AC's 70 F250

[AlleyCat]

Bought a 70 F50 on a whim last March. Figured I could get it up and road legal fairly quickly. You know that old line about the best laid plans ? Yeah it happened again. Anyway I'm finally caught up enough to get moving with it. Truck came from Cali so rust isn't an issue but it has lots of others to keep me busy.

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I knew when I looked at it that it had been in a front end collision at some point at the front sheet metal wasn't quite right. I just didn't at first realize how far out of kilter it was. At this point I'll suggest that you never look at a vehicle, especially one that is white in color, in a snow coated lot on a sunny day.

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While the truck drives straight and handles fine the frame horns ahead of the front crossmember are a mess.

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I considered swapping everything over on to another frame but canned that idea pretty quickly. My solution is to cut off the damaged sections and graft a pair of horns I cut off of a dentside at the local parts yard. The front sheet metal is shifted roughly an inch to the left. The game plan is to get the sheet metal back where it belongs then use it to help square to replacement frame horns. I'll post updates as it moves on.

[67mann]

"California truck" in PA Looks like a nice (clean) project. Hope all is well, good to see ya kickin around

[AlleyCat]

Got the outer front sheet metal and began to realize what a hack job somebody did to repair it.

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Core support and both inner fenders are twisted. Pic above shows where the core support was heated and hammered in an effort to straighten it.

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Cowl on the left side had been driven backward. Some quality time with a come along got it pulled back into place.

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[AlleyCat]

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Once I got the cowl pulled into shape I went ahead and removed the rest of the sheet metal. Frame horns are pretty sad.

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Starting reassemble the front end with good panels.

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At this point I'm not concerned with paint and small parts. The idea here is to align the front sheet metal with the cab and doors. Then I can use the core support to help square the new frame horns.

[hfdco4]

Wow, that is a lot of work. I would still think about the frame swap.

[AlleyCat]

Wow, that is a lot of work. I would still think about the frame swap.

I am watching for a parts truck with a good frame. Right now, with the other projects I have to do, a small dump truck would come in real handy. Since it has a 7500 lb GVW I can install an in bed dump unit and have enough weight capacity to stay legal.................Mostly

[AlleyCat]

Lots of things going on but I've managed to make some progress.

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Got the sheet metal on then came the fun part. Getting everything aligned. First I got the truck level. Then made sure the cab and bed were square and level with each other. Took readings on the door sills, rear window sill and the bed floor to verify this. Then I squared the fenders to the cowl and doors then leveled the rad support with the rear window sill. Lastly I reinstalled the rad, a shroud ( it was missing ), and the fan I plan to use. Truck came with a flex fan and I don't care for them. Had a clutch fan from an FE powered, a/c equipped dent side and on it went. While the vertical clearance for the fan was okay I had to pull the rad support to the right with a ratchet strap to get proper clearance for the fan.

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After some torch work, 3 cut off wheels, 2 grind stones, many test fits the new horns are ready for welding.

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[AlleyCat]

I was taught many years ago to preheat frame rails before welding. While I didn't have a regular heating torch available I've found an ancient AirCo cutting torch with a #6 tip makes a pretty fair substitute.

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Both sides tacked, rechecked for alignment and ready for final welding.

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Got the right side welded in. When I began welding the left side the welder began having issues. After grinding out 3 crappy welds I called it a day.

[hfdco4]

Awesome work and great detail. You will have a truck that will work very well for you.

[AlleyCat]

Got the welder straightened out and the frame welding is done. After rechecking everything one last time I pulled all the front sheet metal back off. The inner fenders I had gone over for another project but never used them. The rad support came from a 78 F100 so it got the needed holes drilled for use in a bump. Also the bolt holes for the headlight brackets and dent hood latch were capped over and brazed shut. Still have to cut the hole for the a/c lines then scuff and primer it. Hoping to paint the support, inner fenders and a few small parts this coming weekend. While sheet metal is off there are several other issues I'm going to address. No pics this time, my camera took a dump. I'll be back on track for next time.

[hfdco4]

Great progress man. Keep up the pace man.

[AlleyCat]

Made a little more progress on this one. Inner fenders and the core support are ready for paint. Working on cleaning up the cowl. While the sheet metal is off I'm also fixing some other issues. Left exhaust manifold was leaking so I figured it would be a good idea to reseal them both. Much to my surprise the bolts, with a little heat, all came out. The engine has been apart sometime in the not too distant past While it runs strong all I can do is hope who ever rebuilt it did a better job on the internals than they did on the installation. Still having camera issues but I hope to have more pics soon.

[AlleyCat]

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Well this project was at a stand still for the last few weeks but we're up and moving again. Manifolds got cleaned up, resealed and reinstalled with all new hardware. Pulled the body plugs out of the cowl and blew out 50 years of dirt and leaves.

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Seam sealer on the cowl was brittle and in places flaking off. I used a spot blaster to clean the seams. Tomorrow it will get the seams resealed.

[AlleyCat]

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Radiator support and inner fenders are getting scuffed up and ready for paint.

[sargentrs]

Great progress!