Some people say don't rebuild it. Some say its not worth it. Some say you'd be better off with a fresh body. Some say buy another truck. My answer to that? Go away, I don't need that negativativy in my life. Sentimental value my friends.

And here we are.

I know a while back a few of you wanted me to keep you in the loop of what was going on. I disappeared from here for a while, life happens ya know, but I'm back. My dad and I are taking on a challenging project, an hopefully you guys can help and support us along the way. I post frequently on another forum, so most of this is copy paste to an extent, but it all still applies. Here we go.





Starting October 5th, 2015.

She fired right up that previous Sunday afternoon. Ran strong as always. Started taking stuff apart again as well. Seat came out of it and the interior completely cleaned out.






Ew!

Seats out. Now we know what we are up against.






Dad started cutting out bad metal. He built a new back wall brace for the floor and has laid it in and started riveting it down temporarily and wants to spray down the underside with a rust neutralizer. He's been looking for the new body mount bolt nuts a waiting for new bolts to come in the mail. He wants to replace the back 2 mounts today as well. We did.

October 12th, 2015.

Progress report!

Worked all day on the truck, started around 9 and finished up around 6. We cut out a lot of the bad steal and built a new floor brace and drivers inner corner. After that we put in a piece of square tubing the length of the cab an bolted the two together. That alone stiffened up the body so much that it no longer rocks on the frame, even though we got the rear two body mounts out. We had bolts made up for those so they will go in soon after we tac weld washers to the mounts since one hole really rotted out. The floor was also now realigned in the process so the seat pan no longer rides on the frame rail! The doors now open and shut much better than before, but it still needs front pillar posts so that's another process.

We also got the bed jacked up and of the frame. All the carrier bolts were broke or cut off to make that possible. Shimming it with a bunch of 2x4s, we got it far enough away to access the back of the cab to work and paint the fresh steal before undercoating it all. The bed can now come up and off and we will do that with our engine hoist in the garage as we get ready to put the bed into storage for winter. We will also be getting aftermarket rear leaf springs custom made and arched, along with tie plates and a new plastic gas tank. All suspension bushings and springs area being replaced. Brakes even though new and electrical will be getting a complete overhaul. Now that the bed it off it will make life easier. Still a lot to do, but we've made a huge step! The goal is to have it on the road sometime next year.

This tube was pushed directly up and bolted the new steal inside by drilling holes through both.








Cutting off carrier bolts after i couldnt get them off with an impact gun





Took the gate off and lights out. Disconnected the exhaust hangers and filler neck also.





Jacked the cab up and pulled the bed back. The floor on the drivers side was so bad you had to lift it like this.





Old body mount, well part of one. Ew.






New steeeeeel! Looks great so far.





The corner work. Part of the top was bolt in and everthing under it welded for extra support. This made the biggest difference.






Seat pan is now 2" above the frame rail, were it was supposed to be.






While I was at work my dad did a little more work on the pickup. Hewentand picked up the new body mount bolts and got the new bushings in. As we found out yesterday, Fords of this era, and through 1996 (97 for 3/4 and 1 tons), are known for rotting out body mount holes too large for the bushing to seat on. Turns out most of them were rough. So the plan is this. We ordered "frame savers" from Bronco Graveyard, which are pretty much just giant washers that weld in to fill the hole. To beef it up further, he put stainless steel plates in which will go over top of the frame savers. He has them in, but will come back apart when the savers come in. He wanted to see if the plates would hold but the weight of the cab made them start to bow under load so we are doubling it.

Here's the frame saver kit we ordered. The round ones are for the cab and the hex ones are for the radiator core support which will be replaced when the new front clip goes on.





After being welded in it'll look something like this:





Here's a bottom look at the new mounts. So you can see how big the holes have gotten, you wouldn't be able to see any new steel between the bushing and mount. Its about twice the size it should be.






Now that the rear is starting to get back together, yuiu can see how far it had to be moved back up based on the body lines between the door and fenders. It went up a solid 2 inches. Keep in mind all this new steel will be painted and covered up and then evertythinf professionally undercoated the body will look untouched from the outside, in the long run. It'll be repainted.





I think that a cab swap would have been the easier option but dealing with the wiring as is not simple like GMs plug and play systems and is more difficult and time consuming than welding in new steel. Once its braced and the new outer stuff goes on you'll never know the difference between it and a stock cab,at least from the outside.

Floor pan and some other few little things came in today!






October 21st, 2015
Update time.

First issue we ran into was the back mount support cross member ended up rusting to far to mount on so we made a plate. In the process the cab was lifted about an inch and a half so we are shimming everything with hockey pucks, about 1 and a few stainless shims. Little redneck, but it does work. The cab support brace that runs parallel to the frame along the cab floor was completely shot, so we ended up building our own brace from square tubing which will be much stronger than stock. In the process, we learned where the floor should sit and it is now level. The new lower pan bolted in and everything stiffened up. It does still twiast an flex due to the rocker and floor still missing so when that goes in it will button it up. The frame saver washers welded in nicely. The new front mount on the drivers side is in but the bolt is a hair to long so we are getting new ones made. The floor is now realigned, the body almost straight again despite most of this still being mockup and bolt in for now, and now the door shuts beautifully without putting any force into it. Prior to alignment, you had to lift up and slam on the door. Much progress! Here's some pics both me and my dad took. Most of this stuff has since been fully welded, its just tacked together here.






































Quick little update video at the time.


In reply to a concern.

Rockers and cab corners are on the list to buy soon. His steel and bracing is far stronger than stock and especially aftermarket pans sine the pans are small and thin. Cab swapping would be the way to go but for whatever reason this is how he wanted to do it. The pop rivets were temporary to hold things in place. Right now everything is mostly mocking up how things are going to go in. As far as bolting and welding it's temporary but the welds always rotted out first before so how we are handling that we are unsure.

Slowly getting there. Sealing it all up is going to Be the biggest pain, but so far so good. Still have a lot to do.
















still have to seal it up, make a few more pieces and stuff, but shes ready for a rocker and cab corner.






Here's also a revised list of what's to come. Still iffy on that style EFI ough, the reviews are poor and I'm not sure it'll support our horsepower.







I talked to my dad about all the boltng and riveting and he's expecting it to rust out again someday. Said the bolting is incredibly sturdy with the brace we built and was done that way since the welds always rust first and disassembly might be a hair easier if the time comes. But hopefully with preventative maintenance that day should not come anytime soon. The door closes perfectly now, everything is realigned etc. The passenger side will be getting similar treatment, but not as extensive since its not too bad since last time was done with stainless.


And finally today's update, October 30th, 2015.

The drivers side is almost done on the floor. We double primed, rust neutralized and painted some more of the seat pan. A new corner brace was painted and put in a few days ago. The new cross member pan is now welded in an level as one piece with the frame rail with spacers. The support brace for the floor is now fully welded an will be painted soon. Next week we are ordering an upper rocker and front drivers side door post, and making a few more small pieces to seal it all up. A new cab corner may go in but the one on it is somewhat salvageable. We rust neutralized some of the frame rail tonight as well. Turns out we only need one hockey puck per side on the front and d so it is level, minus a few stainless motor spacers dads getting from work. So instead of a 2 inch lift I'll only be a 1 inch, an unintentional lift at that. To shim the last of it the front core support bolts need to be cut so we can level it with the cab, since the fender and lower part of the grille valance are noticeably separating after the lift after settling. Surprisingly the door door opens and shuts well.

Now here's the bad part. Its getting cold and we are running out of daylight to work on it. No room in the garage. So we would like to finish the drivers side before winter hits. And it'll sit outside until spring. Now the good part. Read on.

Next spring and summer will see the most work. The passengers side floor while not as bad and still has usable stainless, which by the way all the work we have done is about 3 times as thick and not flexible as the stock sheet metal, is getting cut out and redone the same way as the drivers side. The bed will be off and most likely buying new. The new front clip is going on meaning new fenders, core support, grille, the whole 9. All new bolts and nuts are going in with it. New doors will be going on. The frame is getting sandblasted and the entire underside of truck will be zbarded. The plow frame will be coming off, some pieces and holders are being made for the plow stuff under the hood. The engine will be cleaned up, all wiring fixed and then we are going through every single mechanical thing on it. We are also looking for a new vinyl floor mat and a few other things. The Holley fuel pump will also be relocated outside the frame rail and tucked away in a nice little box.






Here's some of the complete clip we got. New hood, doors, fenders, badges, core support, mirrors, glass, chrome, complete grille, interior parts, reflectors etc for $400 shipped.



















And because I miss the look of 33s.




So this were we are right right now. Big plans ahead. Eventually it'll be a weekend cruiser. Should see pavement next year.

 

That's fantastic work you're doing! But every time I see pics like those of your truck I shake my head in bewilderment over communities all across the snow belt haven't come up with another way besides salt to deal with snow and ice. Or why haven't manufacturers built vehicles that won't rust? Stanless steel frames with fiberglass and aluminum cabs & beds??? How many millions of dollars in damage is done to cars every year because of it?

 

The insides of door panels and other areas are not galvanized or protected for a reason; These trucks are built for a limited lifespan, you are supposed to buy a new truck.

I have done a couple rust buckets before. My old 80 was a rust bucket. I am wondering what you are going to do with the frame. In the picture below, you have that frame saver all welded in nicely, with new body mounts and everything. But it looks like the frame bracket is getting ready to rust off the frame. I have a feeling a lot of your crossmembers and brackets are like this like they were on my 80 frame. I ended up going to the junkyard and getting them to cut the back half of a frame off a truck and taking it home and drilling/chiseling out all the rivets on it, taking the good brackets and crossmembers off it, the then drilling/chiseling them off my frame and bolting the good ones in place. It was a lot of work but the back half frame only cost me $50.00. I also ended up using part of the junkyard frame rail to re-enforce one of the rearmost frame rail sections on my truck.

 

Franklin, the picture makes it out to be worse than it actually is. Its mostly light surface rust that just flakes off. The frame is actually in excellent shape for the most part due to oiling an epoxying it annually up until 2006. We went over the entire frame and nothing of alarming concern appeared. If it does endup breaking which I doubt, we will get another. I'm not too overly concerned with it right now. Since ty whole frame will be getng work done eventually ifit needs adressing it will get it. Knowing my dad he'd likely try and build one.

 

That's a really ambitious project, Angelo, kudos to you for taking it on.

 

Looks like a lot of the same work I did on my truck!

 

No doubt it's going to be a lot of work and we both know it. But my dad insists he's buried in it, so it's not going anywhere haha.

 

Wow, very ambitious project. Nice to see someone saving an old truck.

 

I'm enjoying the build so far, nice to see that you're saving the truck. I'm going to have to do some similar cab work next summer.

Nice to see another New York truck (I'm on the other side of Rochester, near Clyde.)

 

Thanks man! Been a lot of work butotally saveable.

It'll go a bit dormant this winter but next spring we shall be on the ball. Stay tuned man.


Today's update: waiting for the mailman to bring us a rocker and door post.

 

Dad made the new floor pan and cab support brace an rear floor brace for the passenger side of the cab on the pickup. The rocker came into today along with the door post base. We got the door off a are making a door hinge adjustment plate that's literally a piece of flat stock steel with 3 holes drilled in it which lines the door up. We pulled back the fender flare and took out a fender bolt to line up up. The frame was partially primed along wit everything else primed with special rust primer. We also ground down a couple old welds on the cab corner...still have a long way to go on that.

 

Lookin good man!

 

That it does!!! Thanks man!


Turns out it will have about a 2" body lift.

 

Your dad is not afraid of anything!

 

I've seen worse, but thank god we took care of the frame. This truck would be toast without it. Most people would any away from a project like this, damning it to a junkyard, but we ain't like most people.

We've come a long way in the last month.