Great way to start a restoration project

craighill74 · Post by **craighill74** » August 16, 2010, 5:57 pm

I recently inherited a very old friend a 1966 f100. This truck was bought on a special order by my grandfather. Unfortunately he passed away in 1970 and my father then bought the truck from my grandmother, then a month ago I got it from my father. It is almost a completely bone stock (other than the stereo, secondary gas tank, and the rims) 300 I6 with 4 on the floor and the 3/4 ton limited slip rear end.

The truck has lived almost its entire life in northern Nevada, so very, very little rust is on the truck. After spending 3 days washing and waxing the truck to get most of the oxidation off of it it is now as the pics appear

here is a link http://www.photobucket.com/greeneyedmnst

There are a couple of things that I really need to get ironed out in this old girl. I have found a problem with the truck back firing through the exhaust when down shifting. With that I checked for an exhaust leak and found a pretty major one coming from between the intake and exhaust manifolds. I am also on the hunt to see if these trucks came with "high altitude jets" for the carburetor so that I can get them swapped out for low altitude jets (since the truck now lives in California) If anybody out there could help me find this part you would be a god send.

I also plan on doing the following up grades
-Ignition system (either Pertronix unit or MSD have not decided which)
-Disk brakes all the way around.
-moving the gas tank from inside the cab to under the bed.
-removing the secondary gas tank
-removing the camper shell
-Electric radiator fan.
-HID head lamps
-Rewiring the entire electrical system with new wire.
-All the factory trim re-chromed and the Grill chromed since it has the aluminum grill right now. Not sure which is best way to go on the grill. Getting it chromed or just buying a new one.
-Replacing the Tailgate and repainting the truck its factory color. Which it is still factory paint on the truck

Any help that you guys could be would be of great assistance.

jkimbrel65 · Post by **jkimbrel65** » August 16, 2010, 6:56 pm

from Al.Nice looking truck!!

Mike

36truck · Post by **36truck** » August 16, 2010, 7:28 pm

from Michigan. Great looking truck.

F7BIGJOB · Post by **F7BIGJOB** » August 16, 2010, 8:05 pm

From Ro Diland. very nice keepsake.
-Steve.

slick4x4 · Post by **slick4x4** » August 16, 2010, 8:23 pm

f r o m
K A N S A S

MadMaxetc · Post by **MadMaxetc** » August 16, 2010, 9:14 pm

Welcome.

That is good to have a list...now make it a plan and put some $$ next to it to make sure you don't get in to deep.

Oh ya...We like pictures.

(Even of rusty stuff.

)

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » August 16, 2010, 9:14 pm

Welcome from West Virginia!!! Nice looking Slick you have...

kstones63 · Post by **kstones63** » August 16, 2010, 9:46 pm

from Phoenix

That is a great looking truck, but we need more pics.

Kevin

Rusty 63 · Post by **Rusty 63** » August 17, 2010, 5:02 am

First off, Congratulations on a great new project - glad to hear you're keep it in the family!

As to your proposed mods:
-Ignition system (either Pertronix unit or MSD have not decided which)
I think pertronix would be easier (don't have to pull the dizzy & risk being a tooth off - been there, done that).
-Disk brakes all the way around.
Great idea - the front disks off anything <'79 should work for you - use the search feature & read up to make your choice. Rear might be more interesting & expensive.
-moving the gas tank from inside the cab to under the bed.
Very popular mod - again, use the search feature - most common is the Mustang tank swap, but others include Bronco 2 & a few chebby options.
-removing the secondary gas tank
Why?? Bet you could remove the in-cab tank & just use the aux tank. Guys drool over these tanks. Think long & hard, but if you do decide to get rid of it, sell it here - somebody will thank you!
-removing the camper shell
Looks good to me. Again, offer it here & on CL locally to get some project cash. In the meantime it's keeping the snow (and rust!) out of your bed.
-Electric radiator fan.
Your call. For the few HP it frees up, I'm not sure I'd bother. A good mechanical fan with a properly fitted shroud is near-foolproof. I've blown a head gasket from an electric fan with a faulty relay switch...
-HID head lamps
Read up on this: http://fordtruk.com/index41.html
Great way to get more light out of the stockers.
-Rewiring the entire electrical system with new wire.
Seen lots of guys do it with spools of wire. Can't imagine you'd save anything over a good aftermarket fuseblock & harness setup - they tend to run under $200.
-All the factory trim re-chromed and the Grill chromed since it has the aluminum grill right now. Not sure which is best way to go on the grill. Getting it chromed or just buying a new one.
If it isn't dented (and even if it is) - the aluminum grill can/should be polished. Generally guys chrome the steel grilles.
-Replacing the Tailgate and repainting the truck its factory color. Which it is still factory paint on the truck
Replacing the early gates is expensive. They're rare (discontinued in '66 or '67) and not reproduced. If you don't care about originality, you can you later gates - they bolt right up (again, I think thru '79). If you do update, sell the old one here - someone will gladly massage it back to life to have an original. The paint looks great from what I can see in the pics. A good professional job can run enough to buy a nearly new commuter car - and then you're afraid to drive it. I'd keep it waxed & run with it myself, but it's your truck, so do as you wish & enjoy it!

Good luck & keep on posting the pics - it's the only eye candy we have around here!

olliesshop · Post by **olliesshop** » August 17, 2010, 5:43 am

Welcome from Michigan !!! The truck looks wonderful. FYI, I inherited mine from my Grandfather, but it was a work truck and it's rusted pretty bad ... for now.

craighill74 · Post by **craighill74** » August 17, 2010, 12:24 pm

WOW

Thanks for the wonderful greetings all.

@ Rusty 63
Thanks for the great input. There are more pics coming I just have been so wrapped up in work that I just have not got it done as of yet. The aux tank that I am referring to is one that was installed by my father when he and I used to go deer hunting a lot out in Central Nevada where it is 200 miles between gas pumps LOL. So he found this tank which is a 32 gallon tank. Which obviously doesn't fit under the bed. So it is in the bed mounted in the forward drivers side of the bed. I mostly want to get rid of it so that I can have full use of the bed back.

Anybody else had any experience with the pertronix unit?

The tail gate is a bit of a sore spot for me. Since when my dad took the truck in for the rust to be repaired on the tail gate the body shop went half @ss on it and decided to cut out the rust and replace it with bondo. so there is a great spider on the back of the tail gate. Since you mention that it is very difficult to find a good one I may just see if there is a metal machine shop that could weld in a replacement to fix the issue.

bluebolt · Post by **bluebolt** » August 17, 2010, 2:09 pm

The truck looks nice and has great family history.
I have used the Pertronix and had no problem with it. I would use one again.
Rear disc brakes for trucks have a lot of issues and in my opinion are not worth the effort.
Do you have a rear axle with a removable rear cover? You may have a Dana 44 (which is what factory limited slip tucks used, not a 9 inch) or Dana 60 (unlikely with athe five lug setup but it does happen rarely)

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » August 17, 2010, 3:58 pm

MadMaxetc wrote:to make sure you don't get in to deep.

from Louisiana. Be sure to introduce yourself and your truck in the "Truck Talk" section so everyone can meet you.

craighill74 · Post by **craighill74** » August 18, 2010, 5:45 pm

Bluebolt,

Here is a picture of the rear end. I just noticed that I have a pretty good leak back there ... just another thing I have to fix LOL

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz21 ... 1282171500

well crap ... I couldn't get the image to come up ... looks like I have some more learning to do as well

Rusty 63 · Post by **Rusty 63** » August 18, 2010, 6:03 pm

Drained & Refilled 8/98? Seeping that much from the fill plug means he overfilled it.

MadMaxetc · Post by **MadMaxetc** » August 18, 2010, 6:48 pm

Rusty 63 wrote:Drained & Refilled 8/98? Seeping that much from the fill plug means he overfilled it.

Yep.

I would clean it up realy good and see where it is leeking from. probably not as bad as it looks.

bluebolt · Post by **bluebolt** » August 18, 2010, 10:12 pm

craighill74 wrote:Bluebolt,

Here is a picture of the rear end. I just noticed that I have a pretty good leak back there ... just another thing I have to fix LOL

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz21 ... 1282171500

well crap ... I couldn't get the image to come up ... looks like I have some more learning to do as well

Wow that sure looks like a Dana 60, very uncommon in a half ton truck. The Dana 60 cover is more elongated horizontally than a Dana 44 and after comparing yours to a few pics of dana 44 and 60 covers I am 99 percent sure yours is a Dana 60.