63 slo-mo restomod project

[td]

Well I'm gonna fire up my project thread this evening. You noticed I titled it slo-mo, like most, finances will govner the pace of my progress but I look forward to sharing every step of the way. To give a run down on the build plan...the truck is first going to receive a stern altitude adjustment via a fatman mustang2 front suspension and a standard flipkit out back with a frame notch to clear the rear axle during articulation. After I get the suspension buttoned up I'll start on the drivetrain where plans are including a big block and c6 to go in place of the yblock and 3speed. From that point the body and paint will begin. It will be a drawn out process but I'm overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation for the projects progress. I got started today with the basic teardown and was pleasantly surprised to find that the parts of the truck that we're hidden by the bed and front sheet metal are just as solid as the rest of the old truck! I'm sharing the first pics of the project in this post with many more to come...my good Lord willing!

How we found it


Back at home and a bit of cleaning due to it sitting for a long period of time!

Notice the sagging cab, it's the rubber bushings flattening out, all the mounts are solid as a rock!



More cleaning

[6ftdwn57]

wow what a clean start! great lookin truck, looks to be solid and clean.

[td]

wow what a clean start! great lookin truck, looks to be solid and clean.

Thanks, yes it really is. I'd been looking for a decent base to start with in this era truck so when I ran up on this one you can imagine my excitement!

[td]

Well we made a little more forward progress, getting the yblock out from between the frame rails, I realize this stuff isn't all that entertaining to see lol but I don't want ya to miss anything and it is what we're currently doing next we're (my son and I) gonna be stripping the frame rails of all the old suspension components, shock towers, brake lines, steering box and clutch linkage to make way (and fully commit ourselves) for the m2 ifs components. I will be ordering the crossmember and other weld in components in a few days. I'm gonna knock out all the front spring hanger rivets and loosely bolt the front axle into place to maintain roll around ability until all the other ifs stuff is in place. Now on to the pics....

My son bolting on the lift plate




And yes blowing a truck apart in our humble little country backyard shop runs us out of space real quick...but it's sooo cozy!!!

[td]

This pile I made today including shock towers, steering gear box and linkage and clutch pedal linkages means 1 of two things, it'll be a sweet custom one day with a Ifs front suspension or the whole truck is a pile of scrap that'll never go back on the road! Lol



Clean rails ready for boxing up.


Templates made.

[td]

I moved some pics around in my photobucket and temporarily lost my pics here on my posts, their back!

[kstones63]

I have the .dxf files for the frame boxing that someone sent to me. If you want to send that file to a water jet cutter, they will do that for you. The files will cut a piece for the frame about 2- 2 1/2' long or you can have them cut shorter.

Kevin

[td]

I have the .dxf files for the frame boxing that someone sent to me. If you want to send that file to a water jet cutter, they will do that for you. The files will cut a piece for the frame about 2- 2 1/2' long or you can have them cut shorter.

Kevin

Kevin, that is a nice gesture and yes if you would like to send it to me I can PM you my email.you need to post a link or two to some threads with pics of your truck, by the looks of your avatar I gotta see more of that thing!

[kstones63]

Here is a link to my build page. It is quite a few pages back because it has been finished for a couple of years now.
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=10877
I emailed those files to you this morning. I hope that they are compatible with your water jet cutter. Karaskustom from this site sent them to me so I figured to pass them along to other people that might need them. I had these made for my son Nick's truck that we are putting the Jag front IFS in.

Kevin

[td]

Here is a link to my build page. It is quite a few pages back because it has been finished for a couple of years now.
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=10877
I emailed those files to you this morning. I hope that they are compatible with your water jet cutter. Karaskustom from this site sent them to me so I figured to pass them along to other people that might need them. I had these made for my son Nick's truck that we are putting the Jag front IFS in.

Kevin

I did receive the file via email and replied. Thank you I'll let you know if I do use it. My other option is a friend that has surgical skills with a plasma cutter so he may end up cutting them out for me. Like I said in my initial post here in this thread, the constraint is gonna be $ so as long as there are little things I can do to keep the project moving forward I'll stay sane! Lol

I gave your project thread a really good look over a hot cup of coffee and man did I enjoy looking at all you've accomplished! WOW is all I can say, great truck you've put together!

[td]

Well I got a few thing done today, I removed the front center engine mount from the front crossmember and got all the rivets knocked out of the front spring mounts and temporarily replaced them with a couple bolts and nut on each side. I then got all the remaining parts off of the fire wall so the cab is ready to come off. It's been a few years since I rebuilt my 1968 f100 and honestly I'd forgotten just how much work and effort this process takes! It's defiantly a labor of love!

[td]

Update...I scored this old 1978 f100 this week for the drivetrain. I got it for $500 and despite it's overly abused appearance it has a great running 302/c6 combo in it! I spoke personally with the grandmother of the young man I bought it from and she told me she bought the long block for him 3 years ago. It fires at the slightest bump of the ignition and runs as smooth as a kitten with no smoke at all! I'll pull the motor/trans, tilt column and a few other parts and it'll prob go for scrap as bad as I hate to be the culprit that ends the life of an old ford truck it's just to rough to do anything else with. The real damage to the body is on the pass side!


I pulled the engine and transmission out today



Notice the huge fluid mess I made in the floor



It's ready for some teardown and a good clean up and some paint, I know I doesn't look like a 3 year old engine but the man I bought it from says the shop he hired to do the swap didn't clean anything up, just swapped all his stuff to the long block and put it back together.


I also got the firewall and inner fenders sanded and some fresh black paint on them both, satin on the firewall to match the final body color and flat on the inner fenders. All this stuff is all nesassary but it really feels like busy work while in waiting to order the front suspension parts.

[longcabjohn]

Wish I had a place to store it, in about a year I will be looking for what you have left of parts truck. I have my 460 apart now and still have the seats,carpet, etc on my extended cab to go.


Johnny

[td]

Wish I had a place to store it, in about a year I will be looking for what you have left of parts truck. I have my 460 apart now and still have the seats,carpet, etc on my extended cab to go.


Johnny

Johnny in my opinion when I get what I want off of it they'll be very little that desirable left on it. Unbelievable to me I sold $150 worth of parts off of it the day I bought It lol the rear sport bumper +brkts and a few trim pieces and one mirror. So that put me in it for 350 now and I should get most of that back at scrap. If u think of anything u think it may have that u need holler at me and i can look for you.

[HawaiiKid]

Unreal how clean of a truck you are starting with-great progress so far!

[td]

Unreal how clean of a truck you are starting with-great progress so far!

Thanks Hawaiikid, it had a little time an effort put into it a few years ago but was never finished. I was pleased to find one as good to start with!

I got a little accomplished the past few days. The engine wasn't to bad dirty but I got it completely disassembled and perfectly clean and coated it in fresh blue paint! I also have a foxbody rear sump pan on it's way and I had a nice fellow on the slick60 Facebook page offer me a EGR'less carb spacer I was looking for and only ask me to pay the shipping so I'ts pose to be on it's way to me as well. Now some pics....

[td]

Just a few more things, water pump, oilpan and the accessories on the front and this thing will be ready to store in the corner and wait for its install after the chassi work is completed, just a note..I'm not gonna be using the rocker covers pictures.

[Gary Seymour]

You got a good start to a nice truck project. You will save a lot of time and $$$ on rust repair with that one. Good score on the parts truck too, another great way to keep the cost down.

Just an observation - grille is '65 or '66 and the bed is at least a '64.

I like your shop too!

[td]

You got a good start to a nice truck project. You will save a lot of time and $$$ on rust repair with that one. Good score on the parts truck too, another great way to keep the cost down.

Just an observation - grille is '65 or '66 and the bed is at least a '64.

I like your shop too!

Thanks Gary! Being on a tight budget I'm trying to be as smart as I can on saving every dollar Possible, I even put the old water pump back on the engine lol. The parts truck was a great score, I just this week pulled all the break lines/brkts and the proportioning valve as well as the steering column! Your right the grill is a 66, I'd actually like to trade it for a straight 61/62 grill. The truck is a 63, how is it you can tell the year range on the beds? The truck was originally a step side but this bed was with it when I found it so I don't know what year it's from. Thanks on the shop compliment as well, it's rustic and cozy Lol but blowing a whole truck apart in it runs me out of space fast!

[td]

Progress report...

The engine is buttoned up ready to mate to the freshly sealed up and painted C6




Made some C notches to be welded into the rear frame



And the biggest change in plans is I've decided to go with the Dakota kit over a M2, Steve at Industral Chassi did a great job at selling me on their product and I pulled all my donor parts of a 92 dakota I drug home this week!



My order for the Dakota kit will be placed real soon and the fun work will finally commence!!