1952 Ford F8

[flatford8]

Gotcha! ....."grouse" = cool : late 60's early 70's "hippy era" saying

From the Urban Dictionary on the web

TOP DEFINITION
grouse
Word heard mostly in Australia's 2nd largest city, Melbourne meaning something wonderful, amazing.
"Kangaroos are grouse, mate!"

So it's probably a Aussie/kiwi thing...sorry for the confusion

GB

Ok... I get it now. Up here a Grouse is a woodland game bird. People say "gross" meaning disgusting. That's what made me confused.
Where's GBSISSON?.....I can't believe he'd let a big truck post go by without commenting. Great looking truck... Mark

 

[Pilot31135]

"rotorwrench" - Are you sure? I am kinda into fire trucks and knew a guy who had a '53 with a 279. The whole thing was very confusing, because everything we could find said the 279 was built for the 1954 model year only, for trucks only. We finally came to the conclusion that with fire trucks, the year is not that important and can vary a year or two. (I once had one titled as a 1974 Seagrave that was actually a 1973 Ford F900.)

Anyhoo, I always thought that the Big trucks initially used the 317 ci version, like the cars. Maybe the O/P will check back in and clear this up.

(Oooops, I guess he did while I was typing.)

Ford introduced the (lincoln) y block for the Ford f7 and F8 trucks for the 1952 year, regardless of wether it was a fire truck or not. The F7s got a 279ci and the F8s got the 317 ci. They have little in common with a Ford y block.


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[chap52]

Looking good!
My son is a custom fabricator and I am more of a wood worker. Here are a couple of photo's of the bed we made. I did it in redwood because I love the color and do not plan on heavy hauling. If you would like more info or pictures of the underside let me know.

 

[Cecil/WV]

Looks like my F-7 that has the 279 engine and a flat dump. Former fire truck with 5 speed OD trans. Good running trucks!

 

[mercman from oz]

Love your 1952 Ford F8 Truck. The above pictures are of an Australian assembled 1952 Ford 5 Ton Truck. This was the largest model offered here, a model 2R8T. These Ford Trucks were not known as F Trucks in Australian until 1955.
This fine example is owned by Jim & Judy Craig from South Australia.

 

[Brendan]

Nice. What kind of bed are you going to put on it? What are you gonna haul?

a F-1 woud look kool back there!

 

[rotorwrench]

"rotorwrench" - Are you sure? I am kinda into fire trucks and knew a guy who had a '53 with a 279. The whole thing was very confusing, because everything we could find said the 279 was built for the 1954 model year only, for trucks only. We finally came to the conclusion that with fire trucks, the year is not that important and can vary a year or two. (I once had one titled as a 1974 Seagrave that was actually a 1973 Ford F900.)

The internet has all sorts of information. Some is accurate and some is not so much. The two Big Block Y-blocks were developed at the same time. The 317 was predominantly for Lincoln cars and it had hydraulic lifters to make it a more quiet operating engine. The 279 was for trucks only and had solid tappet cam followers. The two engines are difficult to tell the difference on the outside. I can't confirm with my limited information on the 1952/53 F8 big jobs whether the 317 was the only engine used in the F8 but it likely would have been a solid tappet version. I do know that the F7 had the 279 since it was made for that purpose and was used thru 1954 despite what some sources mention. Ford seldom had one year only engines. Even the 239 Y-block lasted for 2-years.

ADDED: Ford called the engines the Cargo Master and had no reference to Lincoln in any of the brochures I could find. The 279 was the Cargo Master 145 HP and the 317 was the Cargo Master 155 HP. This was clearly marked on the valve covers. If it has Lincoln valve covers then someone changed them out or the engine was replaced with a Lincoln car engine.

 

[Pilot31135]

The internet has all sorts of information. Some is accurate and some is not so much. The two Big Block Y-blocks were developed at the same time. The 317 was predominantly for Lincoln cars and it had hydraulic lifters to make it a more quiet operating engine. The 279 was for trucks only and had solid tappet cam followers. The two engines are difficult to tell the difference on the outside. I can't confirm with my limited information on the 1952/53 F8 big jobs whether the 317 was the only engine used in the F8 but it likely would have been a solid tappet version. I do know that the F7 had the 279 since it was made for that purpose and was used thru 1954 despite what some sources mention. Ford seldom had one year only engines. Even the 239 Y-block lasted for 2-years.

ADDED: Ford called the engines the Cargo Master and had no reference to Lincoln in any of the brochures I could find. The 279 was the Cargo Master 145 HP and the 317 was the Cargo Master 155 HP. This was clearly marked on the valve covers. If it has Lincoln valve covers then someone changed them out or the engine was replaced with a Lincoln car engine.

Well this is out of the Ford Truck shop manual not the internet. The 279 was standard in a 1952 F7. A 317 was standard in a 1952 F8. The engines were derived from lincoln.
The 317 (and possibly the 279) was called "Cargo King" not "Cargo Master". Ask me how I know.

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[Pilot31135]

Also just to clarify the lincoln y blocks replaced the 337 flatheads that did not fair well in the F7/8 trucks from 1948-1951.
Again ask me how I know.

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[Cecil/WV]

I do know that the F7 had the 279 since it was made for that purpose and was used thru 1954 despite what some sources mention. Ford seldom had one year only engines. Even the 239 Y-block lasted for 2-years.

The only thing I know for sure, other than the '52 F-7 with 279 and F 8 with 317 is that the '55 T 800 had the 317 engine. I worked on a fleet that had one. According to Wagner's book on Ford Trucks, Ford used a 256, 279 and 317 in 1955, with a 239 in pickups. I used to drive a 56 F 750 that had a 302 and then in '57 thru '63 they used the 332. About that time, Ford came out with the 331, 361 and 391 engines that were physically inter changeable with the earlier 317 Lincoln. I installed a '52 Lincoln 317 in a 64 T 750 without air brakes in place of a 361 and it fit fine but didn't last long. The T 750's used a 332 engine thru '63 or perhaps 64. We had a '64 with a 361 and then the '65-66 years used the 391. These were all big block engines, not the small 302 used in cars later. in '67. we went to the T 850 with the 534 engine, probably the best gas truck engine Ford ever built!

 

[Cecil/WV]

Well this is out of the Ford Truck shop manual not the internet. The 279 was standard in a 1952 F7. A 317 was standard in a 1952 F8. The engines were derived from lincoln.
The 317 (and possibly the 279) was called "Cargo King" not "Cargo Master". Ask me how I know.

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This looks like my F-7, except for the carb.

 

[Pilot31135]

This looks like my F-7, except for the carb.

Yes externally I'm not sure how to tell a 279 from a 317. The carb i installed is ethanol compliant.


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[RalphG]

I knew I had an ad somewhere and finally found this one for the 1952 Cargo Kings. They don't specify cubic inches, just horsepower of the 2 different OHV engines available for the trucks.

 

[rotorwrench]

I get them mixed up with the tractors. Getting old sucks. The Torque King came later. The first ones were Cargo Kings according to the brochures for 1952 like Ralph posted. That's all I could find. Ford had all sorts of Cargo engines in 1953, 54, 55, & 56 when there were 302 and 332 engines. There was only 10-HP between the 279 and 317 so that was sort of like the difference between the 49 ford and the 49 Merc. All they did was change the crankshaft and maybe the cam followers. The 302 and 332 Torque king versions were probably larger bore and some had 4-barrel carbs for some fairly high Y8 horse power ratings.

 

[Vintage Copper 47]

And what color did you paint your truck?


"Are you ignorant or apathetic? I don't know and I don't care."

Got Me THERE!
My 1944.. is o.d. green.. sadly not in my possession anymore but still being used/displayed in Pennsylvania..

 

[Pilot31135]

Got Me THERE!

My 1944.. is o.d. green.. sadly not in my possession anymore but still being used/displayed in Pennsylvania..

Well that's a shame you don't have the truck anymore. I sold my 1949 Ford business Coupe when my kid was born. I really didn't need to sell and now I realize I should have been more patient and kept it. As to color (you'll love this) my F8 paint code actually decoded to Meadow Green. I originally planned to go with that color, but after searching every square inch of metal I could find no meadow green. After talking to some experts, I was told it was not unusual to pull a truck off the line before paint and send it out in primer. Once the owner took possession, the owner would have it painted in proprietary colors of the business or in this case, the fire departments color of choice. So in the end I settled for ford Candy Apple Red single stage polyurethane from Summit Racing.


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[Pilot31135]

Oh btw, that's a nice looking truck. I know why you miss it. Glad it's still on display! I spent 28 years in the service so I've seen a lot of OD green!


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[GB SISSON]

I agree, it's totally grouse! Not sure how this got past me, but it is a great restoration of a really awesome vehicle. I have made a couple of wood stakebeds and have confidence that a sturdy and useable bed can be constructed from wood. I'm glad that the GB from down under clarified the meaning of 'grouse'. I also thought it was odd to call it that. Please post up some pics as you construct the bed.

 

[Pilot31135]

Will do! I have been to Australia a few times so I figured what grouse meant


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[Vintage Copper 47]

Oh btw, that's a nice looking truck. I know why you miss it. Glad it's still on display! I spent 28 years in the service so I've seen a lot of OD green!


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At least my 44 is in good hands.. Hopefully when I retire, I will have another in civilian trim... 46 or 41...