so i am sure you will get a lot of interest but if you are not going to use the other dash i would be very interested in it.

brady_couchman@yahoo.com

 

I may end up selling the whole first cluster that I found.

Most likely, I'll end up with all custom gauges any way and will only really need the second bezel to mount them in.

 

I'm sure that you've gotten this question at least a dozen times already, but would you be interested in selling the cluster that you don't use. Or at least just the air pressure gauge. I'm going to be puting air bags on my truck, and a factory air gauge would be too cool.

 

Wow, sorry about asking a question that you just answered. I guess we were typing at the same time. That said, if you do decide to sell, I would appreciate a chance to make an offer on it. I wouldn't have a whole lot of trouble finding one locally, I just haven't seen one with the air gauge and that has me really jazzed up.

 

I like your project amigo, and the fact that you are proceeding at the "Speed of Right"... take your time, and you will be glad of it in the long run..

Baja

 

FYI: I am not selling the first cluster at this time.

I'm going to hold on to it for a while and may eventually post it on eBay. I am certainly NOT giving it away.

Everyone knows what they are going for, so please don't insult me with low ball offers. I am not desperate for cash.

Not right now any way. LOL

 

I've been really busy at the shop this week so I didn't get too much done on project F'nstein.

I did manage to find a like new set of 225/60R16 front tires and a brand new set of 245/70R16 rear tires. I got them mounted and balanced and put on the truck.

Pulled out the 9" rear and spent a couple days of looking for an 80-83 F100 rear without much luck.

I did find a nice aftermarket turn signal switch on an F750 yesterday and came home with that. Also found another spare hood on the same truck that I'm going back for next week. Also found a rare Bronco Sport steering wheel in the same yard. I did meet a really nice guy with a 65 C10 at the yard that was lowered a LOT and it only had 24k miles on it. It really makes me want to drop my truck even more. I'll swap out the PI front coils for some civilian springs soon. That should drop the front end about another 1 1/2". I don't want to drop it too low until I get some weight on the front end to see where it's going to end up.

Hopefully, I'll be pulling the front end off of the truck this weekend and I'll be dropping the engine/transmission in so that I can finalize the ride height and line up the body panels for the last time before tear down.

Pic of the switch:

 

Well, instead of working on the engine/transmission yesterday I decided to do more body work.

I got all of the polyurathane body mounts installed along with all new body mount hardware. I also spent some time lining up the whole front end including, hood, bumpers, fenders and grille. It was quite a chore.

I also started stripping the passenger side door of it's 6 layers of paint. I knew the bottoms of the doors needed some work and the previous owner bondo'd over the trim holes without filling them with weld first.

In preparation for the door stripping, I bought a set of door skins and planned on doing both doors. After looking at it more once the paint was removed, I decided to patch the doors with some sheet metal instead of installing the complete skin. I'll also fill in the trim holes with my Mig welder before laying some Rage Gold over the holes. I'm also going to do a separate write up on how to do this so you can see the process.

After doing the outside of the doors, I'll also strip the paint off of the inside of the doors. I'm not looking forward to doing the jambs.

Pics of the doors after partial stripping and after a final strip and a once over with some 80 grit on the DA sander.

 

Rage Gold? Clue me up amigo. Should I be bringing some of that to Baja for my body man?

Baja

 

The best body filler on the market,

Kind of pricey @ $50 a gallon, but worth it.

 

Sometimes it seems like it's a never ending project, but I have to keep motivated and just knock off one task at a time.

I cut out the bondo'd over rust spots on the bottom of the doors (both inside and outside) and welded in new sheet metal. I also filled all of the trim holes with the Mig welder too. The previous owner just filled them with bondo.

Also stripped off the 6 layers of paint from the jambs with Aircraft Paint Remover (what a job - it only takes off one layer at a time). I must say it was a real PITA and very time consuming. I wish there was someone around here that did media blasting.

Gave the door a final sanding with 220, wiped it down with wax and grease remover and shot 2 coats of black epoxy primer on both sides to seal it up.

Mo' betta' pics.....

 

Got some more work done on the truck over the last couple of days and also found a set of nice Buffalo hide leather seats out of an 82 BMW 733 that I think will match nicely with the Wimbledon White paint that I plan on for the truck.

They are worn in and have some cracks and creases and they remind me of bomber jackets.

In any case, the passenger side door has been re-hung and lined up. The driver's side is being stripped as we speak.

I also took a little time to lower the truck a little more in the front by cutting 1 1/2 coils out of the Police Interceptor springs. It sits a lot better now and will come down even more once I get the engine and transmission installed. I measured from the floor to the lip in the front fender and it's sitting at 27" right now. I wish I would have taken a measurement when I first got the truck.

Mo' pics:





Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I went to Harbor Freight and bought one of their blasting cabinets. I found a coupon for $189 and thought that I'd give it a shot.

I fooled around with some different media and found that the fine Black Beauty worked best for removing paint and rust. I tried glass beads, but it did not cut through the paint very well and took way too long. Sand was marginally better but I was really impressed on how quickly the Black Beauty took off the paint.

I blasted the door and hood hinges and hung them on a rack that I made last year and shot 2 coats of epoxy primer on them. The blasting cabinet is going to be very handy for cleaning up all of the little brackets and stuff that I have no other way of stripping.

 

Hey what did you do to lower the rear end, flip the axle?

 

Funny you should ask. I was just working on the rear last night.

In the previous pictures, the tires are just set in the fenderwells without any rear being in place.

I took out the OEM 9" rear and replaced it yesterday with one from an 80-83 F100. It was not as easy to find as I thought and I had to drive an hour and a half away to get one from someone that had a bunch of Ford parts at his house. I paid a little more than I wanted ($250) but I had no choice if I wanted to move the project forward.

When I got back I stripped off all of the old brake drum parts (I'll be installing Ford Explorer disc brakes) and rolled the rear under the truck to check for fitment.

Notice in the pictures that it has the correct 5 x 4.5" bolt pattern and it's a little over 65" inches wide (which is perfect for the backspacing on the Crown Vic wheels I'm using and matched the WMS - WMS of the Crown Vic front end).

I was pondering what to do about the leaf springs last night as they have a lot of arch to them and would require me to move the perches up pretty high into the bed without using blocks between them and the bottom of where the new spring pads will get welded onto the new rear.

I'm going to look in the junk yards and see if I can find some flatter leaf springs. This will help a lot with the space between them and the bottom of the axle, and I won't have to move the perches up so much.

More pics of the new 9" mocked up. There is only about an inch of clearance between the top of the tube and the frame. A "C" notch is in the plans as well as a custom shock crossmember.

 

I forgot to add that the rear tires are about 29" tall and the fronts are 24".

I wanted to keep a little of the raked look and because of this, it's causing more clearance issues with the axle tube and frame. If I run the same tires all the way around (225/60R16's) I'll have more clearance and the back will be lowered even more.

Because of the smaller tires, less of the rear wheel well would be filled and I'm not sure if I want to go that route.

Also forgot to mention that I got the driver's side door stripped of the 6 layers of paint and I'll be welding up the holes and fixing the bottoms just like I did on the passenger side.