Great work on your build! I would like to do this with my '79 F150 someday when i have the time(and funds) to do a complete restoration. Did you buy your cab lights from LMC? And can anyone direct me to somewhere I can purchase LED lights like this that aren't part of a kit? My truck has cab lights already but I broke a lens on one so rather than buying a new set of incandescents I would like to install LEDs without unnecessarily buying a whole kit. Thanks! and sorry for the long post

 

Now that I remove my manifold plate I can see that are blind holes, oops. Thanks for the reply.

 

They are from LMC. I haven't seen them sold individually.

 

This is good to know. I want to run both the factory & the aftermarket one I have now. Once I'm good with where the temp runs I'll remove the aftermarket gauge.

 

While the cab is at the blasters, it's time to take care of some other stuff. The photo does NOT do justice to how huge the chassis looks with no body on it. This thing looks like a locomotive!


First comes the clutch install. I went with a Southbend clutch part #13125-OK-HD


Next it's time to replace that transmission jack that's been sitting under there forever with an actual crossmember.


I bought a long stick of 2" steel square tube for this project. I drilled two holes in the bottom large enough to pass my mounting bolts through so that they bolt up to the Energy Suspension transmission mount I bought. I think the mount is for a Camaro or something.



After I bolted this first piece to the transmission mount, the rest of the design was based around that.

First I had to take some measurements in both length and angle. I could have shot it straight across, but that would have forced my exhaust to sit low below the frame rail which I think looks tacky. I want to tuck it up high and out of the way.


Sorry, I got carried away with working and I forgot to take photos again. The main section of the crossmember is done. This piece is too big for my oven, so I'll have to take it out to be powdercoated. Current tally of things that I've farmed out: 3. 1) valve job, 2) blasting the cab, and 3) powdercoating the crossmember. Not bad so far.





Here is the driver side of the crossmember. Sorry about the lack of photos again, just got too carried away working.


I made sure to leave adequate room for disassembly and removal of the unit.


And powder coated

 

Next I'll tackle the parking brake. Since I converted the rear brakes to drum, I lost my built-in parking brake. Instead of trying to rig up a finicky disc brake parking brake system, I decided to use a TSM transfer case parking brake instead.



This is a fairly universal brake, but the bracket is meant to fit my NP205 transfer case. There are a few clocking options, the best of which is eliminated by my front fuel tank. Since I am running dual tanks, the front one gets in the way of the mechanism. The only problem with the second best option is that it leaves the cable bracket hanging low beneath the framerail. It looks stupid and I'm afraid it will hit or catch up on something as you can see in the photo below.



I decided to solve this by simply bending the bracket in the press 45° to cause it to sit parallel to the ground, and even with the bottom of the framerail. The only potential issue here is if the pull angle is too extreme. If it is, I'll just add an additional guide further in.

 

Nice work on the crossmember! Keep that farm out count low as it is. Keep that money in your pocket instead of someone elses.

 

Nice update. I'm always happy to see progress!

 

Making some good progress!

 

Looks great! I like the look of your e brake, keep us posted how it works.

 

I've decided on my color. She's gonna be Ford Sterling Grey Metallic, paint code UJ. The firewall and inner fenders are going to be sprayed with Upol Raptor truck bed coating.

Since the Upol is a 2K product, they require that any seam sealer applied underneath it to be 2K as well or it will shrink back. No problem, 2K seam sealer is fairly reasonable, however... the caulking gun for the 2K sealer is NOT. $137 for a caulking gun! Maybe I can find a cheapo version for a guy who will probably only ever use it once? Nope, no such luck. Well, not being one to let this kind of thing get me down, here's my solution:

Here is the $137 unit



Next, a trip to the hardware store for a pair of standard caulking guns at $2.99 each


Said caulking guns blown apart


Now for a little metal fab with some scrap sheet I had lying around


Here's the tray to hold the dual cartridges


All assembled and powder coated. I fabbed up the tray and handle, along with the ratcheting braces, I used the pistons and ratcheting mechanism from both guns, combined them into a single trigger, and welded the tail end together. Basically the red parts are fabbed, the bare parts are what I reused. Total investment, around $7.

 

Sorry, I forgot to include the whole process of rebuilding the transfer case. Sorry I didn't take too many pictures, but I had my head down in it.

Here it is before hand all muddy and greasy, just the way it came out of the truck.





The only damage was rounded teeth on one gear and one slider, so I replaced those as well as stripped out threads on one shaft. Here is the whole thing blown apart, cleaned up, painted and ready for reassembly.


This shaft had stripped threads as well as rounded teeth on the gear, so it was a no-brainer replacement.


Before I can get this thing put in, I need to modify my NV4500 transmission tail housing to accommodate the TC shifter linkage. Here is the stock tail housing


I will have to cut this section out to allow room for the sliders. I used my Advance Adapters ring to mark the cut


I would give just about anything for a mill. Instead I used a drill press and a grinder. Gets the job done.




And all put back together, again sorry for forgetting to take photos. All new seals, gaskets, and a couple new gears. Also, I have NO idea what happened to that first photo below




Here you can see my cradle I built for it. This allows it to sit upright oriented to how it will bolt to the transmission. With the cradle it can sit on my floor jack without tipping over.


The motor swap didn't allow me to reuse my stock transfer case mount because the whole thing sits further left than before. I fabbed up a new one out of 3/16 steel. Also visible in this shot is the new polyurethane transfer case mount bushing.

 

Nice work again.

I dig the caulking gun work around. I love company's that charge you an arm and a leg for stuff like that. Straight up rip off. Bet that gun cost them less then $5.00 to manufacture.

Going to steal your np205 cradle idea. I'd 1 up it though and put a large bolt at the ballance point to go in where your cup for the jack is.

 

I fully support that decision! I would have done the same but my jack does not have the removable head. That did cause some pretty scary teetering issues.

 

Is that a magnet on your PTO cover? If you're doing that for insurance then why not change all your plugs to the magnet style instead of using the standard Pipe Plugs that are in it?

Yes, the work looks top notch. (<pun haha)