Project Bill: And so it begins!

[Cipher43]

HAHA Im not too worried about my wife finding out. She will just tell me that I would be on a good start for her 67 Shelby GT500 that she dreams of owning. Plus she helped me with restoring my dads motorcycle and my IHC so she knows whats coming soon

[Cipher43]

Well I got quite a bit done on the truck this weekend thankfully so the next time I go to my parents house I should be able to bring it back with me. I did have some fuel tank problems but those are getting worked out hopefully tomorrow after the exhaust gets put on today.
Here are the before pics of the springs..... lets play one of these things are not like the other haha.
Left side

right side

Since the entire piece was missing it kinda made since why the truck leaned so far to the right all the time.

One of my parts trucks giving its springs for the greater good




And after removal


This truck used to be used all the time to haul 11-13 hogs to market and trust me they weren't little piglets. They also used this truck to haul Holstein bulls back and forth so it spent most of its life riding on the overload spring. Here is a pic of the parts trucks plastic overload spring pads(which the parts truck apparently was used nicer than my truck) and the ones from my actual truck




And here are the newer springs and new shocks on




After that I kinda forgot to take pictures of anything else. We put the better seat in and we also stole the taillights and taillights harness off my parts truck and put it on so I now have working lights .

The main reason they parked this truck in the first place is they couldn't get the clutch to stop slipping so when I crawled under to see about adjusting the pedal I realized the bolts holding the tranny to the bell housing were sticking out 1/4 inch and also a gap in between the bell housing and tranny of a strong 1/4 inch. One of the 4 bolts were actually completely unscrewed but held in by dirt so I was able to tighten it back up and guess what..... I HAVE CLUTCH AGAIN.

Question for all you gurus out there in Fordification land. I was checking out my steering and had someone turn the wheel back and forth and I noticed my steering box was flexing back and forth a 1/4 inch when I turned it. I did check the bolts so I know they are tight but is this normal?

[Cipher43]

Well Bill has finally made the trip to my house.

This weekend we replaced the steering gear box, rag joint, finally got the seat bolted in, cleaned the motor up, put on a tailgate, changed out the dummy light gauges for real gauges, and fixed the pedals.

Since my wife didn't go to my parents house with me I only have a few pics of what we did. We cleaned out and replaced the fuel filter that is built into the fuel pump and scraped this out of the bottom of the can........ Its only driven 20 miles total and filled up with this much trash in the bottom plus the filter was plugged.


The other major thing that we changed that I took pictures of was the pedals. The brace that the pedals set on and the shaft of the clutch pedal have been used and abused. The one on the left is from my donor truck that only had 47k on it. The one on the right is the result of fully using a pickup on a farm.



And the last picture I remembered to take was when I finally made it to my home. In the 180 miles I traveled with it I only had 2 problems and both of them were fuel filters being plugged with junk from the tank. I also found I averaged 12.5 MPG while driving into a 25 mph head wind so I am extremely happy with that.
And home at last!

[sargentrs]

Congrats on getting her home!

[popeyes71]

Great job, only two problems getting her home, not bad for a truck that has been off the road for so long. I think I would flush the fuel tank now that you have her home.

[Cipher43]

Great job, only two problems getting her home, not bad for a truck that has been off the road for so long. I think I would flush the fuel tank now that you have her home.

The funny thing is we have flushed it 3 times now. The first two times with gas and some ball bearings to break stuff loose and the third time meant war so we got some apple cider vinegar and put 7 gallons in it to get rid of all the junk. It worked great where the 7 gallons hit. Too bad it would have cost 60 bucks in apple cider vinegar or I would have filled it to the brim. I will be cleaning it out again but I have to wait till I burn out most of this tank so I don't have to lift a full one. I'm not too worried about some junk in the tank right now because I have some plans of building/ relocating the tank under the bed but putting a different spin on it instead of doing the mustang tank with the hole in the bed floor.

[Cipher43]

Alright guys its been a while since I posted last on here and I have been doing some minor things to make it safer. Finally got the taillights, brake lights and turn signals all working the right way. I also replaced the master cylinder again because apparently the one I had on there was bad and we also had to manually tighten the brake tighteners since they were so loose. I also took the trailer hitch off a late 70's pickup and modified it to fit on mine so now I can pull my boat. After all that I drove it back down to my parents house to haul some stuff back up and some how averaged 14.5 MPG on the way down. I haven't filled it back up yet so I'm not sure how I did on the way back up. After that trip it is pretty obvious that I need to pull the motor and replace the rear oil seal since I lost 4 Qt on the way down and the same on the way back up and only had to pull over once to clean out the fuel filter so I think its making progress .

[Cipher43]

Sorry for such a long post but.......
I've made a lot of progress on Bill since I last posted. after loosing 4 qts of oil per 180 miles I drive I decided to pull the motor and put in new gaskets all round and leaving it at that. I don't have the time, money , or need to complete tear down the motor right now being it starts and runs so good and doesn't burn any oil............ no matter how much I loose out of the rear oil seal and intake manifold . We pulled the engine last Friday and found bad news that my clutch is shot and my flywheel needs to be ground flat so I have to wait till tomorrow to get the flywheel back from O'Riellys and get the clutch kit I bought which should be here. I also found out I had a bent push rod on number 7 exhaust which explains the slight tic we have been hearing. I thought it was a manifold leak but its not. I also replaced the timing chain and water pump while I was in there which was really loose so I'm glad I did that.

On another note I hit the jackpot for parts. I had a patient come in a week ago Tuesday and told me I needed to take a look out at the scrap yard because they had a bumpside setting on top of the pile. When I got there I found out its a 1969 f250 custom cab. After talking with the yard owner I decided to get the box off the truck and the 360/390 out of it with the NP 435 tranny it had even though the claw grabbed the front piece of the box and bent it up I think I can fix it or replace it. I also got the radiator, all switches and the gauges which are not dummy lights, the door panels and trim, and the heater unit from under the dash and also an aluminum grille that has only one dent that i think i can get out. The best part of it all.................. ITS ALL FOR FREEEEEEEE All he wants in return is some scrap iron we have of equal weight.

I realize but my wife has been working when I am working on the truck lately so I need to get the camera out of her purse and start snapin pictures and I will try and do that tomorrow when I hopefully finish the motor up. .

[Cipher43]

Well after 10 hours straight of working on Bill I got the motor back in and I actually took a few pictures.

here is mid reassembly. I was very happy to find the rear oil seal was completely blown and brittle. May sound odd being happy about a leak but atleast that was the problem.


ready to attach the fly wheel


and FINALLY back in




Ready to fire!



Returning to work!


After all that work it runs like a champ so far and I now realize how bad my other clutch was. I also got the shifter fixed in this whole deal when I found out the pin that keeps the shifter tight was almost worn down so much it was ready to break.

Today I hope to get the motor and box from the scrap yard donor but it all depends on the yard if they want me to get it today or not.

[Cipher43]

Well guys I have had a lot of things I've been doing and some good news and bad news. But first some of what has been going on lately.

I got the new box and motor and all safely to my parents house to store for later use. Last week I finally got tired of the bi ply tires on the truck and replaced them with some 235 75s on the rear and 225 70s on the front and they are soooooo nice. No more road noise from those tires. I also replaced all the u joints because they started squeaking and apparently have been close to going out for some time but I couldn't hear them or feel them because of the bi ply rears and the lumpy fronts that were on it but knew right away what it was on the test drive after the tire swap. We also had a swap meet we went to in Greenfield IA that i ended up buying 4 new hubcaps for a total of 5 bucks and a center section for 120 bucks. It has 325 posi in it so I cant wait to put it in. On a side note I've never removed the center section on a 9 inch rear end so do I need to buy gaskets or anything while i'm tearing into it? Here's a pic of the new goodies




Now for the good and bad news.
The good news is I have acquired a 1964 F-100 from my uncle which used to be owned by my grandpa also. I also may be getting my grandpas 64 Galaxie 500 he bought new back then. It was the only vehicle they bought new so its gonna be fun. So the bad news is my full rebuild on the 69 will be held off and converted to just repairs on what needs done until some of my other projects are finished. The good part about this delay is i have been kinda reluctant on repainting the truck because I love the patina look it has right now.

So here is my new ride that I know I'm getting





352 4barrel from a 66 galaxie

[Cipher43]

Hello all. Its been a while since I have done much to my bumpside but that all changed this weekend. Due to the small ammount of space I have to work at my house I am leaving my truck 180 miles south at my parents house and bringing it up piece by piece to rebuild. By the time it is all said and done this will be a complete frame off restore with a few mod tweaks along the way with some engine work too. I wont be starting all the sandblasting, welding, priming, and putty work till next week at the earliest because my international is in the garage right now being repaired but next sunday that will be gone.

The first parts to be hauled home is the front clip which came off with only minor help from the torch. I hauled it home with one of my future projects, my 1978 Bronco, which didnt fare too well since i broke the rear ends ring gear a little over half way home. Thank God for 4 wheel drive because it took it to make it home on backroads. I will post pics when I repair that haha
final pictures before teardown

[Madman]

Just look at it this way, breaking things at times allows you to upgrade whereas before, it was still working, why replace it! Perhaps that will ease the grimace a bit of you look at it that way!

[Cipher43]

Yeah so true. The thing is I knew something was wrong for quite some time because it would clunk when I put it in gear. I thought it was the tranny but I guess I was wrong haha.
I finally got my international on its way south so the front clip is in the garage. I need to clean it out before I start tear down and sandblasting.

[Cipher43]

well I tore into my broncos rear end today to find out what was wrong.......... NOT what I thought I would find.
Got it out and this is what I see which made me worry that my transfer casae was the issue and not the rear.


and then we found this


Thank goodness I have a friend that has a 9 inch rear he will sell me for 50 bucks.

[Mancar1]

enjoying your thread.