1966 Ford F100 Camper Special
VIN: F10BK807300
300 Straight Six, Borg T18, 2WD, 3.50 gearing, Wimbledon White
Manufactured in Kansas City Jan-1966
Took Ownership on March 6, 2014



This truck was given to me by a friend's family. The father had taken possession of it after the second owner took it out to live in Wyoming for many years. Their father, the previous owner, passed away last week. They didn't know what to do with the truck but knew they didn't want it to end up as scrap. I decided that it would make a great project and could ultimately be my weekend work truck. They were very excited to pass it on to a good home.

Total spent on this truck to date: $599.22

 

Photos

 

The truck has been sitting since ~2007. Tonight, we threw a new coil, new condenser, and new points at her in hopes of getting a spark. After some tense moments and finding a proper feeler gauge, she roared to life on starter fluid. One of the coolest things I've ever experienced.



On my way home (the truck is still in the previous owner's yard) I picked up a new fuel pump and fuel line. The pump that's on there was puking fuel everywhere, along with the carb. I'll rebuild the carb at a later time....or just replace it.

That's all for now. More planned for tomorrow and this weekend. I have a trailer setup to get it home on Saturday.

 

Beautiful. I have a 1976 F 100. I'll be checking your threads out on here and on reddit.
The f-100 is awesome! I can't help but smile every time I drive it!

 

Thanks, Jeff. I hope that I'll get to drive mine soon. Keep checking back for updates.

 

The night started with cleaning her out - the bed and the cab. The bed had a rubber mat with leaves/dirt/trash on top of it. You may also refer to it as a moisture barrier that trapped the water from evaporating. Yikes.



Next up was trying to get her running on her own power. I installed the new fuel pump, but she still coughed and stuttered. I ran down the road and grabbed some new spark plugs and a new rotor button. Tapped the started and she roared to life with no drama. Good truck is good!



I went ahead and loaded up all the other extra bits that came with her. I can now say I've picked up a small block.



We were going to leave the truck at the edge of their driveway and trailer it home in the morning. We left to go have dinner and decided that this truck should drive itself home. It did. With no clutch. Marginal brakes. One headlight. And after sitting for nearly a decade.

She's so willing.

 

You'll hear me refer to the truck as both Nubs and she. The previous owner called the truck Nubs. I don't name my vehicles, so I'll sometimes just refer to the truck as she. Just go with it


Well she got a bath this morning. It's definitely been a minute since the last one. I used this time to evaluate the truck more closely.



-all of the wheels are rusted and all the tires are dry-rot and leaking air
-the bed floor is nearly completely rusted out
-the driver's side floor is completely rusted out
-the passenger side floor is fairly rusty
-the front window is cracked and leaking
-the passenger side window is busted out
-the gas tank is filled with bad gas
-the rear bumper is home-made
-the front bumper is fairly bent up
-the driver's side fender is dented in pretty badly
-the clutch is stuck/seized
-the bench seat is out of a much newer vehicle
-the radio doesn't work
-missing a headlight
-the brakes are lacking
-the emergency brake doesn't work

I believe this is pretty much my list of to-dos. For now, anyway.
The clutch, wheels/tires, and brakes are priority.

 

Tonight I cleaned out the interior some more and removed the fuel tank. There were 5-10 gallons of horribly stinky gas left in it. I can only assume it's been in there since around 2006. That's approximately 8 years. Gross.

I have three tanks sitting in my lawn. All are rusted and stinky. LMC wants $300 for a new tank and filler neck. Looks like I need to start saving my pennies.

I ordered an AMS clutch, from RockAuto, on Monday. It should be here tomorrow. I'm going to pull the flywheel and have it turned locally.

I also need to address the brakes, wheels/tires, and rusted out floor before I feel safe driving it. Definitely going to be a few months before that happens.

 

Nice truck you have here! It is always good to see old trucks being used and restored.

Good Luck with the resto and keep the pics and info coming!

Adam

 

Thanks, Adam! Keep checking back for updates and pretty pictures.

 

Today's update: I spoke with a few people, in town, about boiling one of the fuel tanks I have, in an effort to refurbish it. Looks like that may be a viable option. I'll run the tanks around to each place tomorrow and have them look it over.

Also, the clutch arrived today! I still haven't tackled pulling the transmission out of the truck, but I plan on doing that tomorrow as well. I'll take the fly wheel down to World Clutch and have them turn in.

 

Clutch Job - Day I

So I went by Northern Tool, today, and found that their 12-ton jackstands were on sale. My buddy also noted that he had a $20 off $100 purchase coupon. Enter 4 new 12-ton stands for $61 per set! Hell yes.



So I decided to put them to use, immediately. Time to pull the clutch and see what's going on.



That little guy? Don't worry about that little guy...



Well there's your problem right there! The damn rod had fallen out. But there was still an issue with the clutch...so I kept going.





That was...really easy. Weird.

So, I'm not 100% sure what was going on. Everything was a little worn and a little rusty, but it seemed like it should work. I'm going to go ahead with having the fly wheel turned and installing the new clutch. We'll see where that gets me.



I still have to figure out how to pull the pilot bearing/bushing out. I've never seen one like this before.

 

Clutch Job - Day II

Took the flywheel over to World Clutch to have them resurface it. $35 dollars later...



Got the new clutch disc and pressure plate installed. This is hard work by yourself.



Just incase any of you need to know how to pull a pilot bearing - I rented this from Advance Auto for $39.99 and it made very quick and clean work of it.



And I borrowed this from a buddy to remove the rear main seal.



Again, I was by myself doing all of this work. I managed to get as far as bolting the bellhousing on and then ran into a big dam wall. The T18 just wouldn't go in. I had to call reinforcements. One of my buddies is a manager at a local auto shop. He helped me slide it in and made it look easy.



She cranked right up and crawled out of the garage under her own power. This was the first time I'd driven the truck since taking ownership. If I were better with words I'd try to convey just how amazing this moment was.





It was so rad that I just had to go further. Shhhhhh, don't tell.
This truck drives horrible. No brakes. Poor acceleration. One headlight. Miles from lock to lock. No floor. Rat turds everywhere.

And it was so . damn. good.

 

A buddy is reviving a 1968 Mustang Coupe. He found this in his garage and dropped it off tonight. What a guy! This will be perfect to modernize the braking system a little bit. The single bowl scares me. If anything were to happen, I would lose all my braking power.

 

cool old truck