Saturday, April 29, 2006  -  Well, this page really isn't a project update, per se....rather, this installment is simply reporting on the day's adventures, just because I felt like posting something tonight...so here you go.

Anyway, my shop has been long overdue in getting some junk hauled away, mainly bits and pieces from all the trucks I've been parting out. Not only was I running out of room inside the shop, but it was overflowing outside too, and since my shop is in the middle of a residential area, I decided it was high time to get some cleanup done before the neighborhood residents started signing petitions.

First of was getting the '68 F100 parts truck hauled off. This is one of the very first parts trucks I bought (back on Page 13), mainly for the 390/T18 combo. It's been sitting out in front of my shop for the past few years with a topper on it, protecting the 390/C-6 combo that'll be going into my project truck (Fig. 01). This is also the truck that I tried harvesting some lower box sides from (back on Page 56) only to find them too rusted-out to use, and the one detailed back on Page 58 when I was pulling the engine. Therefore, I went ahead and salvaged anything else I could off this heap so I could finally get it out of the way.

One of the things I really wanted off this '68 was the rear spring packs, which also had the factory overload spring. I spent an entire afternoon pulling the springs and replacing them with the broken-up set from my original '67 (just to keep it as a rolling chassis) and grinding off the rivets holding the overload spring's frame brackets. However, I really wanted to save this rearends U-bolts, since they were a slightly larger diameter and slightly longer, to accommodate the added height of the overload spring. While I thought I had some old junk U-bolts around to install, I could only find two of four needed. I got the first one on, but when I went to tighten the other down, it snapped off. I decided to say a couple Hail Mary's and just lower the truck back down onto the springs, and hope that it would hold together long enough to winch it up onto a trailer and then roll it back off again, once I got it to the junkyard. Fortunately, it did. I didn't get any pictures of the loading/unloading, mainly because it rained almost all day here today, and I didn't want to damage the camera. However, the truck winched right up onto the trailer without the rear suspension falling apart, and after the 20-minute drive to the junkyard, I was able to roll it back off the trailer as well. Once it was on the ground I went to grab the jack so I could remove/save the factory rally-type wheels, only to discover I'd forgotten to load it. No problem, I'd be back in an hour or so with another load. Hop in the truck and head back to town for load number two.

Next on the list was the stripped-down frame from the '67 F250 Camper Special. This was the truck I bought (back on Page 37) for the cab. The box was sold to a FORDification forum member, the front suspension given to another member, and the rearend is in the shop. I manhandled the frame up onto the trailer, and then turned my attention to the scrap iron pile. This pile consisted of the '68 cab I was working on prior to finding the present one (Page 33 has the last entry on this cab), the hood and L/S door from the '67 C/S, and lots of miscellaneous parts and pieces from the last half-dozen trucks I've parted out. I was able to roll the cab up onto the trailer and set it down onto the frame already loaded, and then used a come-along to tie it down. I then loaded up the rest of the scrap....and away we went.

If you look at Fig. 04, you'll see a shot taken out the back window of the truck on the way to the junkyard. If you remember, this was the cab that had the dreaded roof-rot around the drip rails. I'd cut out the rusty areas and was just about to weld in a patch panel from another truck when I found my present cab, so this one got pushed out back. Anyway, since the front of the roof panel was loose, once we hit highway speeds it started flapping around like crazy, and I'm sure caused more than a few passers-by to do a double-take.

Once we got to the junkyard, I rolled the cab off the trailer and then flipped the frame over the side....and then off-loaded all the rest of the scrap into the empty cab, just to make it easy on the junkyard owner. Then I got busy removing the wheel/tires from the '68, threw them in the truck, and headed back to town for load number three, which was just the beat-up aluminum topper from the '72 F100 SWB truck I bought back on Page 52, along with a stack of wooden pallets that were collecting dust.

After getting back to town, I then spent the better part of an hour at the local carwash with a high-pressure nozzle on both the truck and the trailer, which required nearly $15 worth of quarters to rinse off all the mud that had been accumulated on both. I even had to hit my shoes and pants with the spray nozzle to de-mud them...I had so much mud on my shoes that I couldn't even tell what color they were!
 

Fig. 01  -  This shot taken last Fall 2005 shows the '68 parts truck in front of the shop, where it had set since 2003. The rolling chassis is from the '67 F250 CS that donated it's cab for my project.

Fig. 02  -  The '68 is ready to be hauled off. In it's place in front of the building is the '72 SWB chassis.

Fig 03  - Here's the scrap pile. I had to unload everything from this cab, roll the cab up onto the trailer, and then load all the small pieces into the back of the truck.

Fig. 04 - I had to share this funny picture, taken out the back window of the truck while driving out on the highway. Notice the roof panel flapping in the wind? I also brought some concrete blocks to use when removing the wheels from the '68, already at the junkyard.

Fig. 05  -  Here you can see the '68 behind the trailer, and the rest of the scrap metal waiting to be unloaded. You can see that the day's rain REALLY made things a sloppy mess. Using 4WD was mandatory.

Fig. 06  -  Just thought I'd throw this picture in, showing that the day's activities was a family affair....everybody tagged along. This picture also shows how sloppy it was, not only in the junkyard but on the 5 miles of gravel roads we had to travel on to get to it.

Fig. 07  -  ...and what self-respecting junkyard owner isn't going to have a large mangy scary-looking yard dog? This one never went far from me while I was there, and I made sure I was respectful and didn't make any sudden moves!

Another parts truck....or two?

One of the main reasons I had to do some cleanup was because I've got another truck coming soon. Two weeks ago I bought a '68 or '69 SWB 4WD on E-bay for $200. It's located in northern Arkansas, about 8 hours away. It's just over the Missouri/Arkansas border, about 30 miles south of Branson Missouri. Since Branson is the biggest thing for country music west of the Mississippi, and since my wife's a big CW fan, we'll be taking the family along for a little mini-vacation, so she can spend a day there seeing the sites and maybe taking in a show.

This truck was purchased for the box, since the pictures and the description by the seller leads me to believe that this one might be useable. It doesn't have a rearend under it, so I'll be taking one down with me, so I can bolt it in and get it winched up onto the trailer.

Here's the E-bay listing:

"No title. It is short box. Has 390 Block to motor only in it. Has 48,018 miles. Has keys. #s are F10YKF54864, 131-Y-F100-L-81-G-17. O5000----175----4000-61 on the tag. Windshield cracked and truck is missing many parts like rear end, hood, tailgate, steering wheel and rear tires. Has the drive shaft and has been painted. Parts or project truck."
The "131" he listed shows the driver's door as belong to a LWB truck, so it's obviously not original. Here's a few pictures of the new parts truck. The first four were included with the E-bay listing, the rest were e-mailed to me by the seller when I contacted him asking for more info and pictures of the sheetmetal. With the pictures he also added the following: "The box is solid, cab corners are solid.  No body filler.  Has little rust spot by my finger in the pics.  Cab mounts & cab corners are solid." Anyway, like I said, the main reason I'm getting this truck is for the box. I've been toying around with the idea of maybe using my collection of spare parts to slap this together and make a toy out of it for a future project...I don't know, we'll have to see how it looks when I get it. Actually, just from looking at the pictures, it almost appears as if the pinholes in the driver's-side floorpan is about the only real rusty area. The cab mounts look good, and if the rear cab corners are solid as he claims, then I might just have ANOTHER project to tinker with.
Fig. 08	Fig. 09	Fig. 10
Fig. 11	Fig. 12	Fig. 13
Fig. 14	Fig. 15	Fig. 16
Fig. 17	Fig. 18	Fig. 19

At the same time this truck was listed, I ran across another listing for a '67 SWB 2WD F100 parts truck, located about an hour away from the first. The auction was bid to $112.50 without meeting reserve. Here's the simple description and pictures included with the listing. (The first two pictures are VERY fuzzy.)

You are bidding on a 1967 Ford F-100 truck. It has a 351w and c6 transmission. I do not know anything about them. Bench seats (red) Tail gate opens and closes. Windshield has cracks in it. But all other glass is good. There is no title. Truck has to be picked up cannot be driven.

Since I'm planning on being in the area anyway, I decided to contact the seller and ask him about this truck. We talked for a few minutes on the phone and while I forgot to ask what he reserve was, he did tell me that he'd be willing to let me part out this truck and just take what I wanted. He did say he had someone coming over that day to look at it, so it might not be available by the time I made it down, but he gave me his phone number and I promised him I'd give him a call when I was in the area, and if it was still available we'd go from there.

I wouldn't mind seeing if I could also bring back the box on this truck. While he said it did have some body filler and some dents, it might still be good enough to slap back onto the 4WD parts truck pictured above. Maybe I could at least resell it for what I'd have into it, which would basically mean a free box for me. I could flip the second box upside down on top of the first and secure it, almost creating a semi-topper....and I could then fill up the box with spare parts from the second truck. I can't tell from the pics if the grille on this one is steel or aluminum, but it looks good.

The family and I are tentatively planning on heading down there towards the middle of May. Stay tuned!