 frame is only 2" wider overall so there is a possibility of modifying those mounts to work. The down side is headers will be very difficult to figure out. It appears stock manifolds will provide plenty of room. Who wants stock manifolds though? A thought I have been keeping in the back of my mind is using weld up headers that are through the fender style. Problem there is where to run it after you get it out past the frame? I plan on tucking the wheels/tires and having it low soooooo.......
In preparation for mock up I decided to save myself a little hassle and ordered a rear sump pan kit for installing the BBF into a foxbody stang. Again with early measurements it looks like the hump in the pan will line up pretty well over the rack allowing the engine to sit a little lower than I first thought.
Ben, I have the front end mounted and just need to finish welding the front mounts, they are tacked now. Thanks for the link as it helps me figure out the shock mounts. I keep looking at your truck with admiration and realizing we need more custom 48-50's out there. I am now starting to feel like I NEED to use the 50 regardless.
MN, don't let the pics fool you, it was (is) in pretty bad shape. The floor and fornt cab mounts pretty well gone and the bed needs alot of attention. That said, the old 6 cyl. did run! I still need to find someone who needs it, I would hate to just scrap it.

Panel, you sir, rock! I figured out how to post the pics here so for everyone's viewing pleasure, here you go.......
Frontend sits pretty low without engine in it, looks good!

Rear boxing plates. I am too lazy to use cardboard or anything to make templates but for whatever reason they always seem to work out for me with little extra effort.

Front boxing plates

View from above of rear frame section. You can see the IRS behind the frame. It rolls under the frame and the rectangular pieces drop into the rubber mounts on the suspension. I used the tubing to "tie" the mounts all together then back to original spring hanger areas on frame. You can also see the 16 gal. fuel cell mounted in frame to get more weight out back. I don't plan on running bumpers so the rear crossmember location shouldn't impede anything.

 

Here is what I ended up with. 351W and Jag IFS. all of my joints are salvage yard, except for the one at the Jag rack. It's Borgeson...OUCH !!!
The others come out of fullsize ford trucks and vans. They are under the dash so they are easy to get out and always pretty clean. I love cheap!
Of course my steering shaft is not wood. 3/4 " dowel rod is nice for mock up!

 

It is interesting that the 460 in the donor truck was already offset 3". It hints to where you may be going. Rather than pull a bunch of pictures into this post, if you go to my gallery there is an album titled "jag IFS installation" which will show what I went thru mounting the SBC in my 49 with the soft mounted Jag IFS. In my case I wanted mechanical fan cooling and therefore center mounted the motor. I was able to make it work with the engine low in the chassis. I tried a bunch of available headers and manifolds and ended up with a stock angled back rams horn which I happen to like for the old timey look. For a torque motor such as the motor that I built (a knock off on the 383HT), there is no real benefit to headers for the way that I plan to use and drive the truck. I will use Willard to tow up to 5000#.
Do I read into your posts that you are considering bagging the front end? If so there is a thread in the HAMB right now with some info on bagging the Jag.