Hey folks,
I just wanted to give an intro real quick. I picked up a '55 F100 about two weeks ago. It's the first one I've owned, but I own/owned two early broncos as well. I built one and sold it, now I'm in the middle of building number 2. My first bronco was just a trail rig, so the body wasn't nice, but I built/rebuilt everything else on it myself, so at this point I'm fairly well versed in auto projects. The one I'm currently working on is a '74 and it's getting a 351W, 4R70W, and at Atlas II. I have a date with an engine dyno next weekend that I'm pretty excited about.
My F100 is in pretty good shape and about 99% rust free. It's got a 20ft paint job on it, and a chevy motor/tranny. The wiring fried on me last weekend (horrible wiring job by the PO), so I have a new harness on the way. Once I get it wired up I'm just going to putt around town until my bronco is done, then it's frame-off time. I'll probably get started on that this fall. My plans for it include a 393, 4r70w, link rear, IFS front, air bag susp, boxed frame, spidertrax 9" housing with upgraded axles and a locker, blah, blah.
I'm an avid classicbroncos.com user. There's a lot of knowledgable and helpful folks on that site, and the bronco community is second to none if you ask me. I hope to find the same is true with the effie crowd. Thanks for any future help!

 

Welcome to FTE! You will find this group very knowledgeable and helpful.

But we really would love to see pictures of your truck. It feeds our addiction...

Pics need to be on the Internet before posting in a thread. Here's one way to do that. I use Photobucket.

Go to Photobucket.com and sign up for a free account. Then create an album for your truck. Upload any pics you want to post on FTE to that album. Have this album open on your computer when you want to post pics on FTE.

While you're making a post on FTE, select the pic you want to post from your Photobucket album. When the large version of the pic is open, right mouse click on it and select "View Image Info". The image info will be highlighted and will look something like this:
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ghtsafter1.jpg

Copy that highlighted info (right click / copy).

When you have the spot in your post where you want the pic to be placed, select the "Insert Image" icon at the top of the post (looks like a mountain) and paste (right click / paste) the image info you copied in the highlighted box (just shows "http://" when it opens).

Your pic will be placed in the post.

Hope that helps.

 

Welcome to FTE and congrats on the '55. We LOVE 55s...

 

Lets see if this works...

Like I mentioned, the paint isn't nearly as nice as what the pic makes it out to be. Poor prep work resulted in some rust bubbling up and it just chips right off. Not a big deal since I plan on painting it a different color anyway. It runs good, but there's a shifting issue with the tranny. I found that it was low on fluid so the pump might be burnt by this point. Not a big deal though, that's easy enough to replace.

Oh, and I have the seller back his stupid wheels...

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Welcome to FTE from the Great White North. Sweet looking truck

 

Welcome to the forum! Post your location so others in your area can meet you. We're a pretty social group. I think you're doing OK by giving the wheels back. Get some new ones and drive! Go do some cruises and car shows before you start making long term changes.

 

That is sound advice, and I didn't follow it with my broncos. I tore the first one all the way down to the frame without even driving it. That's what caused me to get another, and caused me to sell the one I finished. I'm set on where I wanna be with the bronco, but that's three years and lord knows how much money later, lol. I do plan on just throwing some decent wheels/tires on it and driving it a while to get a feel for what I really want. Lesson learned there.

There's a good guys car show next weekend that I might go to. I suspect there will be a few there I can get some ideas from.

 

Good move!

 

Welcome to FTE!
Nice looking truck. I will agree on the wheels too. They don't belong on that truck.
You are very wise driving it around a bit before tearing it apart. It might give you more insight as to what the trucks wants to have done to her.

 

Welcome, welcome, welcome, I think you will feel right at home here.

 

Good move getting rid of the Ghetto Glider wheels. Truck looks nice, but the wheels killed it.

 

I'd be hard pressed to think of anything those wheels belong on. Maybe a scrap pile....

 

Thanks for the welcome fellas! I actually ran into a guy while I was at work today who owns a 55. He has a great story behind it, and was doing some work on it in his garage. We talked for 30 minutes or so.

I do have one newbie question so far: What is the best option for power steering with a mustang II front end? I've looked at a few kits, and saw the Toyota box swap, but wasn't sure if that would work with the MII. I've also seen the rack and pinion option. Does that use a PS box as you'd normally see? I won't be adding the two until I do the frame off, and I'll be using an ididit column if that matters.

 

With the MII you are using a rack and pinion...no need for a Toyota box.

 

Thanks! Just so happens that I'm watching "trucks" on spike and they're doing a heidts front end with a power assist rack and pinion.

Second question. My truck is a "custom cab". I've read a few things about the options, but it doesn't say anything about door windows. My truck doesn't have any door windows (roll up or vent). Did the custom cab have an option of an eliminated vent window, or does any aftermarket manufacturer make full roll up window that works with the vent window removed?