I had my 67 F100 towed home last week.It's banged up but far from scrap.As much as I'd like to I just can't afford inside storage for both bumps so I have to do a few things to keep the rust monster at bay.
First thing I did was to clean up the bed floor and give it a couple coats of Rustoleum rusty metal primer.It's not Rustbullet or POR 15 but it does a good job and fits in the budget.
Next up was to remove the chrome on the drip gutter,clean out all the dried out seam sealer.Then I primed,resealed and repainted the gutter.I got lucky, no holes.
I used a porta power and jacked the front end back into shape so I could get at the bolts.The door posts, cab mounts and floor are solid.What appears to be heavy rust is actually solid.The cab flexed when it was wrecked and the undercoat fell off.
The cowl is full of leaves and twigs but it's also solid.
Here I've removed the crashed fender and grille.I'm going to use a rad support from a dent.The inner fender straightened out but it needs some hammer work welding.I have a fair hood and grille from a 69 that I'm going to use.
I would put a coat of paint over the primer in the bed. Primer by itself attracts moisture, so it could actually accelerate rust. A few rattlecans of paint shouldn't cost too much.
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
Red Green
flyboy2610 wrote:I would put a coat of paint over the primer in the bed. Primer by itself attracts moisture, so it could actually accelerate rust. A few rattlecans of paint shouldn't cost too much.
Umm.....guess I should have mentioned I have to paint it yet.Rustoleum cures slow so I'm going to let it sit a couple days before I do.
I've been plugging away at it as much as my schedule and weather permits.Here's a few more pics.
I got the wrecked sheet metal off and it's going back together.I'm using dent inners and rad support.The goo on the inners isn't grease it's rust proofing.
While the sheet metal was out of the way I took advantage and fixed the standard FE manifold leaks.Since I had to remove the steering box to drill out the only bolt that broke off I figured it was a good time to convert to power steering.Since I had to pull the column it's going to get power brakes too.
I've seen this done before but I didn't like the way they hacked the brackets up.Here's a few pics of my reworked brackets.
This pic is a comparision of the right brackets.Bump bracket is on top.Dent brackets are narrower.The inner bolt hole aligns but the outers don't.
I traced the outline and bolt patterns of the bump brackets onto 1/8" steel plate then cut them out with a torch.
Next I trimmed the outer holes and top edge off of the dent brackets.
After aligning the inner holes and squaring them with the outer holes I welded them together.
Here they are after final grinding.
I was assembling the sheet metal with a trouble light in the driveway.I got the hood on but the hinges are binding a bit.I've got some more tweaking to do but it's gonna work out.Also the hood sits about a 1/2" too far forward.I discovered the bolt spacing on the dent hinges is closer than the bump hinges.Nothing a die grinder can't fix.
Nice informative post. Great job. Also, good idea to fix the exhaust leaks, swap in PS and PB while stuff is apart, but be careful. This is how most full frame off paint jobs start.
"Aw, while I'm at it, I might was well, pull off the bed and lay the cab on its back so I can clean up the mounts and paint the bottom...."
Next thing you know you have a bump all torn apart in your driveway. You wife comes out and says, "what happened? I thought you were just going to put a new battery in?"
dablack00 wrote:Nice informative post. Great job. Also, good idea to fix the exhaust leaks, swap in PS and PB while stuff is apart, but be careful. This is how most full frame off paint jobs start.
"Aw, while I'm at it, I might was well, pull off the bed and lay the cab on its back so I can clean up the mounts and paint the bottom...."
Next thing you know you have a bump all torn apart in your driveway. You wife comes out and says, "what happened? I thought you were just going to put a new battery in?"
Thanks, winter is coming and I'm trying to get this thing so it can move under it's own power.Yes, it's hard to stop tearing down but I keep reminding myself I also own a clean 72 so I'm not without a bump to drive.