11 Cab F8 - Change of Plans

[Paul Singleton]

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

One of these days I hope to see his restored Chev and see how he managed to get his feet into the cab to push the pedals!

Exactly the reason I sold the F-8 to David. I realized that being 6’5” with side 15 shoes I would never be able to enjoy driving it.

[Yeo.NT]

For most of us in the hobby its common knowledge to have more then one vehicles, multiples of various parts or assemblies. This has come true with my project as it turns out having more then one transmission has saved me as the original transmission turns out was cracked running almost all the way around the case, nearly split in 2.
The second trans was holding oil and shifted through all the gears, what I didn't do was open it up to inspect the condition of the gears, turn out "Grind it until you Find it" was standard operating procedure for the previous operator. This lead to pulling the internals out of the cracked housing and installing into the good one.

https://youtu.be/9b4WjDeWMPE?si=Gy6wABokdtnYIMow

[Mike K]

That is a good plan, swapping out the gears.

You probably would know this already. I believe that some of the Ford gears will swap with the contemporary Dodge 'New Process' gears. As used in the 4 speed Dodge gearbox, Weapons Carrier and many other Dodge trucks.

A late friend of mine did a similar steering shaft fix. He had a 46 Dodge sedan , the worm on the end of the steering shaft was very worn out. He found a NOS Ford shaft , cut the worm of it and he got a professional welding business to weld the NOS worm onto the Dodge shaft. Ford and Dodge parts have some interchangeability. This method of repair is frowned upon by the 'engineers' but you gotta do with the parts that are on hand.

For fixing two shafts together , instead of welding you can also use ROLL PINS. I've seen the TV car restoring guys use Roll Pins on steering components and the method seems to be what is recommended.

Your last pic where you are pointing to the two legged rear mount casting on the back of the gearbox, I've seen one of those cast mounts fail, it broke off where the legs protrude. I welded it together with a stick welder !

[Yeo.NT]

Previously I came across the issue of not having the correct exhaust manifold to clear the clutch/brake pedals. The solution is aftermarket headers with light modification, a little cutting, welding and ballpeen hammering.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Yeo.NT

Previously I came across the issue of not having the correct exhaust manifold to clear the clutch/brake pedals. The solution is aftermarket headers with light modification, a little cutting, welding and ballpeen hammering.

I think the consensus of opinion from the knowledgeable CMP builders on this group is - the design was not good from the outset, and it stayed in service due to momentum because it worked well enough for what had to be done.

At some point every restoration project needs to move on to the next problem.

[Yeo.NT]

If anyone is interested in more detail on how I made the headers fit, here is the link on my YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/EasSBij3mVI

[Yeo.NT]

I’ve cobbled enough parts together to be able to finally test drive the truck and get it to move under its own power for the first time in 60 years.

https://youtu.be/JjRNjDn-tPo