My metal-over-wood bed was pretty much non-existent when I did my bed so I cant help with rivets, but I believe there are a few places that make a kit to replace with wood. I'm fairly certain 48-early 50 beds need some kind of spacer to bring the wood height up. You can't just use Late 50 and up...
Smithy's are junk. Nothing like the originals. Mine rotted out to I put a pair of Thrush Cherry Bombs on it. A little louder, but sound ok. Not raspy like I remember them being on overheads.
Technically, yes.
4 spd and 3 spd heavy duty are interchangeable. 3 spd light duty is essentially a 39 ford toploader converted to open drive. There is a different driveshaft yoke needed to make it come together if I recall. If your clutch is 11", it should still work with the 3 spd.
If you go with a T5, you can probably keep your stock rear. 9 inch rear from 57-72 F100 are the easiest to swap in as they are the same width and spring perches are in the right spot. 78 ford rear is 3” too wide if it’s out of a truck.
Unlike the guy above me, I’ll try to be more helpful. Yes it’s possible to go 70 in overdrive. What rear gear ratio do you have/want. You will need to cut the crossmember as the T5 is longer. Many people sell adapter kits for Flathead to T5
I do 2 or 3 at a time until I've got all 24 on a side done. Make sure you drain the coolant out and that the threads are dry or else it wont seal properly. Use a liberal amount of Permatex #2 and wipe away the excess then let them dry at least 24 hours.
Drill and tap it!!!!
I replaced my stock wheel with a '49 passenger wheel a few months ago. I had no holes and it was an absolute nightmare. I should have tapped it right off the bat.
Not having black crap or goo on your hands from the old wheel is well worth it
I got one for mine a few years back...can't remember where unfortunately, but I seem to remember it being 55-57 T-bird. Not OEM, but "close enough". May want to search on that.
I'd like to throw a monkey wrench in. While it does sound like fuel delivery, I've seen similar symptoms with mismatched coil/resistors (i.e. having an external resistor, and an internally resisted coil).