Trust me, it was not an easy decision.

I wanted an old shop truck and that's what I started off building. Things quickly got out of hand and I started to lose focus. I've done this many times in the past and finally caught myself doing it again and put a stop to it.

I've had a lot of really nice rides in the past (so nice you couldn't take them anywhere or enjoy them) in fear of a parking lot incident, accident, etc.

This build is quite different. I'm building it to enjoy. That means letting it get dirty, parking it and not worrying so much about shopping carts, not spending every waking moment cleaning and polishing it.

I'm going to drive the hell out if it and enjoy it for what it is: a safe, reliable, fast and cool old truck.

 

+1 for building it to enjoy.

 

Awesome job on the distressed paint, my thoughts exactly on my 69 build

 

Do you happen to know what year F500 that came out of? I am now on the hunt and want to know what years those were in. GOTTA HAVE ONE!!! What a find! I have been looking for a way to fit in the newer electronic gauges like the ones made by Dolphin that look retro but are electronic.

SS

 

1967 - mid 70's F500 -F700 had them. I have not been able to verify the cutoff year.

I sold all but one that I found but still have one blank steel bezel with a tach cut out if you are interested in it. It would be perfect for swapping in aftermarket gauges.

 

*
Yeah......What he said.

Hey Area, anything new done to the truck?

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the enjoying part; but you do know it is possible to build and enjoy it with a new paint job? Again, the truck will be cool either way. I'm just sayin; its a strange effort. It's like going to the dealership, buying a new car, then sayin that the paint needs to be sanded on so if the vehicle gets a scratch or a door ding; then it wont matter. Huh?

Great build either way.

 

Yeah, lots of work done but too much for me to type in my phone.

I'll update the post when I get home from the shop tonight.

 

The faux patina hides a lot and it'll get me on the road quicker. If I didn't do that, it'll take me weeks of block sanding to get it perfect which I don't want or care to do. Not on this project anyway.

It's pretty straight and it won't look like a white whale passing you by......

Lol

 

There goes the tail I was going to send you...............

 

Ok, quick update.

I went to the junkyard last week to see if I could find an older T5 out of a Mustang or an S10 so I could swap my tailhousing for a mechanical speedo.

I didn't have any luck finding one, but I did find another 1352-260 T5 out of an 01 Mustang that is nearly identical to the 93-95 Cobra T5 that is rated at 300 ft/lbs of torque. It's the same one that I have in my truck now. For $72 out the gate, I couldn't pass it up. The Mustang was wrecked hard in the back and the nice part about it was the PO had just put a brand new clutch setup in the car and the bolts weren't overly tight. I was able to get the transmission out with limited tools in about an hour:



I felt like working on the interior recently and sanded and painted both the door panels (still looking for a set without the chrome and black trim) and one of the F500-F700 instrument clusters that I scored a couple of weeks ago. I took the whole cluster apart and painted the black surround and also painted the needles:







I'm ditching the OEM foot brake assembly for the parking brake. I'm going to be putting custom speakers in the kick panels and I needed the room. I grabbed a leather wrapped handle from an 01 Jetta and it'll be mounted in a custom center console by the driver's seat. It matches the leather seats perfectly out of the 01 Passat as you can see.

 

Next on my list was to fill in a bunch of holes in the bed rails from PO's and also to fill in the stake pockets:



Here is a pic of the piece of copper plate that I used as a backer to fill in the holes. You hold it underneath, start a bead with the Mig welder and make a pool. The copper prevents the pool from falling through the hole and the Mig weld does not stick to the copper:




Ground down the welds using the edge of the grinder (less heat), applied one coat of Rage Gold:



Finished sanding and laid a coat of epoxy primer to the bed side. More body works needs to be done, but it will seal it up for now until I can get to it:

 

I went browsing in the junkyard last night looking for rear disc brakes that I could easily retrofit on to my 9" housing.

After looking at lots of options, I chose a 1990 Lincoln MK VII.

There are other cars that will literally bolt on to the Big Bearing Torino housing ends such as the Crown Vic and Exploder, but I liked the MK VII better for three reasons:

1) both calipers sit aft of the housing as opposed to one front and one rear allowing for a cleaner look IMO

2) they have the e-brake built into the caliper as opposed to extra shoes, hardware, etc like on the CV and Exploder.

3) they have large, ventilated rotors unlike the solid steel (thin) rotors found on the CV and Exlpoder

I ordered a conversion mounting bracket kit from Ultrastang for $150 and all new rotors, pads, etc today and everything will be here early next week.

After checking with my parts suppliers, I found out that rebuilt calipers only cost me $45 each I ordered a set of those as well and will use the junkyard calipers as cores. I was going to rebuild them but it's just not worth it considering how cheap remans are.

The only parts I'll be reusing are the caliper mounting bracket adapters, the e-brake lines and some hardware.

I disassembled and bead blasted the hardware this morning and just got done laying down a couple of costs of Rustoleum red paint on the caliper mounts. I'll paint the new calipers the same color as well. You'll be able to see them through the wheels and I've always liked the look.
Pics on the way as usual.

 

Excellent build tread, thanks for running it. Nice job on the stake pockets. I like the look of the clean bed rails.

 

I sent you a PM on the bezel. Is it like the one you are using? That is what I am looking for. Send me a pic of it and what you want for it.

Hey BTW what steering column are you using and how did you connect to the CV front end?

Thanks.