New guy, new '62, new project!

[Afazz]

A few months ago I bought a '62 F100 unibody and finally got it road legal this weekend! I have no idea what the history or mileage is, but it has a 223 inline 6, three on the tree, and lots of rust! This is my first experience with any old American iron... I actually had to purchase some SAE sockets and drum brake tools before I could work on it!



I've done quite a bit of work so far, the steps and jambs were all rotted away so I fabbed up new ones. I lurked around enough to decide I didn't want to spend $600 on ill-fitting aftermarket crap, so I just made them.

















I was able to match the rattle can red primer pretty well lol



I rebuilt all of the brake lines, replaced all of the hoses, and rebuilt the parking brake mechanism. I also replaced one of the rear wheel bearings and seals, but I didn't get any pictures because I was too greasy to operate the camera.



The bottom of the tailgate was rotted away, and the previous owner had cut it off. I fabricated the last couple inches and tacked it in, but I haven't had a chance to finish the sides yet.







My shop wouldn't let the truck pass inspection without seat belts, so I fabbed up some mounts and installed lap belts.



It's finally road legal!






The only questions I have are regarding the front clip. Are there any build threads I should check out if I'm interested in 'bagging this thing? Should I pursue a Camaro or Industrial Chassis/Dakota clip if I want to bag it and lay body on 20s? I have the tools/budget/knowledge to complete any of the popular clips, I'm looking for a nice balance of cheap and easy. Although the IC kit is a little pricey, I think the quality, ease of installation, and availability of knowledge (forums and such) will make up for the extra cost.

[LM14]

Look in the projects section. There are several doing different clips. I am doing the IC Dakota kit in mine.

SPark

[rbeck204]

Nice metal working.

[bobenhotep]

Welcome from New Mexico.

Keep up the good work. This board has a wealth of free info about how to do just about anything to your truck. As far as I can tell this is the best truck board on the internet. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and again, welcome aboard.

Dan

[foodstick]

I can't believe how much that truck resembled my 62 when I started.. all the rust was aprox the same stage, I even did the almost exact tailgate repair.

I think your truck was a lil straighter.. but man they were close...color and all.

[Oregoon]

Welcome! Nice metal work. Also, I like your Checker!

[62bigwindow]

Welcome and DAMN nice metal work.Cant wait to see how the tailgate looks when finished.

[rickairmedic]

Good lookin truck course I'm partial to ruddy brown short 62 unibodies . Feel free to check my build down in the projects and builds . I put my 62 Uni on an 88 crown victoria chassis complete with crown vic firewall and floorpan . I will update my pics in the next couple days just set the body on the frame last friday night . Drove the chassis under the body as well .



Rick

[390fastback]

Holy sugar cubes thats nice metal work (prefer not to swear and thats as nice as I can do...) Second on the projects section, lots of cutom trucks on bags in there. Its where my ideas came from anyway.

[Alan Mclennan]

Great work Afazz, have fun driving her around!....question is that a bear claw lock on the B pillar?

[luckystiff]

jaguar xj crossmember. Z/Step the crossmember . looks like you have plenty of fab skills to make it happen. i have jag in my 62 big window uni notched 3" into the frame. explorer rear flipped on top of the leaves and 2" blocks(for now). with 205/70/15 front and 235/75/15 rear the rocker at the door is 5" at the front of the door and 6" at the rear of the door at static ride height(lower control arms level). the frame is 5" tall so if you Z or step the full height of the frame laying frame is easy with jag. it's also a pretty easy to bag set up. jag is also the correct 59.5" width.

2nd gen camaro is also a good choice esp when considering bagging. grafting the camaro sub in so that the trailing ends of the sub blend into the stock frame back at the cab let you set it pretty low to start with. add to that the HUGE aftermarket for the camaro and shit gets endless. the camaro also has a huge range of articulation. camaro is slightly wider at roughly 61" but narrowed control arms can bring you back to correct width and are easy to find/make.

doing the step frame for jag is easy if you do so with 4x2. actually less work than me notching into mine in all reality. and you don't have to redo your core support mounting and such that you have to do with the camaro swap(not that thats a huge deal)...ken....

[kstones63]

I used a Camaro sub frame in my truck and we are putting a Jag XJ IFS in Nick's truck. We went with the Jag in his because I didn't like cutting the frame to install the Camaro sub frame. We didn't notch into the frame on his like Ken has done and it still sits pretty low in the front.

Kevin

[Afazz]

Thanks everyone for the advice and good words!

I'll give a second look at the Jag crossmember. I ruled it out for a few reasons, one of the main ones being availability. After a look around on Craigslist, it looks like these are a little more common than I originally thought, especially if I'm flexible on the exact model i.e. spring rate (which doesn't matter if I'm using bags).

Regarding the latch, I don't believe it's a bear claw. I'm pretty sure it's the original latch.

[luckystiff]

yeah most think the cuttoff is '86 as thats when it changed for xj6. but xjs is the same through '92. between the diferent models your donor spreads more than a 20 year span. the xjs does hold it's value better so you don't see as many being parted but they are out there. oddly enough my best donor source does nothing but xjs. won't even touch a xj6.

[jwh f-100]

Welcome!!

Where in PA are you from??

[Oregoon]

I still want to know what's up with that Checker?

A friend had one years ago with a Continental flathead six. Slowest car in creation, but it got a lot of attention.

[Alan Mclennan]

.

The standard latch is there, but what is the thing that looks like a cigarette lighter in front of it?............

[Afazz]

Alan - That's just a magnet that I use to hang my light from lol.

JWH - I'm in the Pittsburgh area.

Oregoon - The Checker belongs to my Uncle, it is a 6-door Aerobus. I posted some more info in this thread:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... ht=checker