Hey FTE, I'm David. I'm a graybeard commercial fisherman and marine engineer in Alaska. Though many of the last 23 years have been spent "in country" year round, lately I've been trading in sea bags for closets. Even a garage to tinker with to keep me out of the bars.

I went looking for a truck to heavily modify and customize as the last truck I could want. A work truck on steroids, if you will. I was after a dentside in particular and I landed on a 1975 Camper Special for $500 and a box of King crab I had just brought home. It was dirty and idle for years, but it ran around the block, had a pretty cool paint scheme, and a factory toolbox in the bed. Deal.

I replaced all flexible hoses, points and cap, plugs and wires, rims and tires, and brake job all around right away. Initial service also included full fluid changes on oil, tranny, rear end, brakes and coolant. From there I went North to think of a plan with rare and spotty internet. My only other semi-restomod is my lady's 1965 Mustang, needing only minor maintenance and upgrades.

Stats:
- stock 390fe with manifolds. Intake manifold leaks a bit of oil, as does the rear main seal. At least one exhaust manifold leak.
-C6 auto transmission, 2wd, no issues.
-Dana 60 rear, 3.73 gears, no issues.
-aftermarket cruise control, INOP
-aftermarket electric trailer brake module, INOP
-front disc brakes, rear drums
-minor body rusting, nothing deep or dramatic. Doors and floorboards look good.
-dual gas tanks, switches and gauges good.
-starts with one pump on the gas, runs pretty good after five minutes of warming @ 40 degrees.

Here she is after buying. General picture dump is in my profile gallery.

 

Upon returning this October I had a direction to go. While not a mechanic, I do and have assisted mechanics in marine diesel rebuilds. The latest being a supercharged Cat 3412. I also do and have designed engine rooms, working with the advanced trades to make some pretty smooth operations. A side hobby is carpentry work, from framing to amateur cabinetry. Hanging around a lot in Seattle's Fishermans Terminal, I also do spot steel, aluminum, and stainless fabrications. Most small boats don't have room for plasma cutters or welders, so accommodating that hole would have to be key as well. I need air to 90 psi, at least 50 amps of 110VAC, and 25 amps 220VAC. From the truck. Tools could be limited to specialty tools that boats or construction sites would not have. Oh yea, and I want to go fast. Without advertising with a bunch of blappitty-blap. Like ninja.

I had decided to start with a repower, go big or go home. I had been on a waiting list for a one car garage to do the gathering of parts, assembly, and test. It came through right as I came home, and got to tooling up while shopping for a 460 to rebuild as a mildish performance motor. I got the first from Craigslist as a rebuilt and shelved motor, and another from a pick and pull yard. That's right about when I joined FTE as a complete internet neophyte, and lurked incessantly to figure out how deep I was in. Fortunately I also joined the 460ford.com forum, and knew I really needed to get squared away with Scotty the Mad Porter from there. His shop RHP Performance wasn't far from me and I wanted to see him about machining, porting, and any info I could get. After chatting with him for two hours, I ended up trading the disassembled two motors (the rebuilt one was done poorly, but had some nice pieces) with some cash, and we worked a deal for one he had around there. Dynoed, tuned and kicking out 494hp@5000, and 549 ft/lb@3700. Strong and fast was covered. With the repower covered, and my motor budget tapped, there remains still many things to figure out, on top of keeping this old truck reliably on the road and crossing mountains.

Some pics of the motor and dyno sheet. Full build sheet in the profile gallery.

 

So with a target budget of $15,000 for everything prior to paint here's where the rest of the build is going, with good fishing, by next Christmas.

Motor and exhaust:
-468 Ford still needing:
- Holley 750cfm vacuum secondary with kickdown
- one or more high output alternators (to be determined with electrical design)
-electric radiator fan(s)
-Doug Thorley tri-y headers, 3/8 flange, 1 3/4 primary, 3" collector
-3" Dynomax Race Bullet resonators, h-pipe crossover, 3" Dynomax Superturbo mufflers.
-Summit Racing 3" in, twin 4" out SS tips, p.n. SUM-691201 (in front of the wheels if it fits)

Driveline and suspension;
-flexplate SCAT FP-460A-SFI.
-Monster torque converter, 2800-3200 stall, p.n. PP7601.
-Monster SS AOD transmission or equivalent.
-QA1 3.2" REV series carbon fiber driveshaft or equivalent. (overkill)
-Dana 60 3.73 differential rebuilt as is.
-replace wheel bearings all around.
-Airlift SmartAir Auto bags, possibly from onboard air, possibly independent air compressor.

Auxiliary systems;
-Iowa Mold Tooling HD750 underhood air compressor (have for rebuild)
-6000w+ dual voltage pure sine wave inverter
-4x 110AH deep cycle sealed marine AGM batteries, in parallel.
-thermal sensors, fuses, load sharing devices, etc still in design.

It's a bit radical, but why not? The main components come in well under budget even before the barter system, and my freezer will be full again soon.

A bed box will hold the battery bank and 10 gal air receiver, output connections in the bed side toolbox to include a pigtail to plug in my house when the power goes out. The cost of gas is cheap compared to the value of the freezers...

Here is where the truck is now, and the compressor. So long as the 390 keeps rolling along, I'll be able to nearly fully assemble and test in my garage before install. Hell of an expensive generator, neighbors already think I've cracked!

 

Better watch out for the cops, because for $500, you stole that thing - although maybe those crabs are more valuable than I'm thinking?
Looks like you could get away with some spot painting and maybe touch-up. Other than the few bad spots, that paint looks darned good!
Very nice truck!!!

 

Ya, it was a good deal. He was motivated to sell by virtue of the cops and neighbors in an uppity neighborhood (err, classy neighborhood) complaining about it. Yes, though, a 50lb box of #1 grade Red King crab is also convincing to folks that don't see that stuff every day. Occupational benefits.

The paint is touched up with nail polish for now, and mostly holding till all the mechanical stuff is done. thanks!

 

This is going to be a nice build up it appears. I have a 74 Camper Special. Its in excellent shape with the exception of the paint. No rust at all except for some surface rust. If my 460 didn't run so good I'd tear into it but if it ain't broken... Looking forward to your updates.