I bought a round bumper from a '59 but I didn't get the brackets. Searched all over and couldn't find a set and I needed them in a hurry. A member of the Facebook Guys and Gals Truck Club (Posted the link in an earlier post) took some off of a project truck and drove 2 hours to loan them to me. I used them as a template and made my own. Only difference is his bottom bracket is curved but would fit perfect on the '58 if it was flat so I made flat ones.

After I had the bumper mounted for the weighing/DMV run, I decided I didn't like the gap between the bumper and grill so I cut 2" off the front frame ears to suck it up tighter. The driver's side of the bumper is a little pushed in. I will pull it out eventually (chain to a pole trick...) Here are some pictures.


My templates.



One side done. I welded them vs trying to bend them.



Notched so the carraige bolts would sit flush on the bumper.



Full set.



On the bumper.



Bumper ready to go on the truck.



Frame cut back and new holes drilled.



Nice and tight.

 

Nicely done.

 

I second that!
The bumper brackets came out nice...

when I got my 60' it had what I later figured out to be impacts on several corners, and there wasn't any top bumper brackets. Actually these are the first I have seen, always learning.

Good looking truck, keep up the good work.

 

I see I left a few pictures out so I will include them in this post. Hopefully in a few posts we will be caught up.



So during the build, I had to transfer all the interior from the original cab to the replacement cab.





I intend on putting in an aftermarket AC/heater but for now, I will clean this up and use it.



The mirror has a really cool rust patina. Scrubbed it with CLR to curb the rust and I think it will stay like this.




Cleaned up the floor and sprayed it with rust killer.




Plan for the steps is to cut out the floor leaving a 1' lip. I should have enough room to lay a piece of tread plate (diamond plate) in there.



I intend to install an aftermarket AC/heater before next summer but until then I will clean this up and reuse it.



Seat needs help.

For now, I installed the bench seat from the '76 donor truck. A little wide but works. Ordered some retro seat-belts at Summit.




Ruby painted the floor with POR 15.




Turned out good.



Bought this HVAC insulation at Home Depot and glued it down to the floor and back wall.



Going to have an upholstery shop make a carpet and will also insulate the firewall. Too much work at this point to install the 1 piece ABS covers so I will use Dyna-mat. Picket up a '59 seat for 75 bucks.

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Next I tackled the transmission cover. It was rusted out where the gas pedal mounts. Used some scrap pieces of plate that I had. Went pretty easy though the new gas pedal from Dennis Carpenter had the mounting studs reversed. After the repair was done, I painted it with POR 15, and then undercoated and flat blacked the bottom. I covered the top with the HVAC insulation, bolted on the gas pedal and mounted it in the cab.


The trans cover is rusted out below the gas pedal and I had to open up the hole to get the '76 T18 to fit. It is a little warped also and the holes don't all line up correctly.



Instead of bending sheetmetal, I decided to use some 1/8" scrap I had left over. Cut 4 pieces to fit.



First piece. Decided to cut each piece out as I went so I could make sure and keep the edge as close to stock as possible.



Second piece. Marked the gas pedal holes on the new piece before cutting out the bad metal.



All four pieces in and welded.




Ooops... This was from Dennis Carpenter.



Weld up to old holes and drill new.



Gas pedal mounted.



Set it in place and now it is not warped and all the holes line up. Now to fix the center hole. Marked it out.



Using an old inner door panel that had been cut out for a speaker. Original plan was to massage it onto the bottom and tack it, scribe the current hole, then cut it out, weld it in, and cut out the new hole. Once I had it in place, decided to just weld it up and cut the new hole. Everything will be sealed and covered anyway.



Massaged and tacked in place. Bottom.



Top.


New hole. Top view.



Bottom view.



Perfect fit.



Painted top and bottom with POR 15.




Gave the bottom 3 coats of rubberized undercoating then some plat black paint.



Covered the top with the same HVAC insulation I used on the floor.



Used 2 layer of butyl tape along the bottom edge.



In and taped up. Ready for carpet.

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Went to a local car show about 3 miles from my house. Third year for the show but my first time there. Ended up next to a '60's F100. Turned out to be my daughter's ex (actually first) boyfriend. Good thing she didn't come with.






About 175 cars and trucks. Small town which is pretty cool. Truck got a lot of attention.





A guy came up and asked a few questions about the truck then gave me his business card and told me to call him if I ever need a tow. Not sure how to take that......

 

Again, this post is out of order. Should be before the other post..... Too many pics to keep straight...

Anyway so this summer, every third Thursday, my band played in downtown Woodland for a car show. What better way to get the trailer with the band equipment there than to haul it with then truck. Decided to build a bumper hitch using the existing hole but beefing it up a little. There is already a support that runs along the inside of the bumper. I think originally there was just a 90 degree bracket bolted to the bumper. I decided to use a 90 degree bracket but also install a piece of thick plate under the bracket and then back to the first crossmember. Bolted and welded and sturdy. Not too many pictures but if someone want a better shot of the underneath, I'll take a few.



Looks to be a 90 degree bracket installed here. There were no marks on the bottom so it appears the bumper brackets were doing all the pulling. There is a 1/2" piece of plate that runs across the inside of the bumper to help strengthen it.



Looks old and homemade. Perfect....



Pumped up the airshocks an it pulled this trailer with equipment great.

 

My hood would not close tight and it turned out the latch hole was elongated. A buddy had a spare good latch but when we went to change it, we discovered the bolts were all rusted. I soaked then and used heat but only 1 came out. The other broke off. Tried to use an easy out but he rear nuts broke loose and just spun. Ended up cutting out the sheetmetal and drilling the pop welds to get access. Decided to us a piece of 1/8 steel with nuts welded on the back and access holes to get to the hood emblem. Sprayed the rust in the hole and on the bracket with rust killer and then painted it with Rust Reformer. Welded it in and then cleaned up the rust along the front edge of the hood and painted it with Rust Reformer. Then I painted it with red primer. Turned out good and the hood shuts tight now with no more rattling.

3 of the 4 bolts broke off. Trying an easy out just broke the nuts loose.


Cut out the sheet metal to get access.



Inner bracket has service rust but is still solid. Popped out the existing pressed in nuts to make room for the new ones.



Used a piece of 1/8th plate, cut it to size, welded nuts on the back for the latch to bolt too, cut big holes to access the hood emblem, and drilled some spot weld holes to weld it to the inner bracket as well as along the perimeter.




Tacked in place.

Welded up and painted.

 

With the axle over springs front and rear, I had to take out the stock bump stops. The front has about 3" of travel and bottoms out on big bumps at speed. Decided to use energy absorbing bump stop bought from Summit. I had to trim them down a little but they work great. I purposely bottoms out the front and you can hardly tell. I need to make some brackets for the back. I don't want then in the c-notch. So far with the airshocks, it hasn't bottomed out even with the trailer.

 

So my plan for the rusted out bottoms on the doors was to save the skins and replace the inner bottoms from a set of donor door I bought. In the mean time, I bought a set of doors in great condition. Everything had been stripped off and other than the wrong color of green, they have great patina. I decided to go ahead and rebuild the doors using the guts and hardware from the originals and donor doors as well as a new felt kit. I ended up buying a kit on eBay. Saved $50 but had nothing but trouble. The clips holding the felt along the door channel were not secured very well and the tab that slides into the bottom channel piece was mounted in the wrong place. Had to drill out the rivets, move them, and re-rivet them in place. Also had to rivet the clips in place on the felt. Next build I will pay the money for a known good kit from Dennis Carpenter.

I previously bought door seals from LMC. I am pleased with them. Once I had the doors together and new glass, I hung and adjusted them. Took a while but I am happy. I am going to try and match the patina with rattle can and sand paper. I may end up going back to plan A with the other 2 seta of doors. Would need new seals but all the rest would transfer over. I took a lot of pictures but now I can't find them. If I find them, I will edit this post and add them. Here is what I have.


Picked up a nice set of doors from a buddy. Got a really nice seat too for cheap.



New felt kit required riveting the old hardware from the center divider to it. This went smooth.



The channel felt was another issue as I stated above. Took a bunch of pictures to send to the eBay vendor (who snubbed me...) but I can't fin them now.



This is how far the tab had to be moved.



Once all was fixed and in place, I installed the new glass. Had pieces cut at a local glass shop and I installed them.



Prior to installing the new door seals, I cleaned up the door and primered it.




Once the seals were on and dry, I hung the doors. Takes a little time but sure looks sweet when it is right.






So I still have the original doors with matching patina. I may tackle them as a winter project. That's my next project behind the doors....

 

So I should be caught up with this post. My intention is to install an aftermarket AC/heater but for now, I decided to clean up the Magic Air and use it. When I put power to the fan, it spun on both speeds but sounded like something was rubbing on it. I took it apart to bead blast it and check it all out. When I opened it up, a 1965 quarter fell out. Lucky sign as I was born in 1965. The heater core looks great. No signs of any leaking and water flows through it easily. Seems to hold air pressure too. Gonna go ahead and run it and if it leaks, I'll fix it. The fan had a pen and a pencil lodged against it. Once I pulled them out, it spins free. I do need to find either a bottom lever for the control panel or another Magic Air control panel. I also need the long cable that runs to the heater valve in the engine compartment. That valve need to be swapped also.

Cleaned up nice. I ordered some Thermo-tec acoustic/heat barrier self adhesive for the firewall. Gonna use 2 layers. Once that is on, I'll install the heater. I'll try to keep the work current from here on.


Dirty but all there.



1965 quarter fell out when I opened it up.



Back when heater cores were solid.





Found the noise in the fan.



Bead blasted to metal, painted with Rust Reformer and then flat black.



Looks good.




Missing a lever and one cable is broken.



Leaky. Have a replacement lined up.

 

I have been looking all over for that quarter.....

 

Great info, love the trailer. It seems like something that should be simple is not on these almost old trucks, like the hood. Should have been maybe 20 min job turned into a couple hours I bet, but that's the way she goes when you decide to own a 60 or almost 60 year old truck.

Your new doors look great and the window part is always crappy from my experience even when all felts or rubber has been replaced, I will probably do a 1 piece window to see if I can keep it simple and lessen the wind noise when I do mine.

I like your new doors but I agree definitely try and repair the other set over winter if you can just because it's easier to keep the paint as close to matching then try to patina the new doors to match.

Truck looks amazing.

D

 

holy thread revival!

Hello I am in the process of getting my 1957 f100 to my new house and I found your thread last night. I wanted to let you know i plan on copying your suspension setup to get that ride height. I have a solid base idea now thanks to your thorough explanation and pictures of your beautiful truck.

I’ll start a new thread and make sure to reference your work

My dad’s 1957 f100 I bought from him to complete his project. He bought it from my Tio in Baja on a trip when I was a kid and it sat pretty much for the last 20 years.

 

thank you and if you have any questions, you can contact me through my profile. Mine was a trial and error and I had no idea how the final stance would be but I have to say I lucked out and am very happy!!