Replacing the headliner fabric is simple. Peel the old stuff off, then use a wire brush and/or acetone to get the rest of the old crap off of the board. Clean it up well. Lay the new fabric in place on the board, fold one half back, spray headliner adhesive to the board surface and fabric surface, then fold the fabric back into place. Smooth out any bumps, then repeat for the other side. I left mine overnight to cure the adhesive, then trimmed it and reinstalled.

Getting the headliner/board out without creasing it was the hardest part of the project. I ended up removing my rear window and sliding it back out of the cab.

 

PM me your zip or address, whichever you prefer, and I will go get a shipping quote for them.

 

Thanks for the info, that doesn't sound too bad at all. Hopefully I can get enough done to be able to tackle this next week sometime. As for removing the board, how did you get the back window removed? I have read somewhere that on the crew cabs the only way to get the headliner board out is to go through the front or rear windows due to its size.

 

PM sent and waiting

 

And replied.

 

Man, I tried every which way to get it out, without taking the window out. Even removed the seats, and it still didn't look like it'd come out without creasing.

I have a buddy that does windshields, he took the window out and put it back in when I was done. Looked like a pain in the ***, which is why I asked him to do it.

 

That's probably what I will wind up doing, I have a buddy who does glass/upholstery and he owes me so I apologize for the lack of updates recently, work has been killer lately/ 70+ hours a week is not fun but the pay is well so can't really complain Anyways it has been slow going on the truck; I got the weatherstripping installed and put the dash back in, took her for a short drive. She is no race truck but it can definitely get out of its own way and probably others if it has to I don't have anything really picture worthy yet but once I get more of the interior finished I will have something to show for it.

 

Looking forward to your progress!!!
Remember lots of pics

 

Thanks and me too lol! A bit off topic but kinda related: on the 4th I went down to the local dealer looking for a few Ford specific parts- of course the parts dept was closed (no suprise) so since I had time to kill I figured I'd look around and see what they had. What we found that matched most of the criteria I had was a 2006 F250 CCSB 4X4 6.0 Harley Davidson edition with a little over 100,000 miles on it. Black on black it was an absolutely beautiful truck- never off-road and nary a scratch on it--Priced at $24k. I got to test drive it and by the end of course I wanted it so I had our salesman run the numbers and while it turns out I could have afforded it (sort of) I would have spent pretty much my whole paycheck on the payments, insurance and fuel so as good of a truck as it was I couldn't buy.

Anyways onto the topic of the actual build, I finally got something I consider picture worthy:


A new audio system: head unit and all new speakers hoping to get them installed fairly soon.

 

Alright y'all so I have not had a ton to do on the truck since I posted last. Lakewood has a habit of raining whenever I get off work but somehow is always sunny when I am at work I have done a ton of research and taken a very close look at this truck and I am a bit concerned with a couple things I must admit.Whenever I started the truck in the recent past there has been a sizable cloud of white smoke then it disappeared for the most part- that is until it warmed up. Once warm, a good deal of white smoke was pouring out of the pipe. I have read here and on numerous other forums that the white smoke/white smoke at start could be a variety of things: bad GPs, bad IP or injectors, water in fuel, coolant/oil contamination, head gasket failure or God forbid a cracked block.
The PO stated he replaced the GPs, but I will do a test on those in the near future to ensure they did not burn out (didn't say what brand he installed) I figured it may be WIF, but the PO also said that the WIF light had been on for quite some time and he suspected a sensor or a bad wire. I have read that that is a fairly common thing on these trucks, but I did not want to just assume that was actually the problem so first thing I did after purchase was replace the fuel/water separator, drain some of the old diesel out of the tank and add some fresh. When that did not solve it, I added some Stanadyne to it in hopes that it may at least help with getting the water out if there is any. It did help some with the white smoke, but not much. The WIF light is still on as well. One interesting thing I see is that the WIF light is on bright/flickers at idle, but the higher RPM you go the dimmer the light gets. This makes it sound like just a sensor/wire issue to me because of that, but I am not terribly familiar with these diesels (or any diesel for that matter) which is why I am asking the experts
As if that wasn't enough, this truck has other issues too... Most concerning to me is that white smoke (if not any of the above causes) is caused by coolant burning. This is caused most likely (so I have read) by a bad oil cooler/o rings, a blown head gasket or a block failure. I have tried finding replacement oil coolers online but I have found almost nothing, and those I have found were 500 bucks or so. I do not have the money in pocket for a tear down and rebuild- not even doing it myself- and certainly not paying someone else to do it. Getting a new/reman engine would cost me big $$$$ which I don't have. Now granted I do not know for a fact what exactly is wrong, but I do know that if it is anything more than injectors an oil cooler or something of the like then I will not be able to justify the cost of the project at this time. Silly me, I decided to focus on the interior of this truck first rather than the engine

After doing a bit of truck shopping, I have found a few decent trucks (both OBS and SD) for not too much more than what I have put into this truck so far, and undoubtedly in far better shape for sale. Only catch is, I cannot keep this truck, Big Blue and acquire another truck at the same time while being able to afford it. So I guess what I'm really thinking is if I should take in essence a gamble and continue on with the build, which if my engine is shot would turn into a true resto ($$$$) or if I should sell/part out this truck. I cannot really sell it in the current shape even with the new interior and make any sort of a profit or even get my money back I put in, because of the extensive amount of work this still needs to justify a price tag of 5-6k. If I were to part it out, I would most likely purchase something slightly newer (either OBS PSD or SD PSD) that has not been run so hard and beat to chit like this truck was. I really do not want to give up on this thing but there is absolutely no way that I would make a return on investment with this thing if I did fix it up short of a complete frame off resto and even then it would be very unlikely. With money tight, I am more leaning towards cutting my losses and putting my money towards something a bit newer and in better condition. I don't wanna get rid of it (I have grown a tiny bit attached over the last few months) but I also cannot justify spending thousands on this project at this stage of the game But I have not decided on a course of action yet so I am still sort of at a cross road here. I am leaning towards parting it out and getting something newer/needing less work but at the same time I'd hate to have to sell/part out this thing.

 

Holy long post!

I can't help with your white smoke issue, I probably know less about diesels than you do, mainly because I've never owned one.

However, what I do know, is that diesels cost significantly more than gassers to repair and maintain, which is why I don't have one. If you have the need for a diesel, the repair and maintenance costs are justified. From what I've read here, you don't have a need for a diesel.

As far as project vehicles, they're hardly ever worth what any of us put into them. There's hardly ever a financial return on investment. I enjoy the "smiles per mile" return on investment, and the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Keep in mind that a rust free truck is worth more in rust belt areas. If you decide to sell it, put 'er on eBay and see what happens.

 

I agree with Bob. Diesel cost more to buy, more to maintain and parts are more expensive.

With that said, I would never buy another SD with a 7.3. They are big and heavy truck with the same engine that is in the Much lighter OBS trucks.

If I was going SD, Get a 6.0. MUCH more power, 5 years newer than the 7.3 SD and can be had CHEAP because people are afraid of them

 

Thank you both for your advice! I have done some serious thinking and I have decided that I will (tentatively) keep the truck. I will still continue to fix things up as I go, but will wait a bit before doing the really expensive ones for now. I got a bit psyched out after reading about some of the things my truck is doing on other forums and I was pretty quick to jump to conclusion that something big and bad was wrong- plus with most of my family telling me I should sell it, I got a bit antsy I suppose. Tensions were running high for sure! lol. But after I took a step back and looked at the whole situation, I saw that I have a truck that is pretty much rust free, has a solid body (sans bed of course) with one of the best looking styles Ford ever produced. Plus a new interior (mostly) going in it-not to mention that I have less in this truck then what I would spend to buy a similar one used that I would also have to fix up some- I have concluded that it may actually be more beneficial to keep it than not.

Anyways back to the build- I ordered some more parts for it today (new throttle cable, various weather strip, OEM oil fill cap, ect) so those should be in next week. I was able to replace a couple burned out cab light bulbs and install some decent jy bezels (much better than the old ones- will do until I can buy a nicer pair) and a very clean set of headlights courtesy of Evan and this truck looks much better from the front now! Plus I can see at night which is ever better

Forgive the chitty cell phone pics- will get some better ones soon

 

Looks great. Glad they could be of use.

 

If you think you got coolant issues check the oil frequently and coolant levels so you don't wipe out the bottom end.

If you were loosing coolant I would expect overheating. I had a truck with a bad over flow and it would overheat all the time. I replaced the overflow and the truck never had another issue. So point being seems like if they are low on coolant they overheat.

Also the white smoke could be fuel pump? whens the last time a pump was put on it? they aren't that bad to replace, but really need to be timed once installed.

Cool project hope you continue to keep it. I've got an 89 I've been working on for years. So it takes time, but when your done you know what you got.