400 is smaller, lighter, and more power potential per dollar.

 

agreed. the 400 is a potential beast. good luck on your project!

 

Negative Batman. Everything is different. There was no FE motors in the 77.5-79 F-250 4wd. The motor stands look the same but the bolt holes are in different locations. As far as tranny crossmembers go the divorced one should be a simple deal. Just drill the holes and mount it. The transfer on the other hand may be a problem. IIRC it sits kinda half under the rear of the cab and half sticking out. May want to measure your frames and see at what point the frame on the highboy get narrower than the later frame.

 

its possible to do the divorced t case in late model frames. I have a friend with a 78 250 with the whole running gear besides the axles out of a 77 highboy in his truck. Looks factory.

 

yoru in eagle river huh, im in anchorage.. it wouldnt be hard to fab up some mounts. u got a welder and plasma?

 

Well I finally got working on the project this summer and as usual, everything changed. It has been slow progress with summer's up here being so busy with camping, hunting, fishing and family get togethers.

I sold the 77 axles and scrapped the frame.

I bought a couple trucks, tore them all apart and started putting together what I want in a truck mixed in with a bit of "use what I have" to get me by for now.
Looks like she will end up being a 1974 F100 w/ 8-Lug Axles. Stock 1974 360FE (for now), 4-Speed manual transmission, Divorced NP205 T-Case, 79-78 HP D44 front axle w/ power disc brakes and power steering, 78-79 D60 rear axle, 1975 Highboy front springs.

I still need to figure out what I am going to do for rear suspension since I am sure it will sit lower than the front. Once I get that figured out, I can get the rear driveshaft made. I got lucky and had ones that would work for the intermediate shaft and front shaft. Then once I set the cab back on the frame, I get to figure out how to wire up the 74 ignition system with the wiring on a 79 cab. This might be straight forward, but I have not even looked at it yet.

I have done a bunch of "custom" work to make things fit and work together, nothing seemed to be a straight bolt in deal. It always had to be modified in some way, some big and some small. I have tried quite a few different transmissions, t-cases, crossmembers and mounts to get things to work for what I want it to do.It should be one heck of a frankenstein truck when it's all done. I tried to make most of the modifications look "ok" and used factory parts when I could.

I am out of town for a few weeks and have no real recent pics, but these are some of along the way.

 

More pics...






More progress and pics to come (as I get time to work on her)

 

I asked the wife to shoot me a few pics of the work her father and I had done on the truck. These are not quite what I was looking for, but bless her heart for trying. Pics from her cell phone, but these will need to work for now.

As she sits right now


Highboy springs installed



NP205 & Drivelines installed

 

lookn good i want to build another but wife says other wise

 

Well, we got quite a bit done on the truck the last couple weeks. The cab and front clip are installed, the radiator is in, the alternator and power steering pump are installed. The transmission and transfer case shifters are installed.

We converted an automatic transmission w/ tilt steering column to a manual transmission w/ tilt steering column. We tore the column appart, removed all the the auto shift stuff, filled and smoothed all the holes, then re-assembled it. I am real happy with how it turned out.

I'll get pictures posted in a few days of all the progress.

 

find me a cheap tilt wheel for my 75

 

As promissed....

The cab and front clip installed.






My crappy grille shell. I am currently looking for a better one locally.

 

The automatic column converted to a manual. The tilt steering is going to be nice.


I had a couple cans of rubberized undercoating laying around and I figured what the heck. It has a couple weeks before I get back home to air out and dry real good. Then I am putting a layer of insulation down before putting the rubber floor mat in place.

 

your 74 floor pans look good i currently have a 73 f-250 i am starting to rebuild for the second time around I removed the clutch tonight and found a crack on flywheel i'll check with shop on friday to see if turnable!

 

Well not much progress with the Christmas Holiday and all. Last time home I spend a little time putting down cab insulation on the floor only to find out the rubber floor mat I bought from NPD was only a half cab cover not the full floor cover. I'll either send it back or sell it locally. (on another note, I just looked at all the parts I ordered from NPD and it looks like they sent some stuff for the wrong year of truck. Looks like more stuff may be going back)

I got my shifter extention mostly built and cleaned up some of the cab wiring that was in shambles. No pictures at this time, due to some brainless guy leaving at work. I'm going to try and get the wife to get some pics for me, but that's not real high on her priority list (and I agree). I decided to go carpet instead of the vinyl floor mat and got that ordered the other day. It will be waiting for me when I get home from work on Jan 5th.

You all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy (and safe) New Year.