Back in early May I purchased a 1976 Ford F150 from a friend of the family. The truck was parked 3 yrs ago for brake issues and never was drove again. They had the engine running last year before Thanksgiving but hadn't started it or done anything with it since then. It has a 390ci engine and a C6 tranny with a Ford 9in rearend. Decently stout truck back in the day but had since gone the way side of age. Price tag was quoted $500. After fiddling with the motor, it started right up with a new battery though ran poorly. The 4 new tires were all dry rotted and only one held air. I grabbed an air tank, filled up the tires and backed her outa the field she sat in and called AAA to come tow home my new project.
Her first day home:

So I called in Doug (Dougiestyle) to help get started with getting this beast running and even though it rained most of the day, we accomplished this daunting feat:

So later that night, after two trips around the block CAREFULLY....she got parked in a real parking spot on asphault: (though the tires were flat the next day)

So now it was time to decide on what I wanted to do with it and get to work on making this truck at best, for now, a decent quality back up vehicle. Upon closer inspection i realizied the truck was actually in awsome shape but just needed some tender loving care. This I can do. The absolute first thing was to get the motor cleaned up and do some maintence on it to see if I could get it running smoothly and reliably. Plugs-n-wires, oil-n-filter, filter before the fuel pump and one after the fuel pump, replaced powersteering lines and vaccum lines, belts-n-hoses, a bit of carb tuneing etc etc.......over all, a little bit of clean up and some paint can do wonders for looks:
Before:

Cleanning:

So far:


Trucks running alot better but is still unhealthy. Rip off the chrome trim and tape up the windows...it's time for a color change. Toss a little satin black Rustoleum on the truck and it sure makes it look better. Guess it's time to get some tires under it. A quick trip to the local used tire shop and wholla.....instant truck tires for $100.

Wash down the tires and......Aahhh....now she looks like a truck:



Well......with other things needing to be done I finally got a call from my friends father who has his own shop and builds drag cars and chassis. Got the OK to pull the motor and bring it to him for a rebuild. So, this past weekend, called Doug again and had him come help me pull the front clip off of the truck to get it ready to pull the motor this up comming weekend.
Now you see it:


Now you don't:



As a little joke to myself:
You might be a redneck if.......... you have 4 good tires on your truck but it still sits on jacks and your front end is in your *** end.


The weekend finally came....
So with the front clip off...again, I call upon old pal Doug to give me hand. An hour or so later....whola the engine and tranny are out!!


Now that it's out...let's get it in the back of another F150 and take it to the shop.....

Cover up the Beast since I won't be fooling with it for another couple of weeks.....


Now....here's a few pics of the shop I'm taking it to: He's got a few projects going on now.....



Gotta get the tranny seperated and up on a stand for cleanning along with stripping what I can off the motor.



So for now, I leave the tranny and engine in the corner like ******* children.

 

I had a a couple of hours to pull the heads off and take a gander at what the inside of the motor looks like. Definatly some issues with gaskets but no cracks in the block. The cyliinders look great. The piston rings were definatly shot, you can tell on the edges of the piston where the carbon has been blown off. The crank journals look good as well and line boring should be an issue unless I swap cranks outs...we'll see how all that goes later...

The outside of the heads were gunked up pretty bad as you can see but the inside of the heads don't look horrible and the valve seats look good. The valves have the usual build up on them but other wise look decent for a 35 yr old motor. Gotta get the heads stripped and Magnafluxed for cracks then pressure/flow tested before it's sent off for CnC clean up and to get the valve seats redone.
The intake manfold was filthy and the plate underneith was full of ****.....don't matter though as I have already purchased an aluminum Edlebrock manifold that weighs 26lbs vs. the 50lbs the cast manifold weighs....
On to the few pics I got around to taking....





What was below the intake manifold and plate

Intake manifold bottom

Intake plate below the manifold


Another pile of parts..

.......still waiting on the block to be MagnaFluxed.....
Sooooo.....I figured I'd finish clearing off the firewall since I had a few hours on my hands last night.....
What it looked like after I pulled the engine:

What it looks like now:

Got the PS drive gearbox off along with the PS cooler lines. The brake booster and heater core/blower assembly are now off as well. When I got the heater core panel off of the front, there was tons of dirt and other **** that fell out. No wonder they couldn't figure out why the heat wasn't working in the truck. :eyes:
Brake crap and PS gearbox:

Nasty heater core and the pile of **** that dropped from it:




Well, as time passes I continue to do what I can as I wait on various parts to replace the front suspension as well as waiting on the motor to be built. I pulled the wiring harness' and gutted the entire inside under the dash. With the heater core out and a big hole I took a piece of scrap aluminum sheet metal and made a temporary patch. While I was at it I figured I give everything a coat of black for now. Soon to be starting on the front frame rails and firewall and welding new floor panels in and replacing cab bushings.







So now the truck is in the back yard closer to my shed and tools. Time to start taking the i-beams and suspension off and get started on the frame rails..I have new urathane bushings to go back in everywhere....whaoo!!




Found my frame code:

So I get started on the forward frame rails now. Pretty green expoy primmer.



And now for the black expoy paint.


Done late at night:

Now to get the i-beams, spindles, control arms and other items painted, then time to put everything back together. Once everything suspension wise is put back together, for the most part then I should be able to complete finish up with the brakes and steering. Then on to the cab......unfortunatly the weather isn't working with me. Just when I have time to work on it, the weather turns crappy....

 

Welcome to the forum. It looks like you are doing an awesome job. Keep up the good work. What part of TN are you in?

 

Man you must have some good neighbors, when I did the same thing 25 years ago on my 76 high boy they called the cops on me and I was told to move every thing off the street.

You are doing a real nice jobon the truck.

 

Knoxville Area...

At 36, this is my first truck and my first Ford BIG block rebuild. I've always played with small block Chevys (had a 70 Olds Cutlass, 72 Camero, 85 Firebird, 82 Regal) since I was a teen and played around and built some of the "ricer" type 4cyls as of late. Guess it's time for the next era of my "build" knowledge.......hehe....always progressing and tinkering....


As far as the neighbors.....well, I aint the only one who's being loud at times. 3 neighbors have Harley's, 2 neighbors have "HotRod Dragsters" they love to start up so no big deal. They all know I keep everything neat and pick up after myself and never work super late on anything. I'm polite and so are they. Been there for 10 years so the neighbors know I pittle on cars all the time.....

 

I just asked because my wife has some family in the Sparta area, and we get up there almost every year in July for the family reunion.

 

looking good so far, cant wait to see your progress.

 

Amazing what you can do with some elbow grease and a few cans of paint. That 76 cleaned up real nice. Great job.

 

Good work so far. Keep plugging away at it

 

Old and Busted vs. the New Hottness

Springs n Shocks

Radius Arms

I-Beams

Drag link/tierod ends(forgot the old n busted in this pic)




Well, after working my butt off this weekend, I've got the entire front suspension done and installed. New shocks, springs, bushings n bolts/washers/nuts. I have the old rotors on there in the pic because the truck will be moved back on to the street since I am finished for now. I will tidy up the new calipers/rotors/pads when I finish the running the rest of the brake lines and get the booster/master cylinder bolted and hooked back up.







Finally done last night about 9:30pm....

 

Looks Good... The difference between the original suspension and now is like night and day.

 

Thanks. It really is. Can't wait to get her back on the road and see how she feels.....definatly gona be a major improvement...

 

you will be able to shred tires in auto cross and stop on a dime and get 7 cents change
Cool ride!!!

Ken

2008 F150 FX4

 

Wow...been a long time since I've posted in this thread....almost forgot about it.

Still wearing out the truck trying to get it all fixed up nice n pretty like. I'll start with the frame since that's kina where I left off. Well....hehe it's done. Here's a pic...sorta.



This shows the bottom of the cab after the new floor pans were welded in. All nice n sealed and shiney.


Speaking of floor pans. These are pics of the floor pans in, welds grinded and expoxy primmered. Than of course I used seam sealer. Now it's been painted black...just gotta find that pic.



Steering colum and new steering gear are in...here you can see the black floor.


My gauges are test fitted: There's a thread on here about them somewhere.


Trying to work out the shifter: Gotta fab a riser mount for it to sit like I want it:


This is the motor as it sits. Not everything is installed yet but i'm sure gettin close. Every thing on this rebuild has been done by me. I've built it from the block and heads when they came back from the machine shop. If it don't run.....it's my fault!!



I've been workin' the ole butt off on this truck. My 6yr old daughter has helped by sanding and installing bolts. She says she wants to drive it one day.....I just smile and say I could only hope so. (if I can ever get it finished)