Project: Resurrecting F'nstein
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Project: Resurrecting F'nstein
While browsing through some other builds on the net recently, I came across the build thread for the truck I purchased, seen here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/12...t-fnstein.html
The truck was previously labeled as project “F’nstein”. I have decided to title this build thread “Resurrecting F’nstein” because despite the way things may have appeared in the previous build thread, this thing has been butchered to the point where it should just be scrapped, never to be seen again. But over the course of the next several years, likely with some donations from a few other less fortunate bumpsides, it will get put back together the RIGHT way without any corners being cut.
The story on the truck…I purchased the truck back in September of this year. I had been searching for a while for a 67-72 F100 2WD Short/Wide project truck to rebuild and was not coming up with anything worth pursuing. Living in New England (specifically Maine), these rigs are kind of hard to come by with the majority of the trucks being 4WD and/or LWB. As the search continued and I kept coming up empty handed, the search area expanded more and more. I had found a few options in the PA area and planned on taking a trip down there at the beginning on September to check them out (this was in mid-August).About 2 weeks before I planned on going down, another F100 popped up for sale in PA on CL with the description of being a “resto-mod project”.
The ad described it as having the crown vic IFS swap, new floor pans, a bunch of things having been shaved, NASCAR truck arm suspension, pretty much exactly what I had planned on doing. It was a little more than I originally wanted to spend, but based on the description and pics provided it was exactly what I wanted and would save me some significant time on getting the truck on the road. So I went against my better judgment and put a non-refundable deposit on it without having seen it in person.
Let’s just say the truck was not exactly as described or depicted. A quality resto-mod it was not, rat rod would be a much more appropriate description. I’ll be honest, once I got the truck home and started disassembling and looking at it closer, I was quite discouraged. I will document all of the shoddy workmanship and hack jobs that were discovered throughout this thread. Had the guy been completely honest about the condition, or even ifI had been able to find his build thread prior to purchasing, I never would have purchased the truck.
Kind of off topic here, but there is a silver lining to the deal…After putting a hefty deposit on the truck and making plans to pick it up in a couple weeks, my girlfriend hopped on CL one day and searched for Australian Shepherds. She had an aussie growing up, but due to a quack of a vet the dog had to be put down when he was only 7 or 8 (these dogs typically live to be almost double that). She had been searching for an aussie pup for quite awhile, and was on a waiting list at a breeder here in Maine as well. Aussies come in a variety of fur color combos as well as eye coloring combos. Of course she had a specific combo in mind and it is one of the most desirable and expensive, typical female right
. Anyway, the shot in the dark CL search turned up a 4 month old aussie pup that a female had recently purchased but was now getting rid of. Oh yea, it was also the exact color combo that my girlfriend was looking for. The story there was the couple got the puppy in July from a breeder, and shortly after found out they were going to be having another child. This wouldn’t be a huge deal except they already had one kid that wasn’t even a year old yet and they lived in a rather small apartment. So needless to say, space constraints combined with financial constraints forced the family to give up the dog. It actually couldn’t have worked out any better, it saved my girlfriend about $500 over purchasing a dog here in Maine (limited breeders so they bring a premium), she didn’t have to be on a wait list any longer, the dog already had all of its puppy shots, and came with all of the “accessories” from bowls and a leash to a full size dog crate. She was already house broken, crate trained and has since proven to be extremely smart. If it weren’t for the dog deal working out so well, I would probably be very unhappy about the truck deal. A lot of people like to say “everything happens for a reason”, and in this case I feel like that saying is true. Here is a pic of Kona in the truck after getting it home and unloaded:
The truck was previously labeled as project “F’nstein”. I have decided to title this build thread “Resurrecting F’nstein” because despite the way things may have appeared in the previous build thread, this thing has been butchered to the point where it should just be scrapped, never to be seen again. But over the course of the next several years, likely with some donations from a few other less fortunate bumpsides, it will get put back together the RIGHT way without any corners being cut.
The story on the truck…I purchased the truck back in September of this year. I had been searching for a while for a 67-72 F100 2WD Short/Wide project truck to rebuild and was not coming up with anything worth pursuing. Living in New England (specifically Maine), these rigs are kind of hard to come by with the majority of the trucks being 4WD and/or LWB. As the search continued and I kept coming up empty handed, the search area expanded more and more. I had found a few options in the PA area and planned on taking a trip down there at the beginning on September to check them out (this was in mid-August).About 2 weeks before I planned on going down, another F100 popped up for sale in PA on CL with the description of being a “resto-mod project”.
The ad described it as having the crown vic IFS swap, new floor pans, a bunch of things having been shaved, NASCAR truck arm suspension, pretty much exactly what I had planned on doing. It was a little more than I originally wanted to spend, but based on the description and pics provided it was exactly what I wanted and would save me some significant time on getting the truck on the road. So I went against my better judgment and put a non-refundable deposit on it without having seen it in person.
Let’s just say the truck was not exactly as described or depicted. A quality resto-mod it was not, rat rod would be a much more appropriate description. I’ll be honest, once I got the truck home and started disassembling and looking at it closer, I was quite discouraged. I will document all of the shoddy workmanship and hack jobs that were discovered throughout this thread. Had the guy been completely honest about the condition, or even ifI had been able to find his build thread prior to purchasing, I never would have purchased the truck.
Kind of off topic here, but there is a silver lining to the deal…After putting a hefty deposit on the truck and making plans to pick it up in a couple weeks, my girlfriend hopped on CL one day and searched for Australian Shepherds. She had an aussie growing up, but due to a quack of a vet the dog had to be put down when he was only 7 or 8 (these dogs typically live to be almost double that). She had been searching for an aussie pup for quite awhile, and was on a waiting list at a breeder here in Maine as well. Aussies come in a variety of fur color combos as well as eye coloring combos. Of course she had a specific combo in mind and it is one of the most desirable and expensive, typical female right
. Anyway, the shot in the dark CL search turned up a 4 month old aussie pup that a female had recently purchased but was now getting rid of. Oh yea, it was also the exact color combo that my girlfriend was looking for. The story there was the couple got the puppy in July from a breeder, and shortly after found out they were going to be having another child. This wouldn’t be a huge deal except they already had one kid that wasn’t even a year old yet and they lived in a rather small apartment. So needless to say, space constraints combined with financial constraints forced the family to give up the dog. It actually couldn’t have worked out any better, it saved my girlfriend about $500 over purchasing a dog here in Maine (limited breeders so they bring a premium), she didn’t have to be on a wait list any longer, the dog already had all of its puppy shots, and came with all of the “accessories” from bowls and a leash to a full size dog crate. She was already house broken, crate trained and has since proven to be extremely smart. If it weren’t for the dog deal working out so well, I would probably be very unhappy about the truck deal. A lot of people like to say “everything happens for a reason”, and in this case I feel like that saying is true. Here is a pic of Kona in the truck after getting it home and unloaded:
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Specs on the truck…It is a 1967 F100 frame, cab and bed. Beyond that your guess is as good as mine. Luckily I’m not doing an original restoration so it’s not a huge deal, but there are a few 67 only items that I like which I will have to source. The grille is from a 68-69, which I like because I want to customize a Ranger grille emblem from those years and add that to the grille. Front and inner fenders, radiator support, bumpers and tailgate are from an unknown year truck in Cali, but are in great shape. The driver’s side door is correct (67), but I will need a passenger side door as the one on there now is a 68-72 model that has been hacked up to accept the 67 latch mechanism. I will also need to come up with a 67 heating system and controls, which is not going to be easy or cheap. Pretty much everything else is going to be new. All of the lights and lenses, *****, handles, latches, gaskets and seals, wiring harness, etc. will be new. Here is the truck on the way back to Maine:<O
</O>
<O></O>
I’m sure this will change many times over the course of the build as it has a few times already, but right now this is my vision for the truck…
The engine is going to be a 545ci stroker based on the 460big block. Building engines is by far my favorite part of any build and it is also where most of my experience resides, so that is what I started throwing money at first. So far I’ve got the block and all of the rotating assembly parts (minus the flexplate), along with an Edelbrock Victor series manifold, TFS roller rockers, and a few other odds and ends. Heads are going to be the aluminum Ford Racing Super Cobra Jets (unless I come across a good deal on the KaaseP-51s in the meantime). I will be massaging the ports of the SCJ’s along with the intake manifold and back cutting the intake valves for better mid lift flow. It will be a custom grind solid flat tappet cam and a custom 4150 based carb (approx. 1000 cfm.). I’m anticipating somewhere in the neighborhood of700hp on pump gas. Power will be transferred through a fully built C6 3-spdauto and a 9” rear end. Once I get all of the parts and begin assembly I will be starting a build thread on the 460 forum and will post up a link for anyone interested in checking it out. I snapped a pic of the block and pistons when I got them, as I was impressed with the physical size of everything. The majority of my experience is with motorcycles and some dealings with newer small blocks, so the size of the big block parts is new to me.
<O</O
Interior is going to be very simple and clean. I will not be adding a radio/speakers, A/C or power anything. The interior will definitely have a race truck sort of feel with the dash all smoothed and a custom gauge panel with Autometer gauges. I would like to go with a bench seat but maybe use a 60/40 split bench from a newer truck, just remove the headrests and have it reupholstered.
The exterior will be like the interior, very simple and clean also. All badges, trim, drip rails, tailgate handle, stake pockets will be shaved, body seams welded and smoothed, add a roll pan, narrow and tuck the front bumper. I will be doing some work to the firewall and engine compartment to clean that up as well. The plan for now is to keep the stock style door handles and mirrors just to maintain some of that classic truck look. And after hundreds of hours of block sanding and prepping, it will get a glossy deep black paint job.<O</O
Like most F100’s these days, the front will ride on a Crown Vic IFS. The front end is going to get fully rebuilt before being reinstalled(all new bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, brake rotors and pads, rebuilt calipers, etc.). There have been a few coils cut out of the stock CV springs, so I will be replacing those with a pair of higher rate Eatons with some new shocks as well. I’m still undecided if I’ll go with stock height springs or the1” drop springs. I want the truck to have an aggressive stance, but I don’t want it slammed to the ground or tucking the tires too much.<O</O
The rear suspension will be a little different from what you typically see on the old F100’s. The suspension is going to utilize a set of trailing arms from a Roush/Yates NASCAR car, attached to a custom crossmember and also utilizing a heavy duty panhard bar and sway bar in the back. This will require a small notch in the frame for axle clearance, but I won’t be going super low. I would like to maintain a slight rake to the truck of maybe an inch or so. The rear end will also get upgraded to a Cobra disc brake setup.<O</O
My plan is to box the stock frame front to back to help combat the chassis flex. The trailing arm mount crossmember will also incorporate sort of an “X” shape design to further help in stiffening up the chassis. An early Mustang 22 gallon gas tank will get mounted between the frame rails aft of the rear axle to move some weight back. The battery will also get relocated from the engine compartment towards the back of the truck somewhere.
<O</O
I still don’t have my mind made up on the rolling stock. I will likely go with 17” wheels, but may step up to 18’s if I find the right wheel. I’m not really into the big 22”+ wheels on the classic trucks, but I also want to update the look some from the original 15’s. Right now I’m leaning towards a set of 17” Magnum 500 style wheels. Whatever I decide on will be a staggered setup, probably 8ish” wide in the front and 11-12” wide out back with a set of drag radials.<O</O
I will try to be diligent in taking pics and posting progress as I go, but I’ll admit I’m not very good with the picture taking part. Once I get into something and start making progress, stopping to clean my hands and get my phone to take pics is usually the last thing on my mind. For this build I am going to try my best to get lots of pics though as it will be nice to have it all documented when it’s done, and this will be by far the most time I’ve invested in any project. Originally I was anticipating the build taking about 5 years to complete, mostly due to funds. If things keep going the way they have been going it will be taking longer than 5 years to complete, but it will be due to lack of time to work on it and not funding.<O</O< font>
</O><O></O>I’m sure this will change many times over the course of the build as it has a few times already, but right now this is my vision for the truck…
The engine is going to be a 545ci stroker based on the 460big block. Building engines is by far my favorite part of any build and it is also where most of my experience resides, so that is what I started throwing money at first. So far I’ve got the block and all of the rotating assembly parts (minus the flexplate), along with an Edelbrock Victor series manifold, TFS roller rockers, and a few other odds and ends. Heads are going to be the aluminum Ford Racing Super Cobra Jets (unless I come across a good deal on the KaaseP-51s in the meantime). I will be massaging the ports of the SCJ’s along with the intake manifold and back cutting the intake valves for better mid lift flow. It will be a custom grind solid flat tappet cam and a custom 4150 based carb (approx. 1000 cfm.). I’m anticipating somewhere in the neighborhood of700hp on pump gas. Power will be transferred through a fully built C6 3-spdauto and a 9” rear end. Once I get all of the parts and begin assembly I will be starting a build thread on the 460 forum and will post up a link for anyone interested in checking it out. I snapped a pic of the block and pistons when I got them, as I was impressed with the physical size of everything. The majority of my experience is with motorcycles and some dealings with newer small blocks, so the size of the big block parts is new to me.
<O</OInterior is going to be very simple and clean. I will not be adding a radio/speakers, A/C or power anything. The interior will definitely have a race truck sort of feel with the dash all smoothed and a custom gauge panel with Autometer gauges. I would like to go with a bench seat but maybe use a 60/40 split bench from a newer truck, just remove the headrests and have it reupholstered.
The exterior will be like the interior, very simple and clean also. All badges, trim, drip rails, tailgate handle, stake pockets will be shaved, body seams welded and smoothed, add a roll pan, narrow and tuck the front bumper. I will be doing some work to the firewall and engine compartment to clean that up as well. The plan for now is to keep the stock style door handles and mirrors just to maintain some of that classic truck look. And after hundreds of hours of block sanding and prepping, it will get a glossy deep black paint job.<O
</OLike most F100’s these days, the front will ride on a Crown Vic IFS. The front end is going to get fully rebuilt before being reinstalled(all new bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, brake rotors and pads, rebuilt calipers, etc.). There have been a few coils cut out of the stock CV springs, so I will be replacing those with a pair of higher rate Eatons with some new shocks as well. I’m still undecided if I’ll go with stock height springs or the1” drop springs. I want the truck to have an aggressive stance, but I don’t want it slammed to the ground or tucking the tires too much.<O
</OThe rear suspension will be a little different from what you typically see on the old F100’s. The suspension is going to utilize a set of trailing arms from a Roush/Yates NASCAR car, attached to a custom crossmember and also utilizing a heavy duty panhard bar and sway bar in the back. This will require a small notch in the frame for axle clearance, but I won’t be going super low. I would like to maintain a slight rake to the truck of maybe an inch or so. The rear end will also get upgraded to a Cobra disc brake setup.<O
</OMy plan is to box the stock frame front to back to help combat the chassis flex. The trailing arm mount crossmember will also incorporate sort of an “X” shape design to further help in stiffening up the chassis. An early Mustang 22 gallon gas tank will get mounted between the frame rails aft of the rear axle to move some weight back. The battery will also get relocated from the engine compartment towards the back of the truck somewhere.
<O
</OI still don’t have my mind made up on the rolling stock. I will likely go with 17” wheels, but may step up to 18’s if I find the right wheel. I’m not really into the big 22”+ wheels on the classic trucks, but I also want to update the look some from the original 15’s. Right now I’m leaning towards a set of 17” Magnum 500 style wheels. Whatever I decide on will be a staggered setup, probably 8ish” wide in the front and 11-12” wide out back with a set of drag radials.<O
</OI will try to be diligent in taking pics and posting progress as I go, but I’ll admit I’m not very good with the picture taking part. Once I get into something and start making progress, stopping to clean my hands and get my phone to take pics is usually the last thing on my mind. For this build I am going to try my best to get lots of pics though as it will be nice to have it all documented when it’s done, and this will be by far the most time I’ve invested in any project. Originally I was anticipating the build taking about 5 years to complete, mostly due to funds. If things keep going the way they have been going it will be taking longer than 5 years to complete, but it will be due to lack of time to work on it and not funding.<O
</O< font>
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Freshman User
Joined: Apr 2009
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Here are a few previews of the hack jobs mentioned earlier. Yes there are new floor pans as stated in the ad. The ad failed to mention that the rust was cut out, firewall and cab mounts absolutely butchered in the process, and the new floor pans dropped in on top of the old and plug welded. The ad also stated the antenna had been shaved, which is also true. However it failed to mention that the cowl had been crushed in at some point and just filled with over ¼” of bondo in some spots. <O</O
The damage here is apparently from the truck rolling backwards into a telephone pole, smashing the rear bed corner and pushed the bed forward into the cab. This was not something that had been repaired previously, nor was it shown on any of the pics in the ad and was not mentioned when asked what shape the body was in. One of those things I could have caught had I found his build thread before. I will probably never put money down on something sight unseen again, but if I do you can bet your @$$ the seller is going to get sick of sending me pics of any and every angle imaginable. <O</O
The seller did indicate the frame needed to be boxed upfront to finish the CV swap. Failed to mention that the frame was basically just sitting on the CV cross member with a stack of washers on top and lower control arm mounts non-existent. At this point I’m glad this wasn’t finished because fixing hack jobs is far more difficult than just starting from scratch. <O</O
<O</O
</OThe damage here is apparently from the truck rolling backwards into a telephone pole, smashing the rear bed corner and pushed the bed forward into the cab. This was not something that had been repaired previously, nor was it shown on any of the pics in the ad and was not mentioned when asked what shape the body was in. One of those things I could have caught had I found his build thread before. I will probably never put money down on something sight unseen again, but if I do you can bet your @$$ the seller is going to get sick of sending me pics of any and every angle imaginable. <O
</OThe seller did indicate the frame needed to be boxed upfront to finish the CV swap. Failed to mention that the frame was basically just sitting on the CV cross member with a stack of washers on top and lower control arm mounts non-existent. At this point I’m glad this wasn’t finished because fixing hack jobs is far more difficult than just starting from scratch. <O
</O<O</O
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For the most part, the only thing I have done to the truck since getting it home is disassembling and assessing what is salvageable and what it is going to need. I’ve got all of the front sheet metal along with the tailgate pulled off and stored in my basement. Those were not original to the truck and were by far in the best shape of any of it. I also temporarily pulled the bed to inspect the back half. I finished removing all of the leaf spring hanger rivets that didn’t get removed before and scraped the gunk off the frame. It was a pleasant surprise to see the frame back there is really good shape after removing all of the crud. I slid the axle and trailing arms under the truck to get them out of the way for now but also assess what my mounting options will be. Progress will be slow for a while, but it’ll get rolling once I knock a few smaller projects out of the way.<O</O
</O
Fleet Owner
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,678
Likes: 82
From: NorCal
Subscribing.
Good call to put a period on Area51s' build and start anew. I like the vision you have put forth and the build outline. 2x.... undoing hacks takes twice as long to correct the wrongs. You've got a definite challenge ahead but based on what I have seen the ol' girl will cross the finish line. And thanks for the thoughtful and well written update and usage of sentence structure... it makes reading easy instead of having to decode text messaging.
Let the party begin!
Good call to put a period on Area51s' build and start anew. I like the vision you have put forth and the build outline. 2x.... undoing hacks takes twice as long to correct the wrongs. You've got a definite challenge ahead but based on what I have seen the ol' girl will cross the finish line. And thanks for the thoughtful and well written update and usage of sentence structure... it makes reading easy instead of having to decode text messaging.
Let the party begin!
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,867
Likes: 3
From: Alton, MO
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...irs-build.html
This is my truck. There are pics near the end of 1 1/2" drop springs with a 460.
Ok I lied. My thread here doesn't have the pics. This one does.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/v...p?f=22&t=54398
This is my truck. There are pics near the end of 1 1/2" drop springs with a 460.
Ok I lied. My thread here doesn't have the pics. This one does.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/v...p?f=22&t=54398
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 4,307
Likes: 18
From: Las Vegas, NV
Subscribing also.
Sucks that so many people are not honest when selling a vehicle or project. It looks like you have a long road ahead of you. I am glad that it seems you are in it for the long haul.
Congrats on the puppy. Those are great dogs that are very loyal, and smart.
Sucks that so many people are not honest when selling a vehicle or project. It looks like you have a long road ahead of you. I am glad that it seems you are in it for the long haul.
Congrats on the puppy. Those are great dogs that are very loyal, and smart.
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Let’s just say the truck was not exactly as described or depicted. A quality resto-mod it was not, rat rod would be a much more appropriate description. I’ll be honest, once I got the truck home and started disassembling and looking at it closer, I was quite discouraged. I will document all of the shoddy workmanship and hack jobs that were discovered throughout this thread. Had the guy been completely honest about the condition, or even ifI had been able to find his build thread prior to purchasing, I never would have purchased the truck.
Wow, this sounds exactly like my situation. I was happy to get my truck and then slowly started discovering all the things done incorrectly or missing completely. Some things are bad enough that I would not have driven it home had I known. Overall, he made out like a bandit...I feel your pain.
Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,511
Likes: 8
From: hinckley ohio
I looked for the rear tail light patch panal . Mine was hit and rusted. Had no luck finding one for the 67-72. I wound up buying one for a early Bronco and 61-66 F series and cutting it up to work on mine mostly top side of taiL light. and a lower patch panel on the bottom.
Posting Guru
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,038
Likes: 11
From: Southern AB
The hard part of buying a truck is either you buy one as cheap as possible and do all the work yourself which costs more or buy one done which is cheaper but you don't know what was done or if it was done correctly. One other thing I gave noticed lately is a piece of junk rusty truck is worth $5000 to people or at least it seems that way, just don't think they are worth that much.
D
D
