Quick history. I'll be the 3rd owner but the title will read second owner. My wifes cousin picked the truck up from the original owner with the intention of making it a work truck for his landscaping business. He kept it for 3 months until he realized how expensive it would be to bring the truck back. Apparently the engine fires but I haven't attempted it yet. I believe it last ran in 2002. He says its a Custom, I have no clue and really don't care since I'm not shooting for orginal with it.
Started taking pictures with the bed already off but you get the idea. The truck is pretty much a junker but we wanted something to do with it rather than just trash it. Came with a 3 speed manual and 240 V-6. None of which we'll keep. We basically got it down to the chassis and will completely disassemble it to the bare frame sometime in the next two weeks. No budget is set and no hard plan in place, I do have a ballpark timeframe of 4 years. Its really just myself and my brother in law trying to tackle the project with limited tools and very limited knowledge. Suffice to say we'll be looking for the internet to carry us to the promise land.
Things we are certain about at this point.
1. We aren't dropping it. Gonna keep it looking somewhat stock with larger wheels and tires all the way around and probably one size larger in the back than the front just to give it a moderate stance.
2. Power steering and front disk brake conversion.
3. 5 speed and crate motor, this will be a daily driver. After looking around it seems the later generation Mustang 5 speeds are a good fit (Borg Warners) around 1200 bucks and the cheapest most affordable crate motor we found was a 351 for about 3k. I found out pretty quick that Ford Crates are pretty pricey.
Couple of questions if anyone knows.
1. Is there an AIM book or full build sheets? I haven't found anything more than the typical Autozone chiltons and so forth. It would be nice to be able to reference something during the rebuild rather than tapping the web with ever question we have.
2. Outside of media blasting is there an easy way to cut through the rust and grime on the chassis? Chemical compound or anything that would help. We had planned on wire wheels and WD-40 then a good bath but that would be awefully time consuming. Any proven methods you guys have used would really help.
3. POR -15 or Rust Bullet or other? I was pretty sold on the POR -15 because thats seems to be the chassis paint of choice from forum to forum but I'm hearing good things about Rust Bullet and there seems to be about 4 or 5 addition prep steps with the POR.
4. Gas tank. This ones in pretty good condition and we can easily keep it but I'd like to know if any of you guys are using aftermarket tanks in the bed or other locations with success.
5. Leaf Springs. These are pretty banged up. Do people still rebend these or am I stuck eating the cost for some new ones?
6. Rearend identification? Whats the best way to determine if it needs to be rebuilt?
I will update each time we work on the truck if anyone is interested and I'm going to go ahead and keep tabs on the cost envolved for the build too. This will be tabulated at the end of each update.
Here are some pics to get us started and I will add some additional pics at the end of the day or first thing in the morning. Quality isn't too good but the next round of pics should be better.
PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ADD ANYTHING TO THIS THREAD I NEED AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE.
The pictures I haven't uploaded yet have the cab off. I'll have those up soon.
Grand total: 200.00 Even. Truck and some basic tools. 3 days and 22 hours total of work. 3 12 packs total and we're well aware that we have now bitten off more than we can chew.
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