My 66 F-100 Shortbed resto. Taking a while.

[bird55]

Looks great. Just curious as to why you've installed the doors and some interior, glass etc. before you put it on the fram? Probly doesn't matter just wondered. I guess you'll find out if there is going to be a problem.

[MeZapU]

Very nice work.

In your paint booth, are those fans out?

If they are blowing out how much explosion danger is there sucking paint fumes through the motor?

Fans are blowing in.

Doors are on because as soon as I put it on the frame it's going to be outside, so it needs to keep out the elements. Having a bit of trouble with the weatherstrip on the drivers side. It's really tight and making the door difficult to close. Seems the trouble is in the door jam area. Not sure what I'm going to do about it yet.

[MeZapU]

Visited a junkyard in Albuquerque while there for work. Found a nice hood and even a choke cable. The hood will take about a month to get here but the choke cable is in and looking good. Doors are finished and fitting pretty well. Wrangling some help to get the cab on the frame this Saturday.

[MeZapU]

Had about six friends over today and we made quick work lifting the cab onto the frame. Now I can progress to the radiator core support, and on from there.

[MeZapU]

Sitting, waiting for my plane to rotate back to Afghanistan. Three more months. Didn't manage to get much more done to the truck before I left as I was readying for the deployment and having family time. I hope to buy a new seat cover and have it waiting for me to install when I get back. Maybe even a new steering wheel and headliner.

Made a quick video of it running as it sits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfoSSidq ... ata_player

[MeZapU]

I've been home from Afghanistan just under two weeks now. Finally got around to working on the truck after working on the mustangs and getting them serviced up.

I cut the required holes in the carpet to install the gas tank, seat mounts and seat belts. Cleaned, painted and installed the gas tank as well as a new NOS filler neck hose and some original clamps. Cleaned, painted and routed the fuel line to the tank and under the cab.



Started taking the seat apart to reupholster it. Dirty, stinky, messy. Bought a small Kobalt set of bolt cutters to cut all the hog rings. They worked out great. Didn't want to buy a dedicated set of hog ring cutters and only have them good for that one job. Tomorrow I'll go to the upholstery shop to get some new burlap and some new foam instead of this fibrous stuff. It was decintegrating and getting all over me and the garage as I tore the seat down with the help of my daughter.









The new covers are on top of the frame.



I also managed to install the door mirrors with new grommets.

[thenephilm]

Looks real good and thanks for your service!

[Harper]

Looks real good and thanks for your service!

what he said!

that turned out great, I just hope mine turns out half a good. I tend to get in way to be of a hurry...i really need a professional body man to do my roof, prep the body.
keep this pictures coming...

[BigMike]

very nice work!

[MeZapU]

Continued with the seat today. Ran all over town to try and find some burlap and high density foam. Auto upholstery shops are useless around here. They only want to do boat upholstery and make a quick buck. No one had anything in stock, wouldn't sell me anything or tell me where I could source the materials myself. Ended up finding everything I need at a JoAnn Fabrics store. Cost me about $100 for everything. Foam is expensive (petroleum product). I got 2" thick foam for the seat and 1" thick foam for the back. I also bought some polyester matting to go on top of the foam to fluff it up a bit so there would be less chance of wrinkles(didn't get pictures of that yet). I wasn't 100% on the length I needed and I grabbed two pieces that were already cut. The one was about two inches too short so I'll need to go back tomorrow and exchange it.

I had to weld a broken spring back together. Then I cleaned and painted the frame. Did the same with the seat tracks. Greased up the slides too. Didn't know these ride on little rollers. Hope to have the covers on and the seat done tomorrow. I pulled a little too hard on the corner of the bottom cover and poppped a few threads. Looks like I'll need to get the needle and thread from the wife to stitch it back together. Shouldn't be a big deal. Hope I don't run out of hog rings.

[foodstick]

You really have the addiction to detail BAD! And it shows in the quality of your work, keep it up!

the only problem I see is your truck is going to turn out so nice that fear of driving it might set in !

hahah, its a cruel world sometimes ..

[MeZapU]

You really have the addiction to detail BAD! And it shows in the quality of your work, keep it up!

the only problem I see is your truck is going to turn out so nice that fear of driving it might set in !

hahah, its a cruel world sometimes ..

There are enough flaws in it to keep me driving it with a smile on my face.

Finished the seat last night. Threw in a few pictures of the white matting I put on top before the cover went on. I'm pretty happy. Still don't think that the covers should be as expensive as they are. I bought a set of seat covers for a 69 mustang and they were the same price for a set of two buckets and a rear seat, vs just this one bench seat. They are pretty puffy but they will likely settle down after a while. I like em.

[rickairmedic]

The seat looks great very plush in there .


Rick

[MadMaxetc]

Looks very nice!

[LM14]

First, Thank You for your service to our country. Very much appreciated.

Second, when can I drop my trucks off at your place? You do great work!

Thanks for sharing,
SPark

[MeZapU]

After hitting a snag on the engine work for the SVO, I switched over to the truck. New parts are always fun. I've never installed this style headliner before. I was looking forward to it but was also very leery. Its just cardboard. Very delicate, and damn expensive at that. $185! Doesn't seem right if you ask me, and that doesn't even include shipping. If I would have needed to pay shipping it would have been another $100 as its a truck freight item. Quite a large package even though its thin. Just the way UPS/FedEx does stuff I guess. Over the years I have never seen a F-100 like this to actually sport the correct headliner. The originals get brittle and don't age well. I could never get them out of a truck in the junkyard. They would crumble and turn to dust. Let alone getting it home and installing them in another truck.

I prepped the inside roof rib with some foam spray insulation to take up the 1/2" gap and to give it some more structural integrity. The silver strips on the roof are a cheap form of Dynamat to reduce the boominess of the interior. Then I drilled two more holes for two more screws that hold up the headliner. The factory uses one screw right in the middle but I always thought that was not enough, as it would always sag quite a lot. Enough that it didn't look very ascetically pleasing. Using the proper screws made it look like a factory install anyways so I wasn't concerned with the semantics of it not being 100% correct.

I first measured using the blue tape as a guide to the mounting holes as they are right in the middle of the big panel. As you cant see them when installing you need a good reference grid laid out and holes pre-drilled. So as you're holding it up your arms don't fall off messing with it trying to get the screws started. I needed to wet the material with water/windex as per the instructions to make it more pliable and less prone to cracking. Still a pretty big pain but I got it installed in about three hours. Most of the time was pre-drilling the holes for the shiny trim over the doors. My truck never had that trim so my junkyard trim needed the holes drilled. Several clips, lots of sweating, hurt fingers and a dome light later. I'm relatively pleased with the results. I got one wrinkle/crease per side at the back but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

[MeZapU]

One more thing. Does anyone know where the hangar hooks go? The hook that one would attach a business suit on a wire hangar? I have two that I got from a junkyard with my trim. I have no idea where they go.

[Harper]

the one i removed was standing in the passenger door, to the left of the back glass about even with the top, mine only had the one. I wished i had of taken a picture before removing it. as nearly all of my head liner was in really good shape.

[dcombs]

Very nice work. I love what you've done so far.

Kindly,
Danny

[MeZapU]

Made a big time junkyard score while visiting friends and family back in PA. Made a detour to a huge u-pull-it junkyard in New Riggold PA. While clamoring around inside a 64-66(couldn't tell what year exactly) F-700, I looked up to find a intact set of sun visors. The seating is so high and the domed cab probably negated them from ever being used. I gently pulled them off the hinge/hangers. $4 was all I paid for the both of them. After a clean they were near perfect except for some rust on one of the chrome corners on each. Beige moon skin vinyl. I could easily live with these as is, and that's what I did. Got them home and cleaned/painted the hinges and pins. Repainted and rubberized the clips at the center of the windshield. I'm totally stoked. So happy I didn't buy the black repos I had my eye on a few months ago.

Next to restore the finish on the rear view mirror.