I know this forum hardly needs another build thread but this is a good way for me to keep track of progress and goals.

I took ownership of this truck on 10/15/12 and quickly discovered a lot of things I missed on the first inspection the week before. The owner actually put it on his flatbed trailer and towed it 2 hours to me no charge since it needs clutch work and I did not have a heavy enough vehicle to do it.

It was a farm truck and his hired man that primarily drove it was a @#$% idiot. One the good side it runs like a dream. He burnt up the clutch, kept adding coolant instead of fixing the badly leaking radiator, lost the keys, ripped out the ignition cylinder and installed a toggle switch to start it.

It's pretty barebones, vinyl floor, manual windows and locks, vinyl bench seat. I found a decent donor truck at the junkyard and got a new steering column, ignition, carpet and seats.

It took a few hours to delete the "toggle option" since he had butchered the wiring. Luckily there's not a whole lot of wiring on the truck so with some trouble shooting and wire tracing I got it starting by key again.

I scored a LuK clutch kit with solid flywheel off the local craigslist for $100 and will attempt to get it in this weekend.

I never cared for the 87-91 front clips that much and am going to convert it to 80-86 sheetmetal. I picked up some nice fenders and hood for $40, will have to hit the JY for the rest.

The bed has rusted out wheel arches, other than that the truck is 100% rust free. I'm debating whether to build a steel flat bed or find a matching 80-86 bed. Leaning towards the flatbed so I can make it a 7 footer. I work downtown and a little shorter truck would make parking easier.

The truck is white with blue interior. I'm thinking of having a guy I know respray the cab white again, it's cheap. The flatbed and bumpers I'll be building would be coated with dark blue hammered finish Rust-Oleum as well as the rocker area strip below the trim, like im2tall33's truck:




Here is how she sits now.

 

I love build threads , keep us posted.

 

One word of advice if your going to be using that 5 speed Diesel truck downtown.... you'll want to install a Firewall re-enforcement plate!

Or it won't take long for all that clutching to crack the firewall.



https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post11358654


ANd X2, love build threads!


I'm restoring my 1990 F250 4x4 5 speed 7.3L as well. Same as yours really, Custom, bare bone, burgundy on gray, but going back to original paint witch is gray on gray.

 

This might be a problem.

 

Thanks for the advice. Now is the perfect time while I have the pedal bracket and steering column out.

I've driven exclusively manuals the last 7 years or so, so I'm up for it, I even enjoy it. The truck needs to be too.

 

2002 Dodge wheels with 285/75/16 tires. Look great but won't clear the knuckle arms, too much offset.



Clutch lever fix. $6 from the local Ace. Drilled out the stud, pushed in the new one, welded.



Firewall clutch plate. Roughly copied that link except for the side tab, should be fine anyway. 1/8 plate.

 

Ah hah! The "burnt up clutch" was actually a spectacular DMF failure. I started bolting up a Luk SMF but the OEM bolts are too long and the Luk flywheel didn't have the new bolts they come with new. I'm considering just cutting off the 1/8-1/4" extra. Any naysayers?

 

12" Luk clutch is installed. Bleeding the clutch was a pain but I finally got it. Put the carpet in, may not be new but at least it's not the nasty vinyl. Got the locks and ignition changed out and matching.

Took it down the road, does ok, very much a lumbering, plodding truck.

One more issue cropped out. My turn and brake lights work ok but my tails do not. Bulbs and fuse fine, just not getting power back there, confirmed with a multimeter.

Oh and I still need a radiator, the replacement I picked up has a cut tube. Tempted to try to crimp that tube off. I don't have $300+ to pick one up at this time.

 

Figured out the tail lights. The headlight switch burnt up and some idiot decided replacing it was less work than chopping the wires at the switch and tail light and running a freaking CAT5 ethernet cable to connect them. Replaced it all and returned the wiring to the way Ford intended and what do you know, works great.

 

LOL ethernet cable .... some people's kids ....

 

Small updates, I picked up some American Racing Baja wheels locally (3100lb rating) and some 265/75/16 ATs.

Been driving it around a bit. The steering is awful, sloppier than any Ford I've been in. Thinking the rag joint might be toast but haven't pulled the cover off.

The suspension is horrible. I've had older 3/4 tons before and didn't remember this part. My back is hurting. Might have to build the flat bed a little heavier than the stock bed to soften the ride.

I hear everybody bashing on the IDI saying it's a gutless dog. Feels adequate to me, scoots along at least as well as my DD Explorer if not better.

 

**** just got real. I acquired a 84 Super Cab to donate it's sheetmetal. Looks like the SC will fit on the RC frame with a 2" body lift which I wanted to do anyway.

To complicate things further I'm considering putting a 92-96 dash in it, which should be some work. I really like that dash style and the steering column with the multi-function switch.

 

The Super Cab short bed trucks are 3" longer then the reg cab long box trucks..

As for the dash you will want to swap the door panels and the vent window. The door panel meets up with the dash and will look very very odd if you keep the old 87-91 door panels.

Diesel Rod

 

I'm leaning heavily towards a flatbed so the wheebase should not be an issue. I might try cutting up my long bed to fit too, it's getting scrapped anyway if I don't use it because it's not in great shape.

You're probably right on the door panels. If I could get a newer steering column to work I'd be OK with the 87-91 dash.

 

Subscribed.

I had briefly toyed with the idea of putting the older sheet metal on a newer truck. I looked at a 94 SuperCab that was a runner but needed the typical rust repair. I was going to replace everything to make it look like an 86. It was that for $3k or the non running 86 I found for $1k. Both trucks needed the same work, the 86 was simpler with it's carb and C6 and while the 94 was a runner it had 190k on it. That sold me on the 86 - plus it was exactly what I wanted even down to the colors and options.

Did you make that plate for the clutch reinforcement or did you buy it? I want to convert mine to a 4/5spd at some point and since I've got to switch columns and will have the interior pretty far apart now's the time to do it I figure. I do have access to a plasma cutter...