One of the nuts in my inner fender china junk came loose and just spun so I had to split open the metal that held it and put a nut on it. Some kinda fun when it's already installed and powdercoated.

I'm almost positive you can get that tilt to fit.

Truck is lookin good.

 

Yeah, I dont know. The only generic body panels on the whole truck and they are the center for alignment. I guess oh well, they seemed to work out. Well I went to the junkyard and got a tilt wheel column for $75. Suprisingly no gorillas were climbing in and out of the truck so the bearings are still good in it.



It ended up being an automatic but oh well, heck I cant recall ever seeing manual tranny tilt wheel any way. Also it has cruise control, so any idea how rare it is? So I got it home and began modificating.


So I tore it all apart and decided to make it look like a manual column. So I cut pulled the shift collar off and started to hack it all up. I cut the PRND21 off and sanded it smooth.

Then I smooted up the hole where the indicator for what gear you were in was at.

Then I cut the hole up where the shifter used to go and flattened it all out. Then I put a nut inside the hole to mount my tach which will cover the old shifter hole up.

Then I sanded it all smooth and prepped it for paint. Mabye next week I`ll put it all back together and install it.
Also while at the junkyard I found a silver instrumen cluster for $10, suprisingly out of the same truck as the steering column. So I took out the old OIL indicator light and put in a FAN indicator for my electric fan. And thats about it for this week. Also I was thinking of putting in intermittent wipers and was wondering what all that would require. I heard its just a small wiring harness, switch and black box?

 

Well I havent been doing too much work on the truck lately but I did get the steering column rebuilt. I ground down the shift lever housing down and mounted the tack there. Then I grond the PRND21 off. Then I painted it and reinstalled it. Now I just have to play the waiting game with the body shop... again...



You can still somewhat see where the old indicators were but you have to look for them.

 

Well I havent been doing too much here, just waiting for a hood..... Anyways though I did get some new tires.
I found a set of older style military goodyear tires (36x12.5x16.5)
Now I just need to find a new set of jeans with the crotch not ripped out of...

 

Good job on the steering column, I did the same thing to mine.

They did produce a Tilt Column for the manual **** trucks, but they are a mixture of hen's teeth and diamonds....... I got lucky and one of my parts trucks had one.

Keep up the good work man.

 

I think it's cool you are running the RTIIs as well. I think they just complete the old school look these trucks need. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks, I think these RTIIs really make these trucks look cool. BTW how loud are those tires going down the road?

Well I have been doing some work lately and lots of waiting... The bodyshop finally called after 7 months of waiting to say the hood I sent down was garbage and we needed to get another, WTF..... Anyways though I finally got some old blade wheels for my truck and polished them all out. I also painted the backsides to protect from corrosion.






Well I also mounted the rocker panel chrome on the cab corners. So I got out the big 7/16in. bit and began drilling. After I drilled the bottom hole, little rust particles just began to pour out. Is it common for this much rust to build up in these old trucks in the cab corners? Also what is a good rust converter to spray up in here to prevent any more rusing.




Heres the pile of rust from the cab corner

 

Well I got some more progress done here. I installed that hood the body shop wanted. It alligned up not too bad. I think I`m getting pretty good at lining these things up. Heck its only the third hood I`ve done for this truck . Well I got my blade wheels mounted up and looking good. I did run into one snafu though. I need to order longer wheel studs now because the aluminum wheel is thicker.

 

Wow. Your truck has come a long way. It should be really sharp when you're done.

 

Nice rig, keep up the progress, I like the old school tire/rim set up. I'm also happy to find out that I have some hens teeth. My 79 mudder is a 4 spd with a tilt wheel......

 

Trucks lookin really good, its an awsome feeling seeing everything come together. I see your from Indiana, I'm up near Dubois. If ya ever need anything, I have a small stock pile myself and usually have the inventory at the local u pull it memorized lol

Keep up the good work bud.

 

Are you sure you don't need a different style lug nut?

maybe like this.
Cragar 27723-4 - Cragar Wheel Lug Nuts - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

Well, my truck had wind noise, and a bedliner floor, so it is hard to say what you will experience, but I definitely heard them. however, at 60, the wind noise was as loud as the tires, so it didn't matter.

 

Nice job on the truck. Just getting started on my 77 f150 project up here in Mansfield Pa. You had asked about rust proofing spray for inside your cab corners. I had my 2011 superduty done a few weeks ago at a body shop and he used a brown colored spray that penetrates like oil then turns hard like wax. sorry i dont know the name of the spray. i am going to use this stuff on my 77 when i get that far.

 

I`ll have to look into that. I saw some rust converter spray at the local A&G I think I`m gonna try.



Thanks, I`ll have to keep you in mind then, also I got the 73-79 inventory at the Millerstown memorized lol.



Well thanks for all the kind comments and I finally have some good news here. I finally found a painter that said he will actually paint the truck. The only catch is that I have to take my tires off and put the 31`s back on so it will fit in the paint booth.

So I tore all the chrome off it and should be able to send it out over the weekend, and by next weekend have it painted. So this truck might finally be getting near done.