1966 Ford F100 Restoration

Crown Victoria Suspension Installation

2011-05-14T20:11:00.003-05:00

I worked today at installing the Crown Victoria suspension crossmember in the pickup. The plan is to run the bolts through from the bottom to 3/4" bar stock on top of the frame rail. The factory system on the Crown Victoria wasn't quite this stout, but it's ok to overbuild a little. I may also box the frame around the crossmember to give it a little more support since it's the attaching point for the engine and the whole of the front suspension. There are also crush tubes around the bolts. My Dad is a machinist, so he made the parts for me out of some steel I bought at Metal By The Foot. I told him the wrong size on the rear crush tubes, so I'll have to take them back up to the shop and face a little off of them to get them to slide easily under the rails.

After this crossmember was installed, the frame became so much more rigid. I need to fabricate a mount for the trailing section of the lower control arms and apparently I've lost one of the nuts that holds screws onto the bolts on top of the crossmember.

Frame Clean and Assembled

2011-05-02T20:16:00.003-05:00

Tonight after work, I blasted the last couple crossmembers clean and put the frame together loosely on the driveway to test the fit. I didn't have a whole lot of time, but I didn't have too much to do either.
I am planning to prime it disassembled to protect the crevices from rust and then paint it as an assembled unit.
There are a couple small areas left to repair before priming. I also plan to get the front Crown Victoria crossmember completely test fit before priming the frame. There's a lot of work left to do, but it's nice to see a little visible progress.

Almost done Sandblasting

2011-04-30T21:16:00.003-05:00

Here's the intake sitting on the engine completing the fuel system. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am going to use the MSD controller. When the frame is done, I'll have to fab up a stand and fire this thing up.

This is where I ran out of blast media, so the rear end is half done. The guy swore to me that I should go with a coarse media instead. It was terrible, so I've postponed the rest of the blasting until I can get more of the fine media. I also finished up all the frame crossmembers except for one I have to replace.
Here, I'm doing some electrolysis to cut through some of the more pronounced rust scale. It's fun, but it's not fast.
Here's the stuff for today.

New Intake and Radiator arrives today

2011-04-01T20:34:00.003-05:00

I got the intake in from Fedex. It looks pretty good as it should given it's cost. It's also not well suited to a street engine, but it's the only viable option I have to go with a carburetor. I mocked it all up on the kitchen table to get a feel for what it'll look like on the finished engine. I added the new carburetor that's been sitting around for about a year now waiting for an engine to feed. The intake was made by Sullivan but has recently been discontinued. There is also a couple new sets of wiring that came in today too. The rest of the wiring I ordered has been backordered.

I also got the radiator in. It is debatable whether or not it's really a trade up from the aluminum ones for sale. In all the pictures it looks like the original just using plastic tanks. This one has all sorts of extra ribbing on it. It will work fine for now, but eventually, I'll be shopping for another radiator.

Finished Main Rail Blasting

2011-03-22T20:31:00.002-05:00

Tonight after work, I finished the blasting of the two main rails. I have a few places to make quick little repairs and then it's off to painting for them. As far as the rest of the pieces of the frame, I'm going to drop them off with a blaster to finish. I do not have time to do them.

Final Frame disassembly

2011-03-17T00:17:00.003-05:00

I gave in to the concept of rebuilding the frame after it's disassembled. It was getting to complicated to leave the rear assembled and I wanted to move things along. So today, I completely separated the ladders from the main rails. Now, I can get into all the places Claycomo never painted that have rusted with time. By the end of the day tomorrow, I hope to have the main rails completely sandblasted and ready for paint. I will also be making plans to get the paint needed to finish the rails properly. The paint guy I trust recommended a DTM Urethane primer and chassis black. I'm going to look into a urethane topcoat as well in place of the chassis black. If I can flatten a urethane topcoat enough that it's not obscenely shiny, I'll go with it.

More Sandblasting

2011-01-06T17:45:00.004-06:00

I got some pics of the frame sandblasting I did tonight before dark. It came out prety good. The rails are completely free of paint and rust all the way back to the first crossmember I haven't removed yet. Dust settled on the rear sections that I hadn't blasted yet making it look clean. I found out that I can run a couple bags through the blaster before the compressor heats up and starts pumping water into the mix. I haven't tried to dry out the air supply yet, but when I do, it's certain to work a whole lot faster and better. The frame is clean inside outside upside down. I'm happy with the results. In the coming days I'll be cleaning up the crossmembers I removed and figuring out what kind of paint I'm going to go with. I decided to finish the front of the frame rails before taking the rear sections apart. It's probably unnecessary, but I want to make sure I get the rails back together straight and true.

Sandblasting in the dark with no pics

2011-01-06T10:13:00.004-06:00

Yesterday in the late afternoon and until dark, I sandblasted the frame. I was snapping pictures like a madman. If it wasn't for the cracked LCD on the garage camera, I might have also known that I had no memory card in the camera saving the pictures. I hope to have a chance to do some more blasting after work tonight.

Metalworking

2011-01-03T22:49:00.005-06:00

I had a little time this evening to work on preparing the patch panels. The donor cab has an issue where the rear window mounts. Also, the dash is bad and the cowl is dented. As for tonight, I removed the back window support from the original cab and removed the dash panel from the section I cut out of the original cab. There are a lot of welds holding the dash in place. It is a lot of work to remove, but nice to have my unmolested dash in the finished product rather than fixing up the one that was botched up for a radio. I tried to do some cleaning on the frame but I gave up. I'll be blasting it on the driveway rather than trying to clean it up with the flap wheels.
With the dash removed:

Using the reproduction core support

2010-12-27T10:01:00.005-06:00

I got a chance to get a little work done Sunday on the pickup. There is no core support reproduced for the 65-66 2wd F100 pickups, but it doesn't take too long to make the 61-64 reproduction work.

The primary difference between the 61-64 and the 65-66 is the lack of support brackets for the inner fenders on the earlier trucks. Then, Ford changed the radiator mounts for 1966. Do what you want with the radiator support brackets. If they stay, buy a 65 radiator. Remove them and buy a 66 radiator.
First, to make it fit, you have to remove this bracket shown below:
It should be stubbier like this one:
If you are using this and want to keep the 65 style radiator mounts, you'll have to keep the original bracket and swap it over.

Then, I drilled out the spot welds holding the inner fender bracket to the original support. Usually, these are good enough to reuse. If it's really bad, it wouldn't take much to fabricate them out of some angled steel using the original as a pattern.

Next, I had to mock up the front end to find correct placement of the inner fenders:

I took an awl and scratched deep into the core support so that after removing the black primer from the support for welding, I'd still be able to find it.
I used a cupped wire wheel to clean off the primer and shot it with weld through primer.

Then, using the holes made for cleaning off the spot welds, I plug welded the brackets to the support.
You can see in that picture above that I have completely removed the 65 style radiator mount leaving holes where I drilled out the spot welds. I'll fill them in with the MIG for a finished final installation.
For my restoration, it's a lot better to replace a panel than to stitch a rusty old core support back together or pay a mint for a rust-free original only to find out it is rusty. I'm going to have the support blasted clean of the EDP to match the rest of the metal for finishing.

Frame Repair Part 7

2010-10-24T21:38:00.004-05:00

I hope to only have a few more frame repair updates, since there's not too much to look at. I started working my way toward the rear of the truck removing the crossmembers in the frame rails. I also located the front crossmember to the frame rails. It has two locating pins that are about 1" aft of where the centerline of the axles runs. They are just under 3/4" so I measured it all out and put two holes in the frame rails to get it lined up properly.

I also drilled the holes for the core support and lined it up to the frame. That core support is the reproduction for the 61-64 trucks but in a later post, I'll be adapting it to make it work.

After I got that done, I started the process of de-riveting the rear of the truck. There are a bunch. I've found the best way to remove them is to cut them first with the sawzall and then grind off the remainder of the rivet. They are such a pain to remove but there is so much rust hidden between where the crossmembers meet the frame rails, so it just has to be done if this truck is going to last.

In the coming weeks, I'll be rebuilding the 9" rear, patching the frame rails in a few more places, modifying the core support for use in a '66, rebuilding the motor and hopefully getting this messy garage cleaned up a bit.

Frame Repair Part 6

2010-10-11T13:21:00.006-05:00

I buttoned up some more repairs today by finish welding the undersides of the welds I previously made. I finished under the core support mounting tabs, behind the crossmember mounting areas and under the cab mount supports.
Here's the front side of the crossmember repair after welding on the rear.
I decided to remove the cab mount supports from the frame rails since I found so much rust behind where the factory spring cups were. I want to make sure the rust is completely cleaned off and out of the crevices before painting or powdercoating the frame. There wasn't a whole lot of rust behind them, but enough that I feel good about removing them to clean it all out. It will make cleaning them easier because I can use the glass bead cabinet rather than trying to work around them on the complete frame rail assembly.
These welds look sloppy, but they will finish out ok once I grind them down.
I also found my transmission. It is a TR3650 from a 2004 Mustang. I got a nice clutch, clutch fork, pressure plate and an aluminum Cobra Flywheel for next to nothing because the transmission grinds between 1-2. There was a recall on these transmission built from 2000-2002 where Ford changed the synchronizer assembly for 1-2 but by 2004, it should already have the good parts installed from the factory. My theory is that either the transmission is a 2000-2002 model and the seller didn't know (or didn't tell me), or that the previous owner just didn't have the clutch adjusted properly. Either way, it may need anything from a set of synchros to a full overhaul with a couple new gears. If it needs a full overhaul, I'll probably find a replacement for it.

Frame Repair Part 5

2010-10-06T22:00:00.004-05:00

Admittedly, I need to work faster or work more at the same slow pace. This is the same repair as I just made on the driver's side. This time, the passenger's side wasn't nearly as bad, but I still replaced about 12" of frame.

I also got the first chance to mock up the the front crossmember for the first time so I have something to think about. From the first glance, it appears that the engine mounts are a little low, but this could be an illusion since the crossmember isn't flush with the bottom of the frame rails. Also, my intake is very tall, so I might need the extra room to fit the engine under the hood. I welded the back side of the driver's side patch.
As you can see in this picture, I can't wait to clean up the garage a bit. It's gotten filthy with all the grinding and sanding.

Frame Repair Part 4

2010-10-05T19:56:00.002-05:00

This section of frame rail rotted out where the spring cup was sandwiched against the frame rail. I cut out the bad section and stitched a patch in, rather than just paste some good metal on top of the bad. I first ground both panels into a V at the joints so that I had a nice clean surface to fill with weld and more surface area for the weld to contact.
Clearly, I'm no pro welder, but the penetration is good and it grinds out fine.
I had to go to a flight lesson before finishing the grinding. If you look at the bottom of the patch, it hasn't been ground yet. I will also weld it 100% from the rear too and grind that flush too.

Frame Repair Part 3

2010-10-01T18:19:00.006-05:00

Tonight, I finished the front frame rail where the core support bolts. I also removed the front crossmember and spring cups. It was a major undertaking. I went through countless sawzall blades and a couple grinding wheels. The rivets are very difficult to remove. I found more rust in the frame rail. I expected it on the driver's side because I could see it in the spring cup, but the passenger's side was a surprise. It will be easy to fix though.
This patch is from the frame rail of another '66 F100 I parted out years ago, so it's Genuine Claycomo Ford steel in it.My welder was in a good mood.
I cut off the flange and ground it flush for welding.
Very nice finish:
The main suspension crossmember and engine cradle is a bear to remove. I started by cutting it out with a sawzall:
Driver's side looking out from inside where the crossmember was. It was arc welded in at the factory and they did a decent job. Removing the last sections on each side was tough. I haven't ground off the old welds yet.The spring cup was riveted in and the rivets are a huge pain to remove.
My next rust repair:
Passenger's side with the crossmember removed but the spring cup is still in place:
Spring cup removed:
Both front rails when I went in for dinner. I'm almost done working this frame.
Next, I'll remove the boxing steel where the old steering box was because I'll do my own boxing to support the new crossmember.

Frame Repair Part 2

2010-09-28T20:24:00.006-05:00

On to the driver's side which was much worse. The original placement of the hole was barely distinguishable and I ended up placing the washer about 1/8" further inboard than the passenger's side. The provisions in the cab floor should easily absorb the error, but if necessary, I can widen it just a little bit with a small grinder stone.
This time, I used the sawzall to radially cut outward from the inside. Then, I hit each pie section with the grinder wheel until it could be broken off with the hammer. Making the hole you see below took an entire grinder wheel per side, but I'm happy with the results.

Since this side didn't take up the whole hour this evening that my wife granted me, I moved on to the passenger's side radiator core support mounting place.
I cut out a large section so that the repair wasn't directly over where the rubber radiator core support mount will be. This is overkill since it will be strong enough, but oh well.
Here's the semi-final repair. I won't drill a hole for the core support mount until I have the other side finished and the core support handy so I can get it right. These holes were originally smaller than the holes for the cab mounts, so there is less margin for error. Once the other side is done, I'll get out the hole saw and drag the core support out of storage for fitment.Time expired before I had a chance to do the passenger's side, so I'll have to be happy with tonight's progress. Once I finish that, I'll flip the frame over and weld all the repairs from the bottom side as well. Then, I'll make room for the Crown Victoria front suspension and stack the frame against the wall to make room in the garage for the wife's car. Winter is fast approaching.

Beginning Frame Repairs

2010-09-27T19:59:00.004-05:00

Remember this?:

It's fixed now, on one side at least. That's all I could get done in the time I had this evening. The plasma cutter is down right now, so it took a LONG time to cut out the metal to get it to look like this:
Some people just put the patch panel on top of the rusted section. I don't like that type of repair at all since there's always the chance that rust can form between the panels. So I cut a large hole and welded a thick gauge washer in place of the missing metal. If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the washer on the floor below the frame rail. It is a 1.5" zinc plated washer that was just the right thickness to match up well to the existing frame. I ground off the zinc plating to ensure a good weld. Here's how it came out:

More fresh steel comes home

2010-09-27T09:51:00.003-05:00

I brought back the rest of the steel from the blaster. I still need to clean a tailgate and the frame, but I won't be using the same blaster. They are only there M-F 8-5 when I have to work and they are an hour from home, so it's just plain inconvenient.
It cost about 1350 and I didn't have to clean up any sand. I don't know if I'll be doing the frame myself or not. I'm tempted to send it out for powdercoating. I need to make the repairs to the frame and then I can worry about who can strip it. The rust on the door literally happened on the way home. Thank you, Missouri Humidity or some splash of water I hit on the way home...who knows...

5.4L DOHC Teardown

2010-09-24T20:32:00.005-05:00

I was told this engine had a blown head gasket. The milky oil would help confirm that diagnosis, but during the teardown, I quickly spotted the source of the contamination. Upon further disassembly, I was pleasantly surprised with it's condition. Usually engines suffer apparent damage from oil starvation when water enters the oil to this level. Even the bearings look great. Unless we find cracks in the block or heads, this will be a easy rebuild. I'll measure out the bore tomorrow morning.
Heads are off:
Do you see the problem in the next two pictures?

There's a freeze plug sitting between the oil pump and the oil pan. Both block freeze plugs behind the timing cover were popped out. My theory is that the previous owner bought the car to Kansas City from Georgia (as he told me) where the coolant was replaced with either water or an unsuitable blend of water and antifreeze to keep the coolant from freezing. When it freezes, it pushes on the block freeze plugs. The ones on the outside of the block are going to be tougher to push out of the block than the ones soaked in oil because the outside ones are rusted in place. Rust inside the coolant passage ways confirms water rather than antifreeze coolant being used. The head gaskets looked fine. I hope the two popped freeze plugs were enough to save the block from the pressure of the freezing water. I won't know until it's inspected by the machine shop.

The crank and rod journals look excellent for the amount of water in the oil. They don't really show up in these pictures, but the bearings show very little evidence of scoring and none of the bearings failed.

How do you make a 460 look small?

2010-09-24T20:26:00.004-05:00

Put it on a stand next to a 5.4L DOHC engine.
In nearly every dimension, the 5.4L is larger than the Big Block Ford. In this picture, the 5.4 doesn't even have an intake on it, yet, it makes the 460 look like a baby.
My decision to go with the 5.4 is not based on performance. I'm not looking to build a street monster. While the 5.4 is capable of massive horsepower numbers, in stock form, it's pretty tame. I'll be keeping it tame, but I hope it makes for good conversation. I performed the teardown tonight and will be posting those pics shortly. I also got the bed for the pickup picked up from the blaster along with the doors and hood. Pics of that won't go up until tomorrow...

MSD Box is Here

2010-09-23T20:57:00.002-05:00

The MSD box arrived. This is the box designed to handle the ignition system. It watches the cam, crank sensors and a GM MAP sensor to control timing and fire the 8 individual coil packs. It should be a very simple system. The system's timing is adjusted with a laptop. I am ticked off that MSD thought a serial cable is the best way to connect to a laptop. I'll have to buy an adapter since the last time I bought a laptop with a serial port was 10 years ago...no joke!

Found my engine

2010-09-22T18:29:00.002-05:00

I found this engine close to home from a guy who said it has a blown head gasket. It turns over by hand now, so barring unforeseen circumstances, it should be rebuildable. I'll have to check it all out and have the heads and block checked for cracks. I ordered the module required to make it fire the coil packs and I'll plan on running a carb on top. It's a 5.4L DOHC engine from a 1999 Lincoln Navigator. When I get the 460 out of the pickup, I'll post a picture of the two engines sitting side by side. I think it will be interesting. Dimensionally, the 5.4 dwarfs the gigantic 460, even though 5.4 liters translates into just 330 cubic inches. It will probably be bored during the machining process which (depending on the amount of material removed) may round up to the next .1L of displacement yielding a 5.5L engine. I can't wait to crack it open, but patience wins the day. I need to get an engine hoist before I can even think about getting it out of the truck. Then, when it's on a stand, we'll see what's inside it.

This Weekend's Progress...

2010-09-13T17:08:00.005-05:00

New Pinion support I had to buy because I broke the old one...

I spent plenty of time working, but it was mostly absorbed by cleaning. I did paint some of the parts I sandblasted including the axle center section, seat brackets and pedals with support. I also had some more surprises in the frame where the cab floor mounts bolt to the frame. I think I'm almost done finding rust on this pickup.

The last of the cab is dismembered and removed. Now the garage is full of scrap metal and the floor is trashed:

One of the patch panels I cut out of the old cab. I'll be using on the new cab. It is the support for the back window. Somehow the replacement cab's window support was bent and I'm worried that the window won't be able to seal if I don't fix it. This is overkill to fix a small problem, but it will work. All the outside (white) sheet metal will be removed from this part and it will be put on the new cab:

This post is not for the faint of heart

2010-09-06T21:16:00.006-05:00

Tonight I harvested the patch panels from the truck's original cab. It was a bit painful to cut it all up like that, but it really wasn't salvageable at my level of body proficiency. I am going to use the roof, dash, cowl and a couple patch panels from around the cab. I cut off the roof, cut off the dash and cut out the patches I'll need. The rest goes to the scrapper.

Grandpa used to referee basketball and football. Even since I was a little kid, I've thought of this crack as a goalpost on the windshield. Since I won't be reinstalling a cracked windshield, I might as well immortalize it here...

Here's the crack in the weatherstrip that let water in every time I drove it in the rain:

Last inspection:

Some kind of city sticker for the City of Grandview, MO:

Spare distributor cap tucked neatly in the cab behind the seat:

Someone stuck a coffee cup in the access hole for one of the fender bolts:

CB antenna?

Happy Labor Day!

2010-09-06T20:57:00.002-05:00

I came home Thursday night to the sound of my compressor running and although it's not completely uncommon for it to compensate for a bad coupler when no one is using it, I knew this was different...
When I went in the garage, it was hot and the air smelled like every molecule had run through the compressor's pump at least twice...
I'm glad I bought a good compressor with a 100% duty cycle. When I turned it off, the tank read 135PSI running wide open through the broken 3/8" hose. My wife said it wasn't running when she left 3 hours before we got home, so it couldn't have run longer than that. I can't wait to open the power bill.

I'm getting ahead of myself

2010-09-02T23:07:00.002-05:00

I have a lot to do and bunny trails going in all directions. The best thing I can think to do is organize my thoughts a bit here in no particular order:
Finish the seats. The passenger's seat bottom needs to be blasted clean before I can reupholster it.
Rebuild the rear end. The pinion yoke doesn't want to come off the pinion so I can't blast that part. When I get it separated, I'll blast it and build the rear end.
Blast the rear end housing and rebuild the rear brakes.
Clean and mock assemble the front suspension. (I bought new upper control arms and lower ball joints along with all new brakes from NAPA.
Paint all that stuff I sandblasted. I'm still trying to decide what paint to use. I want it to last, but I don't want to have to get out the spray gun to do it. I'm trying to find durable, good stuff in a rattle can, which doesn't sound quite so stupid in my head...
Off to bed...I have a bunch of new parts to post pics of sometime soon and the neighbor said he's going to return my engine hoist soon, so maybe we'll get that engine pulled and pics taken soon.

Small Parts Sandblasting Part 2

2010-09-02T07:19:00.002-05:00

This is: Hood Hinges, Backing Plates, Door Hinges (RH) and the rear end center housing along with a bunch of small parts.

Gauges

2010-08-31T21:04:00.000-05:00

I guess if you know what you're looking at, you can't have too much information on the dash. Using this motto, I long ago converted the cluster to include the oil pressure gauge and ammeter. Pickups typically had dummy lights, but when the Bronco was introduced in 1966, it used the same cluster, but replaced the lights with gauges. I've also seen an F600 of the era with the amp/oil gauges. Converting the cluster is easy. I basically put my speedometer in the bronco cluster housing with the accessory gauges already in place, since the housings for the dummy light clusters are different. I chose to keep my speedometer because throughout the years of Bronco production, Ford kept changing the font of the speedometer and I like the original best.

This is the tach I bought. It's a mechanical 4000 RPM tach which is completely useless, except that it is brand new and period correct. They were used in the big trucks with torquey engines that made all their power below 3500. I found a company who specializes in disassembling them, changing them to modern movements, and changing the artwork to reflect it. While it's not a cheap process, it's nearly impossible for a DIYer like myself. The gauge is crimped together and replacing the artwork would be nearly impossible for me. If they agree to do the work, I'll post their web info here.
The vacuum gauge is the most under-rated gauge that is nearly never seen on cars that aren't running a turbo or supercharger. This is odd since the gauge tells you so much about how the condition of the engine and how well the carb is tuned for the application. It's also a great gauge for watching fuel economy and it does some pretty cool things while you drive.

Small Parts Sandblasting Part 1

2010-08-30T20:34:00.000-05:00

I blasted the seat riser brackets, steering column, door access panels and the instrument cluster holder. Everything came out good but I have a long way to go.

Recovering the Seats

2010-08-29T10:48:00.001-05:00

The Passenger's Seat:Disassembled:
Stripped:
New Foam
Leaving my Mark:
Finished Seat Back...almost. Overnight last night, the seat back developed a wrinkle, seen in the upper left corner just above the inset pattern. It should be a major pain in the butt to redo. This seat back took me the entire duration of the movie Cars to do. It's never taken me so long to recover a seat, but I opted for new foam. The seat bottom needs to be welded up and blasted clean before I can upholster it.
Blue was never a factory color for the Pickups with the Ranger package. I think it was only beige, red or black. I also went with 1965 upholster rather than 1966. I like the '65 not having the faux woven inset pattern and I prefer the shade of blue available in 1965 over the 1966. The interior will be mostly blue with some white. The dash and painted parts of the doors will be white. The carpet, dash pad, door panels and door access panels will be blue. My hog ring pliers need to be replaced as well with a better quality set.

Replacement Suspension

2010-08-27T07:37:00.001-05:00

The donor vehicle:
Why someone would want cop car engines is beyond me...with their high mileage, hours and hours of idling and jackrabbit starts I'd consider them scrap...but I'm glad they did because it makes getting the suspension crossmember a breeze to get out.

Still assembled:

I found the replacement suspension today. It comes from a 2004 Crown Victoria police car. The benefits are rack and pinion steering, modular engine support, bigger police brakes, modern suspension geometry, modern braking, and getting rid of the tried and true Twin I Beam setup. The entire setup dropped out of the donor car in about 20 minutes because it's held in by four bolts, the steering shaft and a few bolts in the trailing end of the lower control arm. I picked up the kids, put them to bed and disassembled everything. Apparently, someone at the police garage thinks every bolt should be torqued to 500ft/lbs. It was very, very difficult to get all this stuff apart. It took almost 2 hours and one of the hubs is still stuck in the spindle. Tonight, I'll have to make a list all the replacement parts to make this stuff like new again.
Crossmember:
Everything else:

Tips:
There is a brace on each side of the top of the crossmember that stabilizes the top of the spring pocket to the top of the frame rail. Remove them only after the two main support bolts on each side have been removed from underneath. This piece can hold the entire setup up and make removing the main support bolts a lot easier.

Front Suspension Removal

2010-08-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

After work tonight, I removed the front suspension completely. This sounds like a big job, but Ford switched to a system they called "Twin I Beam" in 1965. Basically, instead of one straight axle in the front of the truck, they gave each wheel its own axle which was suspended at the opposite side of the truck and directly beneath the floor of the cab at the rear through what they called radius arms. It provided a much smoother ride over a straight axle since bumps in the road could be absorbed by one side of the suspension rather than the entire front. The system is prone to alignment issues as components wear and it won't quite give me the ride I'm going for.
It all drops out by removing one nut on each radius arm, one bolt at the end of each I beam, two small bolts holding on the springs, the brake lines and the shocks. That's it.
I had to pull the truck out from the wall to get around to the driver's side. SWMBO has already staked her winter claim to the garage insisting that the truck not encroach the space her car will occupy when the first frost hits.
Next, I'll remove the slushbox and monster 460. The truck was originally an I6 3 speed. I'm not totally set on the powerplant and transmission yet, but there's plenty of time to decide. After that, it's off with the cab for the frame work.

Driver's door finally arrived

2010-08-17T19:02:00.001-05:00

I was getting the run around from the eBay seller on the driver's side door. I got a jumbled up message Monday saying that his laptop was all screwed up and that UPS wasn't sure when the package would arrive. He first thought Friday, then Monday and then Tuesday. It's odd that UPS would have told him they were unsure since as soon as a package enters their system, they usually know when it will be delivered. Perhaps he was using UPS as a scapegoat for not shipping the door for over a week after payment? I don't know. He told me not to have it blasted either, since it is such a good door. It needs to be cleaned up like everything else...
Hopefully I can get it to the blaster Friday after work since I'll be out of town for a few days.

Clean Steel Comes Back Home

2010-08-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

It was a major pain in the butt since the bed was 3" wider than the trailer. Next time, I'll measure. The Passenger's side door made it as well tucked neatly in the bed. The blaster guys were nice enough to stay late so I could meet them after work. While there, I also picked up the cab, fenders, inner fenders, stone guard and upper grille panel. Overall the cab did well considering what one might expect of a truck in the rust belt, but not like I had hoped since I imported it from a drier world. There were a number of repairs made to it before I got it to patch a few holes (which I will redo) and to cover up the rust near the drip rails. I've found two kinds of truck parts. Straight, rusty ones and beat up, rust-free stuff. In this case, I'll take the dents since the original cab lost its overall structural integrity from rust.

And now for the damage:
Drip rail damage will be repaired. I may shave off the drip rails when I make these repairs.

More damage, bumps and bruises:

Rear Frame Cleaning

2010-08-15T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today, after 9 hours of cleaning the garage, I decided to take everything off the rear half of the frame rails. This includes the rear brake drums, springs, brake cables and the exhaust. I also had to remove a bunch of random nuts and bolts that were just screwed into the frame rails. The bolts for the springs were a bear to remove and they had rusted into the bushings for the springs. The springs are trash and need to be replaced.
The blaster called and said that the cab, fenders, inner fenders, and a few other parts are clean and ready to be picked up. I'll drop off the bed when I go to pick up the cab and parts.

2010-08-08T00:37:00.000-05:00

I picked these up today...Originally, the Ford Ranger was a trim package on the 1965 F100 and used off and on until the 80s as Ford's top interior package. In 1965-66 it meant the truck received Mustang bucket seats with special brackets on the bottoms to make them fit in a pickup. Since I don't like the bouncy bench seats in old pickup trucks, the Mustang seats seemed like a viable option. I've not completely decided whether to use the two bucket seats pictured or to use the original Mustang bench front seat I have in the garage. Either way, the truck will probably have a Mustang seat in it.

Back in the day...

2010-08-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics of the truck running around back when I was driving it. I think these are 2003-2004.
I actually used it a few times to commute back and forth to college about 40 miles each way in 2004.

Passenger's side door located.

2010-08-04T14:36:00.000-05:00

I got the passenger's side door ordered today from Green Supply. They specialize in buying out inventory of old Ford dealerships, so they had two passenger's side doors on the shelf. Similar to the left side I posted yesterday, it is dirty and has surface rust from sitting around for probably longer than I have been alive. It's being shipped to KC via truck freight tomorrow. When both doors arrive, they go off to the blaster. They cut me a bit of a break because it has the surface rust and a small dent on it. It was still more than 100 higher than the driver's side I bought yesterday.

New Driver's Side Door

2010-08-03T23:17:00.000-05:00

I found a new driver's side door on eBay tonight. They aren't reproduced, so it must be replaced with a rust-free original, or New Old Stock (basically parts that someone bought new from Ford a long time ago and let sit around without being installed). This door is NOS, still in the Ford primer. When it gets here, I'll have it blasted clean to match the rest of the parts I sent out. I think I have a source on a passenger's side NOS door, but they want over twice what I paid for the driver's side. I should suck it up though...I don't want the project to not get primer because I'm waiting on a door.
The passenger's side door I sandblasted turned out to be rusted in complicated areas that can't really be repaired. Also, it is dented on the inside where it would be visible when the door is shut. So, I have to source a replacement. There are plenty of used ones out there, but I'd prefer the NOS route so I don't have to work on it too much before installing.

2010-08-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

This evening, I packed up the cab, fenders, inner fenders, stone guard, hood and upper grille panel and took them to the blaster. I'm sick of the glass particles in everything. Blasting at home is so dirty and the media ends up everywhere... I'll probably still do the frame myself, but I'll leave the majority of the sheet metal to the pros. I took it to Eagle Auto Stripping for the job. Everyone I talk to in Kansas City says they're the best in town.
One day soon, I have to load up the bed and get it up there. They told me they'd keep the parts for a month, which gives me plenty of time to part out 2 Mustangs and clear out all the Pickup sheet metal I won't use.

New Bed

2010-06-26T08:53:00.000-05:00

Here's the bed I bought. Restoring Mustangs is easy. When you find a rusted part, order a replacement from one of 600 suppliers. This truck has almost no replacement panels available, so the only source is non-rusted original parts.
The cab I bought in Texas a few years back came from California. This bed was from California. Inner fenders came from Las Vegas (purchased in KC on Craigslist) and the LH fender came from California. The RH fender came from Idaho, but it was a part someone bought new from Ford and stored for years. The hood I picked up from a local junk yard.
California is a great source of original sheet metal.

2010-06-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

I should clarify this project a little. This truck has been in the family for many years. It was my Great-Grandpa's and then my Grandpa's before he gave it to me. The body was in excellent condition but the Missouri salt had eaten the floor and most of the unseen panels in the front. About 6 years ago, I took the front off the frame and installed a new engine and transmission. Over the course of the last few years, I've taken it mostly apart and sourced nearly all of the new parts the truck will need to get it back up and running and looking great.
Once I tidy up the garage a little, I'll get some pictures posted of the whole project.

More Media Blasting

2010-06-26T08:32:00.001-05:00

I got a free moment to do a bit of blasting last night. LH front fender, RH inner fender, stone guard and FORD panel all cleaned up pretty well. I was having issues keeping the air supply dry. I'll have to install a separator or something because it's really annoying to stop and clear out the wet glass every few minutes. Here's the before and after. I hope to get more done tonight...

Sandblasting...

2010-06-02T20:13:00.000-05:00

I started blasting the truck clean. Beginning with the passenger's door I and ending half way through the hood. Unfortunately, the blaster started clogging with the moisture that I neglected to filter from the air supply. Tomorrow after work, I'll have to pick up a water separator and hope that there isn't too much moisture in the machine to make it run.

The door took one bag of material to clean. I got through most of the top of the hood on the second bag of the day.