JB's 1970 F100

[JB5587]

I started a thread on FTE, but since this is more project specific, I thought I'd start one here as well with the additional resources available...

I'm selling my 10 year long money pit project:



And starting a build on this guy I just picked up from Seattle (and drove home to Portland!):



My plan is an all around street truck that does all. I'm burned out on trying to finish and plan out the Ranger project and then deal with taking it offroad and want something streetable and overall more enjoyable. I'm going to be dumping every penny from the Ranger into the F100 so I'm going to be very busy in a short period of time. You guys might want to invest in stock of UPS because they are going to need a truck devoted to my address.

My overall plan is a WW2 style build that has a slight bomber/fighter look and full custom sheet metal interior. Gun metal body and dark grey wheels is what I envision. I've always had some ideas in my head if I every built something like this. I plan on purposeful rivets on panels and a slight roughed up look like its been through some stuff. Triangulated 4 link rear, 9", IFS front (just today I randomly found a guy with a Crown Vic front end), boosted 351w, oh, and it's becoming a short bed (chop chop). I have a lot of planning and sourcing to go, but it should be a fun (and frustrating I'm sure) project that will push me and my budget. Hoping to do a lot of the work myself and we will see how far that goes. Been reading a LOT of builds and am super happy to see the amount of information on here. I'm local to Hackster and didn't know at the time, but saw his newer truck at a car meet several times which made me start drooling over my imagined F100 build. Well, now it begins. Hope to begin updating this soon and will be waiting on my Ranger to sell so I can begin the big stuff.

[IN2FORD]

very cool! You need to take a look at Hacksters project threads. He is in your area and could pick up some good info from him.

Barry

[JB5587]

very cool! You need to take a look at Hacksters project threads. He is in your area and could pick up some good info from him.

Barry

Yep, been doing that along with researching every little thing I can think of. So far, I've saved myself $2000 by going for a Crown Vic front end. Wouldn't have done that without the help of the guys that have posted all those swaps. Build thread reading is vital to saving money and choosing right the first time! I learned that building a prerunner very quickly. No reason to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the fundamentals... Only personalizing your build. Thanks for the reply.

[JB5587]

I'm going to have A lOT of questions, but while I'm part gathering, but anyone know what width 9" rear should I be looking for as a ballpark? I'm not sure on the width wheels yet, but I want fairly wide. I like the 19/18" combo, but not set yet.

[IN2FORD]

I am running the Ford Explorer rear axle. It is 8.8 with a 3.73 limited slip 31 spline plus rear disc brakes. slight modification and it bolts into the leaf on top of the leaf giving you about a 5 inch drop. And it sets you up to run a 10" wide wheel with somewhere around a 4" back space which means custom offset wheel. If you want to stay with a standard offset wheel to save some money, get a 2001 and under Crown vic rear and cut all of the brackets off and weld on your brackets depending on suspension setup. It will have rear disc setup but may not be limited slip, it is 28 spline also. But it is a good width axle for most wheels. If you want a 9" just go with a stock 9" or you can grab one out of a 1980ish F100 as well if you don't have one. Strange they put a 9" in the F100 during the early 80's.

Barry

[JB5587]

I am running the Ford Explorer rear axle. It is 8.8 with a 3.73 limited slip 31 spline plus rear disc brakes. slight modification and it bolts into the leaf on top of the leaf giving you about a 5 inch drop. And it sets you up to run a 10" wide wheel with somewhere around a 4" back space which means custom offset wheel. If you want to stay with a standard offset wheel to save some money, get a 2001 and under Crown vic rear and cut all of the brackets off and weld on your brackets depending on suspension setup. It will have rear disc setup but may not be limited slip, it is 28 spline also. But it is a good width axle for most wheels. If you want a 9" just go with a stock 9" or you can grab one out of a 1980ish F100 as well if you don't have one. Strange they put a 9" in the F100 during the early 80's.

Barry

Yeah the Expo swaps are always good and hold up to quite a bit of abuse. I'm going to stick with a 9" though and need to look at the specific flange>flange lengths while scouring around.

Thanks,

Josh

[hackster]

80 f100 is 65" Flange to Flange, is a 31 spline setup ,big bearing ends, 9" and 5x4.5. Its a great rearend and what I am running in the white truck 3.50 and limited slip works awesome.

The stock rearend from these trucks is too narrow unless you are going for that pro street look in my opinion.

Sean

[JB5587]

80 f100 is 65" Flange to Flange, is a 31 spline setup ,big bearing ends, 9" and 5x4.5. Its a great rearend and what I am running in the white truck 3.50 and limited slip works awesome.

The stock rearend from these trucks is too narrow unless you are going for that pro street look in my opinion.

Sean

Ok cool. I'll keep my eyes peeled. 65" seemed like it would be a bit wide, but I'm sure I can adjust by wheel offset. I'm sure you had to do that as well quite a bit then.

[hackster]

Depends on what you do on the front. If you do a crown vic and a 65" width, its about perfect for an 03-04 cobra off the shelf wheel setup, and those are a dime a dozen.

Keep in mind, that running a wide axle does more than change your backspacing and rearend width. The wider the rearend is, the more leverage you can apply to the tires and wheels with springs and sway bars, also it gives you more real estate to mount links, springs shocks and sway bars. If you want this thing to handle, get the rear shocks out board as far as you can towards the wheel without losing room to fit a big tire back there. You can fir a 315 in the rear no problem on an 18" wheel at a reasonable ride height.

You can see that real estate gets eaten up pretty quick even with the wide rear axle I am using. Four link with Panhard, Mustang Sway bar QA1 Coilovers. Not a crazy setup but should drive and handle really well.







Sean

[SeapineF37]

looking frward to watching your project. sounds like it going to be rad!

[JB5587]

Gotcha. Thanks for the pics, Sean. I would ideally like to place coilovers like pictured above. I think that would work out well with a triangulated 4 link as well since I won't have the parallel bars on the outsides of the frame to deal with.

[JB5587]

looking frward to watching your project. sounds like it going to be rad!

Thanks! I'm back and forth on a lot of things and keep thinking of ways to do stuff without killing my budget (which is pretty big, but gets eaten up QUICK, especially with my motor plans). I don't have a ton of garage space (oversized 2 car garage) and also have a motorcycle that needs to stay in there and lots of random tools/crap, so it is a bit intimidating to be taking a truck apart so much and tackling it. I also do not have heavy duty fab tools like a brake or a tube bender, so fabbing/bending mounts over say 16ga is already seeming like a challenge. I want this project to be clean, but I also get pretty obsessed with everything and go full bore which leads me to rush; especially when I have all the money up front from selling the other project.

Like I said earlier, we will see how much I end up doing on my own. I'm thinking of having a guy I know that runs a fab shop do the frame chop and knock out a good 4 link while it's there... I saved a good chunk of money by buying a long bed knowing I'd be spending it to make a short bed, so not a TON of loss there when adding in the costs. He'd probably do the chop/full custom 4 link for around $2500, and he does damn good work. I plan on doing everything else.

[Craigerf100]

ill be following this

[JB5587]

After some debate with myself and looking around and figuring out the costs of everything.. I've decided to revamp my garage, spend the money, and outfit myself with some better power tools and such to tackle this myself. I'm super tired of half assing everything trying to make stuff without the right tools. I plan on getting a Harbor Freight 20 ton press and building an angle iron setup to use it as a brake as well. Should make it versatile to use for sheet metal/plate, dimple dies, and whatever else I figure out. This guy has it figured out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ey5DHMYLZg

Also buying a plasma cutter (just a Home Depot kit, but it has lots of good reviews and should be more than fine for 1/4" and less), and a bigger drill press. The money I spend on this stuff will make this and everything in the future SO much easier... No more rotating metal of death when slipped drilling, sliding metal on floor bending, precarious angle grinder beveling, and all that fun stuff

Not much of a truck update, but this should help the project immensely...

[JB5587]

Still waiting on the Ranger to sell, but its given me time to compile plans and get my budget in order. As expected, it keeps creeping up and up. My latest addition is probably going manual with the transmission. I figure this is going to be my do-all fun truck that is meant for enjoying lots of different activities. Having a manual increases that fun and might be worth it to do.

Got a quote from Modern Driveline and with a complete setup TKO 600 customized to my truck with everything needed included including shifter, hydraulic clutch, etc, I'm looking at right around $5,000... Sounds like a LOT, but considering I'm looking at $2,000 for a "street" AOD without shifter, TC, or anything else, it might not be TOO bad of a deal for a tranny capable of 600ft/lbs and the fun of a manual...

Also decided on a 3 link setup with an offset upper link to help clear things and keep the height of the upper link axle mount down from the housing. Going to be building this myself and plan on using bushings at the frame and Johnny joints at the axle. Figuring out sizes on those.

Still trying to track down a 94+ roller motor and a 9"... Need the axle to get started mocking up the rear, but in the meantime, I get my CV front end tomorrow and will be pulling the engine/tranny and possibly going on that! Still have the Ranger in the garage, but might decide to do the front end in the driveway if it gets to be a while longer.

Again, no real updates to the truck, but doing the work is only half the job. Figuring out the what, how, when, cost, etc seems to be the biggest challenge really.