Hi there everybody, brand new to this forum and excited. I was hoping if all you experts out there could help a newbie like me. Anyways I have worked on cars throughout out my life and my dad was a full time vehicle mechanic so I know a few things, but I don't have a clue on these older pickups. I want to do a father son project so he can learn a few things and have respect for cars out there rather than misuse and abuse them. The 50's F100 are what me and him are interested in working on. I found a guy near me who has access to a couple F100's for sale and was going to look at them for me. I had a long conversation with him and he said he had read a 100 page article by man who takes off the shell of a F100 and places it on a Ford Explorer. This gives him 4WD, modern suspension, disc brakes, etc. I don't have loads of money so I was thinking this would be the cheapest way to go because the guy I talked to has an Explorer chassis for 300 bucks. Most of the other F100's I have found have rusted floor boards, haven't run in 30 years, engine and tranny stuck, etc. I want to do somewhat of a truck like this http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/att...1&d=1314553931
I am not trying to make this a Mona Lisa but a fun way to get into cars so upgrading drive terrain among other things isn't a top priority. If I sound like an idiot sorry but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Welcome to the madness. All of us were beginners at one time with the F100's and F-1s. This forum is the most helpful and knowledgeable out there. As for the "right project", it can't be stated enough - buy the best condition truck with the money you can afford. Rust, paint, interior, everything takes time and money. A $500 deal may cost you $10000+ to get it road worthy (trust me, been there) but a $7,000 deal may be road worthy. Look at your time available, money available and what you want out of the situation.

As for the frame swap, personally that isn't always the best way to go. Is it possible to do it, absolutely but it takes a lot of time and money. The stock frames/suspensions do have some draw backs but for many people they can easily be rebuilt and still used with much success. Brakes, steering and suspension can all be upgraded without a frame swap. I have bought several projects from guys that went gung ho on a engine swap or frame swap and ran out of time, money, patience, etc. Try not to end up that way. Don't want to discourage you, just presenting the reality. These old trucks have style for what they are and don't always need a modernization. Safety and reliability are important steps but you can achieve that with upgrades of the original frame. If you modify it too much do you really have an old truck or a newer truck with an old look? Buy a truck, work on it, drive it, bond with it before taking leap into a frame swap. Just my opinion. Good luck either way!

 

Welcome to the FTE...wrt your planned project I am sure that you will find a wealth of information here. You are not the first to have such dreams and far be it from me to discourage you in your efforts. Good luck...

 

Welcome to FTE. If you think that buying a $300 explorer will be your cheap way you will probably be sadly mistaken. I just came home from the Supernationals where I met a guy who did such a project. He used a '49 F1 on an Explorer Sport chassis, that after much research was the closest to the wheelbase of the F1. Even at that he had to modify the box and rear fenders to fit the 2" longer wheelbase. He wound up with a beautiful truck, that with the help of a professional builder took 5 years to complete at a cost of over $35K

 

If frame swaps onto newer frames was any easy project, then everyone would be doing it. There's a reason why you don't see a lot of older trucks (or vehicles) sitting on new production modern frames. It's not impossible to do, but it's very costly and time consuming. Most people that start out on a full frame swap usually never finish.

 

Not to pile on, but a $300 Exploder chassis is going to need a lot of work too, I'm sure it's not in great shape.

 

Welcome to FTE!

Sounds to me like the guy is feeding you info to get you to buy that $300 Explorer from him. Like the others said, frame swaps most often don't get finished. An Explorer still has leaves in the rear, so it's not really all that more modern. The front, be it coils on a TTB, is 30+ year old technology, too.

IMO, get the truck you want, look it over really good, sit in it and pretend you're driving it. Let it tell you what it wants to be. Good luck!

 

Just my $.02 worth. Welcome, these knuckleheads have a lot of wisdom and experience to share. A good deal of it came though some tough lessons.

I would avoid the frame swap just because there are so many good solid frame solutions available even if you had to replace it. The only other advice I can give is to get the sucker up and driving even if it isn't pretty. You can drive and still make your upgrades. Trucks that spend years apart (as my current truck) tend to become monuments to procrastination.....

 

Just to say.. your in the right place. I have obtained the information here that you will NOT find in any book....... just Search & ask and you will see !
Buena Suerte

 

Welcome,welcome, Glad you found your way to the best site for these wonderful old trucks. There are many ways to go, as for me I spent my time and money bringing my truck to a modified stock (rebuild). Stock brakes, stock steering, stock suspension, 302 V8, c4 transmission, you get the picture. Im very happy with the choices I made, it still has all its charm, but can run on the freeways. I was dumb as dirt when I started, but the folks on this site walked me thru everything I needed. Im looking forward to following your project nomatter what you decide to do.

 

Welcome to the forum. Just for chuckles, why not ask the guy with the Explorer to site that 100 page article. Many of us would like to read it and I would think reading it would be your top priority. I know if I were considering such a project cold, I would be clamoring for that information.
Find a truck you like and can afford. Remember what others have said, get the best you can afford unless you're building a rat rod and then anything will do.
Restoration or rebuild projects done to completion can make a good bonding agent between father and son,,,,or father and daughter.

 

The Stallone truck you want to emulate was not a 4x4, and used the stock frame. It was professionally built with Stallone's considerable bankrolling, but if you watch the West Coast Customs TV program of the build, even they ran into quite a few problems, especially with the top chop. They scrapped 3 (they built 3 clones for the movie) 56 cabs they screwed up before starting over with 3 53-55 cabs.
Read between the lines, your advice giver wants to sell you a chassis he has no use for, has no actual experience doing a frame swap other than reading about it, and the builder he's referenced wrote a 100 page article about doing the swap. If it was "easy" it wouldn't have taken 100 pages to show it! This swap (at least the 2x4 version) has been started by a number of people that have come and gone here, I only remember one that was successfully completed to road worthy and that was by a VERY experienced builder over several years.
Do you want to show your son how much fun it can be to build an older truck and be able to show it off on the road, or do you want to show him how to get in way over your heads, spend a great deal of effort to create a large pile of parts, spend a lot of money, have little to show for it, and lose interest after several years of frustrations to move on to other interests, on a project that likely will never again see light of day or the next time it hits the highway is on the hook of the scrap dealer's tow truck? This is just the reality of what happens way too frequently when a novice jumps blindly into a way overly ambitious project, or starts with a rusted out basket case erroniously thinking it will be an inexpensive build if they start with an inexpensive beginning.
Body work is not cheap to do, no matter who is doing it, and rebuying all the needed small detail parts missing or destroyed on a cheap project starter, will take a big chunk of your bank account (and ofter incur the deadly wrath of the SO), with little to show. Buy the very best clean rust free truck you can find. Even shipping one across the country is not very expensive and will pay for itself.
A lot of people have sought out, but no one has really found a better frame for our trucks than the one that it came with it from the factory. Follow the K.I.S.S. principle, especially for your first build, and enjoy the journey and the pride, rather than the frustration and dissappointment.
The stock suspension can easily be rebuilt to lower your truck like the Stallone truck, handle well and ride comfortably within the ability of the reasonably talented home mechanic. A later model low mileage small block engine and transmission, especially one with overdrive, will fit with little difficulty using readily available bolt in aftermarket parts and be dependable and economical as well as fun to drive. Spend your money improving the safety and dependability rather than making difficult and complex changes.

 

If you want a 4x4 why not take some strait axles from a Jeep or a Blazer. You can also use the rest of the drive train from the same type of vehicle.

 

I'm not sure but I think that you are saying that you want your son to learn respect not your father? If so you may be missing some important lessons by trying to shortcut the project. These old truck are pretty basic and if you are trying to instill some respect and pride then I would, as teardropty suggests, buy the best truck that you can find within your budget. Then make a list of what needs to be done. Then prioritize the list so that you can get it running and on the road with some measure of safety. Then you can work your list down. If your son gets home from school early then you can assign him small jobs to do at first by himself until you get home like taking hi-res pictures of every piece of the truck so that you can see how things were assembled in the first place. Good luck. Hope you are successful in your search.

 

Here is a link to part of the build on the Expendables truck. If you do a search you can watch all of the episodes. Just remember, they don't show all the failures they encountered and they are a large shop with an unlimited (probably) budget on this project.

http://www.lowonfuel.com/auto-news/w...e-expendables/