Hello everyone, my name is Kevin and I and relatively new to this forum and F100s, so I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas about my build. I will began by telling you a little about my self. I am from a small town in South Texas called Brazoria, after graduating High School I worked a few jobs while attending community college, but found I wasn't ready for college yet. And since I have always been patriotic I decided to join the US Navy.

I enlisted in Feb of 2006 and since I was an IT (Computer Tech) I had a large choice of duty stations to choose from. So I picked Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, Italy. And wow was that an amazing choice. Spent Two years there then it was time for orders again, and since I was away from my family for most of this time, I decided to move closer to home. I knew we had some ships in the Corpus Christi, Texas area. So I volunteered for a Mine Counter Measure ship out of Ingleside, Texas. I figured it's an hour and a half from my home town, that would be great, and for the most part it was. In the year was stationed there I got to see my first niece be born, got engaged and married, then it went down hill. There were rumors of change of home port, which means they are moving us, first they said San Diego, and that would be ok, but then they said Japan, and I was not excited to go straight back overseas, then it was San Diego, then Japan, then San Diego. Well we moved to Japan.

And I was very nervous because I didn't know much about the Japanese culture. But besides the hell from being on the ship, Japan was amazing. Eventually my 6 year enlistment came to an end, and I couldn't have been more excited. My wife and I moved back to Texas and both got jobs near our home towns, and everything has been great.

About a year ago we found out my great uncle, a Purple Heart recipient from Vietnam, was diagnosed with lung cancer, and it was terminal. But we where able to spend a lot of time with him before he passed. He always loved cars and always had 3-4 that he was working on at a time. After he passed away my father and I recieved one of his cars. My dad got his baby, a 33 ford coupe with a LS1.

I recieved the 1954 Ford F-100!

 

Sorry to hear about your uncle. You have a nice truck to start with. I just recently picked up a 53 f100 but have had no time to work on it yet.

 

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the picture and story. I'm glad you got to spend time with your uncle and he left you the truck. Looks like it's been sitting for awhile, does it run? Looking forward to you getting it on the road and more pictures.

 

Here is the home I cleaned and have ready for the truck to come to its new resting place.



Here is the truck in one of my great Uncle's garage.



Here is a shot of it being loaded on the trailer.



And the first time the truck has been on the road in about 10 years.



And in its new home!







Now the real work begins!

 

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a great truck to start with!

 

Since I am using a regular garage bay while I build my 48 x 36 pole barn for my shop. I needed to add some lighting.



Due the truck being converted from 6v to 12v on the original wire I decided to rip it all out and start a new with a EZ Wiring Harness. While I was doing this I removed the heater block and the old cardboard firewall insulation.



From under the truck I could tell the bed still had the original wood, but had been covered up by a piece of metal since the wood was really rotten.



To my surprise this is what they used.

 

After looking at this rotten wood for a few weeks it had to go.





After a lot of drilling, grinding and cutting this is what is left. I plan on using any of the wood I can to make a cool sign for my shop.

 

Well the motor turns over but until I get the new fuel pump hooked up, it won't run solid.

 

Welcome to the madness! Thanks for sharing your truck and story. One of things that these trucks (and vintage cars too) bring about is a sense of family. I believe so few things can be left behind when you pass away that touch others lives like an old truck. Your uncle gave so much with his service to this country and now he continues giving after his passing by giving his truck to you. While I never had a relative pass and leave me a vintage truck, one of my current 54's was worked on by my brother who has since passed. I have a nick in the dash where a wrench flew out of his hand one day and gouged the dash up pretty good. As long as I am alive, that gash will never be fixed. Enjoy your truck, keep the 54 grille (or sell it to me ) and drive like your Uncle would have.

 

Hey Karl,
Your truck looks great! That stock interior & firewall look fantastic.
As long as you have the back wood out of there - what's your plan for the gas tank?
It probably needs to be cleaned out at a minimum - we also moved our's back out there under the bed.

Looking good over there!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1 (351W/AOD)

 

Nice truck and story. Thanks for sharing the pictures keep it up. I look forward to seeing what you do with the bed wood. I made a workbench out of mine.

 

Thank you for your kind words. I will putting the 302 from a 5.0 mustang and carb it, like he wanted. I want to keep a original look, but small drop. I think he would like what I have in mind.


Thank you. There is a lot of work to be done, but I don't think it will ever be "Finished." As for the gas tank, I will be placing one in the rear, my rear cross brace is a little bent, so I think I will cut it out and place a new one behind the mustang or fabricated tank. I don't have a tank as of right now.

For the sign I will have to put a lot of thought into it.

 

I tend to research, plan and generally over think things before I jump into anything. And the wiring harness is no different. I and considering what I might have and wont have in the future.



Most things I will leave and bundle off to the side (ie power windows, trunk light) until I take out the inline 6 and drop in the 302, which will be down the road a ways.

For right now I want to get the truck running, and breaking! Then I will start on the smaller project, I want to be able to drive it down to Dairy Queen for some ice cream and not have it in piece in my shop for years. So I will wait to drop the 302 in at some future date.

 

Hey Karl,
That's an imposing looking pic - Geez that's a lot of wires. We used an EZwire - 21 kit for our's. It was overkill but we've got left over slots if we need them going forward. We kept our cab stock looking - no electric windows here.

We used a 22 gallon 1970 Mustang tank for our's & we followed Jniolin's
tec. guide. I like your plan of getting it up & working for the Dairy Queen runs - Blizzards can be very motivating - just saying...

Good luck over there.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Driving it now is a great idea. Enjoy it. It is in great shape. You can change the engine out later... and maybe you won't want to...

That Sorghum sign will look great inside your garage.