Subscribbled.

 

Lookin' Ford Tuff! Did you achieve that sweet level with suspension or all body?

two up

 

Stock suspension and the box is sitting on the frame (so no body lift, either). Believe it or not, after 30 years all of the box bolt holes lined up until I shortened the frame then the front two had to be redrilled.

The reason it looks lifted is because the frame height of the newer trucks is significantly higher than the older ones....and the older body doesn't hang down so low over the frame rails.

If you look closely at the transmission crossmember, you can see how far forward the drivetrain was moved from the stock location.

 

Fantastic project! Love it.

 

How about a couple of pics of that awesome landscape out there!

 

Please do a full write up. All your notes, with lots of pics, and details. The good, the bad, and the ugly.


Would a Camper Special bed have eliminated the need to cut the frame?

 

The junk in my driveway isn't enough? By the way, the van in the background is the "wood shed" for the stove in the shop.

It's -3.5 degrees outside today. No pickup progress will be happening now. More pictures on the way.

 

There are no directions that I can give. It's all trial and error to see what fits and where. I have never measured a long wheelbase pickup to see what it is. A regular cab 1973-1979 pickup has a 133-ish wheelbase whereas a 1999-up regular cab is 137 and change.

Shortening the frame was the only option. Had I simply moved the rear axle forward by relocating the spring perches, the box bolt holes and frame landings would not have lined up having the wheel in the center of the wheel opening in the box. I kid you not....the frame holes lined up exactly with the box holes and all of the frame flange elevation changes are identical between the two. I kind of figured this from the start as the sheet metal used for the inside of the box is the same from 1973 all the way to 1997 and I have transferred flatbeds from 1990's trucks to SuperDuty trucks before.

That being said, there's still a discrepancy that you can see. The wheels are centered in the wheelwell openings but there's still a little gap between the box and the cab (about 1.75"). This is because the cab on a SuperDuty is quite a bit longer at the rear (to fill the gap between that and the box that's the identical length of the older box). That being said, I could have shortened the frame about an inch more but I wasn't going to do that again. The plus side of only cutting out as much as I did was that the fuel tank straps, although a little splayed right now, still fit whereas if I had shortened the frame much more I would have had to fabricate two new tank mount strap setups.

Anyway, the first of the cab mount modifications: Another thing that was too easy. The cab mounts between the old and new cabs are the exact same distance apart (width wise) on either side of the frame. Looking at the earlier picture of the frames together, you can see a really big dip in the middle of the new frame (so a lower cab floor can be used). I just had to measure elevation changes and the distance from the rear cab mounts on the old cab. From there it was as simple as cutting of the front cab mounts and rewelding them in their new locations.

 

I'm not going to write anything about the next couple of pictures except that I used existing holes in the frame for cutting reference since all of the holes were identically placed on either frame rail. Also, a measurement SNAFU happened. I needed to take out four inches so I measured two inches twice. See where I went wrong? Sometimes I wonder what goes on in my head......dumb ***. My only indication that something wasn't right was that the fuel tank straps lined up better than they should have. Lots of cussing ensued.

 

That's gonna be an awesome truck, I wish you were doing this with one of my Supercabs, although they are probably way too rusty to make it worthwhile. You are building a truck very close to my dream truck.

I think you mentioned it somewhere but I might have missed it, by moving around the engine and tranny did you get everything to fit inside the engine bay without any cutting of anything? Also to move that stuff forward what all did you have to move?

Lastly, is that fuel tank under the box something special to the f100's? I thought Ford had kept the fuel tank behind the seat until '75?

Because I can, and I think you'll enjoy em, here are some pictures of my box after its all painted, its going back to the factory orange.

 

That's the part I'm dreading. I absolutely HATE body and paint work. That's a very pretty color by the way!

By moving the engine forward, I didn't have to modify the firewall or core support.

Stock 1973 2wd fuel tank location. The original 1973 cab had the fuel tank behind the seat as well as the one between the frame rails. When I changed the cab (part of the long story in the first post), there was no behind-the-seat tank...but there were shoulder belts.

 

I'm digging the truck !! I like the fact that you have had the '73 since high school it shows you and the truck have history. If that truck could talk and tell us some stories. It makes me feel old when I read that it was '94 when you were in high school. Now I know you plan to paint it and have it as a prime example of a resto/ modd. But personally I think it a perfect example of what a survivor / modd should be. But that is just me, I think the look of a original unmolested body with all the original dents, rust and faded paint is COOL ! It took over 30 yrs to get that way and it is something you can't buy?

You are doing a great job working thru all the systems! But was wondering did you carve up the factory harness and just use what you needed ? Because that sounds like the tricky part I would love to hear more about that. Or is there a stand alone wiring harness on the market for a 7.3 PSD that you used?
Keep up the good work and keep the photos coming !
Thanks for sharing!

 

Rear cab mounts:

Since the factory 1970's rear cab mounts mount inside the frame and farther forward than the outside-the-frame SuperDuty mounts, I had to come up with a way to mount the rear of the cab without getting rid of the fuel tank (it sits right where the rear cab crossmember would have to be). There is a convenient flat area at the very rear of the cab that a piece of 4" wide 3/8" strap fits into. This made a great reinforced area with which to bolt down the cab to the stock 2002 rear cab mounts.



Box fitment:

You'll have to forgive the water on the camera lens. I didn't know it was there until a couple days later when I transferred the pictures to my computer.

 

Funny you asked.....

What I started with:


What I ended up with:


What I didn't use:

 

Did you have to move the front cross member ahead and throw in another support for the tranny?

That's a big pile of wire left there.....

Unfortunately I can't find any pictures of my '79 before it went in to paint, but all it had was some rust over the rear wheels, so the place I took it to had to put new outer box sides on it, other than that that was the only major bodywork. Unfortunately like I said, its been a very slow process, they will have had it 2 years come June. I wish you were closer, I would love to see this project firsthand.