Sons 73 highboy restoration
#1
Sons 73 highboy restoration
Grandpa gave my son a 73 F250 he bought new, but had been sitting for about 15 years. What started out as a "lets get it running" turned into a lot more.
Some things we did to it were to strip and paint the frame, make new spring hangers for the front with a couple add –a - leafs and flip the rear shackles and weave in more springs from another F250. With a 2” body lift it has a total of about 12” of lift. Changed the rear drums to disks, change the front from the 73 drums to a 76 disk. 37” Goodyear hummer tires on aluminum wheels. Pretty much all the moving parts were replaced with either new or rebuilt, re-wired the truck. The 360 was rebuilt to a 390 and it had a mild port and polish, crane cam with an edelbrock intake and carb, a DUI distributor, hooker headers into 3” duel exhaust, a 130 amp alternator run into a two battery system using an isolator. An aluminum radiator cooled by twin electric fans. Changed the steering to the 78 integrated and made up for the lift with a 6” dropped pitman arm and a 4” raised steering arm. Wiring is in convoluted tubing and braided steel lines throughout. We pulled the in-cab gas tank and put a new 21-gallon plastic tank for a Jimmy between the frame rails behind the rear axle. My son re-upholstered the seat and we painted the interior, new carpet and door panels. Added gauges, LED interior, step lights, and under-hood lighting.
My son did almost all of the work himself, with me either talking him through it or showing him once and letting him do the rest. His high school doesn’t have auto shop, so this was a great learning experience for him.
We are next going to build a swinging tire rack for the back to hold the spare, jack, and a couple of jerry cans. Finish bodywork and paint is a ways off.
Check out my gallery for some photos of how it got from here:
to here:
Some things we did to it were to strip and paint the frame, make new spring hangers for the front with a couple add –a - leafs and flip the rear shackles and weave in more springs from another F250. With a 2” body lift it has a total of about 12” of lift. Changed the rear drums to disks, change the front from the 73 drums to a 76 disk. 37” Goodyear hummer tires on aluminum wheels. Pretty much all the moving parts were replaced with either new or rebuilt, re-wired the truck. The 360 was rebuilt to a 390 and it had a mild port and polish, crane cam with an edelbrock intake and carb, a DUI distributor, hooker headers into 3” duel exhaust, a 130 amp alternator run into a two battery system using an isolator. An aluminum radiator cooled by twin electric fans. Changed the steering to the 78 integrated and made up for the lift with a 6” dropped pitman arm and a 4” raised steering arm. Wiring is in convoluted tubing and braided steel lines throughout. We pulled the in-cab gas tank and put a new 21-gallon plastic tank for a Jimmy between the frame rails behind the rear axle. My son re-upholstered the seat and we painted the interior, new carpet and door panels. Added gauges, LED interior, step lights, and under-hood lighting.
My son did almost all of the work himself, with me either talking him through it or showing him once and letting him do the rest. His high school doesn’t have auto shop, so this was a great learning experience for him.
We are next going to build a swinging tire rack for the back to hold the spare, jack, and a couple of jerry cans. Finish bodywork and paint is a ways off.
Check out my gallery for some photos of how it got from here:
to here:
#4
Thanks, he is now 17 and I know he has a much greater appreciation for it then just getting a vehicle handed to him. A lot more picky with it too!
Silly though, how once you get started, you can't get stopped. We are starting to fab a swing away tire, jack, and duel jerry can rack for it.
Silly though, how once you get started, you can't get stopped. We are starting to fab a swing away tire, jack, and duel jerry can rack for it.
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