New Member with a challenge and some questions

[rbishop66]

I have had a 66 f-100 stlyeside in possession for several years now and just havnt had the time to restore it. I went on Hot Rod magazines power tour this year and recieved the inspiration i needed begin restoring it. My goal is to have it road worthy and presentable in a by June of next year. I have a 66 honda superhawk that i am about to finish restoring and i want this truck to be my match to it. My question would be where should i start on one of these trucks. Other than restoring the motorcycle i have no practical knowledge of how to get this done. The body is pretty straight and last time i looked only surface rust was visible. Truck also runs great. 300-6 with a 3 on the tree. Any help would be appreciated.

Bishop

[Phil]

Step 1. aim lower or bust out the VISA and go everywhere it wants you to be-namely in deep debt

Done that, have the Tshirt.

My advice is to handle it in systems.
Brakes, Fuel, Driveline, Body, Frame.

Buy about 12 plastic bins, Clear
Buy a bunch of divided tackle boxes - clear.
As you remove fasteners put the part's bolts and hardware in the individual trays and write on the top with a Sharpie where its from on the truck.
Bags rip with exposure to oil.

Put the big stuff in the bins and label whats in em.
Put all the interior stuff in one bin, engine accessories in another, etc.
Once everything mechanical is stripped off the body decide how deep you want to get with the electrical. Pull the harness and use DNL hand cleaner and dawn dish soap to clean it. If necessary use keroscene to clean it up the repeat the Dawn soap thing. Let it dry and retape it up.

Anyway after all this it will start to make sence where to go next.
Handle it in systems. Brakes one weekend, electrical another, paintstripping etc. A year is pushing it if you never did it before.

My 1st car took 4 years. My second was an already painted roller and it took me 12 weeks. Disassebling 4 parts cars helped me to get real Familiar with Torinos. Now I do not label anything and I have 3 5 gal buckets of hardware to pick from.

Good luck my man.

[DV65CustomCab]

Depends on what you want.
All too often guys want that perfect, showroom fresh, trophy winner that only a full bore frame up restoration can yield. That is a lot of work, and will usually mean years to completion.
My attitude is different, having done various cars different ways over the years.
To me, it's a truck. A perfect truck may impress your buddies but is essentially useless. If you're not going to haul anything in it, it may as well be a car. One thing you will discover with trucks; no matter what it looks like, people will still dig it and talk to you about it.
I vastly prefer the "rolling restoration" method. Work on it piecemeal. A weekend here, a week or two there, always putting it back together so you can use it again for awhile. The only area that makes this difficult is the paintwork, but you can do body repairs and still have it drivable up to the point it's ready to spray.
A clean, tidy yet tired looking truck is not a bad thing.
I've had cars nicely restored. They are a PITA. You're constantly cleaning stuff, constantly worrying about something happening to it. OMG! A stone chip! My week is ruined! Screw that. I've come to embrace and accept the 5 foot rule and am a happier person because of it.

[cdherman]

Speaking also from experience -- too perfect a restoration will leave you with a truck that you are often afraid to drive (even if you swear you'll never baby it, after you put months of sweat and $$ into it, you'll baby it).

Think long and hard what you really want. Taking it slow and thoughtfully makes a lot of sense.

[dotcentral]

I like the approach DV65 mentions, its what I usually do. Work on small stuff. Last truck I had, I did a lot of small afternoon type fixes every so often to get it either running better or looking better. It usually inspired me to look for other things to do to get it looking better. I am just starting to do this on my 66.

Good luck with it. By the way, where are you from?

[good2bea9]

I have my truck in the paint shop still and it has been there for about one month. I informed the owner/painter from the start that I am going to be driving this truck and that it does not need to be show quality. But he is taking his time and making it perfectly straight inside and out, but I am still going to drive it and four wheel it. Start small!
David

[MadMaxetc]

Start with defining your budget. Then devide that by 2. this will give you what you should plan on the truck costing you.

NOTE: You can NOT restore a truck and drive it at the same time.

1) Take it appart and fix the Rust. There is no point in having a running truck that is about to fall appart.

2) Make it safe. Great Bakes (this is not the place to cut corners), Good working suspention (tie rod ends, sway bars, etc...), etc...

3) Make it run good. Rebuild the engine, trans, and rear end. A good stock engine will give you a lot of satisfaction. You can always upgrade this stuff latter. If you spend your money here and skimp on the brakes, you could wreck it and then have nothing.

4) Make it look nice. Clean up the Trim, Badges, knobs, etc... that you have and see if they are what you want. Get a nice paint job. Remember that the paint is only 20% of what you see. It is the prepwork that will make it or brake it.

5) Don't Rush it! "If it is worth doing...it is worth doing right!"

*** Abbove all!! HAVE FUN!!! ***

Good Luck!!

[goonie]

This may sound confusing, but I agree with a little of what everyone is saying. I turned to these guys to help me out as well. I have a 66 f100 stepside custom cab. As I pulled some things off I noticed that something else needed attention. Long story short, the fenders, doors, engine, tailgate, bed etc. are off. Have ever heard the expression "To each his own"? If you don't mind the "sweat equity" you can do it a lot cheaper. I'm dismantling mine myself and I just saw a show were they bought a good pressure washer and bought some sort of wand to attach to it and used it as a sand blaster. It worked really well, the water helped keep the dust down. The cheapest quote for getting my two doors, front fenders, rear fenders, frame and hood sand blasted was 1500 buck. The pressure washer method will cost me 600. I have no previous mechanical skills, but these trucks are EASY to work on. Also, if you have any problems, these are the guys to ask. They have made my decisions easier. Example...I asked the guys about the 352. They replied it's not the best engine in the world. Bad fuel economy and not a lot of power. They suggested a 360 or 390. Looked around for three weeks and bam, I got a 390 for 100 dollars. Take your time (make sure you get the clear containers it really does help) do as much as you can yourself and in no time you will be driving a nice ride that YOU did yourself. FYI, unless you have painted a car before, I do suggest letting a pro do that.

[Slick Fan]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet...if you decide to blow the whole truck apart & start from the bottom, TAKE LOTS OF PICS as you tear it apart. You may not be able to remember which little widget went where, when it comes time to put it back on.

Speaking of pics...let's see some!
Oh & welcome aboard.

[norville]

Depends on what you want.
All too often guys want that perfect, showroom fresh, trophy winner that only a full bore frame up restoration can yield. That is a lot of work, and will usually mean years to completion.
My attitude is different, having done various cars different ways over the years.
To me, it's a truck. A perfect truck may impress your buddies but is essentially useless. If you're not going to haul anything in it, it may as well be a car. One thing you will discover with trucks; no matter what it looks like, people will still dig it and talk to you about it.
I vastly prefer the "rolling restoration" method. Work on it piecemeal. A weekend here, a week or two there, always putting it back together so you can use it again for awhile. The only area that makes this difficult is the paintwork, but you can do body repairs and still have it drivable up to the point it's ready to spray.
A clean, tidy yet tired looking truck is not a bad thing.
I've had cars nicely restored. They are a PITA. You're constantly cleaning stuff, constantly worrying about something happening to it. OMG! A stone chip! My week is ruined! Screw that. I've come to embrace and accept the 5 foot rule and am a happier person because of it.

ditto. that's what I have now. I haul wood, trash, mulch, I have a 20/20 paintjob by rustoleum. 20ft and 20mph's Oh I get my stones busted but the buddy with V10 dodge srt pickup. Hasn't hauled a thing busted up his airdam to the tune of 2K and is still paying 5+years to go. I have wet smelly dogs that love driving it and the 5yr old boy says it "looks to nice now?"

my only word of advice I love my 390 but wat a PITA it can be headers allway's leaking It's loud in the morning no- sneaking up on anybody. If I was to choose I go with you 300 and 4-5 speed.(nv3500?) I didn't build it but I keep trying to detune it. for driveability.

Like others said start small. Get running and enjoy it.

I did:

dual pot power assist drum brakes. (I have discs here but havent needed it them yet)

power steering

now I'm just picking

Stuff I have inboxes:
disc upgrate
2speed wipers
interior stuff


good luck

bob

[mwilk1]

the sad part is i agree with these guys. I wanted a truck i could drive and not care about. IE haul what ever when ever. After my wife got involved I dont even take it out on wet days. No i dont have a ton into it becuase I did most of it mysefl I still cant bring myself to drive it on a regular basis. Mike

[killercoating]

I don't buy into that crap... build it and don't drive it? I have a full build custom chopper that I ride the hell out of. Do I ride in the rain and snow, hell no, but I do ride it a lot, and love it everytime.

I plan to build a drag truck, not a drag racing truck, a truck where I air out the ass end at 45mph and drag it on the ground. Why would someone ever do this to a truck that he put all this time and money into? Because it's fun... I hate to waste money, but I don't think enjoying myself 24/7 is a waste of money...

Build it - Drag it - Break it - do it again...

[rbishop66]

Thanks for all the advice. My intentions for this truck is for it to be beautiful but functional. Now i know that can be tough to do, but i really dont plan on entering it into any show competetions. I just would like to use it for cruise nights and things like that. I will be using it to haul things, mainly my motorcycle but I also will use it to move furniture frequently and things like that being a college kid. I get the truck road safe at the very first thing i do. Everyone on this forums says to upgrade to power breaks. Is there somthing wrong with the non-power system other than it be obviously no where near as convienent? Hopefully I will get a pic up soon, when i figure out all the ins and outs of the forum.

[Slick Fan]

I have/had manual disc brakes on my '66 & liked them just fine. As long as everything in the system is working properly, the whole 'no power booster' thing shouldn't really be an issue.

[killercoating]

Power brakes is just a luxury... I think what everyone is suggesting is the move to power DISC brakes. While the drums are not bad when dialed in, the disc's will not retain water during rain and cool faster then drums

[ezernut9mm]

Done that, have the Tshirt.

dave ramsey fan??? lol