Hi everybody! I'm new to the site, and I'm sure I'll be spending quite a bit of time here, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chris, and I'm about to embark on what's sure to be a long journey. I've just inherited a 1966 F100 Short-bed/352 V8 from my grandfather who recently passed away. He bought the truck new in 1967, and everyone in the family has great memories of "Poppy and the old Ford". Since I was ten, I'd been fascinated with this truck. I loved watching Poppy work on it, the smell of the engine, and cruising down the highway to go fishing at my grandpa's favorite fishing hole, Lake Marie. So, now that he's left the rusty hunk of metal to me, I've decided to keep the memories alive, make poppy proud, and restore the truck.



Here is the fun part... I don't know much about working on cars (besides changing oil/brake pads). In fact, I'm a bit overwhelmed and have no clue what I'm doing, so this will be a huge learning project, and i'm sure i'll be coming to you folks often for advice. I'm also married, with 3 kids, and have a full time job, so be patient with me. :-) It will be years before i get this thing where i want it.

But, I'm passionate about this project, and will see it through to the end. I'll be coming here to document my progress regularly, and i look forward to your comments and advice along the way. Hopefully i can connect with others who have gone down this same road.

First step... strip this thing down to the bones. (Pictures coming soon!)

 

Here's the beauty:

 

Nice start! Hopefully you retain the tu-tone paint scheme. This truck will be well worth the effort.

 

May I suggest that you don't do anything more than clean it up and drive it for about a year or longer. Get to know the old truck, let it speak to you and give you direction.

Start making a plan, what you are talking about is a 2-5 year project. Diving into it without a better plan can grow ugly on you and 10 years from now it still may not be complete.

Cleaning it up getting it in a good driving condition with some flaws may be closer to grandpaw than having a restored version that you never knew of.



John

 

ACH! This is the last thing you should do.

Some 's cannot wait to tear things apart, and then what? Since most have no plan, little money to spend, sooner or later, the parts are piled in the bed.

The truck then sits and goes all to he!!. The wife complains as do the neighbors, so before too long, it either gets sold off for a pittance as a "basket case" or off to the wrecking yard it goes.

I've seen more than my fair share of this jazz over the past 50 years. Rule of thumb: Mechanical work first, body and paint second, upholstery last, and...

Whatever you estimate the costs will be, double it...then add 25%. Figure...at least...20 grand minimum to do a frame off resto.

Welcome to FTE

 

Chris''
Welcome from fl''...What the guy's said is so true!, so just get her running and enjoy''
fix a little at a time and you can drive her while your fixin her up....

 

Welcome to the forum, I'm married and have three kids too and I've been working on my truck for about 1.5 years, I'd give the same advice the guys have given above, get it running so you can take it for some drives, even just around the block is a great motivator, it's not so much fun when the truck isn't running and in pieces. The only other thing I would suggest is find a place you can work on the truck where you can set up your tools and be relatively comfortable. Take your time, you don't have to spend a ton on money on these things (although you easily can) and still have a great project that's a lot of fun.

 

Not to be a broken a record, but as a guy who's done several projects over the years, I agree with the other guys.

Get her running good.....which means, go through the ignition system, the carburetor, the fuel system, the brakes, belts, hoses, and a few other things.

Then tackle the steering and any other pesky electronic issues.

At that point, you'll have something you can drive and enjoy, WHILE you continue to make progress.

Then I'd start in on cosmetic stuff like buffing out that old paint if you want to and you can also start killing rust. For instance, you can pull the bed off and de-rust and paint the frame WHILE driving the truck. I plan on doing exactly this myself.

If any of the above seems intimidating, let us know, we're not judgemental around here and will be happy to help you.

Having a perfect, frame-off, ground up restored truck is nice, but having your grandad's old truck to drive around in while making it perfect is MUCH, MUCH nicer.

 

To add to my post above....the following may be instructive to you:

Six years ago I pulled my 54 Ford Mainline tudor apart....down to the frame....ALL THE WAY apart.

It was my high school car, drove away from my wedding in it...you know....very sentimental car....like your grandad's truck.

Six years, and over $30K later, it's in the last phases of being roadworthy again. It was so much more expensive than I thought that I had to give up on the paint and am just doing a garage paint job on it.

Several times during this project, I've thought about simply selling it to get it out of my garage and to save myself the remaining money that it needed to finish it.

I perservered, but most guys in similar positions don't and end up selling a pile of parts to someone cheap.

If I had to do it over again with the 54, I would've restored it while I was driving it.

 

Hey guys! Thank you so much. While humbling, I really appreciate your advice. As a true noob, i had been searching the web for advice, and found a thread of a kid that took his f100 down to the frame and is fully restoring it. That was intimidating, but i felt i needed to do the same if i wanted it done right.

While working on it last night, i was getting a little down about the fact it would be years before i actually got to take it for a drive. Reading your posts this morning was truly encouraging, and i'll definitely follow your advice.

I'm starting with the engine and the brakes. the engine was a rusted mess, and quite a few of the parts will need to be replaced. Once i get it running(and stopping!!!) then i'll start working on the cosmetics. Thanks again guys!

 

@Jeff - Thanks! I definitely plan on keeping the two-tone. I love the red/white combo on this truck.

 

From the one photo that you've posted, the truck looks pretty solid.

When you say that the engine is a "rusted mess"....do you mean that it is seized up?

If you don't know, you need to try and turn the engine by hand. Put the truck in neutral and try to turn the fan by hand....or grab the fan belt and pull on it that way. If the lower pulley is turning, then the engine isn't seized up.

If the fan belt just slips when you try to turn it, then you may have to try to turn the engine by putting a socket wrench on the crank pulley.

If you'd like, I can post a step by step list of the things that I do when I revive an old vehicle that's been sitting.

Trust me, when you fire this thing up for the first time, you'll be grinning from ear to ear.

 

Hey Don - I tried turning it over by hand, but the fan belt was slipping. I'll try the socket on the crank pulley this evening. I would LOVE to see that list. Thanks!

 

Here are a few more pictures:





Starting to take some parts off to clean em up:

 

Looks fine to me. I don't see why you'd want to restore it.