As some of you know, I'm currently building a 77 F250 crew cab that i installed a cummins in. That truck is currently in the paint shop and will be my daily driver from spring to fall.... this poses a little problem....i still need a truck for these snowy canadian winters. Over the last couple of years i've aquired quite the fleet of dent side fords. Some are in decent shape, but most are considered parts trucks. Among the fleet is this beauty.

Its a 1977 F250 highboy, 460, C6, divorced 205, dana HD44 up front and a dana 60 Rear.




Currently i've only been using it to drag logs out of the woods in my back yard, and it works quite well. It is not perfect by all means though.

 

As good as the truck looks at a glance, it definatley needs some work. When i first went to look at the truck, before i bought it, i was about to open the door and the owner yelled "stop". Thats when i learned that the cab was so rotton that the bottom door hinges were no longer attached to the truck. You could still open the door, but you had to do so carefully so you didn't damage the fender.



Not to mention the floors are almost no existant. If i were crazy like grinnergetter i'd fix this....but no thanks....

I have a better solution. I just happen to have a 78 2wd shortbox truck that had a half decent cab.

My camera had given up the gost, so i don't have any pics of my buddy and i removing the 78's cab, but let me tell you that it goes pretty well when you have your buddy's excavator sitting in front of the truck to do all the heavy lifting for you!!!

 

Now that i bought a new camera, let the pics begin!

The truck is now in its new temporary home in the tent.



The rest of the highboy isn't in that bad of shape. The fenders and doors are perfect. And the grill is mint (one of the main reasons i bought the truck). The hood got donated to the crew build, but i have many other repairable hoods that will work. I will probably use the one off the crew. The box is pretty decent as well. The passenger side has one small bubble above the wheelwell, and both sides have a hole in the lower rear section of the box (the usual spot).

 

I've had the new cab home for some time, and i've been picking away at it. Since its outside sometime the weather gets in the way of progress. I should mention that i plan on spending as little money as possible on this build. I have enough of the main components/parts between all my parts trucks that i shouldn't have to buy and major items. I also am going to do all the body work myself and i plan on painting it myself. I've never painted a vehicle before, so i guess there's no better way to learn.

Heres the new cab, with the doors already tagged on.

 

Since this is a quick and dirty build, i'm mot wasting any time to get too fancy on stuff like floor patches. I cut out the rusty areas, then i just welded new plates in place. I then seamed sealed both sides of the patches and sprayed the whole floor and part of the back wall of the cab with ruberized undercoating.

I didn't have a camera at the time that i welded the patches in the floor so all i can do is give you a finished shot.





It actually turned out pretty good!!

The only other spot that needs attention is the drivers side cab corner. I put the door on so that i could line up my new panel.

 

Nice project and thanks for throwing me under the bus.....Crazy huh?

Budget builds are great. Unless the budget gets thrown out the window.

 

Looks like a great build...good luck with getting it together. Thanks for sharing your pictures and plans for your truck.

 

Ya i know what your saying about budgets getting thrown out the window. I haven't actually set a budget that i'm trying to stay inside. Not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing... I'm just hoping that i don't have to buy too many major parts.... i realize that paint and primer and other body work materials will cost a bit. I also bought new plugs, wires, dist cap/rotor, and exhaust manifold gaskets. I will likely need to buy some brake parts too. I'll be looking for a good deal on a set of tires as well.

oh ya, and i wasn't trying to throw you under the bus!! he he.

 

The poor old 460 runs pretty good, but it is in need of a tune up. As i stated in the previous post that i did buy some basic tune up stuff. Next will be a carb kit and i'll rebuild the carb. This will all happen after body and paint.

I do have a set of 460 headers that go on the inside or the frame, but i'm not sure if i want to use them. The manifolds have to come off so i can replace the gaskes, so i could just swap them on. the problem is, this is a winter truck that will see hot/cold temps and road salt. I just don't want to ruin my headers when the manifolds will work just fine. I have another 460 that i just pulled out of a 78 lincoln and i plan to put it in my offroad bronco/buggy that will be built in the near future. I'll likely save the headers for that project.

Heres the old 7.5 litre chevy eater....

 

Another good thing is the fact that i happen to have a couple 78-79 f250 steering boxes, so ill be doing the steering upgrade as well. I went digging in the shed, and i found this.



And it just happens to have the steel plate still bolted to it that i was going to mount in the crew cab frame before i decided to go with the sagnaw box. Sweet!!

 

Well, there won't be any updates for a while...I'm leaving for the deer hunt tommorow and wont be back for a week and a half....time to go kill bambi, or maybe his father!!

I hope to get back at this as soon as i get back. I have another week of holidays after the hunt so i plan on workin on this truck everyday. A good friend of mine offered me his back shop to work on it and paint it in. That being said, the first thing that i'm doing when i get home from the hunt is taking the cab over to his shop, welding in the cab corner and hitting it with primer. I just happen to store my chevy top kick with a 8000 lb crane at this guys place, so lifting the cab off the trailer and on the truck when the time comes will be no problem. Once the cab is off my trailer i can come back home, load up the truck its self and get over there... I can't wait!!

 

Well guys, after a sucessfull deer hunt (we shot 6 deer at our camp), ive been back at working on the ford. I was on holidays all last week and i spent everyday workiing on the truck.

I'll bring you up to date....

First of all, i towed the cab over to my buddies shop....that was interesting. i was about half way there on a back road when i noticed some sparks flying from the passeneger side of my float. I pulled over to find this...


I decided to say f' it and just kept driving the rest of the way....at a slower pace though.... I got the load there safe and sound.

 

Now the work can begin. I welded in the new cab corner and began addressing other small areas that needed attention.
someone had painted the cab with some crappy black paint that was all scratched and chipped. I spent days sanding to get back dowm to the original red and beyond.

 

I removed the rear window and masked the windshield and the door openings.
I have already decided that i could never be a body guy....too much sanding and very little patience for it.



And now it was time for primer. It actually went pretty good.

 

After a quick sand to the primer....it was time for the fun part....Paint!!!

I decided to go with Factory Ford 1978 Royal Maroon......