Well, it's all going away anyway, right?

 

Oh yea. I knew the fenders were full of bondo, but I didn't expect them to be brazed like that. I will probably scrap the fenders, but I will see if the local rat rod builders might want to buy some of it. The bed itself could be salvaged and repaired, and the tailgate is in useable condition. The bed has a steel plate, about 1/4"+ thick, I will probably save that to use for making the brackets to soft mount the Jag suspension, some frame boxing, the transmission mounts and rear spring perches.

 

After searching several junkyards on line and visiting numerous local yards, I picked these up yesterday..




8.8 out of a 99 Explorer 3.73








AOD from a 93 F150 (302 with 79K)

 

Good finds! Both are proven valuable additions to your F-1.

 

Another day of parts gathering, had to take Patti's son back to the airport in Nashville, so I went further west by about 40 miles to check on a lead.



After my wasted trip to get the two jags, I talked to this fellow about the suspension he had from an 86 XJS..





He originally wanted $250, but I haggled him down to $150..





Then I mentioned that the unit had no Z joint or universals...when I got there he dug these out and gave them to me.





He still had the power steering pump attached





Most of the bushing and ball joints look to be in very good shape, even the shocks are not too old..





then he asked if I wanted a steering column...when I asked how much he said he had a couple complete late model units with the locks and keys for $250, but I could have this one for FREE!





After we loaded the stuff in the truck, i asked if he had any 'junk' wheels that he would sell cheap, just needed a couple for set up. He pulled out the 'worst' ones and charged me $10 each. When I was loading them in the truck I realized how light these aluminum rims were. I don't like the looks of them, but when I'm through with them, the local scrap yard will give me $30 each for them.

 

That's a GREAT score Joe!

 

Sometimes procuring the parts is a fun as the build! Nice stuff there for Dolly.

 

Joe,
Nice finds! The Jag looks very clean. If you soft mount the jag as you indicated you will want to find the unique uni joint which jag located right at the pinion spline. It allows for motion of the soft mounted Jag without getting the motion back into the column/steering wheel. The Jag joint comes with a section of integral shaft which I cut and welded to a chunk of shaft having the spline that I needed to connect to the steering column spline with the second standard ujoint.

 

The part you're talking about is not one of these?


EDIT: I bought this unit from a Jag guy, when I asked him before about the Z joint, he had no idea what I was talking about. I searched high and low for a jag Z joint, but no Jag people seemed to know what I was talking about. I don't know who came up with the term 'Z joint' but it doesn't exist in the Jag world. After going through all the jag parts books here is what I found. It is actually called the 'Lower Steering Column' part number CAC27653, I found a used Jag parts dealer in NC that had one for $30 and ordered it.

 

Joe,
I may be guilty of coining the term " Z joint" since it looks a bit like a Z (as opposed to a U) to allow the motion along the axis of the steering shaft.
I apologize for any confusion.

 

Way to go Joe !!! See you in 9 1/2 weeks & yes a large box will be delivered .

 

No Bill, you didn't come up with that term, when I goggled it I found a lot of references to it on various hot rod sites in post going back several years.
I jumped on the $30 deal after finding that new ones sell for about $250.

 

Well, I recieved the shipment from the guy in NC last week with a Jag lower steering column (The Z joint), but when I opened the box, it was another upper steering column. I contacted him about it and three days later the Lower Steering column arrived, making my day.

I spent this past weekend moving one of the 8' lights in the shop to install a 4"x6" beam across one of the bays, I then attached a 1 ton chain hoist to it.

I spent the better part of the day today removing the bed. Because the steel floor was welded in on top of the wood floor it presented some interesting work to get it all free. I managed to remove the nuts from three of the bolts going through the steel floor to the frame and then had to grind off the last one. Each cross member of the bed was bolted through the wood and into the frame. My attempts to unscrew the nuts were futile, since they just turned in the wood. Those bolts were too big for the bolt cutter I have, so I though if I lifted the bed I could use a sawzall to cut the bolts. When I began lifting the bed, the sides and steel floor seperated from the wood floor, except at the rear crossmember. I was able to get the bolt cutter under the bed strips and finally cut all the bed strip bolts from the rear crossmember. After lifting the bed again i was able to yank the bed back away from the truck and the floor boards fell out and the bed was free.

I drove Dollie out of the shop, backed in a boat trailer I had and loaded the bed on the trailer.




With the bed off, I removed the rotten outer boards and used my sawzall to cut the bolts attaching the crossmembers to the frame





This bed is very restorable and the tailgate though not perfect is in fairly good shape.<br/>The removed floor was placed in the bed, it will need a couple new crossmembers, and new wood, but very useable.





Dollie's new look. YEEHAWW





The lower back of the cab has some damage..<br/>The rear bumper is welded to the frame, but I think it has a bit of character so I may keep it on the truck.





The back half of the frame looks to be in good shape, just needs some cleaning up and paint.<br/>The shocks and bushings are shot, but will all go anyhow.

 

Nice progress Joe.

Looks like she was Alpine Blue originally?

 

Nice work, you have plenty ahead of you but itll be worth it