My 1954 F100/F250 4x4 Build

[liftnw8z]

Looking good, Ted. This has been an interesting project to follow along with.

[fordman75]

Thanks.

Yea this build has definitely been interesting for me too, so far.

[fordman75]

Today I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on the 54. So I didn't feel like dragging the cab out. So I decided to work on a couple small things.

So first I grabbed a piece of copper pipe I had laying around. I cut it up with my portable band saw and then hammered the sections flat. I also made one piece with a 90 degree bend. I'm going to use these for backer plates for welding the thinner sheet metal. These will just make the welding a little easier ( less blowing holes in the sheet metal ) . This was much cheaper then spending $20.00-$40.00 for some from a tool place.



I also started working on the front cab mounts. What I'm using for the mounts is some stock replacement upper and lower brackets that I purchased from Mid Fifty's F-100's. I need to lift the body to gain some frame clearance for the front clip. So I decided to make the lift part of the cab structure. Stock the lower cab mount bracket sat on the under side of the floor and was also connected to the inner rocker panel. The lower bracket has the upper cup for the body mount. So to gain the body lift I'm mounting this bracket 4" lower then stock. For a spacer I'm using a 4" long piece of 2"x2" square tube stood on end. And to make things a little stronger I'm going to use some tick wall steel pipe for a sleeve for the body mount bolt. The sleeve will go thru the front floor and the upper cab mount bracket. I'm going to weld it to the upper bracket then grind it so it's flush.


So today I cut a couple 5" long pieces of steel pipe ( 1/2" inside diameter, 7/8" outside diameter ) . I also cut out a couple small 10 gauge steel plates. I drilled a hole in each before I cut them out. These will be welded just inside the top of the 2"x2" tubing. This is just a little overkill to make sure the tube and the sleeve can't move at all. Once it's all installed I'm also going to add some 10 gauge steel plate that will tie the 2"x2" tube into the inner rocker plate. If you are completely confused by my description of these just stay tuned to this channel for more pictures as I get it put together. :lol:

[fordman75]

Today I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on the 54. So I didn't feel like dragging the cab out. So I decided to work on a couple small things.

So first I grabbed a piece of copper pipe I had laying around. I cut it up with my portable band saw and then hammered the sections flat. I also made one piece with a 90 degree bend. I'm going to use these for backer plates for welding the thinner sheet metal. These will just make the welding a little easier ( less blowing holes in the sheet metal ) . This was much cheaper then spending $20.00-$40.00 for some from a tool place.



I also started working on the front cab mounts. What I'm using for the mounts is some stock replacement upper and lower brackets that I purchased from Mid Fifty's F-100's. I need to lift the body to gain some frame clearance for the front clip. So I decided to make the lift part of the cab structure. Stock the lower cab mount bracket sat on the under side of the floor and was also connected to the inner rocker panel. The lower bracket has the upper cup for the body mount. So to gain the body lift I'm mounting this bracket 4" lower then stock. For a spacer I'm using a 4" long piece of 2"x2" square tube stood on end. And to make things a little stronger I'm going to use some tick wall steel pipe for a sleeve for the body mount bolt. The sleeve will go thru the front floor and the upper cab mount bracket. I'm going to weld it to the upper bracket then grind it so it's flush.


So today I cut a couple 5" long pieces of steel pipe ( 1/2" inside diameter, 7/8" outside diameter ) . I also cut out a couple small 10 gauge steel plates. I drilled a hole in each before I cut them out. These will be welded just inside the top of the 2"x2" tubing. This is just a little overkill to make sure the tube and the sleeve can't move at all. Once it's all installed I'm also going to add some 10 gauge steel plate that will tie the 2"x2" tube into the inner rocker plate. If you are completely confused by my description of these just stay tuned to this channel for more pictures as I get it put together. :lol:

[fordman75]

Yesterday I made up a little stand that I could clamp body panels to when I need to work on them. A couple years back my dad brought home a mobile bench grinder stand that they were tossing out at his work. I didn't really like it because it had a huge base plate. I was always tripping over it. The problem was the top plate was pretty small. Too small to really do anything useful with. Well I was looking at it yesterday and decided if I flipped it upside down it would make a good work table. :think: So I welded a wide rim onto the end with the small plate. Then I welded a couple pieces of 1"x2" tubing to the rim so I'd have a place to mount the casters to ( I still need to drill some hole to mount the casters ) . And presto I've got a work stand.

Today bolted a couple brackets to my "new" work stand. This gave me a wider area to clamp stuff to. After I finished that I clamped my transmission tunnel to the stand. Then I clamped the one fire wall recess extension piece to it. When I clamped the extension on i used the copper panels on the back side of the seams.






I haven't done a whole lot of welding on sheet metal. I set up my welding according to the chart under the lid. Then I tried to do a few tack welds. I kept blowing thru the metal. So I turned the voltage setting down to the lowest setting ( was on the second to lowest setting ) . I tried again and it worked much better. So I started doing a bunch of tack welds moving to different areas for each tack until I had a solid bead. It might not look too pretty but that's what they make grinders for!





After I got the one side welded I did a quick pass with the grinder.




Then I welded the rest of it.





After I finished the welding I started grinding down the welds. I still have a ways to go but it's looking ok. I need to go back over it and do some more grinding and weld up any pin holes I missed on the first pass. And I've also got plenty of hammer and dolly work to do on it. Then I need to do it all over on the other side.

[fordman75]

Today I welded the other side of the firewall recess extension on. I also did some more hammering and grinding. I've still got more work to do to it but it's together. I'm hoping to have it welded in the cab sometime this Saturday.

[fordman75]

Well today I started out with the firewall looking like this.



And the transmission tunnel looking like this.



I cut out the 78 F250 transmission tunnel.



Then I trimmed the rear floor a little. and cleaned up the left over welds from the old transmission tunnel. After that I spent a lot of time ( 2 hours ) measuring, test fitting, more measuring and finally marked out the firewall so I could cut it out to fit the 87 transmission tunnel. Then I pulled the transmission tunnel back out and cut out the firewall with my jigsaw.



Once the firewall was cut out I did some more fitting and got it ready to tack in place. I used this complicated method to hold the transmission tunnel in place so I could weld it in.



Then I spent 3 or 4 hours doing some welding, then some grinding, more welding, more grinding, more welding. You get the idea. But I finally got it in. I still have some grinding to do but it's looking good so far.















Next on my "to do" list is to add a plate to the interior side of the driver side half of the firewall. Then it's on to the driver side front floor.

[fordman75]

I've been sick all week and haven't worked on the 54 at. Which sucks since the weather has been great ( couldn't get sick when the weather is crappy ) .

I thought I was feeling a little better today so I tried to do some work on it. All I got done was a rough cut on the driver side firewall plate. After that I had to pack it in for the day.



I'm hoping I'll start feeling better so I can get something done on it.

[jay54f100]

Get well soon. We don't like down time. Keep up the good work.

[grand_marquis_gt]

As I said on GMN, I love your work! Lookin' good!!!

[fordman75]

Thanks Guys.

I haven't done any work on the 54. I don't know why but I'm just kind of burnt out on it.

I found this wreck for sale so I picked it up mainly for the box and rear fenders. It's a 1956 Ford F250 custom cab. It's in pretty rough shape. But there are a few parts on it that I could try and sell. It's got a 223 inline 6 with a Fordomatic transmission. And it's got 17.5" rims. So if you see or need anything off it let me know. It all has to go!

[Hombre0321]

Fordman, I hear you about getting burnt out. Sometimes its real hard to find the motivation after you have been at it for a spell. Here's a couple of pic's maybe they will get you going. I have done three of these conversions, didn't take the same path you did but those three turned out pretty good. my latest is a 55 Ford and it is trying my patience, but it will be woth it in the end............ I Hope!!!

[fordman75]

Nice trucks! Wasn't that second truck in the US Body source catalog?

[jay54f100]

Hey man we all get down when our projects take a while to complete. So lets get wrenching

[fordman75]

The way it looks it will probably be early August before I do any wrenching on the 54. I'm still stripping down the 56. And I also have 3 broke down vehicles that I need to fix ( not mine, 2 are my dad's and one of my brother's ). And I also need to come up with some more cash.

But someday I'll eventually do something on it.