Advice needed to build a daily driver

[Macadoo]

I just purchased a nice well kept 1948 power wagon last Friday that I would like to turn into a daily driver with power brakes, steering, auto and a 360 gas or diesel. Can any of you give me your experance from using the conversation kits from the Ugly Trucking? or would one be better off buying a 1990 or newer dodge and using it as a donor for parts. I just moved to Boise and I will need to find/hire someone to do this build for me.
Greg
360-790-7070

[Desoto61]

Ray, the owner of Ugly Truckling lives out of the country most of the time, so getting one of his kits can be hard if he's not around. Due to the limited demand he doesn't necessarily have all of those parts available any more either. Most of the items he sells/sold could be fabricated elsewhere without a ton of difficulty though.

There are lots of discussions on doing this type of conversion, If you subscribe to the magazine or at least this forum you will have the ability to search and view the archives, which will yield lots of info.

The short of it is that you and your shop will need to figure out what you want and are willing to give up to get it. Part of that will be what the shop is comfortable/capable of doing for fabrication.

Most of the time it will be easier for them to graft newer parts onto the older truck, or put the body on a newer chassis. If you want a true daily driver this is probably the best route as everything in the chassis will be designed to work together and was built to drive on todays roads.

The downside is you lose a lot of the character of these trucks, and you will have to essentially buy two trucks and throw out/sell a lot of both to get the one truck you want.

Both will involve a HUGE amount of time, effort, and money. More if you have your heart set on a diesel powertrain.

Not trying to talk you out of it, just want to make sure you go in with your eyes open. Google Legacy Classic Power Wagons for an idea of what a "turn-key" daily driver conversion could run you.

[jackw19]

I have used several old cars as daily drivers: 53 MGTD, 57 Renault 4CV and 62 Morris Minor. If you want to cruise at 85 mph in the fast lane yet still retain the original character of the car, you'll have to do some careful thinking and spending. For the MG this meant supercharger, billet crank and rods, plus 4.1 gears and disks from an MGA. The result was entirely satisfactory transportation for a San Francisco - Palo Alto commute for two years.

But maybe a lot of trouble, too. I used the Renault and Morris for grocery runs and slower speeds on the Los Angeles freeways.

On any old driver you're almost sure to spend big on brakes. First you pull the wheels just to check, and you see a couple shoes down to the rivets plus a leaky wheel cylinder or two, down at the brake shop the drums mike way out of spec, a couple days later you notice cracks in the hydraulic hoses and find a brake pipe has a buckle in it for some reason. Oh, and the parking brake cable seems to be missing. It could well cost a grand to get the truck back to stock, especially if you get lucky with the drums. It won't be a lot more to upgrade a little. Have the original cylinders sleeved instead of using replacements, call out stainless or copper-nickel brake tubes and braided flexible hoses.

I've had total brake system failure before; it vividly recalls to one the preciousness and finiteness of life. So I like dual master cylinders. If you're sticking with drums, and don't plan on power brakes, pick a Dodge dual master with the same bore as stock. It might require some bracket fabrication and a little research re residual pressure valves and brake balancing, but it's not too big a job.

If someone has already worked out all the details of a disk conversion for you model, you're in luck. If you want power too, a sales guy or catalog is going to try and convice you to switch to hanging pedals. You don't have to switch to hanging pedals to have power brakes; that's why God created HydroVac. If no disk kit exists, and you've got to have them, you're in for a bit of an engineering project. Find a spare knuckle, get it all cleaned up and put it on your dining room table together with some rotor, bearing and caliper catalogs. You've got a plasma cutter and a lathe in the garage, right?

Maybe a dual circuit drums are good enuff for the way you drive. Lots of people drove your old truck and her sisters just fine with drums. Are disks better? Sure. So is ABS--lot's better. Anyway, how many panic stops in a row are you planning to make? (Gotta admit, the Morris Minor brakes were terrible, stopping distance = forever. I don't think that was an inherent weakness of drums; they were just too small.)

What else is likely to go wrong on your old driver? In my experience, it's not catastrophic engine failure--although that happens. But it's the driven accessories and their friends that will drive you nuts. Water pump, fuel pump, oil pump, timing chain / gears (depending on model), generator, voltage control. Add thermostat. And maybe distributor if it's too sloppy to tune properly. When I get a new old friend, I just start looking out for deals on these parts and take them into inventory when they come along. You can replace them as you find them, or wait till they break. Save the originals as spares / cores.

If she runs hot, there can be a million reasons, but the radiator being full of gravel meains you're in for a rod-out or recore.

That first weekend, while you're still in love, go thru the old car and check all the ground connections: battery to frame, engine to body, at the bulb sockets, etc; this alone can save a lot of trouble. If the wiring looks like a rat's nest and has evidence of burnt insulation and corrosion, a re-wire is in your future. I've always kind of enjoyed re-wiring--it's neither all that bad nor expensive There are some really decent kits out there now.

A daily driver is no fun if all the weather-stripping is shot; it'll be cold, rattly, drafty and damp. It'll start you thinking about why you haven't had a more lucrative career. Plus the water will slowly rust her away. Check the drain holes, too, in places like the bottom of doors--maybe on that honeymoon weekend. Water's not so bad if it can get out.

If your gauges don't work, at least install aftermarket volts, oil pressure and water temp.

One day something terrible may happen. The bearing on rod #2 will spin, a valve spring will break on it's ten millonth cycle, the throwout bearing will give up, an axle shaft will break ... That's what Triple A is for.

On balance, my experience driving old iron has been a travail--but way, way positive. Who wants to drive a new car that looks like an electric razor?

[Matthew Ziegler]

go for it

The project your thinking of won't be cheap but a new one ton pickup off the dealer's lot will set you back just as much if not more. Disc brake kits from ugly truckling are a worthwhile upgrade, It cost me around $600 to change the front over on my m37. There are at least 3 power steering setups available, Snake River in Idaho sells one, there's some guy advertising one on e bay with no photos or literature and Charles at m series rebuild makes one. You'll probably want to change your gearing, 5.83's are ok around town, however one of my next projects is going to be putting 4.89's in my m 37. there's a lot you can do to make these trucks a little nicer to drive, and this site is full of great info.

[Charles Talbert]

Matt is right; building a daily driver isn't cheap. The simple answer to his other statement about a new 1 ton from a dealers lot; well a really nice Power Wagon rebuild with all the upgrades, in all honesty will likely cost you more, depending on what you desire to do with it. Happy to talk with you concerning services we offer if you have interest.

[Clint Dixon]

Well kept

I just purchased a nice well kept 1948 power wagon last Friday that I would like to turn into a daily driver with power brakes, steering, auto and a 360 gas or diesel. Can any of you give me your experance from using the conversation kits from the Ugly Trucking? or would one be better off buying a 1990 or newer dodge and using it as a donor for parts. I just moved to Boise and I will need to find/hire someone to do this build for me.
Greg
360-790-7070

"Nice well kept" could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. Best case scenario (or worst case depending upon you point of view) is that you have found an untouched original, hardly used, that has been well kept in in a climate controlled atmosphere since it was new. Probably not, but we can't tell without pictures.

Regardless of your definition, what I am getting at is that once you start modifications, your truck will never again be as "nice well kept" as it is right now. You can't go back....ever. You may very well do good to investigate and see if your truck is worth more to someone else, in the condition it is in, than it is to you. You may be further ahead to sell it at a profit and take that money to buy one that is not so nice and well kept. Maybe even find one that is already missing the parts that you want to replace anyway.

It sounds like what you want to do could cause you to change about everything on the truck. It sounds like you want to at least change it into something it is not now. There are a lot of trucks out there that last saw "nice well kept" some 50 or so years ago. You might be doing the hobby justice, and yourself a favor, by saving one of these trucks from the crusher.

There is a very good thread here by Desoto61 titled: 46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2. Spend some time reading it if you have not already. You may not be interested in doing the exact same things to your truck that he is doing to his, but his accounts should give you a good indication of the work involved. Also search and check out the posts by MaineSS. There are many other good threads here from others who have probably already done what you are planning and they are worth reading.

Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the threads found here revolve around the work being done by the owner. If you have the work done by someone else, are they going to respect the truck in the same way you would? Are they going to find those nice well kept parts good owners, or will they send 3/4 of the truck to the scrap yard?

[Charles Talbert]

Clint makes some great points. When people call us needing similar services; my first advice is to look for a core truck with a good body, and preferably one that may have a bad or missing engine and transmission. These can usually be bought for lesser cost, and are every bit as good a candidate for what you want to do.

When we pull out good components that won't be reused, we always check them out and try to sell them to folks in need. In fact many of them get advertised for sale right here on this forum. Only engines and transmissions that would wind up at a scrap yard from us is one that is totally no good to repair, and then before it went, every part would be removed that was good for reuse.

[Desoto61]

It sounds like what you want to do could cause you to change about everything on the truck. It sounds like you want to at least change it into something it is not now. There are a lot of trucks out there that last saw "nice well kept" some 50 or so years ago. You might be doing the hobby justice, and yourself a favor, by saving one of these trucks from the crusher.

I definitely would have saved a lot of time and money finding a nicer truck to start with, but every time I see one of those nice, clean, running trucks I know I'd feel bad hacking it up to do what I want to do.

If I had more room and money it would be fun to have a stock PW as a farm or off-road toy, but since my truck will need to live in the modern world I need it to be something else. That's why I like mods like Charles' trucks, it's not as good as a modern vehicle, but it's as close as you can get while keeping most of the original character, and it's more than adequate for running around town doing truck stuff.

[Macadoo]

Replying to all

Thanks for all the replys. I will try and post a photo soon. I have been in a school for the last few weeks and am now finished with it so I can reply in a more timely manner. Many great points given and many I have been thinging about.

My 48 PW is rust free, and other than needing a new tail gate and a left front running board it's in great shape. It was a fire truck in Washington state on the east side of the mountains till the guy I bought it from bought it and kept it in dry storage for about 8 years. Because it was a fire truck, the bed is in good shape as well, because they just slid tanks into it after they had removed the tail gate. I drove it on my trailer and off again. So it cranks up and runs. Yeap, it does need some work and my struggle here in my new town is not having a place to do my own work.

Clint, Desoto and Charles makes some good points ( and Charles does nice work -- checked out his web site)

I am struggleing about the fact of converting it into a modern daily driver but at the same time, I won't have to do as much body work. I would offer parts that come off it for sale to others.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to take it slow and get it going with conversion kits from the Ugly Trucking or just buy a donor truck and get a street rod shop to swap the body on to the donor truck. I'll keep reading the blogs on this site while I wait to sell my current Ford truck. It will be with that money that I will be able to pay for what I end up doing.
Thanks all for your input while I figure this out.

[Macadoo]

After researching, studing, and thinking about all the post I've read on here I've decide to buy a 1998 Dodge 2500 4wd truck as a donor truck for my '48 power wagon. For what I am after, a daily driver, it seems to be the most practical and economical choice.
I did hear from Ray today from the Ugly Trucking and he said he would not be back in country for another 9 months so that kinda closed the door going that route.
I will be listing my entire frame, trans, motor and all that goes with the rolling chassis as I want others to put it to good use. If you know of someone that might want to buy this, please let me know soon.

[Macadoo]

"Can anyone tell me what the numbers on a screwed in plate on the dash on the drivers side window vent mean. The number is 115.

There is also a plate just below the data plate on the henge side of the drivers doors that reads 4312-9976. Any idea what these mean?"

I found out what the data plate on the henge side was for. I'm still trying to find out what the 115 plate is for. It is located on the front dash screwed into the vent for the ft windshild just in front of the steering wheel. Any ideas?

[Gordon Maney]

I admit I don't know. What is the meaning of the one you did decipher?

[Macadoo]

Body Tags

I found on the link below that one of the tags I was asking about is called a body tag. It's another ID number. On this link, the page is limited to WDX-WM300 Power-Wagons. Below is a little of what athe page reads.

This tag was mounted on the drivers door jamb from mid 1946 until 1956. Though sometimes left off at the factory, 95% of the 1946-1956 production had this tag.
1946 WDX to 1950 B-2-PW-126 Body Tags start with 4312, and the rest of the numbers, in this case 12677, are sequential. Because of this, the body tag number can be used to determine the approximate year of the truck.
http://www.t137.com/registry/help/bodytags/bodytags.htm

I still can't find any info on the body tag that is screwed on the drivers windshield vent.

[Macadoo]

Update on my 1948 PW

I now have my '48 mounted on the '98 chassis. I have sold the '48 motor and rolling chassis to a guy here that will use it for his rebuild. I have created a blog showing my weekly progress. I didn't want to move the '98 motor from where it was factory set. So having to stretch the hood a little.

[masterlow]

Do you have a link to your blog? very interested in your progress.