Gary,
If I were you, I would consider the reassembly sequence and group things together that way. (one little tote for Front Suspension, or All Suspension, etc)
You have a good idea what the logical steps are (by now, LOL!)

Alpha just means you have to remember what you 'named' it, and then you need to browse those 10 totes to get parts together for ONE job.
If you only had to have one out and open, to "wire engine bay" or, "chassis and body mounts" it seems to me you could save a lot of time and confusion.

 

^^^^

That was my thought..., that or by geographical location on the vehicle.

 

Gary, you'll spend more time organizing your bags than you will spend just looking for the right bag for each job. Is it really worth the time and hassel now? If you got everything into individually labeled baggies you are WAY ahead.

If I had to organize them though, I would organize the baggies in groups of projects. Group 1 being for instance "Suspension". Group 2 being "Brakes", Group 3 "Interior" so on and so forth.

 

I think Jim and Ray have the answer - by project or area. That way my current labels will be fine. IOW, having one for "Suspension" would include the fasteners for the shocks, sway bars, etc. And, that solves the problem of having one baggie of trim clips labeled "Bed". I can just put it in the Trim bin.

So, I'll probably have:

• Suspension
• Brakes
• Trim
• Fenders (inc inner fenders)
• Interior
• Bumpers (there are bunches of bolts and nuts for all the brackets)
• Transmission
• Doors, inc hinges & bolts
• etc

Ok, thanks! And, thanks to the father & son team even though I didn't take their advice. I don't want to learn the Ford numbering system - even just the group #'s.

Ray - Trust me, organizing them will save far more time than it takes. I know you've done this, but I get really frustrated when I can't put my hand right to the part I need, so this will save time by keeping me from further insanity.

 

yes I have, on a 70' chevelle. And I organized everything in ziploc baggies according to what part they came off of. Works like a charm.

 

I like the by-area method... "this bag o' parts is from the rear brakes" or "engine accessory brackets & bolts" or some such.

 

Welcome home! I need to run out there maybe Sunday and get my stuff I left. Whitey's clutch is giving up the ghost as we speak. He wont hardly move in 3,4 and 5. I got a new South Bend Feramic kit on the way right now. So I will be needing my air tools in the near future.

 

I like the jumble every part and bolt in to one corner of the garage method better. Just kidding. When I took the engine in our '64 Galaxie apart I tagged and bagged just about everything. And boy does that make it easy. Should be easier to put back together when the 445 FE goes in.

 

Chris - That's what I'm doing. And, it is working. I went to Wallyworld and bought 10 small shoe-box sized bins and 5 larger ones. Then I started sorting into the bins and got through the pile of baggies on the work table. I wound up with:

• Frame: Inc's gas tank bolts, bumper & bumper bracket bolts, etc
• Body: Inc's grommets and plugs, fender bolts, inner fender screws, etc
• Electrical
• Interior: All the zillions of screws, braces, and other bits inside the cab
• Brakes
• Suspension
• Underhood
• Engine & Exhaust
• Tranny & Driveline

Some, like Electrical, had such big parts that I had to change to a bigger bin. And I probably will for Interior as it is overflowing, but with bunches of smaller bags.

I'm not quite done but that let me turn the corner and I can now see daylight at the end of the tunnel. However, I still have a million larger parts (wheels & tires, engine, tranny, transfer case, exhaust, seat, steering column & wheel, pedals, shift levers, trim of many varieties, shocks, driveshafts, etc) that I have to tuck away somewhere. And I can't get to the "somewhere" for all the parts. [Don't forget that I took Dad's truck completely apart and then pulled everything out of Brownie's cab in a blitz before going on the trip.] It is simply incredible how many parts there are when you take one of these trucks apart.

And, I've even added to the parts by bringing the core support back from Marshall's today. That's because he hadn't blasted and painted it yet, so I'm going take the opportunity to cut out the cold air hole on the driver's side before it is painted. I plan to use the HO air cleaner Branden gave me, but add another snorkel to it and run twin cold-air inlets. I think it'll look cool. (Pun intended. )

Brandon - I'll be home on Sunday as of about 1:00, so come on up. Getting your stuff out will help a little bit on the space - assuming we can find it.

 

Hey Gary, Welcome back!
That frame looks awesome. Your guy did a nice job. As far as organizing you baggies, how about sorting by location. rear axle, mid-frame/undercab, front axle, fender attachment, front grill/core support, cab interior, etc. That has worked pretty well for me. When I am working on the rear brake lines, I know the hardware for them are in the box for the rear axle. Front shock bracket is in the front axle box. You get my drift.

I hope that helps.

 

Oooooh so close to 200 pages!

This is probably the most EPIC thread ever in the '80-'86 forum, and (re)assembly hasn't even begun.

Gary, I kowtow to you and your build.

 

Ron - Thanks. He did a good job, for sure. As for the baggies, I may have to fine tune the current approach along the lines of what you, and others, suggested. That's because some bins, such as Frame or Suspension, may be too broad-brush and seriously overflow the bin.

Jim - That's not quite true, assembly has begun several times. And even finished at least once. After all, it made it to DE and back with a good-sized load. So, should I rename the thread "Dad's Truck Builds"?

Actually, to be fair, I'm using the thread for multiple purposes, including documentation, blog, and Q&A. The documentation side of things is useful since I've frequently gone back to a post where I took something apart to see how it is supposed to be put together. And, some day I may pull much of it together in a single document to hand off with the truck to some offspring. The blog aspect satisfies my daughter's request for me to capture what I'm doing in retirement, although I don't think anyone in the family has read any of it. And a good example of the Q&A is yesterday's plea for help on organizing the baggies. Y'all came to the rescue.

So, did all that kick us into the 200th page???

 

Not yet, but this'll help...

 

15 posts per page...
Gary, you do the math.

 

damn... never actually counted...., next one gets it.