Ohh I forgot to mention. I have been working on my instrument panel and it is almost complete, I am just waiting on the final layer of fiberglass to finish drying then its onto the final prep work. I will be using autometer sport comp gauges 2-1/16th for the most part and 3-3/8th speedo & tach.
Would anyone be interested in a "how to thread" on makeing a custom instrument panel?
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
Marz, is there an advantage to the bars being so long and the link being on an angle at ride height? what is the steel type of the bars and link as well... I'm having trouble deciding what is the best choice of compression strength for a full size truck.
Well I guess I will be making a how to thread tomorrow then. I just came from the new batman movie so I am about to get back onto the instrument panel. I have been taking a few pics along the way. Stay tuned folks.
Oh yeah I had thought of making an A pillar setup but I am just not a fan of those, I dont even have them in my duramax truck, I use an overhead gauge pillar since I think it looks much cleaner. I do have to say that the gauge panel I am making has alot of gauges, 10 total. I only really need 9 of them but I had to add an extra hole so that the panel would look right. (damn me an my obsessive compulsive disorder ).
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
Carcrafter22, this is a great thread, I start reading it when it was about 3 pages long. I have a 76 F100, it has the 390 on it, which I just overhaul. This Friday I went to the salvage yard and bought the front suspension out of a 05 CV, I got it for 400 plus tax, not bad, I think. Since I don't have a welder nor a plasma cutter, it will probably take me a little bit longer to install the suspension. Any reccomendations, any pointers, I believe you explain everything in here, and have read it more than twice.
Would it be posible for you or 72-F100-4V to measure out of a reference point in the frame the first hole for the suspension, that way I have a starting point.
Thanks for all the info.
Take a look at this pic. You can see that there is a big hole on the lower part of the frame rail. That hole was a factory hole that was made bigger to locate the Panther alignment nub. All I did was cut it with a plasma, then I put the suspension in place, I took a few measuremnets from other factory holes to the Panther suspension front and back, then measured the outside of the frame rails to the new suspension, and clamped it into place, I then took a sharpie and made circles where the bolts would go on the underside of the frame, then drilled my holes.
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72 F100, shorty, W/2004 32valve Mach 1 motor, 5 spd.
2006 ZX14, thats faster than your truck everyday of the week!!
Well folks I wont be able to post up any photos of my buildup on the custom guage panel. I lost all the pics on my memory card. I bought a new card and have pics of the very end, before and just after a little paint. I also took some photos of the floor coated in por 15 and then in dynomat.
here is the gauge panel waiting for paint.
here is the floor coated in por15
here is the floor covered in dynamat. I will floow this up with some other dynamat product in total there will be 4 layers including the rubber mat and insulation.
Sorry about the buildup everyone. I am thinking of making another gauge panel for a friend that is kinda similar to mine except it will be the plastic panel but with a smooth aluminum flat piece that th gauges sit in. I will take pics of that along the way to show how I do it.
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
Bit of a bump and inquiry as to how this is going. I'm guessing you haven't been driving around yet (daily anyway), but with your progress, I just couldn't imagine. I don't think you mentioned, but what's the hookup like for your speedometer/odometer off the 700r4?
You are correct. I spent the better part of an afternoon last week trying to sort out the wiring and came to 2 conclusions about it. 1. it is 40 years old and brittle, not good. 2. somewhere along the lines some idiot did a real good hack job on it in several different places. So after all that I just ordered a new EZ wiring 21 circuit universal color coded wiring harness on ebay for $130.00. The harness should be here in the next couple of days and I am planning on a solid day of wiring( I have done several more complicated vehicles in a day) then I can finally pass inspection and it will be a semi daily driver, once the a/c is installed it will be a daily driver. I do still drive it around alot and am still driving on the same 4 gallons I put in it over a month ago, how I dont know because I have been on a few 1 hour drives around the local backroads and I drive it everyday for at least 15 minutes so that tells me I am getting pretty good mpg.
I did get the stainless steel fuel fill door installed on the inside of the bed yesterday. I also decided I am going to take the lower leaf spring out to see if that will give me the 1/2" I need to make it sit level with the front.( I dont care for raked trucks)
As for the speedo cable its funny you mentioned that, I was originally going to run an electric speedo and probably still will since this mechanical speedo is on loan from my 66 mustang but for now I will run a regular cable. The speedo uses a standard 5/8-18 connector on the back and so all I have to do is go to the local parts store and find a speedo that has that connection that fits a 700R4 and is the right length, I justhave to route it by the exhaust which should be fun.
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
I had to go out of town again on buisness so not much has gotten done over the past 10 days or so but I did snap a shot of the new instrument panel I made before I left. I chose to use brushed aluminum and go with 8 gauges for a cleaner look. The pics here are of the first version I made, I will take the rest of the aluminum I have to a fab shop so the can shear the metal I want so it will have perfectly straight lines then I will drill the holes and have it installed.
The ez wiring harness should be at the house by now and I will be wiring it up as soon as I get home. I also have a new shifter at home that will go on the floor at least temporarily. I may still try and make the 78 tilt work but that turbo downpipe gets in the way of the column shift. Who knows I will have to see.
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
That looks really nice. I bought a F-350 or 600 something dash because its a factory big gauge dash, to put after market ones in. This way looks really nice. Ill be making a custom dash to house the cluster ill be using.
Good luck on the steering column, I hope the linkage idea works, and the floor shifter can stay just a temp fix.
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72 F100, shorty, W/2004 32valve Mach 1 motor, 5 spd.
2006 ZX14, thats faster than your truck everyday of the week!!
Great looking gauge cluster! The whole truck is great looking actually. I have read this whole thread a few times but going back over it again. If I could only find a CV front end I'd have it done already. Only thing worrying me is the wheel choice since its wider and steering since I just got my power steering done on the I beam setup I have now and it took me forever to gether the correct parts and get it all done.
Anyways, here is an oppinion, ever think about machine turning your gauge cluster in the back on the sheetmetal? I think it would look awesome and give it that "hot rod" touch. Like I said, it's just an oppinion.
thanks but I am going to leave it smoothed for that cockpit look, I am also putting a polished aluminum piece below the instrument panel behind the switches to accent it.
I am not exactly sure how wide the factory I beam suspension is.
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67 F100 sc/sb 07 crown vic front suspension, 93 rear axle limited slip 3.27 gears, isuzu 3.9L diesel, 700R4 trans. Lowered 5" rolling on 18" goodyear tires 225/60/18, 4wheel disc brakes.
Getting 32.4 MPG on regular diesel so far.
I only really need 9 of them but I had to add an extra hole so that the panel would look right. (damn me an my obsessive compulsive disorder 
).
