BlackTruck Build 65

[JeffinMooresville]

Pulled the bed off to work on the gas tank. 1st thing is the rear crossmember has to go. Friggin rivets, I swear removing frame rivets has been the most difficult part of this build. I SHOULD have removed this when I was working on frame, but didn’t.



Ok, 3 hours later ... was able to place the tank. I was looking for side fill, and saw someone on the site had put a tank in from Tanks.inc, so I went that route. I think is is model for a 51 Chevrolet.



It this position, it is sitting on the bottom frame rails, and I had to slide back to clear the center rib of the bed... I may look at mounting to the bottom of the frame rails with a small spacer, so I can can slide forward closer to the center crossmember.



I will have to cut a hole in the frame to run the filler tube and to a new filler door to be installed on rear bed side behind fender well. Also, has in tank pump, but the indent is facing toward rear, so i will have to run gas line to rear and around then down frame rail. This must have been facing other direction on the Chevy car is was designed for.

Also did some work striping the cab to get ready for paint. Removed back glass



And have windshield ready to pull, just need second pair of hands.

[FarmMotorSports]

So how many gal is that tank?
It looks bigger than a 16 gal stainless mustang tank I installed.
If I were to do it over I would use the 19gal 70's stang tank.

If I remember correctly, I reinstalled the rear crossmember up side down for clearance of the tank flange and the fact the downward bow partially protected the rear of the tank...

As for the side fill... I did a 1 3/4" body lift. Between, that and the natural gap of the floor to the frame. The side fill was a snap to install.

[JeffinMooresville]

It is a 16 gallon, they make an 18 gallon, just a little taller.

https://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page ... prd799.htm

[JeffinMooresville]

With some help from good friends, was able to make some progress this weekend. Kind of all over the place. I have so many different things to do, and they are dependent on other things happening... oh well.

popped the cab off to make it easier to test fit motor and transmission.



Got cab pretty well stripped down hopefully will be ready for blasting and bodywork soon, still working on selecting painter.

Motor and transmission dropped in nicely, trans kit came with new cross member, so got that in place as a temporary. Because I don’t have final stance (wheels tires and final suspension setup, I am hesitant to lock in trans /engine angle.





Ok, so now move back to the tank. I want to make sure that I don’t interfere with bumper mounting, and also My f100 restoration expert suggested that I use the rear number to keep the spacing / alignment since I pulled the rear crossmember.. sure enough it had pinched in about 1/2”

First, get the bumper operational, when I pulled it, there were a couple of the carriage bolts that I could not get to that were rusted. Thank God and Hobart for the plasma cutter.



So I ran a couple of 1/2 x 2” rectangular tube on bottom of each side of frame rails. This created a pocket to hold the tank, and also dropped enough to allow me to push the tank toward the center cross member. I will be able to attach included stamps to that cross member, and will have to add new cross member in back to connect the straps. Should also leave room to access existing bolts in back for bumper, bed etc.

[JeffinMooresville]

Wheels and tires came in, Doug gave me a hand to put the bed on to check clearance.

[JeffinMooresville]

Found a great guy to do paint that is to some local help from my truck buddies. Sent the cab out for blasting, and so much for the perfect cab plan. There was evidently multiple thick lacquer paint jobs over the years that hid some areas that needed work. Overall , Cab is still in pretty good shape, wil just require a little bodywork.

[grump]

Over all that's not bad condition for the cab. That cowl and the last photo will be interesting to repair, I'm not sure what you call the piece in the last photo but I had to repair both sides on my 66 what a pain but you'll be able to handle it. I'll be watching to see how you manage.

[JeffinMooresville]

I am the slowest fabricator on earth, but I have picked up a few new tools and getting better results on my metal work. I really need a metal miter saw so I can get clean square cuts on tubing etc.

I am working on mocking up a frame for the gas tank I bought. I needed a little spacing to keep the tank under the bed, so I am making a bracket to bolt under frame and will use the metal straps to hold tank against the bracket.



The bottom of the truck frame is not flat , so I used a piece of 3/4 square tube in front to offset the gap and used some existing holes in frame to bolt in.



I used a larger piece of rectangular tube in the back to use to bolt the hanging straps. I am going to make a little L bracket and use the bumper bracket bolt to attach. See the flat 1/2” x 2” tube under the frame, that is the spacer I needed for bed clearance.





The fill is on right side, so my plan is to take thru the rear frame and then to new gas door on the side of bed.



It is a little snug, but I think it will work, then have to figure out how to run fill hose to the new door. Now get it all welded up and make it purty.

[JeffinMooresville]

Big day for the 65 project, went and picked up Cab from painter and got it mounted on frame.



Have a little issue with the bed sitting right with the QA1 suspension kit, but I think it is going to be fine… I might need to shim the bed up 1/4” or so. But mock up seemed to line up nice.



I did satin black on underside and floor. See the cutout for the trans cover to simplify trans/shifter install.



Now I can start running brake lines and fuel lines, get the steering column installed and start new wiring.

[SteveCanup]

Man! That thing is looking SWEET! I love the green! NICE!

[grump]

Lookin good. I agree with Steve, that green looks good.

[JeffinMooresville]

Thanks guys,

I am happy with how the color turned out. Something a little different. Now I can start the reassembly, going to start with brake and fuel lines. A LOT of details.

[Jerry D]

I'm kind of partial to the green myself... hehe

What particular green did you go with?

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi Jerry,

I ended up with a Chevrolet color from 2013 called fairway green metallic. I wanted a dark green color with a lot of metallic and after a few options and spray ups, this was the one I liked the best.

Interesting enough, my 63 blue and black truck was originally dark green (holly green). I wanted to pick a Ford color, but could not find a dark green metallic that was right.

Jeff L

[JeffinMooresville]

Now that the Cab is on the frame, I can start to reassemble. With this build, I want everything to be purty so that means cleanup and painting of everything before it goes back on.

I set up a temporary spray booth in the shop.



Here is windshield wiper mechanism before and after.





A Lille elbow grease and rattle can makes a big difference. While I am waiting on paint to dry, I have started to dry fit the new engine parts. The truck did not have an engine when I bought, so I found a 351w and had engine guy build for me. He had painted it Ford Blue, but I didn’t know what that would look like in Green Truck, so I repainted the block new Ford Gray. Valve covers are temporary to keep the dust out, new ones are with paint guy and will be green.

[JeffinMooresville]

Started to install up brake lines, had some brake line pieces left over so did some initial mock-up.



Also upgraded flaring tool, works great so far. Also will do the 37 degree AN flares, so I can use for Fuel lines.

[grump]

Is that the Eastwood unit. I bought one of the Eastwood units and it worked very well for me.

[JeffinMooresville]

Yep, Eastwood unit… been happy so far.

[ohmthis]

That color is great! I love dark metallic colors. I need to look at that flaring tool, I like the idea of an all in one flare tool. Is it pretty easy to use? You asked about wiring suggestions in the beginning of your thread. After a lot of research, I plan on using a 9+3 kit from Rebel wire (I have no affiliation with them, I like the kits). Keep up the great work!

[JeffinMooresville]

Slow progress on the truck, but making a little progress. Got the pedal assembly painted and put back together and mocked up the brake master linkage. Also got the hydraulic clutch actuator installed. Looks like I am going to have to refine the linkage to pedal, but otherwise seems to fit well and does not have any clearance issues with brake master.



I also put the steering column back in, and discovered that it sits lower in the opening than anticipated, so I will have to do some work on brake lines to get out of the way.





Steering wheel position seems to be good and actually allows for the seat to be moved up a bit off the rear wall of cab. I am using a smaller repro wheel 15” off of a galaxy or something that provides a little fat boy clearance.



I am going to at least mock up the gas pedal and e-brake handle and then take it all back off and put the fat-Matt stuff on the inside of firewall before final install.