Hey everyone,

For those that have slowly been following along . I decided to move my thread to the missouri chapter. My other thread was cluttered with other projects and I mainly want to just bug the local guys with my questions along this journey
The Truck is a 1979 Ford F-250 4x4 that has been in my family since 1981. My dad drove it his senior year in high school. My grandpa use to run a camper shell on it and deliver meat up to Chicago. Truck has a ton of stories to tell I'm sure which is partially why I decided to stick with the orginal cab. About 4 years ago my dad was in a horse accident which punctured his lungs and messed up his ribs. Sadly, he never bounced back from the accident and handed the truck down to me back in the summer of 2011. I had owned 4 dents before, my first I drove in high school as well ( 79' f250 2wd ) .

truck as it was when he retired it from duty in late winter of 2011:










as you can see its had a rough life. the original motor lasted past 420k until he got it rebuilt. i bet it doesn't have 10k miles on the 400 that has a small cam in it.

july 2011:


we got the feeder off and got the flat bed ready to get pulled. the feeder was quite the choir getting off



flat bed is off for the first time in 30 yrs!

dad custom built this but i personally would rather have a regular box back on her

The parts truck:
79' f150 2wd 400 c6 a/c cab
pretty straight truck that came from Oklahoma

 

10/9/2011

Pulled the front clip and got the engine/trans ready to be pulled for a swap to a 79 bronco that I sold.


got to stop by and visit rich this weekend. always a good time to stop by his place . he hooked me up on a red seat that needs a lil work (pictures down farther on this post), some black door panels (need cleaned up is all) for the bronco, the upper shock tower i needed for the f250, ignition switch with keys along with the door and tailgate key locks for the bronco (previous owner lost the keys mowing) and a heater exchange for a oem intake.





motor and trans pulled sat. i had just pulled the c6 when this pic was taken.
the back freeze plug on each side needed replaced. i have never installed freeze plugs before so i hope they hold. what was inside was some cruddy looking water/ antifreeze. dad rinsed the block out. i hate using regular water in a engine but in this case the engine had seen regular water from Oklahoma for a long time. some nasty brown water with sand came out. we cleaned it out until she rain clear. best we could do. since its going to be mainly a mud rig with light street use im going to have to deal with it.





freeze plugs/ manifolds back on. Sunday i took the tq converter off (the flex plate was bad on the motor). Then went to put the flex plate that came off the bronco and it is bad too so progress on that is halted for the day. ill order one



So decided to take the old seat out of ole betsy and just mock up the new seat to keep it from getting damaged in the shop.




pictures can not express how grossed out i was. it looked worse in person. mice droppings and old seat everywhere. i rolled it outside and blew it out so get a look at how much work the inside cab will need.








i really want to save this cab since both my grandpa and dad drove it for all these years. this is the main spot that worries me



it has been open to the elements for a good 3 yrs? any advice on what you guys would do about it? the other grab handle on the driver side will come off and get welded shut.



pulled the parts truck back in the shop. i then took off the rear bumper, the bed bolts (which all came out with ease ) and the cab mount bolts. we then pulled it back outside. also pulled ole betsy out. dad picked up these 16x8's on 31's for 75 bucks locally. the tires are chewed up but the wheels are in good shape. not bad to just move the truck around temporarily. put the new seat in. the driver side has a small tear and rich duct taped it and ran a cover so the tear would not spread. all in all, i am happy with the progress this weekend.






hoping next weekend to get the motor in the bronco and fired

 

1/15/2012

got the doors, front clip on. found out the passenger side hood hinge is slightly bent and we already scrapped the old front end. junk yard time? lining up the body lines was really fun lol not. also got the parts truck rear gas tank setup in and ready for the bed. need to do some wiring stuff for the bed (it was cut up for the flat bed lights ect) will have the bed on soon im leaning towards only running a rear tank since the parts truck bed only has a rear hole but dad keeps on insisting to keep the front tank in case i later put a dual tank bed on it. decisions lol here is a few pics





5/14/12

parts truck cab off and got scraped

power washing the frame



eastwood chassis restoration kit


old bent bumper back on (for now)

i got some 31's i still need to get mounted


slowly but surely its coming together.

 

3/16/14

Man, I really miss the ranch. Dad moved to town in the fall of 2013. This week I am off for vacation. Ill be going down south wed and we are finally brining the truck up to my house. Nothing has changed except dad got the windshield from the parts truck installed for trading a spare 4 speed we had out of a 75'.

I would love to get it road worth and suprise him by driving the 2.5 hr drive down to see him one day!

 

Great to see you back around and back on the Mo chapter, tell your dad I say hello and hope he is doing well.

I can't believe I used that much tape for the small tear...and now I need that seat. lol But I think I have something that will work in ol red.

Of course like always any part or pieces needed, just ask. And are you going to be able to make the April 19th G2G in Boonville Mo? No matter what you drive there that day, you are still a Ford guy.

 

It's looking great! I wouldn't worry about the holes from the grab handle. If water got in there, it run down and rot out the cab corners. If they're still good, weld the holes shut and rock on. If they aren't, replace the cab corners, weld the grab handle holes shut and rock on. ....if you can't do that, bring it down to me and I'll do it for ya'!

I can't wait to see how this goes. Keep up the good work!

 

Very cool write up, good history here.

 

Thanks for all the replies and help! That puts me to ease about the grab handle. Thanks for the invite to the April meet. If I can get off work I'll drive down for sure.
Today we hauled up the truck. I'm not sure how it happened but I noticed before we loaded it that the gap between the bed and cab is not only crooked but 3 inches now. I didn't think there was that much play with the bed bolt holes in the frame? I could have swore I tightened them.

I have a huge long list of to do's and I am already feeling overwhelmed. I need to get a white board in the garage. I'm working without air so this should be fun. I do have big breaker bars hahah.

Basically the whole truck needs gone through. I need to rewire the back half of the truck. I have no rear lights or fuel Guage. I need to do this first thing so i can at least do test drives around the block.

Ah crap I left the keys in it and it's parked in the driveway. I'll update this with pics tomorrow

 

Rich, the old man says hey! We sure miss our ford visits except the time he hit your pole :/

also, correction per the title it's a 78!

 

Yea sham on the elec company for putting that thing there. Its all good, I'm just glad it not hurt the truck.

 

Well I put alot of cheap old ford stuff on craigslist. Spare np435, c6, wheels/tires off the parts truck. I did snap a few pics. I need to start researching how to do axle seals and rebuild the steering (tons of play). Also plan to go through the brake sysyem. I read on here last night that a lot of guys run 1/2 qt of atf in these old trucks? that seems kind of wild.


Here is the odd body line in between the bed/cab. Also I take it the huge gap from the bottom of the bed and cab on the passenger side is probably due to worn cab mounts?

 

I have some tsl radials to throw on these wheels that have 80% thread. I am thinking of going back to the original 16in wheels though. I have 2 that are good. My dad might have the rest somewhere lol

 

I have a set of fenders with the dent and race trac chrome for future references and maybe a trade out ?

Looking good, make a list and hang in there. There are a # of mo chapter members in the KC area if you need a hand, at least I am sure someone up there would help.

 

Trans fluid in the oil supposedly cleans sludge out of the engine. Trans fluid is full of detergents.

What part of KC are you in? I might be able to help, but I'm lazy. I'm north of the river, really close to WOF.

 

Thanks for the offer Rich! Ill keep that in mind when I start on doing body work

I know it has detergents in just never heard of it before last night. Thank you for the info about sludge. This motor supposedly has less than 10k miles on it which has had the same oil in it for at least 6 years .

So far it has not leaked on my driveway . Im just north of grain valley. Thank you for the help. Im lazy too haha. I setup my old hot wheels downhill track in the basement and have been spending to much time in there instead of the garage