Well, it is finally time to get a thread started for the '68. She has been in my buddy and I's possession for awhile now (one, two years?), and we are finally getting around to working on the old girl. It is a nice change of pace to work on a truck that has no PCM. Much simpler than my 2000 7.3!

A little bit of history on the old girl: We purchased the truck locally from a gentleman that did some servicing to her, but mainly let her sit outside and wither away until we acquired her. Not even six months after we got the truck, we nearly lost her. For some reason we moved her outside of the barn we were storing the truck in, and never put her back in - for good reason it turns out. That barn caught fire a week or two after we moved the 68 out of there. Unfortunately, it, and all the tools, animals, and truck parts inside the barn, were lost. He also ended up losing his 1986 F250 XLT Lariat Ext. Cab, Factory 6.9/4spd that didn't have a speck of rust on it. Luckily though, the 68 survived coming out with only a melted toolbox/taillights, popped passenger tires, and flaked passenger side paint (all this happened from about 50' away, that thing was burning hot). This was the remains of his 86. I have some other pictures on my computer somewhere and will try and dig them up as time permits.


After the fire he went off to boot camp, and I began working on getting all the wiring on my farm up to par. Turned out my wiring was near ready to go as well. Glad I went through it when I did. Needless to say the truck set dormant for a long while. Fast forward to this past week and we both get the itch to work on the old truck again. We managed to get the truck running, but it definitely still has some issues. We took it for a drive down the road to find out it likes to dodge every which way, and doesn't take too well to stopping on the first attempt. We also discovered that after warming up, the starter acts like it is dragging, but eventually starts the truck (It cranks fine when cold). I managed to grab two videos of the truck running after day one of working on it - Which will be posted once I manage to get them uploaded.

As far as pictures go, I have a couple to post. We started work with the seat, as a mouse decided to make his home out of the foam in it. After removal, we were greeted by 40 years worth of dirt:


We will be power washing all of that out, as purple power and a towel just weren't cutting it. We went on with fixing the foam by ripping the old cover/vinyl off and replaced it with some foam we had from an old LMC repair kit that I had ordered for the Farm's 79, but never used.


I forgot to take pictures after putting the foam and new cover on, but did snap one after re-installation.


The seat was our first priority as the springs were beginning to poke through and hurt just to move the truck in and out of the shop, so we are just using the LMC foam as a temporary fix. After we re-installed the seat, we took to trying to get the dirt and grit the truck accumulated all taken care of. Nothing can get the grit to come off like Purple Power!


Today (well, Friday night) we worked on getting more grit off of her, and patching a crack in the rear bumper. I didn't really take any pictures of this process, as I doubt you all want to see every stroke of the towel we make with this truck. This is how the old girl set as of 2300 Friday night:


We also found where the mouse was nesting (the glovebox) and got it all cleaned out. We found this little gem tucked away in there. Luckily the mouse only ate a tiny bit of the back cover.


We will be putting some tires that will actually hold air on it here within the next week so we can get the thing in and out of the shop without the need to throw an air compressor in the bed! We are debating about throwing power brakes on the truck as well to help cure the only-brakes-when-it-wants-to issue. The truck was already outfitted with power steering when we acquired her.

Due note this will be a slow project, as we both have little free time these days. Hopefully we will have enough free time to be able to work on the truck and actually show something for it. I will also get the videos uploaded ASAP so you all can hear the truck stretching her lungs out after lord knows how long. That is all I have for tonight, er this morning. If we get time to work on it later today, I will do my best to grab some pictures. Not use to documenting my work!

Also, do excuse the picture quality. I used my cell phone to snap the ones you see in this post.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one with a neglected project truck. Sorry about the barn, but you got to look at the good in things...at least one ford made it out ok.

 

good morning,as you project gos along if you need parts I have a ton of 67-70 f 100 parts/trucks thanks ed

 

Well, it has been quite awhile since I have been able to post an update. My buddy and I both haven't had much time to work on it, so the only thing that I can let you all know about is that we have gotten the entire hood primed and are working on getting the rest of the crud off of it to get the rest of the truck primed and painted.

I can say that I have a bit of a treat lined up for the old girl though:


Co-worker is looking to get rid of his '68 F100 project as he wants to focus on his stock 64 Fairlane (That thing is a beauty). The 390 comes with it as well as a four speed toploader (wide ratio) and the original three speed. The engine is bored 30 over, Edelbrock heads and valve covers (They are for a 427 as he was sent the wrong ones, but they still work), 12mm wires, and all-new internals. Body on the truck only has two places of rust-through so it may turn into another project itself.

The newer engine will be nice as the price is right, and neither my buddy nor I have the time to rebuild an engine ourselves lately. Ours can't even get the tires to break loose in gravel. Here soon I hope my buddy and I can get back on the ball with the truck, miss working on her. Work has been preventing us both from having free time to work on the old girl.