Yes, I am finally tearing into the '71!

After several months of ownership, I finally dug in to the '71 with the help of my grease monkey daughter. We pulled the front seat and floor mats out to inspect just how much rust we had. So far it appears that the rust has been limited to the floorboards, front cab mounts, and one cab support under the driver side seat. The rockers, cab corners and back half of the floor board all appear solid.

Nikki's going to snap some pictures tomorrow of what it looks like so I can get everyone's expert opinions.

After decoding the VIN tag, I made some discoveries. It was made in October of 1970 at the Michigan Assembly plant for the St. Louis region. It arrived at the dealer with the 360 FE and three on the tree. If the rear axle is stock, it has a nice street friendly 3.50 gear set in it.

Here's my plan...
1. Repair the rusted out sections and get the cab sitting square on the frame again.

2. Replace the inner fenders and maybe the outer ones if I find a good set. The outers aren't bad, but if I can find a better set in good shape, I'm grabbing them. Rich - I'm planning on having cash on hand when we hit your junkyard.

3. Brakes - everything.

4. Clutch.

5. Tie rod ends

6. Door & window seals.

7. New windshield

8. Tires (maybe wheels if I find some nice ones)

9. Whatever else is needed to pass inspection

10. Tune up engine and start enjoying

After that, I'll start slowly getting the odds and ends sorted out with the ultimate goal of getting it to paint.

 

Dave sounds like a great plan and that is the 1st thing you have to have. Next is a helper and a moral support system, you have your daughter for the helper and us for the other, so go for it.

I will be back right before x mas, (unless you are planning a trip up here soon) and will be more than ready to help ya. But it you are getting ansy to get to it, Jeff and Alan know right where the JY is at.

Or it pretty easy to find and they are really easy folks to deal with, I haggle every price. I think that red truck (on the back row next to the blue 79 bronco on its passenger side) has some good front fenders?? And hopefully a dvrs side floor pan??

 

Can't wait to see the pictures. Sounds like you have a good game plan.

 

I'm cool waiting until you get back Rich. I really want to go through the cab pretty good to make sure there's no surprises later on. I can always start messing with the brakes or the clutch if I get too ansy.

 

You got 24 hours to post pics or it did not happen!

 

Yeah Yeah Ches. Geez - what a nag.

 

Only cause I care. Glad you got a start on it!

 

sounds good dave... if i can help any you know where i live..

 

All right everyone, I know that you've been chopping at the bit to see some pictures. My daughter was supposed to take pictures today, but she forgot to. I went out with a drop light and my cell phone to snap a few to appease the masses.















Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, but things don't look as bad as they could.

RC - the seat is still in great condition. I don't plan on doing a thing to it.

 

Wow at least the rockers are still good, whats it like under the small aluminium strip? Especially on the passenger side, the rust looks awfully close to it in the upper r/h side of the pic.

We will sawzall the complete bottom half of the truck for you if need be.

 

I'm planning on trying to pull those in the next couple of days when I have time. I'm really hoping that the rockers are sound under there. I'll post new pictures when I do.

 

Uh, oh. I hope you can trim that floor pan to fit. It looks more like the '66 floor than the dent floor.

 

yea dave sure is more rust than i really thought..but aint it always.... but i have seen and repaired worse..check out my 51 ford


51 ford project pictures by rcplumley - Photobucket

but a little work and sheet metal can make a big difference

 

The floor pan I got from Bob is supposed to fit '67 to '79 Ford trucks. I'll try setting in there just to see what it looks like soon. I assume that it will need trimming and massaging - aftermarket body panels usually do. You already know volumes more on that subject than I do though.

 

I took a few minutes this evening to remove the door trim and shoot some pictures of the rockers.

Driver's side






Passenger Side




Not too pretty there at the front... It looks like I'm going to need to graft in part of the door frame too.

I apologize for the fuzzy pictures. The tremors in my hands have been getting progressively worse and it makes taking pictures with the cell phone pretty rough.