I'm new to this forum and to F100's just thought I would post up my project and my plans for it. Feel free to comment on the plans and let me know if there is a better more efficient way of doing things.


A little back ground: This is my Good friends 55f100. It's been sitting un-moved at the back of this driveway in Whittier for at least 25 years. My friend Ron use to take me fishing when I was a kid and in-between our fishing trips we would hang out here at his parents house. This was his dads truck, I use to sit in the front seat and pretend to drive it when I was a kid. I even tried to surprise him one time with wash and wax job and learned that you were supposed to whip the wax off after waxing a car. His dad was confined to a bed most of the time that I knew him but we would spend hours talking about his truck and life. I guess he had restored it him self in the mid to late 70's but was unable to drive it due to his illnesses. He passed away in the early 90's and left the truck to his son where it sat un-touched till a few weeks ago when Ron called me and asked me if I would help restore it to a running driving condition. Ron has a limited budget but I accepted the offer given the sentimental value it holds for me, Ron also said the truck would go to me someday.


A little back ground on me. I started my own Off-Road company in 2001. We specialize in Toyota trucks and SUV's we have our own product line and build some cool off road trucks and Suv's from time to time. So this is not the first time I've turned a wrench on a project. Demello Offroad
This is one of custom solid axle trucks we built in early 05.


Being that I've had a steady diet of Off-Road trucks and SUV's for years when it came time to pick out my own classic car I went big low and slow. This is my family weekend car.



Back to the project at hand. When I got the truck back to my shot I took a number of pictures to document what I had to start with.

The body is pretty straight with years of drive way dirt that needs sanded off. The trucks original color was teal but was painted a dark red almost maroon sometime in the 70's.




Given the limited budget and scoop of this project, we may just be adding new door panels to the interior and maybe powder coat and spray paint parts of the dash to clean it up. The bench is with out tears and the headliner could be fixed fairly easy I believe.




Everything appears to be here, if you see something I don't please let me know.


The engine is original as far as I can tell. I believe he had it rebuilt at the time of the last rebuild and did what looks like back yard mechanics version of dual exhaust on the funky y-block headers.





The original plan was to try to get this engine running, do a carb rebuild and maybe a valve job if the bottom end sounded good. But after buying a rebuilt starter (for sale now) and trying to get this engine to turn over I believe something is broken eternally, the crank will spin and the starter will spin out side the truck but when we put it in we can't get it to engage. After doing some more research it seems that a 302 with AOD swap would not only be cheaper but more reliable and offer more options down the road so were going to pull this engine and go that route. (open to suggestions here)

I have already ordered the disc brake conversion booster swap out from this company.
Brake Parts for Classic cars and trucks
I hope that kit is pretty good, it was one of the better priced kits I found on line.

For the engine, I have been searching the criagslist adds waiting for a good running engine and trans to come up.

For engine management and controls i was going to do a painless wiring kit from Painless wiring.

Paint I believe were going to go with a dark metallic grey and powder coat most of the emblems on the truck gloss black leaving just the center part of the grill chrome and the bumpers.

Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome, as I said this is my first f100 it seems pretty easy to work on compared to my Lincoln.

Thanks ahead for any help you can provide.

 

Very solid truck! If the Y-block just needs some cleaning and sprucing up, it would be just fine. Curious how the fan doesn't line up with the shroud at all??

 

welcome to the forum...looks like you have a great project, with really minor issues, how's the body...i.e cab corners, cowl...thanks for the great pics...

 

I don't know is it supposed to?

 

It looks pretty solid, it's a SoCal truck so rust doesn't seem to be an issue anywhere so far. I'm going to be disassembling the whole front end here shortly and should have a better idea of the shape it's in under all that.

 

Nice solid 55, I like your weekend family Lincoln too, those wheels sure set it off.

 

Thank you. That car is a real attention getter.

 

Wow, I love your Lincoln. Is it running the 462 cu. in.

 

It's a 430 which from what I understand is the same block as the 462 released the following year. Just less stroke.

 

That's about as good a staring point as you are likely to get, go for it! LOL

 

Great looking project base.

IMO, keep the Y block. Just something about the sound of a solid lifter engine.


"did what looks like back yard mechanics version of dual exhaust on the funky y-block headers."

That header pipe was available as an aftermarket kit back when.

 

Really? It looks like it was done after a 12 pack

 

Sounds like you have a great story and connection with this truck... Keep the pics coming...

 

I know I should be more interested in the 55 f100 but would like to see some more pics of your Lincoln, what year is it?

 

very cool good luck