No pics this time, just an update on where we are at. Stepdad, a motor guy through and through came down this weekend. We had started the motor a couple of months ago, not sure if I posted on it. 3 fuel pumps, a new wiring harness, 5 days and finally got it to run but would not idle. Stepdad came down, adjusted the idle on the carb, one turn of the starter and running!!!! Doesn't sound like a big deal to the guys that do this everyday, but for us, almost instant satisfaction. Let it idle until we had the thermostat open and circulating water through. Gave a chance to check the water temp, oil pressure and voltage on the new gauges while we were playing. Everything looked good. Truck hadn't been turned over in nearly two months and started within first revolution of the motor.

Although extremely humid here in eastern VA today finished up wrapping the new wiring and incasing it in wire loom. Under the hood, although not to show truck standard wiring blends and looks pretty good. Lots to do but the list is getting shorted everyday. Hard to believe it had been nearly two years since we stared.

All feeedback thus far on the grill shell getting painted black has been neutral at best. I apologize as the pics obviously do not do it justice. THIS IS THE BEST LOOKING FRONT END I HAVE EVER SEEN. Owned 8 F150's to date and the black grill shell on the black truck is BY far the best looking front end I have ever seen.

Hope to have the bed on the truck around the 4th of July. God Bless America!!!!

 

Posting a couple of old pictures. 90's was the first of the Ford Flaresides that I owned, also a '79. Worked hard to get this one on the road, (including losing the end of my left pointer finger) although mechanically in much better shape than the one we are putting back together today. 400M replaced the 351M, 4 speed, no a/c, 6" lift, 38's and eventually 35's. Had to sell the truck before getting out of college but vowed one day that I would own another. Note the model A in the background in the second picture, still around today. You might also recognize that the rims are identical on both trucks. Son picked them out this time, guess the nut doesn't fall far from the tree. Hard to get anything done on the truck this week, its raining right now and has everyday this week here on the east coast. Hopefully it lets up tomorrow and can get the dash back in the truck. Might make a run this weekend to get the bed back to VA.

And yes, mullets and rat tails were in style for a couple of months back in the 90's.\\

 

A mullet and a dentside...a thing of beauty

 

Tool cool! I love these stories, builds especially when it involves the family and the loving on the old Ford Truck.

 

Not a lot to show here but we did get the speedometer cable back in and installed the tach. Had to drill through the dash to mount the tach, felt pretty bad about it but took our time and made it look as good as possible. In VA today above 90 degrees so limited the work time. Should be able to move forward with the dash, only exception is radio power and wiring but everything that leaves the cab should be wrapped up. Wasn't sure how the dash mounted tach would look, but like it.

 

Lots of work today, first we installed the garage.



Surprising how cool the cab was compared to outside the canopy. Worked from 10-6 and although we took a couple of breaks it wasn't that bad. Filled the transmisson with fluid as well as the transfer case, completed the emergency brake installation also. Had to manufacture some of the air system parts out of 3" ductwork that was cut and wrapped to size. Think we will have a quality air delivery system now. Was able to get everything together and re-install the dash. Got lots of things to work on but all fluids in and the dash in is a big milestone. Tried to bleed the brakes but couldn't get any fluid out of the master cylinder, defective, unknown at this point???






Still plenty of things to get wrapped up but getting the dash back in is a big deal. Start to mount the gauges and extra lights but have to determine what is causing the issue with the brakes.

 

Awsome work....the truck looks great. It's not your average truck that's for sure. Can't wait till it's on the road and you show us pics of you in the mud.

 

Nice build!

 

Not a lot to show but a lot of work getting to this point. Googled my "problem" with the master cyclinder and needed to bench bleed it. Once I read it I remembered doing it 20 years ago. Got the brakes bled, getting lots of good fluid to the front but not as much as I would have expected to the rear. Got to hot to continue to mess with it but will investigate further next time. Big scare today, installed the dash yesterday and went to start the truck today and it would not start, sure we had messed something up in the wiring. Checked fuses, electrical connections and then determined it wasn't in park, good to see the safety switch is working as we will need it going forward. Installed the driveshafts today. Won't be long before we will scare the neighbors taking it down the street.

 

Continuing to work on the interior as we have not made the run to pick up the bed. Little things now that have to be tied up.




Installed the dash pad, door panels and mechanical gauges.








Note the UNCUT bracket holding the temperature controls. Must have looked in 100 trucks in the junkyard before we found it. Had the old AM/FM radio which we also have and plan to install if it still works.

 

Have you thought about blacking out around the headlight and leaving the outer edge chrome? Also painting the relief's of the grill so the chrome of the grill stands out and ties together with the headlights and the shell?

 

In response to the last question, No Sir haven't had any thoughts concerning or considering doing. Appreciate the thoughts just not mine.

Wanted to let you know that we are putting the latest 1979 Ford F150 radio back into the truck, here is a pick of the latest technology offered 34 years ago.



And thankfully we got a picture of the donor truck in a salvage yard north of JMU in VA.



The cab was clean and the radio bracket had not been cut for a new radio. Thrilled to find something that hadn't been alterated by a newer radio. Not all the pieces in the rebuild are OEM but the radio will be. Although there has been a real heat wave coming through eastern VA over the last two weeks we have been able to start the build on a speaker box. Plan on using a wireless FM transmitter to play the Ipod through the radio but will not need to install an extra new radio. Below is the speaker box we built for 2 6x9 speakers. The box is 13" tall, 31" wide, 6" thick at bottom and 4" tall at top. Hard to know how well it fits the truck due to not haivng the seat installed but should work for this truck.

 

My album has become full so I had removed several pictures to make room for newer ones. I should have realized but didn't that when I removed from the album they were removed from this thread. I will take some time and go back through the thread from the beginning to put any pictures back that were mistakenly removed.

 

photobucket is your friend...use it.

 

Unless you have 7 or 8 build threads like me and they lock you're pictures for 15 days