My 1954 F100/F250 4x4 Build

[fordman75]

Well since I bought my 54 Ford F100 my build plans have changed a million times ( the norm for me ) . Well I've hopefully come up with the final build plan. The stock chassis on the 54 was horribly butchered by the previous owner. It was not even close to being safe.



I decided if I was going to put this much time, cash and effort into a truck I wanted it to be a truck I could use year round! I didn't want something I'd have to park for over half a year at a time. For me a truck has to be able to haul my tools, supplies and tow my 20 foot car trailer. So I figured the best way to accomplish this would be pick up a newer 3/4 or 1 ton Ford truck for the chassis. I first picked up a 78 F250 2wd truck. But after some more thinking I decided it might be wise to go with a 4x4 chassis since I want to drive/use this in the winter too.

I picked up a rusty 1978 F250 4x4 for the chassis and drivetrain. The F250 has a 400 V8, 4spd manual and 4.10 gears. The plan was to get a driveable but rusty truck so I could just swap my 54 body on it.

The truck looks much better in these pics then it actually was. One of the previous owners really liked bondo.





A shot of the bumper with the grille gaurd cut off.



I picked up a utility box/service body to use on it. I kept flip flopping on if I should use it or lengthen the stock stepside box. But I finally decided to give up some style for some utility. But I am going to add some Ford style to it. I'm going to modify it to use the stock 54 style tailgate and do a little fiberglass work and flush mount a pair of shield style Ford tail lights.



After some measuring it looks like the 400 would require a pretty wide/deep firewall recess to fit the 54 cab with this chassis. That made me decide to swap in a 300 6 cylinder. The 300 will require a much narrower firewall recess. That and the 300 6 just happens to be my favorite engine.


Here's kind of what I'm shooting for except it'll have a 54 cab and front clip and will be a different color. Mine probably won't look this nice but it'll work.



I'm hoping to get going on it this month. I hope to have the 54 body mocked up before the end of the month.

[fordman75]

I'm going to be making some upgrades to this truck to make it a little better for towing. Some of the upgrades will be a 38 gallon gas tank, Draw-tite receiver hitch, dual piston rear disc brakes, Superduty mastercylinder and hydraulic power booster.

And since this truck sits fairly high up I'm going to convert the 54 front clip to a 1 piece tilt front. It'll make working on the engine much easier for me.


Did a little work on the truck. I got the box pulled off.





When I went to look at the 78 F250 4x4 ( Chassis donor ) I knew it had a bad mastercylinder. But when I started to look the truck over before I bought it I noticed It had a blown driverside rear wheel cylinder. That was ok because it was a bargaining chip to get the truck for a lower price.

Well after I got the truck home I decided if I had to replace the mastercylinder and rebuild the rear brakes it would be a good time to upgrade them. So I did some searching for rear disc brake swap kits. The kits that are available for the Dana 60 all used a single piston GM caliper most without an E-brake. Since this truck has a manual transmission I want it to have a working E-brake. The only kit I could find with an E-brake used exspensive single piston cadillac calipers. I wasn't too impressed with these choices and I really wanted to keep it all Ford parts. So I did some more searching and found a website where a guy did a disc brake swap on a Ford 10.25" rear diff. This isn't the same as my D60 but gave me a lot of good info.

I found out from that website that the 99+ E350 single rear wheel vans were available with a Dana 60 rear diff with disc brakes. Since my 78 has a Dana 60 rear diff I hoped this might be a simple bolt in swap. WRONG!!! The E350 D60 rear diff has larger axle tubes on the housing and the flange the backing plate bolts to is also different. So it's not a bolt in swap but with a little fabrication it'll still work.

So I started looking for a rear diff out of a 99 E350. I quickly discovered these were not going to be cheap! The going price for these in my area were $500-$750. After some more looking I lucked out and found a salvage yard that had the diff but it had a bent housing. They wanted $300 for it. I thought this would work out great. I Had them check on it to make sure it still had the brake parts on it. I found out the next day it was missing the calipers and one rotor. So I told them I wasn't willing to pay $300 since it was missing half the parts I needed. So he said they would drop the price to $150. I told them I'd take it. I thought the main mounting brackets and E-brake parts were worth $150. So the next day I picked it up.

Here's a pic of the donor diff.



Once I got it home I pulled the hubs and brake parts off and chucked the rest into the scrap pile. This brake set up uses a drum style E-brake. It's like a larger version of the Ford Explorer rear disc brake setup but with dual piston calipers.

So here's a pic of the parts I pulled off the donor diff. I won't be using the hubs or the one rotor.



Picked up a pair of reman'd calipers off Ebay. Got the pair for $96.00.




Since the truck had a bad mastercylinder and I'm swapping to rear disc brakes I needed to upgrade the mastercylinder too. The power brake booster in the 78 is quite large and has the mounting bracking that makes it stick out pretty far. Since the 54 cab has a narrower firewall then the 78 then room might be an issue with the 78 booster. So the solution I chose was to go with a hydraulic powerbrake booster. The hydrualic booster is run off the power steering pump instead of engine vacuum.

So I started searching and found a complete booster and mastercylinder setup out of a 1999 F450 with a powerstroke turbo diesel. The truck was wrecked with just under 60,000 miles on it. I got the booster and mastercylinder for $100.00.





I'm going to be pulling the rest of the 78's body off and then start mocking up the 54 cab.

[fordman75]

I also picked up a pair of pretty decent F600 front fenders and a pair of the shorty running boards with mounting brackets. The fenders have a couple dents that need to be fixed and a hole or two to patch. And the running boards need a lot of work too. But I got it all for $50.00 So I think I got a good deal.







The F600 fenders should give me a little more clearance just incase I decide to go with some larger tires.

[bucks77ford]

Looks like a very cool project. Keep us updated.

[just-n-time]

Great job, I hope to see the project as you go I will say that, I have a project I hope to get into over the next tear or so with a 64 swap to a 78 custom frame and suspension, so I am keen to know ho your mounting(frame to body) works out and how much you have to re-dew of the mounts.

[fordman75]

Thanks, The way I'm going to mount my cab and front clip probably isn't the way most guys would do it. I'm going to be using the stock style 54 Front cab mounts ( with the stock 54 mount frame brackets ) .


For the rear cab mounts I'm going to use the 78's rear mounts. I'm going to cut the whole floor out of the 78 cab and will be cutting it down and using 3/4's of it in the 54 cab. By doing this I get the trany tunnel to clear the trans and transfercase and I also get the rear cab mounts.

The front clip will be mounted by a hinge assembly I'm going to fabricate.

[fordman75]

I found 3 broken leafs in the driverside rear spring and one in the passenger side rear spring. So I decided to replace them with something from a heavier truck.

So today I went and picked up a pair of rear springs for it. They are out of a 1999 Ford F450. Nothing but smooth rides with these!!

[fordman75]

I dug the 54 cab out of my garage Thursday.



My youngest brother stopped by this morning to help me lift the cab up onto the F250 frame. I didn't have the 78's cab off yet but it was the only time he could make it down. I'm just glad that I finally got started on it.

Here's a pic of the cab sitting on the back of the frame.




Then I started pulling the rest of the 78 body off.





I've got the cab pretty much gutted now. Got the dash, steering column, pedals and wiring all pulled. The only things I still need to pull before I start cutting up the cab are the seat, the winshield and rear window.

[55 f350]

nice dude ! i put my 55 on a 74 1/2 ton chassis but ended up whacking the curved middle section out of the frame , and modifying the front cabmounts from the 55 chassis . also go look at dueller 51's gallery he did the same thing and i used his for reference many times . he has a link to his own site that you can download with alot of details . the benefit of cutting the frame on mine if it had been 4 whell drive is i woulda ended up with a lot of ground clearance !!!!!!!! also i moved the engine frame mounts forward and tweaked them to clear the firewall on mine instead of cutiing it .i was gonna put the 360 fe back in it . just some ideas and keep us posted !!!!!! later . kevin aka 55 f350

[fordman75]

Originally Posted by 55 f350

nice dude ! i put my 55 on a 74 1/2 ton chassis but ended up whacking the curved middle section out of the frame , and modifying the front cabmounts from the 55 chassis . also go look at dueller 51's gallery he did the same thing and i used his for reference many times . he has a link to his own site that you can download with alot of details . the benefit of cutting the frame on mine if it had been 4 whell drive is i woulda ended up with a lot of ground clearance !!!!!!!! also i moved the engine frame mounts forward and tweaked them to clear the firewall on mine instead of cutiing it .i was gonna put the 360 fe back in it . just some ideas and keep us posted !!!!!! later . kevin aka 55 f350

Thanks, You've got a good looking project there.

I've checked out Dueller 51's build.

I won't be cutting the frame at all. I am considering adding material to the top of the frame to level it out some. I'm not concerned about ground clearance. It has plenty for what I need.

I'm considering moving the engine forward. But with the 4x4 it involves quite a bit more then doing it in a 2wd does. I want to get the cab close to where it will need to be and the front clip mocked up before I make a decision on that.



I got a little more done.




I pulled the top plate off the bumper. The top plate was aluminum. The guy welded the bumper mounting brackets right to the frame. Now I get to cut thru a lot of welds.




Pulled the seat and most of the floor.




Here's the section of the 78 floor that I wll be installing in the 54 cab.



I slid the 54 cab Forward just to make it look like I was getting something done on it. Need to pull the shifters and the 78 front cab mounts before I can move it any farther forward.

[fordman75]

I got the cab almost in the position it will be mounted in. I still need to go a couple inches farther forward but I'll have to cut out the firewall and floor to do it.

I bolted on the one F600 front fender. You can see the wheel well opening that the cab needs to go a little farther forward. I'm going to try the F100 front fenders on it too to see if I need the F600 fenders.

The body will sit a little lower on the frame once it's mounted.

Here's how it looks now.

[55 f350]

in my case if you pulled the motor and looked real close there are more holes drilled in the frame to allow for different driveline configurations . i moved mine forward and had to drill one new hole and slightly modify the mount . i know its a pain in rear but once you start cutting on the cab { voice of experience !!!!} you'd be suprised how quickly things multiply and get outta hand . like moving the pedals etc..... yeah it was a nice project . someone had it hastily towed and the crossmembers were not in it and it got bent to he-- and i got p.o'd and scrapped the frame and put it all on a frame that had been subbed with a monte carlo front clip . twises bro in law has it now as i just gave up . now i got my 53 and the 49 i traded the 55 for . i know cutting the frame aint popular , but it made mounting everything so much easier , and it had a hideous gap between the floor pan and the top of the frame before the surgery . dueeler put me onto this lil' gem . you will find that the truck steering box leans over to the left quite a bit . it makes for the column coming up in a strange position way to the left . passenger car , fullsize , boxes for ford of the same years are a direct replacement and they sit straight up and down thus the column came up in the right spot for me . i took mine off of a 75 ltd . later more pics !!!!!!!!!!!

[fordman75]

Originally Posted by 55 f350

in my case if you pulled the motor and looked real close there are more holes drilled in the frame to allow for different driveline configurations . i moved mine forward and had to drill one new hole and slightly modify the mount . i know its a pain in rear but once you start cutting on the cab { voice of experience !!!!} you'd be suprised how quickly things multiply and get outta hand . like moving the pedals etc..... yeah it was a nice project . someone had it hastily towed and the crossmembers were not in it and it got bent to he-- and i got p.o'd and scrapped the frame and put it all on a frame that had been subbed with a monte carlo front clip . twises bro in law has it now as i just gave up . now i got my 53 and the 49 i traded the 55 for . i know cutting the frame aint popular , but it made mounting everything so much easier , and it had a hideous gap between the floor pan and the top of the frame before the surgery . dueeler put me onto this lil' gem . you will find that the truck steering box leans over to the left quite a bit . it makes for the column coming up in a strange position way to the left . passenger car , fullsize , boxes for ford of the same years are a direct replacement and they sit straight up and down thus the column came up in the right spot for me . i took mine off of a 75 ltd . later more pics !!!!!!!!!!!

It looks like I'm only going to need to recess the firewall in the center around 2"-3" deep. And because I'm going with the 300 inline 6 the recess won't need to be very wide. And since I'll have the entire floor cut out of the cab anyways it's not that much more work. Moving the motor forward is much more work and more cost for me. Having one driveshaft shortened and one lengthened is going to cost me more then a couple pieces of sheetmetal ( which I already have ) .

My steering box is different then the 2wd truck. And I already bought a red head rebuilt steering box for it.

DonwI'll be posting plenty of pics. Hopefully they won't all be crappy quality.

[55 f350]

something i had done , and kept the crossmember and peices for future use , was on the 55 i was gonna use the rear cab mounts and crossmember from the 74, as they looked and seemingly worked better than the ones on our 53-56 fords . i just located where it was drilled a couple of holes and was making it look good when "it" happened .

[fordman75]

Here's today's progress.

Pulled the F600 fender off and dug the Flamed F100 fenders out of the garage. I bolted them to the cab and bolted the hood latch panel to them. The F100 fenders look like they will work but I will definately have to move the cab farther forward. The front lip of the wheel well is actually on the tires.







I pulled the fenders back off and slid the cab back to make it easier to work on the engine and transmission.

Can you say goodbye 400?






I dug out a SBF V8 bellhousing and bolted it onto the transmission.