1971 SWB, Step-side, 240 CID, three on the three

[hillcountryflt]

As a sophomore/junior and high school I drove a 1972 Ranger XLT that my father gave me. My first car was a 1968 Gran Torino fastback that I did a lot of work on (not necessarily good work).
Since then I have owned/been paying on about 30 cars, trucks and motorcycles. I still ride a 2006 H-D Ultra. Wife has a 2011 Mustang and a 2013 Escape.
Well about three weeks ago I was driving home from a gun show when I saw a faded green bump sitting behind a fence with for sale written on the windshield. I kept going, about two blocks and then turned around. It was late Saturday, but I went ahead and called the owner. We met the next day. I sort of drove it, looked it over better and agreed to buy. The next day I drove the rattle trap home.
http://1drv.ms/1jj8uPf
The link above is where I store everything associated with the project.
It was hard to turn, but stopped fine and started quickly.
Playing this game by the seat of my pants here is my list of what has been done:
Removed ugly grill guard;
removed the wide tires and wheels;
replaced with four ford steel wheels found at a salvage yard and four correctly sized tires;
pulled out old, after-market a/c setup;
rebuilt the carb;
degreased, pressure washed and painted the valve cover;
replaced fuel and vacuum lines;
changed oil and drained tranny (they had auto transmission fluid in it before);
Wife thinks it is a bucket of rust. She is looking forward to what it might become.
My plans include restoring back to original boxwood green color (which was the dominant color on my 1972 XLT). Wife says three priorities in her mind - 3 point seat belts, new dash pad, make the engine look like new.
I may pay a mechanic friend of mine some money to do an assessment on the truck from a mechanical stand-point and use that as a basis of establishing my priorities.
I have rust to repair (both corners of the cab, passenger door, under rear fender wells, under driver's side in cab and under battery holder). I am thinking of starting on the bed by removing the fenders, doing my best to repair them and then take it to a body shop to have them painted. I will do that with other parts as well, such as bed sides and back, tailgate. This will allow me easier access to that part of the frame to clean up and paint.

[sargentrs]

She looks like a good base to start with and sounds a good plan. Looking forward to updates.

[Maximus]

Very cool little truck, glad to see another inline 6 staying in the engine bay. Also glad to see you removed the grill guard, i didn't want to be rude but you already called it ugly, so ill just agree with that. you said it needs 3-point harnesses, I didnt know they sold these trucks with only lap belts in 71? weird...
Anyways, keep up the good work and keep enjoying it.

[hillcountryflt]

Had knee surgery two weeks ago (yeah I know, that's no excuse) and have at least two more weeks on crutches. Spent this week in Orlando/Disney with the family. Cruising the different parks on my scooter - arggggghhh.
So physical progress on the truck has not been made. However, I have spent a little bit of money.
1. Found a Chilton's for my model year;
2. ordered a factory reproduction set of efi exhaust manifolds for the straight six;
3. ordered a correct alternator bracket (well hope it is correct) so that I can remove the a/c compressor mount that serves as the pivot point for the alternator (a/c will likely come later);
4. Found a 1968 painted grille that I hope will arrive soon (ebay, of course). It was without bezels and headlight parts and turn signal components;
5. Found a 1968 painted grille that was in canada and they would not ship, so I paid for the grill and got the parts missing from above (with the exception of the turn signal light lenses);
6. Note, I paid too much for the grille/grille components;
7. Purchased a NOS painted headlight bezel for 1968 painted grille's (I believe it is the driver's side, will continue to look for the other side). Yeah, some redundancies here, but covering my bases.

Kind of wished I had held off on the EFI exhaust manifold. Still need to find the Y-pipe to connect it to my existing exhaust before I install it. Pretty sure I can use the same manifold gasket that is standard on my 240 straight six with the efi exhaust, but no one has verified that for me.

Still have not formulated a plan for how I am going to from where I am to where I want to be - 1971 F100 with 1968 grille, pretty much stock. Painted two-tone (cab roofline, grille and wheels painted ford seafoam green while the remainder of the truck will be Ford Mallard Green). Originally against upgrading much under the hood, I have decided I would likely like to put on power breaks and front disc, although not positive on the discs). No plans for power steering.
I am pretty sure I need some engine work done (it blows some smoke at start-up). So I am going to try to find a mechanic who will replace all of the gaskets I can't, check out the engine and tranny and probably do a valve job and replace the rear main seal. I am going to try to clean-up and paint as much of the engine components I can to make that area more aesthetically pleasing to me and my wife.

I am still planning on painting the truck in pieces (fenders, bed sides, hood, etc) and still trying to determine if I will try to do that or just everything repaired as best I can and then let a pro do the painting. Kind of want to do it myself. But limited space and limited skills impact that decision. Cab is the biggest challenge.
With as much removed as possible, I will clean-up the frame and replace brake lines/components if necessary and rattle-can the frame, differential/axle and anything else I can find that has rust or not.
I have an older model air intake that I am going to clean-up, repaint and modify to fit my truck (it was from a straight six. I have pictured of it in my rebuild photo area, but it has a piece that goes over the carb intake and connects to the snorkel/filter housing. Need to figure out how to get my EGR/Vacuum lines routed properly.

[Mancar1]

I wish u a speedy recovery with the knee surgery.
Takes time, but the trucks end result will drive and look good.

[hillcountryflt]

OK, hobbled out to the truck on my wounded knee, pulled the floor mat to see how bad my floor damage was. Worse than I expected, particularly on the right side. At least two full floor pans and the support beam will be required it appears to me. For grins, coated the area with a spray of some ospho. My cab corners are damaged as well, but can't get a good look at that area just yet.
When I am released to start walking again without crutches (next week, I hope), I am going to tackle some of this in earnest.
Does one go after the "easy" stuff first or dive head-long into the stuff he is not sure how to do?
How much does a bare cab weigh? Once I remove the contents from it, is it something one man can shove around, lay over, etc.?

[Ranchero50]

A naked cab weighs around 200lbs without glass. There's about a dozen different ways to move it. I like dog chains from the rear seat mount across to the bottom door mount, form an 'X' near the roof (so the center of gravity is lower than the hoist point) and use a engine hoist to pick it from the side.

Per the work, I always try to find parts before tackling any job. As the floor supports the front cab mounts I'd be more concerned about there condition that pin holes in the floor. You can flash a torch over the rusted pinholes and it will open up all the weak areas and give you a strong enough boundary to weld to. I would only replace the damaged metal and not cut the whole floor apart for a repro part. In fact, I grafted decent floors and cab mounts from a '78 Bronco into the cab of my '71 F-350 and everything worked out well.

[hillcountryflt]

Ranchero, thanks for the information. I will look at the cab mounts. I thought I recall them being in pretty good shape, but then again, I thought my right side floor pan was in pretty good shape, so I am no judge of any use.
My thoughts were to remove the bed components, work on the frame and area behind the cab. While that area is clear. remove the fenders, and cab-forward components, clear out the cab, remove the mounting bolts and then attempt to lift it from under neat and slide it back or lay it over on its back.
I will need to remove the glass as well.
I have a 1.5 car garage with lower ceiling to work with (my mom's house). The bad thing there is as soon as you exit the garage, the drive way is a pretty steep slope, so just rolling the truck out won't work. Will have to do the bulk of the work on the truck in the garage.

[Ranchero50]

One of the dozen ways is to lay a sheet of plywood on the rear frame and tilt the cab back onto it. A couple old comforters make a nice cushion.

[hillcountryflt]

One of the dozen ways is to lay a sheet of plywood on the rear frame and tilt the cab back onto it. A couple old comforters make a nice cushion.

Would the windshield, rear glass and door glass need to come out?
If I don't have to take them out initially, I would not mind leaving them in there until I am closer to ready to paint.

[sargentrs]

They'll be fine if you leave them in. That cab weighs around 400#. Everything I've done on my truck I've done totally by myself including removing the cab and bed and remounting the cab. I used a 1/2 ton engine hoist, 4 ratchet straps and an assortment of chains and rope. Removing and remounting the cab were the toughest. I don't think that thing even has a center of gravity. You can see my rigging in the first couple of pages in my project thread.

[hillcountryflt]

Not much progress. Crutches still keeping me from doing anything of any significance. I did prep and paint the new Dorman EFI exhaust manifold with VHT flameproof paint over the weekend. Have not fired up the gas grill to cure them.
and have been reviewing what it will take to create an intake manifold heating plate using heater water.
Considering my first rust repair when I can start. On the front edge of the of the rear fender I have some rust below the "step." Smaller than my hand. It may be come my first rust repair. Actually considered cleaning it up and attempting that repair with fiberglass instead of welding it.

[hillcountryflt]

Got some parts in that I give will give me some extra work. But they are solid. Rust appears to be surface deep. This headlight doors are not beat up hardly at all as is the grille. Need to find some turn signal covers now.
Down to one crutch now. Started it up and let it run for a while, seems to have a miss. Not running as smooth as it was.
Oh well.
Found a place in nearby san antonio that has por 15. Will pick up a quart.

[hillcountryflt]

Not much going on with the truck. Changed my direction and plan on focusing on the drive train/engine.
Got together the components to swap out the front drums for disc brakes (using 1978 F150 parts). This include spindles, calipers, rotors, proportioning valve, booster and master cylinder. Also brake line brackets and some tubing for brake lines. For calipers, booster and m/c used the pick-and-pull parts for core charges.
Had the engine checked out by a local shop (not many here want to touch old stuff). Thing was running rough when I took it in. Running some better now. The coil center pole was shorting out to the battery side pole. Seems compression was low on the front cylinder (100) and normal on the remaining 5 (150). They also tightened up some bolts to stop some leaks.
Entertaining the idea of a long block replacement.
I did add the pertronic points replacement module for mine (easy install).
Gauges had completely quit. Bought another bezel/cluster off of ebay and some light bulbs at napa and now gauges work, are visible and are lit. Need to buy the voltage regulator for the panel. New fuel tank sending unit is driving me mad - can't seem to get it adjusted.
Also have bushings for the front end coming in (pivot arm and I-beam). Will attempt to swap those out while I perform my attempt at a brake swap. Pictures will follow.

[hillcountryflt]

After reading some other discussions about painting, I am probably going about this stuff all wrong.
Since I have all four wheels off the truck and it on jack stands, I used that as an opportunity to wire brush and paint with semi-gloss Por 15 by brush all the frame parts that are visible and easily reachable under each wheel well. Stuff is messy.
I have not started on the inside of the frame yet, just outer areas.
I used some high-temp, brush on paint I had to paint my I-beams (they are having new bushings pressed in). I used the same stuff to paint my rotors.
This week, I hope to get my i-beams and spindles back (they are doing a king-pin job as well) and hope to start assembly this weekend on my front-end and disc brake upgrade.
Some pictures of my lack of progress will come soon.