1961 Short Bed UniBody build

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Fiveoh108
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1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

This is my first Post and my first truck build. I have built several other Fords including a 64 Falcon, Hillborn injected, 4 speed that I race, a 65 Mercury Cylcone, 70 Mach1, 64 Fairlane and several other mid 60's Fords. I am really excited about this truck though and can hardly wait to work on it on all my free time. Right now it's a 223 with granny gear 4 Speed and Dana rear. It has rusty doors, passenger side floor board/ cab mount area and some bed rust. It has a broken rear window and several other parts in need of repair. The guy I bought it from gave me a Ford 9" out of a 62 unibody that is a bolt in with a drive shaft modification, an extra set of rust/sent free later model doors, newer speedo cluster, NOS steering wheel, new back window, radio dash cut out of a donor truck to patch the large radio cut out and other odds/ends. I feel like I have a good start.

The Plan:
A 390FE, a 5 speed TKO, two tone blue white with a thunderbolt tear drop hood, lined bed liner, stock style interior and a tow bar to tow my Falcon Racecar. All I need is a pile of money! Hope you enjoy the build.

The day I bought it off "the farm"
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Mike Thomas
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Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

A couple cans of white primer to clean it up to drive
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Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

Grinding some rust out of the bed
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Mike Thomas
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Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

Floor, rocker and cab mount rust repair
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Last edited by Fiveoh108 on January 20, 2015, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Thomas
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unibody madness
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by unibody madness »

great start. and welcome
Let me know if you find a source for your tranny cover hold down clips, I have been looking for some for my project.
Turk build thread at:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18944

It does not matter what you think, it only matters what you do about it!
64f100sixcylinder
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by 64f100sixcylinder »

I notice your bed floor has some dips in it, probably from hauling heavy objects. Mine was far worse, I used a floor jack and a 2x4 (placed vertical on the floor jack) to jack up the bed floor and work them out, some hammering was required, but it worked very well.
Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

unibody madness wrote:great start. and welcome
Let me know if you find a source for your tranny cover hold down clips, I have been looking for some for my project.

I have the AMK master catalog, the company that supplies clips/ nuts/bolts to all the parts houses. I'm sure I can find them in there
64f100sixcylinder wrote:I notice your bed floor has some dips in it, probably from hauling heavy objects. Mine was far worse, I used a floor jack and a 2x4 (placed vertical on the floor jack) to jack up the bed floor and work them out, some hammering was required, but it worked very well.

I was wondering how I was going to do that, thank you for the tip
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unibody madness
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by unibody madness »

I had the ford part numbers for both screws anc captive nuts at one point. I will post them if I can find them.
Turk build thread at:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18944

It does not matter what you think, it only matters what you do about it!
Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

Im thinking of Viking blue and Corinthian white. Haven't seen this combo a lot

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ThinLizzy13
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by ThinLizzy13 »

Lookin good so far. I like the color combo you're thinking of.
'63 F100 223 3OT
‘20 F150 XL
64f100sixcylinder
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by 64f100sixcylinder »

Before I worked out the dips in the bed floor
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After, not perfect, but much better. I will be using my F100 as a truck ocassionally

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unibody madness
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by unibody madness »

That bed looks great. I will have to try that on mine.
The numbers I got from Green sales for the trans cover hold down are
34942S for the nut holder,
353829S for the philips head screw.
If you can find them, please let me know where.
John
Turk build thread at:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18944

It does not matter what you think, it only matters what you do about it!
Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

That bed looks great!, John I will check on the clips and screws
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JOSHF100
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by JOSHF100 »

Welcome to the site!
I've followed your other builds on the HAMB and they look great..
Looking forward to this one.

Randall
Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

unibody madness wrote:That bed looks great. I will have to try that on mine.
The numbers I got from Green sales for the trans cover hold down are
34942S for the nut holder,
353829S for the philips head screw.
If you can find them, please let me know where.
John

For the nut holder something from page 56 looks very similar and I'll bet will work
http://www.amkproducts.com/Catalog_PDF/56-73.pdf
And the screw, something from page 125 looks to be very similar
http://www.amkproducts.com/Catalog_PDF/109-127.pdf

If they are not exact, I bet they are so close you would not be able to tell
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Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

Getting close on the floor pans
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unibody madness
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by unibody madness »

Looks great, you are making great time as well.
Thanks for the heads up on the hardware I will measure mine to find what I need
John
Turk build thread at:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=18944

It does not matter what you think, it only matters what you do about it!
Fiveoh108
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by Fiveoh108 »

Unibody madness, custom making patch panels and grinding down welds IS very time consuming, especially since this is my first go around at it. I've had a welder for 3 years now, it's about time I put it to use. It is very satisfying doing the work yourself, just labor intensive.
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MadMaxetc
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by MadMaxetc »

I know what you are going through. A long road...but very rewarding!

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Dan
Project: '63 F-100 LWB / 460 / C6 / 2x4
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myoldman460
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Re: 1961 Short Bed UniBody build

Post by myoldman460 »

You guys are my hero. I thought my floors were bad, but the lengths that some of the guys I've seen here is a really big motivator to get mine done.
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