Hey guys, my name is Keith Bennett. I am a 21 year old college student. I currently live in St. Louis, Missouri but my hometown is in Southern Illinois. I have been cruising through the forums for a while now. I finally decided to show what I have. Which isn't much to say the least. I am in the process of building my 1978 Ford F-150 Custom. It has the original 351M and has been recently rebuilt. I bought it off a guy who lived locally next to me. He had new doors, hood, and fenders put on. As you will see below, it does not have a bed. He scrapped it because it had one dent in it. Obviously the guy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Anyway, he had all this work done and then let it sit for 2 years. I went up to him one day and asked how much he had to have for it. I walked away with it for $2,000. It didn't run well and he thought the motor was shot. I put in new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and ignition rotor. I then adjusted the carburetor and it runs perfectly. If you want to follow the progress of my build, subscribe to the thread. I would love all your feedback.

Paint was in perfect condition after a good wash and wax. Dont judge by picture quality as this is off my cell phone.

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I also picked up this drop bumper in a junk yard for $125. As far as I know these things are selling for $300-500 new.

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After a good coat of Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish, it shined right up. Also, what would your guess be as to what brand the bumper is? There is no words on the bumper because of all the surface rust behind from sitting in a junkyard for god knows how long.

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Thanks for reading. There will be much much more to come on this thread. Also, if you happen to have a short bed that you are willing to sell, please email me at keith_bennett@live.com

 

Thanks for all the kind words of support! lol

 

Also, as you can see I need some things! haha If you have a short bed, factory push bar for a 78-79, or a set of good looking 15x10 rims, please send me a pm.

Ordering my skyjacker 4" lift this week. Also getting a new gas tank since my current one started leaking while I was grinding off my old shock mounts. Scary grinding off shock mounts while gas is running out of the tanks! haha

 

Pretty scarry for sure. Specially since it is the vapors that are flamable. Get that baby plugged or replaced before you torch your new ride.

Good look'n ride. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks! New tank will be ordered with the 4 inch Skyjacker kit. Going to put it all on mid next week!

 

nice ride! can't wait to see the progress!

 

Looks like you got a good start to your project

 

Looking great Keith!

That's a fantastic start to a build, especially since you needed to replace a few minor things to make it run top-notch!

Keep it up

 

Thanks Mike, you think there is anything at Collins that I could use?

Yea Aaron, I got really lucky as far as the motor. Now its all basically aesthetic things I have to work on. Makes for a perfect project!

 

I'm not sure what it is you need, but he's got alot of stuff. There's also a guy I know out in Pinckneyville who specializes in old Ford's, especially dent sides. He used to have alot of stuff but I heard he was maybe trying to sell alot of it off. If you want you could shoot me a message or something about what your looking for and I could run to Collins and let you know what I find. I know your looking for a short bed and that's hard to come across down here. If you needed a long bed you could have your pick of at least 5 we got on our farm. haha

 

I know Collins has a couple short beds that I am actually interested in. All I need is for the floor to be in decent shape where I could patch them up. I know a place where I can get rust free bed sides and lmc sells tailgates and front end panels. All I need basically is a short bed floor and I would love to find some sort of bull bar/push bar. I will be coming back to Southern Illinois in less than a week. Maybe I can meet ya there on my way back to Christopher. Shoot me a email and Ill get your phone number. keith_bennett@live.com