1972 F-100 5yrs later....lots of pics

[GHOST]

I like the way the frame came out.. can't wait to read the rest.. by the way I noticed you put " don't read yet" but that is like my ex telling me not to date her friend.. Im gona do it just because I can...

[dantheman71]

I like the way the frame came out.. can't wait to read the rest.. by the way I noticed you put " don't read yet" but that is like my ex telling me not to date her friend.. Im gona do it just because I can...

glad you said something, I didn't mean to leave it like that. All fixed up!! Read and enjoy!

[sargentrs]

I'm on the edge of my seat. I haven't even started working on my bed yet so I'm hoping I don't run into the same thing you have. Good luck and keep us updated!

[67mann]

Hey I remember your 1st thread.....red frame /green truck ......yeah I know.....read it wrong the 1st time too Dig up my thread if you wanna see that your not the only one that started with a truck that should have been scrapped And now I'm dead smack in the middle of a full house restoration while trying to finish my house to sell and the new one doesn't and won't have a shop for another year......it'll be a couple of years before I restart my project

[F100builder]

Subscribed! I LOVE these build threads! Glad to see you finally found some usable steel. I lucked out with my '70 I guess...I'm gathering materials right now and will be starting hopefully very soon!

[dantheman71]

Hey I remember your 1st thread.....red frame /green truck ......yeah I know.....read it wrong the 1st time too Dig up my thread if you wanna see that your not the only one that started with a truck that should have been scrapped And now I'm dead smack in the middle of a full house restoration while trying to finish my house to sell and the new one doesn't and won't have a shop for another year......it'll be a couple of years before I restart my project

After seeing what you managed to salvage I don't think I want to meet you in person because you would punch me square in the face for scrapping stuff that is better than what you started with!! I only wish I had your talent and I would be done by now!!

[dantheman71]

So I'm back with another update. I haven't done a good job of keeping this as a perfect timeline, but it will all make sense very soon!

After moving on to bodyman #2 he was not overly impressed with some of the hack work that was done on my first cab. He was willing to work with it, but before he started he found this parts truck for $400. This is about 8 months ago now.....anyway I had a decision to make. Keep hacking on my first cab or start on this one that was virtually rust free. It killed me to scrap my first cab, but at that point I was into it so far that I wanted it done right. The more exciting part is, I'm not scrapping anything....I'm going to build 2 trucks I figure if it takes me 5 years and I haven't finished one, then why not get 2 on the go.

Here is the truck he found:




So now I had 2 cabs and 2 beds. For my final product I'm using the above cab and the bed from the Brown truck that I brought home from Idaho. The original cab and the bed in the picture above will still be used, but it won't turn out nearly as nice. At some point, likely 10 years from now I will have a "show truck" and a "drag truck". I'm finally going to build a truck all by myself (ok mostly). In my first comments I mentioned how important it is to have a place to work on stuff, and I finally do:
Here is a shot of it while I was building it:

I will throw some completed pics up another day, want to clean it first Anyway, this is where I will put together all the extra parts I have and build a drag race only big block truck. I've been making progress on it, but someday I will give it it's own thread. For now I will continue with my "show truck"

[dantheman71]

BODY: Cab
So the cab we found was virtually rust free, even the inner cab corners were practically mint. The one on the passenger side had a hole the size of a quarter and that was all. Floor needed a similar sized patch and then we had to work on the roof. Some kids had jumped on it and caved it in, it popped up fairly easily and looks good now.




Bottom is ready to sit on the frame


Notice how the paint seems a shade darker than my frame in the other pics? You aren't dreaming, it really is. More on that shortly.

[dantheman71]

BODY: Doors
The doors were in very good shape also.
Before:




Very good for an Alberta truck!

After:




Here is a pic of the inside of the door next to the inner fender. The guy who is painting it now got the left over frame paint from the first bodyman and used it on the bottom of the cab and the inner fenders, but because of the poor quality (or maybe he added some black??) I have 2 different shades of red, make that 3


It is just one of the many headaches along the way, fixable, but a pain in the butt. I'm worried that my frame might end up being slightly darker than the body panels but if anyone is crawling under and looking that close I will just step on them while they are down there....takes the focus off the 2 shades of red.

[dantheman71]

BODY: Front end stuff
Hood:
Originally wanted to shave the bump out of the middle of the hood, but I like bumps! Only modification is the seam will be welded in on the front. Check out the Model A in the background, this guy does nice work!


Fenders:
Nothing custom happening here, just the usual.



Rad support etc:
Going for the "dipped look" everything the same color.


So as it sits right now the front half of the truck has the first coat of red on it and will get a final coat after assembly. The seams on the hood and cab were welded in and the keyholes on the doors were filled.

"Custom" items that I wanted to do then cancelled:
Shaved door handles: plan to drag race the truck and was told some tracks don't allow them so that was instantly cancelled
Shaved drip rail: I regretted doing it on the cab that will be my "drag truck" so I wasn't going to cut this one off. Great modification but not for the faint of heart in my opinion.
1 piece window kit: In order to install it you have to do some extreme cutting/rebuilding on the door. I've spent enough time looking for good parts, I'm not going to cut up what I found. Plus vent windows are a good conversation piece.

Now onto the back half!

[dantheman71]

BOX:
I'm on box # 6 now, and I really still would like to kill the guy for destroying #3, but life goes on. Anyway I still wanted the seams filled in and the tubs extended. When I had the Lightning wheels and tires on it they would rub the inside of the wheelwells and they aren't even that wide.

My current bodyman likes to make some jokes about the nasty work that the first guy did, I'm 4 hours away and one day I checked my email and the subject line was "tubs and seam filling complete" I was amazed because he only had the truck for 2 days.
Here are the pics he sent me.



I think it gives it a custom one of a kind look.

[dantheman71]

Here are some real pics of what is happening with the bed, I am once again doing my "original idea" using the points off a front fender at the back. I think it looks awesome, if you agree be sure and copy it!!



Rollpan and tubs



The tailgate was a bit beat up


Luckily I was able to use the one from box #3. I am shaving the handle on it because it was already done before I cancelled the shaved door handles.


Went with a rollpan that doesn't have a license plate holder. Kind of dumb for functionality, but I like the look without one, I will get something that retracts off the frame so I can put it out of sight for magazine shoots.

[dantheman71]

So at this point the only thing left to do on the body is fix up a few dents on the box floor and build a fuel door in the bottom. It goes slowly because the guy doing it has a full time job, but I'm in no hurry obviously. Gives me time to save money for other exciting parts of the truck!

[dantheman71]

ENGINE:
My truck was originally a 302 truck. When I drove it home it leaked out a bunch of oil, after taking it apart I discovered that the dipstick had been changed with an incorrect replacement. In order to make the oil level read properly you had to put in about 9 quarts, no wonder it leaked!! The other discovery on dismantle was that the engine was actually a 255 which was used in the early 80s mustangs and is one of the worst engines Ford ever built.


Here is the 255 after being pulled, soon to be a boat anchor...not literally, it had already done enough environmental harm. Even with a 4.11 rear end it was totally gutless.


So now I had to find an engine....great. Over the past 5 years I've been slowly buying shiny stuff as it comes on sale or I find myself with a little extra money. Here are a few of the highlights:
Edelbrock heads


Chrome alternator


Polished water pump


Endurashine intake


Endurashine carb to match

One thing to note is that my engine builder doesn't think that edelbrock carbs are a "quality" performance carb, he says they just make a good stock replacement. They like the quickfuel best, but very soon I will have dyno numbers to prove whether he is right or wrong because I will try them both.

That's right I finally will have an engine again, here is a shot of the back of my truck on the way to the machine shop. I'm getting a 347 stroker built for it, hoping to make around 400HP.

[dantheman71]

Well that pretty much sums it up, my engine will be complete in about 2 weeks, and the body is still slowly progressing...hope to be able to add some more engine pics and a dyno video within the next couple of weeks.