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Also go my seat redone. Still slowly working on the sound deadener, got a shifter boot being made and trying to figure out carpet too. Seat turned out just like I had hoped!
Over the last few months I have mostly just been driving the crap out of the truck (have over 4k miles on it now). Played around with the suspension a little, pulled the trans and installed a 2800 lockup stall, installed door rubber (huge help to cab noise), played with the nitrous a little and also installed some baby cams that I got for ridiculously cheap, but was not impressed with at all. I also have a set of 4.10 gear to put into it to replace the 3:73s I installed when I put the truck together, which will hopefully find their new home in the next week or two.
With the old wheels at 30" diameter and 3:73 this thing wanted to cruise at 75mph in lockup. Any slower and RPMs would drop to the 1500-1700 range and start to lug on me. Now with the smaller 28" tire package out back I'm at about 65 at 1700-1900. I think I'd like to be about 2000-2200 at 65 or so. This little 4.6 sure likes the rpm. I can really lean out the AFR when I get the rpm up just a little to take more load off the engine at cruise. (right now I'm commanding about 17:1 AFR at cruise with no misfire anywhere in sight! I plan to add more timing and lean it out some more to find out where it likes it). Plus the new gears will also really help the hole shot, which is another plus. The other hope is to help with the towing load and speed. 2 weeks ago I drove to fresno, ca to pick up a 53 f100 project. What better way to test how this thing handles a trailer than a 525 mile round trip! And to top it off we left fresno all loaded up at about 7:30 pm!
This thing is AMAZING! It towed just as well as my 01 2500 HD Silverado did and WAY nicer than my 99 Tahoe ever did! I literally forgot about the trailer multiple times! the only complaint was finding the right speed for lockup in 4th gear. It loved it right at 60-62mph. Any lower it would start lugging on me any higher the load would spike. I will change gears and have already change some of the trans settings and I think my next tow will be even better. But for this first tow at 60mph I was averaging about 13mpg the whole way. I know I can get better but I was quite impressed with it to say the least!
In anticipation for autocrossing my truck I wanted to put it on the scales to see what kind of split it had and total weight. It's slightly heavier than I expected, but the split wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Guess that's what happens when a ton of steel is added to the frame!
Hey Andrew - I recognized the early pics as the shop right behind mine at Gasoline Alley :-)
I've been working on my 65 for a couple of years & used to drive by your shop to admire your 64. My friend Noel came over to chat with you about the truck at one point. I remember him telling me about how you'd converted yours to fuel injection.
I love seeing the progression of the project. I initially wanted to lower my 65 but decided against it in the end.
Looking forward to seeing more progress on the project.
Hey Andrew - I recognized the early pics as the shop right behind mine at Gasoline Alley :-)
I've been working on my 65 for a couple of years & used to drive by your shop to admire your 64. My friend Noel came over to chat with you about the truck at one point. I remember him telling me about how you'd converted yours to fuel injection.
I love seeing the progression of the project. I initially wanted to lower my 65 but decided against it in the end.
Looking forward to seeing more progress on the project.
Chris
Thanks Chris. Yeah I remember talking with your friend about your truck. How close is that thing from being finished and back on the road? Why don't you want to lower it anymore? I forget....is yours a long bed or short bed truck? I don't believe I ever saw it. I'll have to stop by some time if you are around, or feel free to stop by my shop over iby CbarD just up the road. I'm next to Big Foot Carpet.
Well, this weekend was a little weird and I didn't think I was going to be able to autocross the truck, but it worked on Sunday that I was able to get out there. Had a ton of fun, probably the most fun I've ever had in a vehicle, and I was very impressed with the truck. This was the first time I have ever autocrossed, so I was put into a notice class, which is an extra class the club here runs for first timers. I was 1 of 4 in that class and I believe all the other cars were Subaru's. I know for sure 2 of them were Sti's. Anyways my best was a 95.38 seconds, the other 3 cars were 88, 92 and 94 point something seconds (didn't pay that much attention to their exact times). So needless to say I'm pretty happy with how it did. Here's a little video of the last run.
Yesterday I did the first oil change on my truck since getting it up and running with the new setup. I was a little surprised it was as dark as it was, but hadn't checked it lately. I did look at the oil before draining it and this thing doesn't burn or leak a drop...not quite what I was used to with the original setup. I have put about 4500 miles on it since getting it running so I knew it was past due.
It was a little weird just doing regular maintenance on it though, mainly because I have primarily been making upgrades or changes that I wanted to make. And back when the truck was stock I was always doing work on it just to keep up with all the old parts breaking down. Yesterday though, I just did an oil change because I'm driving the wheels off it, and the oil is used up and old....felt great!
So it started getting pretty stinking cold here...well for California that is. Anyways, I never got around to getting an AC/heater setup put into the truck, so I decided Id just get the original heater working again for now. It worked great last year....not so much this year. It immediately started leaking which was very annoying.
As many of you know, a heater core for a 64 f100 does not exist. So I got one for a 70's f250 (I read somewhere the dimensions were the same) A solid $8 at Home Depot and I was back in business! Working like a champ!
Thanks, I love the feedback. It's been a fun build so far and I have plenty more plans for the future with it, but my main thing is driving it as much as I can!
10-17-2014, 04:58 AM
