Also, as far as taking classes, my dad did this kind of stuff "back in the day." He claims he is up for the challenge but he also agrees that I might need a cab.

 

Take a kitchen refrigerator magnet with you, the flat flexible type that often has advertising on it is perfect. Run it around the entire lower 1/2 of the cab. If it sticks, good, that's metal. If it falls off, then there is a layer of or all bondo there, expect rust out. Body work and paint are the two most expensive parts to a truck rebuild. Either way, cheap metal that requires a lot of work to fix, or solid metal that costs more but needs little to no work, it's going to cost you about the same in the long run, so it's a lot smarter to put the money into solid metal to begin with.

 

Well, I Just got off the phone with the guy. He claims he bought the truck off ebay a few years ago. He said the cab is in good shape besides the steps. The bed sides are in good shape, the bed floor is rusty and wavy. the tailgate has dents and is bowed but solid metal. the fenders are junk as are the inner fenders. So that makes me wonder how the air vents are, rusted like mine??

AX Good idea on the flexible magnate! I was going to take a magnate but not a flexible one. I use a pen shaped telescoping one for picking up dropped bolts from tight places. But now I have my eye on a one on the fridge! Thanks.

 

I thought my floor wasnt bad until i sand blasted it it was swiss cheese after that So be careful rust hides real well when you have it to the bare metal then you really see what your dealing with. I manufactured most of my body panels with a sheet metal co i work with they were a big help also brace the cab with the doors closed before you weld in the floor pan or else your cab may twist etc As foor the floor pan I would buy one as the stiffening ribs are important to the floors integrity Jus my 2 cents have fun eh

 

Yeah, My cab is shot. I can repair it, but would much rather save my time and my sanity and just buy another donar cab/truck.

I like having an odd ball, step child, of the ford trucks. It makes it more fun to search for alternative parts. I would not want a truck I could just buy out of a catalog and piece together. (that takes the fun out of it for me) Will I buy something out of a catalog of parts, yes absolutely, it's inevitable. I want a lot of performance parts for my engine if I can ever afford it

The only things I got from a catalog was cab corners, they were a gift from my mom. She saw I needed a cab and thought she would help. but If i do not get a cab, I will eventually down the road to resto, have to end up buying the replacement panels from LMC.

Also now that I have my 25 posts I can utilize this site better!
-Steve

 

Are there any 4-Speed Warner T-98A performance upgrades? I know its a far away upgrade for my truck, but I was just thinking about that as I read the new summit magazine. Like a short shift or something?

 

Dude, sounds like you really need to sit down and decide what you want your truck to be when it grows up, what it needs to achieve that goal, what it is going to cost to get there and stick to your plan before you go much further. Performance up grades for your tranny, short shifter???? Dude That tranny and rear axle (and ratio it likely has in it) was meant for pulling stumps, not drag racing. 1st gear is a crawler power gear, and 2-4 were the street gears like a 3 speed. 1st gear isn't syncromesh which means you must come to a dead stop each time before shifting into 1st or you'll grind the gears. Even then with the stock 6 it probably won't do over 60 mph wide open in 4th. Unless you're planning to update the engine/tranny/rear axle the only thing you might need the Summit catalog for is to wipe the mud off your boot soles. Sorry if this is harsh, but you need to understand the realities before you spend any money buying a racing saddle for a cow.

 

Np offense taken, I was expecting some flaming.

Ax. I'm 19, I want things to go fast. I know I have a crawler gear and my truck is made for working not racing. I bought the truck because I wanted a classic truck, not a car.I also know about the gear ratio's and the 1st thru 4th gear and what speeds i'll be getting and how much torque is in 1st gear, trust me I know. (I am into off-roading and have optimized the crawler gear in my jeep. I understand the ratio's) I was just looking for a shifter with a little more of a shorter throw. Not so much a racing shifter. Like i said its far away but I also asked about performance mods for the 223 and got responses right away. I just thought i would ask. I am new to the classic truck world. I am from the Jeep world and can tell ou anything you want to know about jeeps and what makes them tick. I have just changed gear to classic trucks and thought i should start asking questions now that my disassembly is over with.

I am restoring my truck to LOOK original body wise. Maybe have a bit larger wheels in the back and some slimmer ones up front. nice exhaust. NO chopping! The interior will resemble a custom cab paint job with the two tone look. Maybe a bucket seat mod, and a custom center council. As far as the engine/ trans go. Like i said I am 19 years old and want speed for a change, again I drive a jeep as my DD not a mustang. (I know about granny gear.) The engine is up in the air. Once the truck is road worthy i might look into doing a V8 swap. Or keep it original and look/ ASK if there are any aftermarket world parts for the set up I have. When the truck is all said and done, my parents want to buy it off of me and use it for around town and cruise ins at the local car shows. And in turn I will have more money to start/fund my next project that comes along and still keep the truck in the family.

So I do have a plan on what my truck will look like, I am unsure what I want its 1/4 mile to be when I'm done. But for 95% of m truck I have a vision for.

-Steve

 

boy o boy you sure know alot for 19 you must have grown up with this stuff eh One thing i dont get is you want to go fast then why pick a truck a car would do much better for hooking up and street racing. weight transfer is better on say a fox body for example and you say your mom and dad want it for cruises for the look is cool I like trucks for there look not there feet You have good parents who support you in your dreams thats cool man do a great job for them and consult with them because in the end you want them to be happy as well eh jus my 2 cents worth

 

I am consulting with my parents about the final product. Thats how I got the vision. I picked a truck, because I wanted a truck. No, I obviously did not grow up with them, but I do catch on quick. My dad grew up with them and worked in a garage for almost 15 years doing all types of work on cars/trucks. He is helping my learn on the project. I also picked a truck because my insurance company said it would be cheeper to insure then say a Mustang, Chevelle, or any two door muscle.

Like I said a shorter throw for ease of driving is all I was looking for. And In the future of my truck, "when it grows up" I might re-gear and swap a V8. But I guess I will just stick to bodywork questions.

 

Ask any questions you'd like, about anything you have questions on. Just expect that sometimes the answers may not be what you want to hear. Short shifter kits are for tranny's with internal shift rails and good strong syncros to allow quicker shifting by not having to move the lever as far between gears (I put one in my 56 with it's T-56 6 speed tranny by the way, so I do know what they are and what they are/can be used for). As I stated the T 58 was never designed to be "quick" shifted and would likely hang up between gears if you tried. The old way to get a short shift throw was to simply cut down the shift lever as short as practical.
Having a set plan for exactly what you want your truck to be is the best starting point. Make a list of how you plan to drive the truck, what it's purpose is to be, what you want it to look like, etc etc. Then review your list and reorder it in order of importance to you. finally review it once more looking for things that are mutually exclusive in one vehicle i.e. 1. want to go drag racing and run in the low 10's AND 2. want to go rock crawling and mud bogging, AND 3. want to enter shows for stock restored trucks. Pick the one selection that is most important and sratch the rest of the conflicts. Once your list is refined, pick each of your wishes and goals and make another list of what your truck will need to reach each of those goals. Finally once more review each of these lists and compare to each other, scratching out the least important change that conflicts with another, i.e. a fire breathing big block V-8 that will do wheelstands, and an engine that will get > 35 MPG while cruising for hours at 65 MPH. Once you have your final list decide in what order of accomplishment makes the most sense financially as well as when you plan on driving your truck.
Another reality is the amount of time and money a project like this involves. You will NOT have your truck drivable and on the road in 6 months or even a year unless you have a lot of very tallented builder friends, access to a fully equipped shop, and very deep pockets. I gather from your questions and things you have posted that this is not your case, that you have you and your dad, very little in major tools (welders, large air compressor, machining tools, specialized power tools), a very limited budget that will need to be doled out over an extended period of time. Do you have a workshop/garage where you can leave your project in a incomplete state and work on it over many months/years? If this is the case I'd say 3-5 years if you are intensly dedicated to the project and are able to come up with the money for parts and supplies without delaying the project too much. If you will not be spending every spare waking moment, and/or the funds will slow it down (most will spend 5K- 20K on a build like this for parts and materials and an equal amount on tools and equipment, it is NOT a cheap way to get a vehicle!), then 5-never years from start to the street is a more realistic time frame. Never is there because most get bored/change interests/make life changes/ lose their work space long before the vehicle ever reaches a drivable state and abandon the project.
I am telling you all this because first time builders often DRASTICALLY underestimate the cost, time, and skills needed to sucessfully complete a build. If you are not willing/able to invest this much into your truck, you would be far better served by searching thru Craigs list and Ebay for a completed and drivable truck of the age you'd like to have. In 9.7/10 cases you'll be able to buy one for far less than you can build one for and not need to invest any significant time/equipment or skills into it. Since a project truck takes as much time as it does, you'd have a lot of equivlent time to save and search for the truck of your dreams.

 

Yes, money is always an issue with everything. As we all probably know. The truck I bought is the truck I have wanted for a long time. I finally found one close enough to be able to drive and pick up/ haul home for a price I could afford. Did I make an impulse buy that day, yes most likely. But all the experience and knowledge, and spending time wrenching with my dad and friends, I would never think twice about the day I bought the truck. I got the truck when I was in 8th grade. I felt like I could hardly see over the wheel. And as time grew on I had times through high school i could not work on it and times that I was able to rip it apart and figure out what I needed. And working part time made things harder to have time to wrench the project let alone my Daily driver. And PT work also as you all know pays little. As far as selling/ wishing I bought a more complete truck, unless I got some awesome unbeatable offer on my truck to where I know i could take the money and go buy the same one right away, I will keep the truck even if it takes me another ten years to get it on the road again. And yes I have garage space that is not going anywhere anytime soon. My dads truck cannot fit in the garage and my mom only parks in the garage in the winter months. Otherwise I kick my brother out and work all I want.

Again thanks for the input everybody. Hopefully I can get to the parts truck tomorrow after work. I'll let you know how it goes. He added pictures to his Add:




I don't need anything from the firewall forward. Because I know the fenders are junk on that truck. It also has a 272 V8 3 speed, I think he said it has overdrive??? I did not know they came with overdrive? or maybe he is mistaken?

 

Did not get the truck. Had another FTE member there when I got there and he was loading the truck up. Ah well, my search continues.

 

I got a small welder to tackle the cab corners. I did a search on the forum to try and find some one who has a write up on cab corners for a 57-60 and cannot find one? If anyone knows of one let me know. I am hoping to get started on them in the next week. Thanks in advance.

 

First, if your small welder is a mig or wirefeed and does not have shielding gas provision built in, see if it can be converted or if there is an add on kit available. You'll have two strikes against you going in if you try welding sheet metal with flux core wire. Next get a spool of the thinnest wire your welder will handle, 0.024-0.025 range. You want your wire thickness to be as close to the thickness of the metal you are welding as possible. Cab corners are cab corners, year makes little difference. Do a search on my user name and body work for a lot of posts I have made on the subject. Basically: remove all paint and old filler from the metal. Poke any and all dark freckles with a sharp tool, awl or ice pick, until you reach clean solid metal. Mark that point and then move up/out an inch more to be sure you have solid metal. Mark the metal where you will cut to remove the rot, I suggest rounding all corners of cuts in the face of a panel with as large a curve as possible. Drill out all the spot welds (recessed dimples along the edges) with a spotweld cutter. Cut along your marked lines with a thin cutoff disk on a 4" or 4 1/2" angle grinder or 3" air cut off tool. Go slow and don't cut deeper than the face panel to avoid cutting into under bracing. Seperate the spot welded edges with a heavy duty putty knife or gasket scraper and remover outer skin. Examine inner structure for soundness. Replace any rotted inner structure with new metal. Clean and paint inner structure with "weld thru" primer (available at auto paint stores, some welding supply and on line. It's a bit pricy but there is no good substitute, and there is no sense leaving your hard work unprotected! Mark the patch panel carefully cut a little oversized and trim until you have a perfect fit with not gaps wider than the thickness of the welding wire TAKE YOUR TIME with this step to get it right. Drill 1/4" holes in the flanges where the original spotwelds were so you can plug weld thru them. Paint the back side of the patch with the weld thru. Follow the many instructions posted previously on how to weld the patch into place with minimal to no warping. BE PATIENT!!!