'65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

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Blanger
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final Assembly (part 15)

So with the framework for the raised bed welded into place it was time to start cutting the wood pieces that will be the bed floor, all of the original bed will get covered in wood even the area right behind the cab, that will give it a cohesive look, the truck will again like the uni get a bed cover at some point so it will be protected.

Once all the pieces were cut we used black oil based paint to cover the bottom of the wood, a couple coats covering the surface and edges will protect and seal it for a lot of years, the top side will again have a coating applied that will let the plywood accept stain after being distressed, then several coats of polyurethane.

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All of the mounting is done with 1/4 x 3" carriage bolts, and all the holes were drilled before any painting, so those holes will get a little sealer in them...hopefully.
The fuel filler will be in the bed floor, we bought a flush cap flange mounted aluminum filler for a marine application that should work fine, it will be mounted close to the tail gate in the center of the rear portion of the bed floor, it makes for a straight shot down then 90 degrees into the fuel tank and will be raised about 6" above the tank inlet so should be safe from fuel sloshing out when the tank is full.

I still need to replace the fuel pump / sending unit before the floor goes in the bed, I have the new unit that has been sitting on the bench for over a month it just needs to be installed then we can close up the bed floor, of course we are making the floor so it is removable if the pump had to be replaced again and all of the bed structure is attached to the bed so the entire bed could be removed if need be, actually after it is complete you could disconnect the fuel filler, and remove 4 bolts and the bed will lift off although a lot heaver then it was when we put it on the chassis...lol

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While I was working on building the framework my wife was working on the dash instrument cluster bezel painting it to match the dash, then creating a mask for the inside of the polycarbonate sheet that we are using to cover the Roadmaster instrument cluster. I have previously totally disassembled the cluster and cut the plastic housing down to the smallest possible size without damaging the cluster. It is still large for the slicks dash opening but does fit now without having to be angled.

After all of her work had dried over night I installed it in the slicks dash, I have to say it looks way better than I ever thought it would and gives the interior / dash a semi modern look while keeping the slicks dash original.

What do you folks think...?

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This is a "proof of concept" to me, and it is a success, the other trucks will get the same treatment of reusing the donor instrument cluster in the same fashion, the Crown Vic's cluster is smaller in height so will be much easier to retro fit it into the slicks dash without all the cutting and hacking I had to do to the RM cluster, I don't think it looks bad at all compared to other cluster/dash mods I've seen on the internet, it looks somewhat factory or like it was suppose to be.

There are a few issues, because of the size of the RM cluster the cropping (blacked out) of the polycarbonate hides a little of the top of the speedo numbers, hides the PRNDL at the bottom of the cluster (not used anyway), and shadows a couple of the warning lights on each side of the cluster....not a big deal to me, if you look at the picture from Drew Bros that I posted in another post you will see their cropping does the same thing but maybe a little less than ours does...everything that is important to the driver is in plain view which is what I was going for. The picture from the side actually makes it look like more is masked than actually is, I'll try to get a driver's perspective shot and post that in a future post but I think you folks get the idea.

This took a considerable amount of effort to accomplish, as I said earlier I totally disassembled the RM cluster to look at the circuit board and just how much could be safely cut away, in the end the best I could do was shrink its physical size down to the size of the circuit board, I used a small air saw to hack at the plastic housing till it was at its smallest size which removed all the mounts and tabs that held it in the RM dash and held the pieces of the cluster together.

Looking at the picture below, everything bigger than the circuit board had to be cut away....

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And this picture should give you a idea of the physical size of the RM cluster in relation to the slicks bezel.

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Since I needed to be able to service it in the future (replace lighting etc) I used "gaffers tape" to hold it all together, if you don't know what that is.....

https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Gaffer-G ... B00GZE3UJ8

Gaffers tape is one of the best inventions I've ever used, it is a cloth tape that is super sticky but removable, when removed it leaves no adhesive residue, it was prefect to use to hold the 3 sections of the RM cluster together after I cut all the tabs off. I also while disassembling the cluster had to remove the needles from the stepper motors to access the underside of the face, there are a lot of resources on the internet telling you how to successfully remove and reinstall them so I'll just say it's a area where you want to be careful.

In the slicks dash opening I had to cut out the old bracing that supported the pedal assembly that is spot welded to the top of the dash, I didn't remove all of it but cut off about half leaving the upper portion intact, I originally thought that the portion I left might be useful to support the back of the RM cluster but because it is angled down from the dash only the top of the cluster could be supported by it, the RM brake pedal assembly top portion is also kinda' in the way but in the end I didn't have to modify it at all and in fact after moving some of the wiring bundles around it supports one corner of the bottom of the cluster.

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I really wanted to mount the cluster to the slicks bezel but it's not possible as far as I can see so they are two separate assemblies, because the RM cluster has to be tilted to go through the dash opening it can't be attached to the bezel, then the cluster can't be right up against the bezel because it would block the tabs in the dash that the screws holding the bezel to the dash go through and they won't clear the cluster ...the screws would go into the cluster. We'll see after it's on the road awhile how it fairs it's pretty tightly held in place but not totally secured like I'd want it to be....we'll see.

There probably is another way to do this that I'm missing, not real sure, I spent a considerable amount of time thinking about how to get it to fit through the slicks dash opening as a complete assembly, once it's attached to the bezel there is only a limited amount of movement you can make and none of it for me got it through the opening all in one piece.

One thing I did think about was gluing a couple pieces of plastic tubing to the sides of the RM cluster then using long machine screws like a 10-32 that would be threaded its entire length I could have went through the bezel and polycarbonate installed a washer and nut then made a couple tube spacers to fill the void between the bezel and the cluster (for the spacing away from the bezel) then going through those glued on tubes and a washer and nut could be installed from under the dash, but that 10-32 screw would have to be 4-5" long, it's not that that wouldn't work because if you could get enough bond gluing the tube to the cluster that it would support the weight and wiggling it around it would be just fine once installed, I may have to go back and do that, again we'll see what happens.

I'm thrilled at how it turned out even though it's kind of a "shadow box" look since the cluster sits back away from the bezel, but for a little bit of effort and a whole lot of thinking we saved probably $800 that aftermarket OBD2 gauges would have cost us and they might have looked better, but $800 dollars better? Granted we are just building daily drivers not show vehicles but everyone who stopped by over the weekend and saw the cluster in the dash was impressed.

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After the bed floor the next item is to build a couple speaker cabinets to fit behind the seat and the console to house the radio, this truck will again get a backup camera but unlike the uni it will be tied to the backup lights so it will automatically come on when the vehicle is backing up. Since the doors were cut for 6.5" speakers we will be putting new speakers in those openings along with a couple 6x9 speakers behind the seat. One of the things on the uni I really like is using a USB stick to house MP3s, one smallish stick plugged into the USB on the radio will house enough music for days and days of driving without ever listening to the same song twice.

Once the fuel filler is installed we can actually start driving the truck while we finish the other aspects of the build, because of where and how the fuel filler is in the tank we have been hesitant to drive it since fuel can slosh out the filler which makes for a unsafe situation, but we will have that taken care of next weekend...hopefully.

Then mostly what I have left is the front bumper, I need to fabricate mounts like I did on the uni that I can weld to the RM frame but will allow us to remove the bumper, the wife needs to paint the doors with the UGH-LAY logo, and we need to distress the paint, as you can see we are coming to the end of this build quickly.

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I've already spent a little spare time on the '62 flare side cab stripping out the inside of the dash and the driver's door, once the '65 is out of the shop I'll come up with a attack plan for the cab and bed, I need to time the removal of the '09 CV body so I can set the cab on it right away and the whole thing can be shoved over into the corner of the shop, we are getting into the time of year when my wife will be using the shop a lot so I need to make sure I'm not in her way.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 16)

This week is a "turn the page" moment in the '65 build because I drove it to work today, I plan at this point to drive it every day for awhile and make another (hopefully short ) list of things to do that might need taken care of.

But let's back up.....

First item of business last weekend was to finish the bed which started out by painting the interior.

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Then it was to age or distress the wood with a propane torch, sand the surface, apply a sealer that lets the plywood accept stain... at this point the wife added a vinyl stencil for a logo that says "Franken Ford", and stained the wood with the same gun metal stain that we used on the '62 uni bed floor.

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After applying stain she removed the stencil and started applying polyurethane sealer, 4 coats of poly pretty well finished out Saturday so we let them dry over night and on Sunday started installing the bed floor.

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While the wife was working her magic on the wood I was replacing the fuel pump and sending unit.

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Sunday with the poly dry we started installing the pieces, they had all been "dry fitted" and the mounting holes drilled last week so everything basically just fell into place, with the wood installed I then cut to length aluminum angle (1.5" x 1.5") to protect the two edges on each end of the flat raised bed.

Then we ran it outside to sit in the sun.....

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More tomorrow...

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by shipwrecked »

THe more work I do on my new truck truck, the longer the “to do” list gets.
The months may change, but I am always APRIL
'63 F100 Custom Cab 223inline 6, 3speed manual- mostly stock
https://www.youtube.com/coastiereid
Truck has been home in CA,OR,WA,NJ,VA since it's birth in San Jose Jan63
Blanger
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

shipwrecked wrote:THe more work I do on my new truck truck, the longer the “to do” list gets.
I know what you mean, some days it seems the list gets longer, but your well over the hill you were climbing on your build, your truck looks great and you should be very proud of what you've accomplished.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 17)

With the bed complete we took the truck to the gas station to test out the filler while adding some much needed fuel to the truck, and of course the fuel filler leaks while putting fuel in, I had bought a fuel rated hose to connect the filler to a 90 degree piece of pipe that was cut from the original fuel filler, the hose I bought was so stiff that even with two hose clamps on it fuel could get around the metal connection....I ordered another hose that is 90 degree that will run the full length from the filler to the tank to eliminate the metal tube. I should have done that before but you know I like to re-purpose stuff to keep cost down, it just isn't going to work in this application.

So we had to add fuel with a gas can, funnel and a hose connected to the funnel so it went in the filler far enough to bypass that connection, two 5 gal cans and we have a half a tank of fuel, more than enough to get us through the week.

Luckily to change that out I'll only have to remove the aluminum angle and rear panel, that will give me access to the entire filler assembly. Then the tank vent..... originally the Roadmaster had a filler tube that was vented back to the top of the tank to help displace air in the tank so fuel had a place to go without blowing air and fuel back out the filler while adding fuel.

I capped that off at the tank since the tank is vented through the EVAP system, but I think we are going to add a vent so while fueling the air has a easy way to exit the tank, so we also ordered a vent that I can mount to the bed floor or wheel well, it just needs to be higher than the tank, it just makes sense since I have to change out the hose for the filler to just add the vent so I don't have to do this again.

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On Monday I spent a lot of the day measuring and cutting to make the console, I have the basic shape cut out and glued together, this will be similar to the one we built for the uni but will be recessed further under the dash towards the firewall - heater box, and cut to fit the couture of the bottom of the dash.

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Other than the radio and cup holders nothing else will be in this console, and it should be short enough so the seat has full range of travel while leaving room between the console and edge of the seat. If this works out and I wind up with bucket seats in the uni I'll probably build a new console for that truck.

I have plans to use the buckets out of the '09 CV in the '62 flare side build and building a full length console in that truck that will run from the dash to the rear behind the seats, if that design works then I'll build another similar full length console for the uni. I'll just have to see what I come up with design-wise.

I did install the backup camera also, but I have to run the wiring once the radio is installed..

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(yep, that's a 11k license plate, our state did a consolidation of license plates and 11k is the lowest truck plate they issue ...use to be 7k)

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From two days of driving the '65 I still like the '62 uni better, the '65 rides better (has a much softer ride), the steering is different and it's too soon to say just what is different, it just feels different from the uni but that could all be in the tires and the fact the uni has that VRPS (variable rate power steering) that makes it feel different to me.

It does want to get up and run, in one of my test drives awhile back I nailed it from about 10 mph and it started spinning the tires and shot right up to 60 quickly, so performance-wise it's going to be just fine, the Roadmaster started life as a two ton land yacht (4138 GVW) and the '65 wasn't much lighter when new but we probably shaved 800-1000 lbs off the total weight (I'm taking a wild guess here), it's odd that the uni had rattles that I had to chase down but so far the '65 is really quite hitting bumps...maybe I'm getting better at this chassis swap thing...lol

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One question I have that some of you might know the answer to is about the heater box in the '65, it has a dash push-pull cable just like the '62 that directs the air from defrost to floor, but it has a lever on the heater box by the floor vents that says defroster on-off, are you really suppose to reach under the dash to turn the defroster on or off? I might be wrong but pulling the cable on the dash seemed to do the same thing like the '62 does.

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The stance of the truck is pretty good, it has a lot less front tire rub turning corners than the uni does even though the front tires on the '65 are taller....but they set in closer to the frame because of the offset on the rims we bought.

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Look at that a clean shop..... lol actually the wife has two vehicles coming to wrap this week so that was a partial motivation to just go ahead and drive the '65 this week (it would have to sit outside anyway) , it is time to get it on the road and start that short list of things to fix. We are still running the VATS anti-theft system as I haven't installed the defeat module yet but I have no warning lights about door ajar or hood - trunk open, only chime that comes on is when you leave the lights on and turn the ignition off, not even a seatbelt light which I find really weird, I guess removing the air bag module defeated all of those systems, just a theory on my part.

Anyway we'll see what the week holds for driving the '65.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by SteveCanup »

Jon, the truck looks fantastic! I am looking forward to seeing your finished console. I've been looking for ideas as I am still not happy with mine. Staying tuned....
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

SteveCanup wrote:Jon, the truck looks fantastic! I am looking forward to seeing your finished console. I've been looking for ideas as I am still not happy with mine. Staying tuned....
Thanks Steve, the truck is a good ten footer if you understand my meaning, for our purposes it probably at this point looks too nice, but that will change.

The console..... I have these ideas in my head, but I have a hard time translating them into actual solid objects, I'm a decent carpenter, not good, but decent in my opinion, I see people on the TV shows building custom consoles out of OSB and I wonder how they get it to stay together with just glue and brad nails or staples. We bought some OSB 1/2" sheets to play around with and I plan to make sides for this console out of OSB that will add some couture or something other than square lines or shapes. If I could watch someone who was a master at building this type of thing I know I could learn pretty quickly and improve my skill set, most of my problem isn't with construction but with layout and design or transferring a idea into a working build.

So I have to learn by trial and error...we'll see how it turns out.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 18)

Observations: From driving the '65 a few day (Sorry for the wall of words)

A couple things to note about the build, first being the lack of rattles hitting bumps, when we built the '62 uni I had several rattles that I had to chase down or locate and ether tighten up bolts or make clearance adjustments to get rid of those noises, so far the '65 hasn't made a peep, not a single stray sound which I find kinda' weird considering what we have done. There were things I did to the '65 while building that I had to go back and do to the uni after I started driving it so there's that.

The second thing is the ride quality, there really isn't a lot of differences between the two trucks as far as how the body was mounted to the donor frame but the '65 rides really nice even with air shocks on the rear, maybe it's the difference between the unibody construction and a regular cab and bed like the '65 but it is a noticeably different softer ride in the '65.

I can't say the '65 rides like a Roadmaster but it certainly doesn't ride like a truck, it's nice and soft while the ride in the uni is harsher, I guess after building the '62 flare side on the '09 CV I'll have a better idea what is making the difference. The uni body does sit lower so the center of gravity is different, the '65 body is higher on its chassis by several inches and I guess that could affect the feel or ride quality, but I'm leaning more towards it is associated with the cab and bed being separate as having the biggest effect since they can move independently of each other.

I'm sure it will need a front end alignment after all the front end parts we replaced, I put everything back the way it was as far as shims in the upper control arms and the number of turns on the outer tie rods, the wheels look straight and there is no fighting the wheel at highway speeds but it has a odd feel turning like it's scrubbing a tire and it feels like it's the right front, it should be a hoot getting it in a alignment shop telling them it's a '96 Roadmaster...lol

Engine and transmission is fine, plenty of power and the trans shifts great, it of course has different shift points than the '98 CV P71 which doesn't go into overdrive till about 50-55+ mph, the Roadmaster will go into overdrive a little below 50 mph and all of its shift points are softer than the CV which has a much more harsh transition through the gears (like a shift kit), but of course they are two totally different cars built by two different companies and really built for two different purposes.

I do have a CEL light on (check engine light) and it has a EVAP code (only code) but that is because I haven't hooked the EVAP canister back up yet and when it tries to do a fuel purge cycle it has a large leak (no canister...lol) , it doesn't affect the drivability at all and plumbing the EVAP is on my list of things to do.

Headlight are way out of alignment, I replaced the adjusters when we were doing the front lighting and forgot to do the final adjustment, at least with the new adjusters it will be quick and easy to do.

Driving this week without a radio (no music) lets you hear every sound like the rear drum brakes that I adjusted have a slight amount of drag that you can hear with your foot off the gas, the exhaust has cherry bomb mufflers from the previous owner and they are pretty loud, it sounds good but will eventually make its way to the muffler shop for a proper exhaust system. The cherry bombs are just loud, with not a lot of "tone" or exhaust note, in a lot of ways the uni sounds better with a lot less exhaust noise in the cab, the cherry bombs aren't deafening in the cab but it just sounds like a vehicle with glass pack mufflers so it has no rumble...it's hard to explain.

The seat is so much more comfortable in the '65 then it was in the uni, the difference in the floor pans between the '62 and the '65, the added depth of the floor in the '65 makes all the difference in the world giving you a lot more leg room, you wouldn't think it would make that much difference but it really does.

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I've had several people ask me about the truck this week, questions range from is that the original paint or color scheme, to what are you going to do about that hole in the dash (where the old radio was), so far I like the bed floor design better than the totally flat raised floor we put in the uni, which has me thinking about just covering the suspension and fuel tank in the '62 flare side bed, that bed is going to be really small anyway so every inch I can save will be a plus when it comes to hauling things.

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I've had a few issues driving this week, yesterday while sitting at a stop light I noticed a little smoke coming out from under the hood, when I got home I looked and the right side valve cover/breather tube wasn't pushed all the way in and a little oil had gotten on the exhaust manifold on that side, I'll have to keep a eye on that because I know it was pushed all the way in before, I didn't replace the PCV valve when I did all the engine work so it might be having a issue.

The driver's door lock has came loose on me twice and we finally took the new clip that came with the lock cylinder off of it and put the old original clip on the lock, so far that has kept the lock in place.

Like the Uni was the brake pedal is too high for my liking, I'm not real sure why it is other than the differences in the two firewalls (slick and donor) I know the brake booster when mounted on the RM firewall wasn't flat like the slicks firewall is, it was angled more in towards the dash at the top and the bottom was angled towards the core support. That is the only differences and when you talk about fulcrums (which a brake pedal is) slight movement at the pivot point (point where the pedal is hinged) can have a huge effect on the end of the fulcrum which is where the pad on the brake pedal is, there are several ways to change the pedal height from using a adjustable push rod to shimming the pedal assembly at the top of its mounts to the firewall.

After watching a couple videos I ordered a adjustable pushrod for GM power brakes which is different than a manual brake system that they also make a adjustable pushrod for, I'm sure I could make my own but without a reference of just how long it needs to be it's worth the money to just buy a pushrod that is adjustable, from what I've viewed and read you want to make small incremental adjustments because of the effect it has on not only pedal height but the actually working and feel of the brakes.... an example was that a difference of say a half inch in rod length dropped the pedal over three inches, so it's something once you had the correct length you could make your own but finding that exact length would be tricky with lots of chances to screw it up.

I also read that most modern Fords with automatic transmissions Ford sets the brake pedal height two inches above the gas pedal from the factory, that gives a smooth even transition from the gas to brake that doesn't require a lot of leg movement which would slow down your reaction time in a panic stop situation.

Again this is yet another lesson I'm learning that I'm passing on to you folks, if you do a chassis swap like I've done and used the slicks firewall be prepared to have to deal with this issue, of course if you reused the donor firewall you would maintain the original factory spec so no further modification should be necessary. And I guess if you wanted to graft the section of the donor firewall into the slick firewall that would avoid this issue also. (actually that is probably the better solutions to avoid it all together ) Lowering the pedal will also have a effect on the brake light switch so it will have to be adjusted, if you run out of adjustment a new bracket to hold the switch will have to be fabricated.... (one thing always leads to another...lol)

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None of this stuff surprises me, I expected that there would be issues which is why I wanted to drive the truck for awhile before handing it over to my wife and telling her it was good to go, I miss driving the '62 but this needs to be done to avoid or limit any problems when she starts driving the truck.

If you go back and look we basically started this build at the beginning of November so we have a little over 140 calendar days or 50-60 actual work days on this build, two months of non-stop work (actual work days) to get to a driving vehicle is pretty fast and a lot quicker than I ever imagined we could do the work.....the truck is still a long way from being finished but I've kinda' impressed myself at the speed we were able to get to this point.

From this.....

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To this....

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Please don't think I'm bragging because that's not what I'm doing, the wife and I have a good work ethic and plan things out ahead of time so things go as planned (as much as possible), we don't sit around while we have work to do but do discuss things throughout the week leading up to what we do on the weekend, we work well together and like every married couple have disagreements from time to time about different topics or methods but both of us love doing this type of work which makes each hour enjoyable even if we are dealing with problems that we didn't anticipate. (Murphy visits.. lol) Both of us basically work 7 days a week between day jobs and weekend work, the day jobs are stressful for both of us and the weekend work is our stress reliever...that may seem odd but it is the truth.

Have a great weekend!

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by SteveCanup »

Jon, great write-up, truck looks fantastic.
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

SteveCanup wrote:Jon, great write-up, truck looks fantastic.
Thanks Steve, sometimes I hate to write a long post, but I also feel to do this thread right I need to share my observations, otherwise people reading the thread might think it's all unicorns and rainbows which it isn't, every build has it's issues especially after it is on the road and you get the chance to drive it in "real world" situations, like the brake pedal, moving it around and in and out of the shop its not real noticeable that its too high, but going down the road at 50 mph and having to make that transitions from throttle to brake you see it right off.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by MY OL 66 »

Jon: I have been really enjoying your build threads with all the work you have done to blend the different chassis to the bodies.

I currently am in the middle of restoring my '66 shortbed Ranger so am not really looking for any new projects...

However, having said that, after seeing your efforts, I sometimes wonder if I could in the future do the same thing with my other "parts truck" and blend it together with my current daily driver/beater, a '99 F-150 4X4 extended cab.

Some of your most recent comments about retaining the firewall and floor from the chassis donor caught my interest and I began to wonder if that would be the way to go with merging the "parts truck" body/bed (which is a '66 longbed) onto a shortened chassis/frame combination from the '99.

Just some way "out of the box" thinking on my part.

Thanks!
Steve F
1965 Mustang Coupe
1966 F-100 Shortbed CC/Ranger
2010 Mustang GT Convertible
2010 Shelby GT500 Convertible
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Thanks Steve,
MY OL 66 wrote: I sometimes wonder if I could in the future do the same thing with my other "parts truck" and blend it together with my current daily driver/beater, a '99 F-150 4X4 extended cab.
First issue I see is that the '66 long bed has a 129" wheelbase and the '99 F150 extended cab has a 138.5-157.4" WB depending on the bed type so you got a long way to go to put the wheels in the wheel wells, a inch or two is easy to over come but 10" isn't a possibility that I can see working out and looking decent, but having said that putting the cab and dog house on the '99 should be doable and if you wanted to put a flat bed on it..... that would work since the wheelbase has little to do with the bed placement in that type of bed.
MY OL 66 wrote:Some of your most recent comments about retaining the firewall and floor from the chassis donor caught my interest and I began to wonder if that would be the way to go with merging the "parts truck" body/bed (which is a '66 longbed) onto a shortened chassis/frame combination from the '99.
That is the only avenue that I could see to putting the '66 on the '99 F150, if you shortened the '99 frame to around a 130" it would work out fine I'd think, and other than shorting the rear drive shaft everything else should be pretty easy although it's been awhile sine I've taken a good look at the frame layout on a modern Ford truck.

The thing I've come to realize doing this stuff is that there really isn't any limitations to what a person can do or modify as long as you have the will to do it and the skill to do the work, obviously cutting and sectioning a frame isn't to be taken lightly there are risks to doing it so I'd want to make sure I had a good safe plan laid out and a accurate way to make my measurements. Cutting a chassis in front of the front wheels or behind the rear wheels has no effect on anything but the overall length, but cutting between the wheels has inherent problems on a lot of different fronts from wheel alignment (tracking between front and rear axles) to the structural integrity of the frame.

But if you have the will....there is always a way to make it work.

In my case because of the shape of the '62 cab I have to work with on the flare side build I really only have two choices which are finding a different cab in better shape or using the floor and firewall from the donor vehicle, I'm going to choose to use the donor route since it's cheaper and it's something I haven't done that I think is doable. The odd thing about that build is that the '62 flare side parts are the worst body parts of all three trucks and the donor is probably the best of the three we have used...lol There are other reasons to use the donor firewall and floor that might shove me in that direction even if the '62 cab was in better shape like the brake pedal issue....
MY OL 66 wrote:Just some way "out of the box" thinking on my part.


That's the best type of thinking in my opinion it opens you up to possibilities that most folks would over look or not consider.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by snoracer »

Jon - Congrats on another job well done. I am amazed at how well you and your wife work together and your work ethic. I would love to be able to get on a project and "get er done", but life tends to get in the way and it seems that there is always something else that needs to be done that prevents me from working on a project. As you can see in my photo's, my uni and Roadmaster donor car are kind of buried in snow. I hope to be able to at least start tearing down the RM, but it all depends on the weather/snow melt. Keep up the good work. I'm anxious to see what you do with your next project !

nice patina !
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1954 Pontiac Starchief and 1995 Buick Roadmaster wagon
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Tim,
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Tim,
snoracer wrote:I am amazed at how well you and your wife work together and your work ethic. I would love to be able to get on a project and "get er done", but life tends to get in the way and it seems that there is always something else that needs to be done that prevents me from working on a project.
Thank you, I'll tell you a secret...... it took me three tries to find the right woman. lol
snoracer wrote: As you can see in my photo's, my uni and Roadmaster donor car are kind of buried in snow.
LOL...yeah, the '65 got baptised this weekend.

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snoracer wrote:I'm anxious to see what you do with your next project !
Well we did spend a little time on the '62 flare side cab this weekend, I'm planning on making a post about it this week, but we are probably at least a month away from really getting started on that project.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 19)

Saturday was spent mostly fixing the things that I noticed driving the '65 last week, first on the agenda was to look at the PCV system, after I pulled the plastic intake plenum / engine cover off the motor located the PCV valve I see a issue, someone in the past had replaced the molded hose that connects the PCV to a metal line that runs up to the throttle body with a long rubber hose, over time the hose had kinked and was restricting the flow causing back pressure in the crank case.

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If you look at the picture above you'll see lots of moisture in the end of the PCV valve, if you remember when I did all the motor work a few months ago I replaced the valve cover gaskets, if you go back and look at those pictures the inside of the motor was nice and clean with no moisture. So the PCV hasn't been working and that is what has caused the moisture and that in turn caused the crank case to build up pressure forcing oil out the passenger side breather tube.

So a new PCV valve and hose was installed after I removed the metal line and cut it a little shorter so a length of hose could be used again but would flow in the proper direction without kinking, after that the crank case could breathe again.

With that out of the way the next item was to look for a very small coolant leak, this leak had come and gone over the build and had never been more than a few drips that would seem to vanish for days or weeks only to return after it sat over night in the shop.

The culprit turned out to be a plastic tee that was original to the RM where the surge tank connected to a heater hose to fill the engine....problem was I had to drain the coolant to replace the tee which required going through the lengthy process of bleeding the air out of the system.

Of course removing the tee the plastic broke where the leak was....

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This is a molded hose assembly with a factory aluminum crimp on the hose that connects to the surge tank, and of course a special order item. Easy enough to just cut the crimp and get a new plastic tee.

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With that installed I refill the cooling system, bleed the air, and wait for the electric fans to kick off, like I said this is a lengthy process that isn't really any easier since I have the radiator mounted higher than it was on the RM chassis, you just have to be patient, wait for engine temps to open the thermostat and keep opening and closing the air bleeder till you get a full stream of coolant out of it.

About 45 minutes and all the air is out, thermostat is open, coolant is circulating, and the fans kick on, like I've said before this is a reverse flow cooling system and if you fill it dry (no coolant in it at all) it's a PIA to get all the air out, this time wasn't as bad as replacing the water pump but still takes a considerable amount of time to get it to function correctly.... in the end the fans cycle off and on as they should and no coolant leaks so it's time to move on to the next thing on the list which is fixing the fuel filler and installing a fuel tank vent which I'll cover tomorrow.

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 19.5)

With the two items on the front of the truck marked off the list it was time to go to the rear and fix the fuel filler and install the tank vent. Before I turned the truck around to work on the fuel filler I did take the time to adjust the headlights!

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This is a 2"ID x 16" 90 degree fuel rated hose, I find it odd that none of the auto parts stores keep fuel filler (fuel rated) hoses in stock, all are special order and expensive in relation to normal coolant hoses. So we ordered the hose from Summit along with the fuel vent.

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To order the 2" hose from the auto parts store it was $34, it was around $26 from Summit and I think the aluminum vent was $18 and uses a 5/8 hose, at this point we should be a preferred customer at Summit since we order from them almost every week...lol

I had to do this job outside since the wife was finishing up wrapping the second '18 Kia Soul this week in the shop (sorry can't show you the finished product) but it was nice Sunday morning when I did the work, I had to cut about 2" off the length of one end of the 2" hose, but other than that it all went as planned, I didn't take any pictures since I was outside and didn't want to drag the camera back and forth.

I will get a picture of the fuel vent and how I mounted it, again it was really a no brainer to install, I'm sure the EVAP system won't like it since modern vehicles are sealed so a vacuum can be pulled by the engine to remove fuel vapor from the tank, with the tank vented to the atmosphere it will error again with a large leak in the system, it's not that it won't work it's just that it will be able to suck outside air into the system which it won't like..... I really don't care, it's more important that fuel can be put in the tank safely than protecting the environment from VOCs floating around while fueling the truck, for all practical purposes it is a '65 not a '96 anymore at least how the state looks at it and in '65 all fuel tanks were vented to the atmosphere....lol

With that out of the way I went in the shop and started working on the speaker boxes for the 6x9 rear speakers and finished the mock up of the console.

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This weekend if all goes as planned I'll do a temporary install of the console so it can be tested for a week or so, get the back up camera wired up, then in a few weeks take the console back out to be covered then reinstall it once its finished. While I'm doing the install we'll have to remove the seat so at that time I'll install the adjustable brake push rod then.

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Sunday evening it snowed and both trucks got a good dousing, it was the '65s first adventure in snow since rebuilt and it looked kinda' sad....lol

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And the '62 uni.....

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I wanted to mention that the instrument cluster is working out fine, it isn't moving around, looks good, and provides all the info for free that we need, it really doesn't look bad at all in the slicks dash and I will be incorporating that idea or design into both of the '62 trucks doing the uni when it comes in for its 6 month look see.

As long as nothing major is added to the list of things to do on the '65 while driving it this week I really only have a few things to do which includes making mounts for the front bumper and installing it, finishing the passenger power window wiring, adding the adjustable brake push rod to set the brake pedal height, come up with some sort of blank to fill the hole in the dash where the old radio use to be, headliner, and covering the console however the wife chooses to do that, seat belts (I forgot to install them already), VATS defeat module, front end alignment.

It will of course need running repairs as any vehicle, but after driving it this week I'm pretty sure it's not going to leave the wife stranded anywhere which is the goal of this shake down, the wife still needs to do the door art and we need to age the paint although it's going pretty well on its own, rattle can paint jobs like these might last a year at best especially as thin as we applied the paint.

So far I'm very happy with the build and how it turned out, the truck runs and drives very nice, we calculated over the weekend that we have just crested $5k on the build of which the bulk was in buying the '65 truck and the '96 donor as far as raw parts we have spent around $1500 on parts, of course lots of labor but it beats sitting around watching TV which we wouldn't be doing anyway...lol

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Shake down (week 2)

With the short list of things from last week taken care of on the '65 this week I'm looking to see if those repairs were a success and of course for other problems.

The PCV repair did solve the breathing problem the crankcase was having, no more oil out of the breather tube on the passenger valve cover, I hadn't mentioned that when I did the water pump on the RM that it looked like the front crankshaft seal was leaking, it wasn't bad enough to pull the timing cover and replace the seal but now I'm starting to think that that leak was also being caused by crankcase pressure from the faulty PCV valve. We'll see.....

Fuel filler/vent was a success I stopped to add fuel this morning and the tank took fuel just as it is suppose to, no issues at all, and the headlights are much better after being adjusted to point in front of the truck instead of off to the driver side...lol

The truck starts. runs, and drives great with no issues at all but those cherry bomb mufflers have got to go, the drone (noise) in the cab at highway speed is terrible as it's just the right tone or resonant to buzz in your ears which is pretty annoying.

The '65 has more body roll going around corners than the '62 uni, but has a very minimal amount of tire rub in the front, but it also has a slight tire rub in the rear also, I'll have to keep a eye on both and roll the fender lip if it is excessive or starts to look like it will damage the tires.

The brakes seem touchy, but until I get the brake pedal lowered to a more comfortable position I can't say just why they are, I know I did adjust the rear shoes up so they are right up there where you can hear a little drag going down the road but with your foot off the gas they are not pulling your speed down nor do the wheels get hot so I'd say it's just the angle of the brake pedal making you apply more pressure than needed because of its height in relation to your foot, we'll take care of that this weekend.

The heater in the '65 seems to be slower to get heat than the '62 uni is, I seem to have to drive a few extra miles in the morning before I can feel heat although it will start clearing the windshield in about the same amount of time or distance. The heater core in the uni is a 2.5" thick unit where the core in the '65 is 2" the actual water plumbing for the heater is quite a bit different between the two donors but both do come off the front of the motor at the water pump, it's just that the 4.6L CV motor one heater hose runs under the intake manifold (steel line) so it might actually get a little convection heat being in the valley between the heads. Both hoses on the RM run from the pump directly to the heater core on the outside of the engine but one hose does incorporate a flow valve (direction restrictor) which is suppose to slow the flow rate down keeping the water in the heater longer.

I still can't get over how much quieter the '65 is than the '62 uni inside driving, if you discount the exhaust noise it is really quite, yeah it still sounds like a hollow tin can when you shut the doors but just the lack of squeaks and rattles has surprised me a lot. On both trucks while the doors were apart I sprayed the inside of the doors with bed liner to protect the inside of the doors and to hopefully get rid of a little of that "tin can" sound, once the interior door panels (window access) are installed a lot of that sound should go away.

Other than the brake pedal it is comfortable to drive, the steering wheel is in a good location for both the wife and I and it allows enough movement (tilt) to be put in a good position for both of us, the ride quality is very good, it takes bumps and pot holes a lot better than the '62 on the CV chassis and just overall the ride is softer and smoother of course it is a Buick which has always been known for ride quality.

I did scan the computer yesterday just to see if I had any new codes, just the same P0455 which is EVAP large leak and there was a instrument cluster code from driving it with the cluster unplugged (removed) were present so all engine/transmission systems are working normal. I did clear the codes to see what else will show up later.

The difference in tire diameter between the front and rear tires hasn't caused any issues with the ABS and that may be because the rear sensor is monitoring the ring gear in the rear end instead of individual wheel speed sensors like the CV has, it was one of the things I was concern about that could have been a issue that hasn't shown to be, the different diameter (taller in rear) will turn slower or less distance than the smaller diameter front tires...so far the ABS doesn't care about it, a more sophisticated ABS system would be having a headache over it.

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All in all the first two weeks have been really trouble free, the PCV problem was there when we bought the RM and I just missed seeing it and the hose being kinked, and the fuel filler was caused by me being cheap and trying to reuse parts of the fuel filler from the RM which could have worked but didn't...lol

I also think if we can get the console installed/wired up and the brake pedal lowered this weekend we will probably start the 6 month look at the '62 uni in the next few weeks, it's sitting in the shop at the moment out of the weather waiting while I'm testing out the '65, once the brake pedal is taken care of I'll feel comfortable with my wife driving the '65 so I'll probably turn it over after another week or so of testing.

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Have a great weekend!

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

Final assembly (part 20)

Before I get started I said in another post I'd take a picture of the fuel tank vent, here it is.

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So Saturday first item was to work on the brake booster / push rod, to get the push rod out I had to remove the booster from the truck, there really isn't any info I could find on the internet that tells you how to remove the rod, I did find info about hydro-boost systems and removing the push rod so I attacked it in that manner. The way you remove the push rod from a hydro-boost unit is to set it on the bench, put a round bar through the eyelet on the push rod (part that connects to the brake pedal) and smack the bar with a hammer, that worked the rod came out but broke the plastic clip that holds it in the booster.

The adjustable push rod we bought had a metal clip on it so I figured it would be just fine, so I reinstall the booster in the truck and set about figuring the length to make the rod to lower the brake pedal. The adjustable push rod doesn't fit exactly but does work, it really is made for a different style GM booster, it worked well enough to figure out the length I needed and I wound up just cutting the old push rod to the new length and welding it back together.

While looking in the booster where the rod/clip had been I noticed there was still part of the plastic clip in the hole so I used a pair of needle nose pliers to remove it, on the end of that part was a small metal disk, not knowing why that disk was there I figured it was to focus the force the rod was exerting in a specific area of the piston in the booster instead of it just being plastic against what I figure is a metal piston in the booster. After cutting the old rod to the new length I reused the remainder of the plastic clip and the metal disk hoping to duplicate how it was installed originally.

But now it leaks vacuum when you push the pedal....but the pedal is at a more comfortable height, the brakes work fine, the assist works fine but it does loose vacuum when depressing the pedal. I'm not sure if the little metal disk sealed something or if I damaged the diaphragm popping the old rod out, but it can't stay like that hissing vacuum, I'll drive it this week and make a decision how I'm going to solve the problem..... I might have to get another booster and cut the rod without removing it welding it while still in the booster...we'll see what happens.

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With that kinda' taken care of for the moment I started working on temporally installing the console, to do the booster we had to remove the seat so we also removed the carpet and I installed the rear speakers and ran those wires along with the cable for the backup camera, while I was running the camera wiring I just went ahead and ran it all the way to the camera under the truck and made those connections.

That pretty well took the rest of the day so I'll pick this up with what we did Sunday in the next post.

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Looking at the picture above one thing you might miss is that we removed the slicks instrument cluster bezel and painted it black instead of the cream color, it looks better and does a better job of blending the black mask on the acrylic sheet we use with the RM cluster and the bezel....

Jon
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by SteveCanup »

I like the console...it looks great. Gives me some ideas.
1964 F-100
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Re: '65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

Post by Blanger »

SteveCanup wrote:I like the console...it looks great. Gives me some ideas.
Thanks Steve, it should look a little more "kustom" after its covered.

Jon
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