Well I picked up a MIG / flux core welder last week and have been spending most of my time patching the rust on my project (57 f100). So far it's going really well. I haven't gotten to the welding supply yet to get a bottle of argon / co2 so i'm trying out the flux core stuff. Not too bad, for stitching patches in like i'm doing it works well enough. I can see my work getting progressively better each patch i do, which is good lol. Just wanted to throw up some pics. There are a few entries in my journal too about this latest endeavor.
I'll try and keep this, and my journal, up to date with my progress. Another week or so and I should have all the patch work except for the cab and bed done!
Okay well the summer heat got the best of me and I've sat around a bit but finally got back to work. I've gotten the patch work done on everything but the hood, cab and bed. I've put more pictures in my journal. I should be able to get the body finished (except final paint) by the end of the summer. Which I guess isn't too bad for a summer. I have to pull the cab yet and blasted it but I think there will be quite a bit of work involved with patching it.
So far i think everything has gone smoothly. It's all been a learning process, but this is the first time I've done this sort of stuff with out any supervision so considering that I'm pretty happy with myself. I'll be even happier when those stitch welds are covered with something... Not the prettiest thing I've ever done.
Looks good. Don't skip the test fit on the door bottoms. I put doors on while I am progressing. It does not take too much of an error to cause a fit that won't adjust by using the hinge bolts.
Looks like a lot of work. That will keep you busy for sure.
I like the 57s. The 58-60 had the 4 headlights which I am not too fond of.
I just read through your journal. What are the eventual plans for the truck? Stock, mild build, all out hotrod, other?
You are a lot further along than I am. I have not even started on the body yet. I have just done a lot of mechanical stuff since I bought mine 2 1/2 years ago.
I was told they welded in several patch panels in mine. It looks ok now, but who knows when I start stripping it. I may need to take a sawzall to it.
I will be sure to test fit the doors, thank you for the reminder. I wasn't even thinking about that. I'll end up test assembling and mocking up the truck a few times before it's all said and done but I had better check those doors before I throw the primer on them. Good thinking.
I'm a big fan of the 57's too, single head lights are the way to go lol. The work has gone pretty quickly so far. Plans are to pick up a crown vic, 2002 or so, police interceptor. Pull out the front suspension and engine. Retro fit those in to the truck and put the crown vic's 8.8 inch rear end under the back. That way I get a 4.6L V8, Independent front suspension, and a limited slip with 3.27 gears in the back for a pretty low sticker price.
I'm going for a resto mod of sorts. Stock exterior for the most part. The suspension change should be a pretty good fit, i've seen a few later model trucks done in similar fashion (60's era trucks) and the end result is a bit lower stance which should fit pretty well. It should end up being a really classy looking old truck, it's a stepside, with all the modern amenities. Using the cop car should keep prices reasonable and give me a nice starting point. More importantly, almost all of the truck's mechanical parts will be replaced with "new" parts that are readily available from places like autozone.
I'll have to go back to school this fall and spring so as far as getting the donor car, that will likely have to wait until next summer. That gives me plenty of time to get the body all ready and get a good plan laid out.
I know that it probably would have been easier to go the other direction, mechanical first, but it just wasn't in the cards. Thankfully the truck is pretty easy to take apart, i've done it several times over the past few years lol.
Thanks for looking over my post and journal, I really appreciate it!!! Hopefully I'll have some more pics to post tomorrow of these parts in primer
Sounds like you have a good plan in the works. :thumbup: Keep us updated on your build.
Mine was sort of an accident as far as the mechanical. I wanted a hotrod. I guess most people would call it a restomod. Similar lines as you are planning. Donor 5.0 H.O. EFI-MAF, 5 speed, IFS, 4 link 9". That didn't happen.
I ended up with an almost stock running 56. After going to the 2006 F-100 Supernationals in Knoxville, TN I decided to leave it stock as long as I can keep it running.
Out of 1,600 trucks registered, I counted 4 flatheads and 4 Y-blocks. Not many stock ones left and I can't bear to hack it up.
I have done a lot of repair work and some modifications since I have owned it, but mostly it just gets driven.
If mine was more complete, with respect to some of the original emblems and what not I would have gone for a restoration. That and parts for 57's and that generation are really hard to find.
If you can't login to start a journal shoot Jon a PM about it, give him your username, the password you want to use, and explain your problem. I had to do that too. It seems like a lot of people have that problem. I hope you can get it going, I'd love to see some pics of your ride! Is yours a factory V8? Pretty cool if so, I'm stuck with an old 223 I6 so my resto wouldn't have been nearly as cool anyway lol.
I will PM him and ask. I posted in the question forum with no reply (so far).
Yes..mine is the 272 Y-block V8, 3 speed standard (column shift), and the original rear end (3.73 gears).
I installed a power brake booster, dual resivour master cylinder, and a vacuum canister under the cab. It has a headliner and carpet. Oh...and autometer gauges. Other than those..it is basically stock.
I don't want to post huge pics in your thread, but I will link you to a couple.
wow! your interior looks great! Mine was all torn apart, with faux fur for a headliner, oh yeah, the ladies loved that :thumbup:
To be honest, doing my interior is the part of the project that I'm the least sure of. Actually hotrod mag just did a big article on interior tips and tricks so there's plenty of info out there lol
I like your instrument cluster too, have you restored that, or does it still look that good after all these years? It looks like I'm going to have to weld up the holes in my old dash insert. Cut new, bigger ones, and put in the new gauges when the time comes. The original ones were so tiny lol.
If i were lucky enough to have a y block in mine i would be going the restoration route as well
I did not do the carpet, seat, or headliner. I have no clue if the cluster has been restored or is stock. Everything works in it though. Well..except the ones I unhooked to put the gauges in. The speedometer seems to be correct as well.
That seat is supposed to be the original one. I will add some foam when I take the truck apart for body work. Right now it is the old springs, burlap, and vinyl. On long trips it is literally a pain in the butt!
I did not want to cut the dash for the gauges. I had my dad (works in a steel fab shop) make me some mounts that fasten in...under the dash. No holes!
A friend of mine in TN is supposed to finish some door panels (some rich guy rejected) for the cost of shipping this winter. Their shop is buried in boat interiors right now.
Other than paint (when I get around to it), the interior wil be finished with the door panels.
Thanks for the pics! Glad you sent jon an email, it bugged the heck out of me that I couldn't get my journal going... Hope it works as smoothly for you as i did for me.
I'll be moving the gas tank out of the cab and putting it up under the chassis. Should make room for more fun things inside the truck. It looks like the headliner is very similar to the type that would fit mine, though surly not the same. It's nice to see one in a truck, should be a good reference for later.
I believe you cab is wider inside than mine. Mine has the running boards outside. I think they are similar size front to back.
Just as a point of reference...the ranger (small truck) seats fit perfectly in the cabs of the 53-56 F-100 (and larger trucks).
I am dreading trying to remove all that stuff (without destroying it) when it comes time to paint the inside. No clue how the headliner is fastened in. The carpet and back wall is glued down.
I don't think I said that very clearly. They fit the 53-56 cabs. The F-100 up to the F-600 use the same cab. I was just trying to give you an idea of how wide the older cabs are. I think yours is wider.
Oh...I have a couple of questions. I will PM you in a few minutes.
Well, like I had hoped I got some painting done. It really makes the parts with patches look a lot better. I put it on really thick over the patches so that I could start to mask those places a little before bondo. It's coming along, just have to keep making progress. Made a few more entries in my journal.
thanks! School starts back up near the end of August so i've got some time before i have to back up and head back. I think I can get a good deal more done before then. Hopefully I'll be able to get pretty much everything except the final color coats done on the body before then. That would be a very nice start for next summer
It threatened to rain all day here so working on the truck was pretty much out of the question. I did manage to chase some flash rust that had developed on the remaining front fender. I guess I might have waited a bit to long before priming. No big deal though, got it all cleaned up and weather permitting I'll be priming it tomorrow.
I'm also thinking that I'll pick up some brush / roll on bed liner and start coating the undersides of the fenders and the insides of the doors. I saw today that walmart has some stuff that looks almost exactly like herculiner for half the price. It's called plastikote, or something like that, so i figure what the heck, i'll give it a shot right. Unless of course anyone has had bad experiences with the stuff... From what i've read pretty much all the problems with do it yourself liner product can be attributed to poor surface prep.
Found some more motivation and got to work nice and early this morning. I primed the other fenders a few days ago. I just have the passenger door, hood, and grille to prime, but they'll need a little patch work first.
I moved the truck out of it's enclosure and next to my garage this morning so i could finish taking out the interior and get ready to take the bed and cab off the frame. That went pretty quickly considering the only piece of the interior that was still in was the seat... But i went ahead and cleared out some other little things while i was at it.
I added some pictures to my journal. It sure was nice to see the truck in the sunlight again! Makes me remember how much I like this thing
I might try and get some patches done this afternoon and put some pictures of that up later.
No clue on the holes in the front of the hood...unless somone had a home made slide hammer with a larger screw. I have one in the garage with a 5 pound slide that we made years ago for something.
I'll do some looking and see what mirror designs seem right. I don't think i'll be going with something very large though. It had those massive foot long ones that mount top and bottom... Made the truck look like Dumbo lol.
I spent about 12 hours today working on the cab. Cleaning it out, sandblasting some places, etc. The inside steps are a disaster. There was about an inch of bondo over top of them, and a two inch wide hole that runs diagonally across the whole step. It's going to take a bit more to fix that up than i was expecting. Lucky i'm not on any sort of deadline. I'm going to get the cab ready to come off tomorrow and see if my dad and I can't figure out some way to hoss that off and in to the garage so I can start reconstructing some stuff. We pulled the bed off a few minuets ago so it should be just a frame in no time!
At least one of the cab to frame mounts is rusted away (on the cab side) so I really need to get to the underside of the cab to fix it.
I think we're going to lay the cab on it's back in the garage so that the bottom is exposed while I fix all that. I'm still unsure of how we're going to get it off the frame, that sucker is heavy... Any ideas?
I'm exhausted... maybe an early bed time for me tonight... :thumbup:
There are several options to lift cabs that I have seen around here. The easiest is to use an engine hoist inside the cab. Place a thick board across the door openings and strap everything down well.
I will see if I can find a pic of one done that way somewhere.
As far as working on the cab inside...I saw a guy make a cab rotisserie out of lumber. It worked well. I will look for that pic as well.
Brian ~
That would be great. I'm probably go to Harbor Freight soon and pick up an engine lift. Just something I've been meaning to do for a while. My biggest problem is that I've only got one garage bay, so I'm going to have to get the cab off in the gravel driveway. I guess I can always get a sheet of plywood to act as a smooth surface. If you can find those pictures they would be greatly appreciated!!!
I am not having much luck finding those pics. I did find a metal cab rotisserie.
I will keep looking.
The wood one bolted across the door in a similar fashion and used a pipe to rotate around. The door pieces had a larger pipe for the cross pipe to turn in. They also had a nut welded in them for a bolt to lock the position.
The ends were just supported by lumber rather than steel.
Oh...if you get the HF lift...get the heavier one. The cab weighs a lot and the small one will bend.
Here is the one I got from Sam's club. They received a pretty good review around here. The jack did not though.
I've done it that way for years. My engine crane has a 3/8" thick plate welded on top of the beam in a vertical position. It has a "keyhole" for the chain to be adjustable. But that plate comes in handy for cab lifting because it gets a bite in the wood beam, so that things don't slip as the angle of the boom changes during lifting.
The first time I lifted one off and rolled it off the frame, it sure looked unsafe due to it swinging so freely, but it really is quite safe as I have tested it many times
One thing worth adding is I do have weights nearby as sometimes the plank won't fit in the perfect balance point; so I just add weight in the cab, on the floor.
The 56 cab (no clue on yours) has the balance point up close to the front edge of the doors. That is a bare cab...no glass or interior.
I am still not finding those pics. They may be saved on my parents computer. I will have to check when I go out there again. Sorry.
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