Seeing as I'm going to be around asking millions of questions, I figured I'd share the history and the trucks "first day on the job" since 1992. (the tires are from the 90's) tsk tsk, I know...

First day on the job: 

My uncle Jack bought this 1954 F-100 in 1958. In the mid sixties he installed a 292 from a ~62-64 truck. He was having it "restored" in the early 
nineties when he died.

My uncle Johnny inherited it, and his son drove it until 1992-3 and it was parked.

I started on the brakes, and other ancillary items in 2016 but got pulled away due to work for a couple years. Last summer (2021) I got it running. Dang thing started right up like it was run yesterday!
The fuel tank was beyond fixing, so we installed a new one. Got the electrical and lighting worked up. Replaced the generator and installed a new radiator with electric fan...

Then a horrible noise appeared and started growing louder... I removed the transmission and could tell it was something in the rear area of the engine. I decided based on the blow by and the noise that pulling the engine was the best thing to do.

Turns out, the noise was due to someone in ~1992 (based on the rebuild sticker on the clutch) didn't torque the flywheel bolts and they backed out... were almost completely unthreaded. This pretty well wiped out the crank.

So, I'm mid rebuild right now... and keep coming up with new questions regularly.

The 54-56 F-100's  always were my favorite Ford truck.  I was looking for one  prior to my getting my 54 Victoria.  Good luck with your rebuild. 


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

What was the extent of the damage to the crankshaft?  Very familiar with the noise that comes from the flywheel bolts being loose.  Have had a couple of those on the dyno where the customers failed to properly tighten the flywheel bolts prior to them bringing the engine in for dyno testing. 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Finally got out to the "shop" to get some pics. I was going to trash the crank, so I had it out in the scrap pile... then when I was at the scrap yard I couldn't bear to trash it thinking maybe someone somewhere might want to use it.

Anyway, the bolts were all not even finger tight. Just hanging on because they were there, not even threaded really. SO the threads got beat up bad, and the holes are out of round a little. You can see the bolt head is like half sheered off from hitting the clutch parts. Also, the bolts are larger diameter than the replacement crank I have. So seems like someone enlarged them?