I've had my "New Lime" 70 F100 Custom for a little over a year now and it's time to start a build thread. This rig was sold to me by a former co-worker who was gonna turn it into the local air district for $650 cuz that's how much they offer for pre-smog cars and trucks to take them off the road. In any case, I couldn't bear to see another vintage Ford sent to the scrap yard so instead it is now in my yard - side yard that is.

The plan is to build this as a low-buck street truck and spending money only when I have to - like new brake pads, brake hoses, king pins, and other parts where it makes sense to buy new. Otherwise, it'll be refurbished wrecking yard or swap meet parts for the most part. I plan to deviate from the low-buck theme with some high-dollar systems like EFI and a 5-speed transmission only cuz I wanna see how much MPG I can squeeze out of a 360FE with only 70K miles (It's still a baby!). Besides, I can always swap it into my other rides if I feel the need.

The rig was sold out of Idaho and has a Salt Lake City DSO. It came to California in the late 90s and I am the first owner outside of the original owners' family who only used it for camping and hauling duties hence the relatively low mileage. I have verified by speaking to the grand daughter who sold it to me and it makes sense given the originality of the parts that are on it. Besides the low mileage, another nice thing is it already had power steering retrofitted to it.

The bad? Roof rot and general surface rust. The rust I can deal with - not a big deal. I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude with the roof rot - I might patch it or go whole hog and graft a donor roof to it. I'm not too concerned with how it looks right now but the mechanicals and engine compartment will be clean and well detailed.

THE PLAN
(Parts marked with a "*" denotes that I already have the parts - I've been touring the wrecking yards at least monthly since I bought the truck!)

Suspension, Steering, & Brakes
DJM Dream Beams* ... new from Summit.
Rear spring hangar flip. If it doesn't work out, then it's a Fatman Fabrications axle flip kit.
New Bilstein shocks
78 F150 radius arms* and new radius arm bushings*
Power disc brake swap using a 78 F150 spindles* and 75 MC booster* and MC*
New wheel bearings and seals*
Rebuilt calipers and new pads and hoses
78 F150 front springs*... Mine are sagged and the rig only has 2.25 inches of travel.
New kingpins*.. had them fitted about a week ago.
New Moog tie rods* & drag link*
1-1/8-inch OEM front sway bar*.. got it off a 79 Supercab Camper Special
3/4-inch ADDCO rear sway bar*.. got it off a 72 F100

Wheels & Tires
Stock 15-inch front wheels* with 215/70-15 Radial TAs
Wheel Vintiques Series 62 15x8 rear wheels* with 275/60-15 Radial TAs
Dog dish hubcaps*.. $1.50 each!!

Drive Train - Engine, Transmission, and Rear Axle
Stage 1
Open element air cleaner*.. take off from my 73.
Edelbrock Performer intake manifold PN 2105
Summit 600 CFM carburetor
Flowtech headers
2.25-inch mandrel bent tubing
Flowmaster Series 40 mufflers*.. take offs from my 73
130-amp 3G alternator* (Done).. off a 95 Mustang with a 3.8L
Lincoln Mark VIII electric fan* with two-speed controller
Auxiliary battery system*.. got it off a 79 Camper Special

Stage 2
FAST EZ-EFI fuel injection

Stage 3
Tremec TKO-500 5-speed transmission with 0.68 OD
QuickTime FE bellhousing
Zoom, Centerforce or McLeod Clutch
4.11 rear gears with a Lock-Rite or Powertraxx locker
Nostalgia Air A/C (?).. we'll see how it goes.

Stage 4
Auxiliary fuel tank. The unused fuel doors on the bed sides stay for now.

Exterior
Jr. West Coast mirrors*
Shaved emblems except "FORD" and the ID plates mounted to the hood.
Shaved rear reflectors (Done)
Shaved stake pockets
Wheel well trim
Tail light trim* ($6, Done)
LMC rear roll pan* and rear bumper delete.. already deleted the 70 lb. anchor.
Bolt-on Class III hitch
Snake eye headlights with integral amber turn signals* used as daytime running lights.
Power antenna.
Paint!? - Maybe a roll-on Rustoleum job or Summit's 2K paint system. Or maybe it stays f'ugly with some faux speed shop door art.

Interior
69-70 Mustang high-back bucket seats on custom brackets
15-inch Formula GT steering wheel*... installed
New carpet*
AM/FM radio*
Dynamat, Fatmat,or equivalent sound insulation
Autometer SportComp tachometer* ($20)
Autometer SportComp oil pressure, water temp, and voltage gauges

Without further delay, here are Day One pics of the victim:





I'll post the costs of what I have done so far and the costs with each update.

And so the journey begins in earnest........

 

Guluk bro.




John

 

What he said...

 

Subscribed. I love watching build threads.

 

HAVE FUN !!!

 

Looks like a fun build!

 

This is for a 28 spline 9"? I would get the no-slip over the lock-wrong. The lock-rite uses the stock side gears, thus, they don't have a smooth ratchet sounding slip, they go CLANK-CLANK-CLANK through the drive shaft and rear end, making it sound like something is broke every time you turn. I'm pulling the lock-wrong out and replacing it with the no-slip unless I go with a full carrier locker.

 

Thanks for your input on the Lock-Rite. I'll keep that in mind.

 

I'll subscribe to this it looks like a fun build. Try to hit up Craigslist for a locker. You never know you may find a Detroit in there somewhere. And if you are lazy like me and don't want to search individual listings use statewidelist.com. Oh an do the bucket conversion first lol. I wanna see the custom brackets get built. Make sure you post a ton I pictures of all the work you do on everything, I'm sure everybody will appreciate it.

 

What he said X2! I will be reading also but I like pics better!

 

Thanks for the statewidelist site. I didn't know about that. Bookmarked!

As to the bucket seat brackets, yer gonna have to be patient! . Heck, I don't even have the seats yet! The swap meet season is just starting so I'll be on the lookout... but I may get lucky at the wrecking yard later today.

Btw, I saved the shop drawings for the repro brackets and will use that for the basis.

Tons of pics? You bet... It'll eventually go into a build book.

 

So I bought the rig for $650 but the owner also provided the parts he bought thinking he was gonna start refreshing the truck. With the truck I got a black carpet (still in the box), a new turn signal switch, newly installed left and right grill inserts, a Grant Formula GT steering wheel and adapter kit.

The first thing I did was to cut off the 70-lb rear bumper. My brother gave me his unused LMC rollpan and found some clean tail light bezels. I also removed the cracked rear end reflectors and welded the holes closed. Surface rust on the rear end was ground out and primed with a sealer. The rollpan is in storage for now.


Last November, I did the 3G swap and am getting 14.6 Volts at idle. Total cost about $43:




The Wheel Vintiques Series 62 15x8 rear wheel shown wearing a dogdish hubcap ($83 for each wheel). I'm using the stock front wheels. Thanks to WilliamWilliam for his help in deciding on my wheel and tire combo.


In early January, I replaced the bad turn signal switch and installed the new steering wheel. It has PS so the 17-inch cracked and nasty OEM wheel is unnecessary. Cost savings? $120!:


Some of my JY finds:
Front sway bars. The top is an ADDCO unit, the bottom is from a Dentside. Also got a 3/4-inch rear sway bar (not pictured)..$30 each. I'm gonna go with the Dentside version so the ADDCO sway bar is for sale. PM me if yer interested.


Dogdish hubcaps ($1.50 each), a pair of foglights ($10 pair), a 90-degree adapter for my 4WD Dent ($5), an OEM 4 bbl carb spacer ($5), auxiliary battery tray ($7) and solenoid ($4 and it works!), and a 79 Dentside throttle rod to ditch the "trapeze" linkage ($2). Everything was 50% off at the yard that day.


Here are the 78 F150 spindles with the newly fitted kingpins:


And the '75 brake booster (needs paint) and refinished booster bracket:


Now you're caught up...

 

Awesome Job so far!

 

Looking forward to watching your progress. Love the wheels.

 

You scored on some good stuff. BTW, what is the 3G swap?