I got this truck on 9/2/2016. Been looking for one for a while. I have had to jump thru hoops. The previous owner died and his wife could not find the title. She had to file for a lost title. Her son was reluctant to part with it since it was his dads truck. It was parked due to high gas prices. These trucks do get thirsty as it has a 429 cubic inch C6 automatic transmission. I am going to try as best as possible to get the mileage up.


A packrat has gotten under the hood and from what I can see there is no damage. I will pull the motor and transmission out and do all the seals and other things that I am sure to find.


I am hoping the bench seat is comfortable and I want cloth seats and would like to find original material. I will swap in buckets if I have to but really don't want to. I will be adding carpet. I do not want rubber floor mat. This has factory air and cruise control. In the 70s that was an option at the time. Now even the base model trucks have ac and cruise that we take for granted. I will add trailer brakes and want to look into adding air bags to level the load when pulling things.


I paid $1100 for it. My dad thought is was a little high but finding a two wheel drive in the color and options I wanted would cost quite a bit more just to find the parts. I wanted 2 wheel drive and passed on some 4 wheel drive. It does have the typical rust in the rear wheel wells so that was to be expected. Everything looks to be in great shape unless Mr. Mouse did some damage under the hood. I will start this build by pulling the bed and cleaning the fuel tanks and while those are soaking, I will pull the spark plugs and get the cylinders soaking in Marvel Mystery Oil. This truck as sat for 15 years and there is a good chance of the rings rusted to the walls. The owners son wanted to know if I wanted the camper shell on it. I was going to scrap it out and he says he would trade me this shell for a fiber glass shell which I do like. 1970 can have their shell back. For a 5th wheel camper, I am hoping to find an paint a camper era specific and to match the truck. Truck will be getting a shade darker green when completed and may a tan center stripe.


Later on I might buy this truck for parts. It has all the options mine has. It is rusted beyond economical repair but with the tanks, cruise, *****, some chrome mine does not have, and other parts, a parts truck will pay for itself many times over, plus it is 4 wheel drive and I can part out the rest of the truck of what I don't need.. 76 have ugly gas caps on the drivers side of the bed and newer trucks have gas doors which is one thing I will have put on my truck. I will have to send it out to the body shop to replace wheel arches and gas doors but will do the rest myself. This truck has trim on the tail lights and tailgate and buying pieces one at a time can add up quickly.

 

I have done frame off restores in the past and will do the same on this truck. It will probably be a two year project. I will have to send it to a body shop to get the rear wheel arches replaced but will be doing the rest of the work myself. It is currently still at the owners house but am hoping to get home later on this week.

 

Well, at least it looks like the mice kept the engine all snug and warm .
Looks like you have a good start and a solid plan.
For the original upholstery material check with these people:
Largest Selection of Cloth, Vinyl & Leather Automobile Upholstery - SMS Auto Fabrics
Be sure to keep us updated on your progress.

 

Thanks Mike...I like to keep track of my builds and one day when they do get done it is a nice trip down memory lane and what all was involved to get it completed. I appreciate the link to the material. I had heard there was a vendor in the northwest, just was not sure of the name.

 

From what I have been reading, it seems the Auxillary tank is no longer available and can be hard to find. I have cleaned many fuel tanks. From my experience on other tanks what most people think is rust on the inside of the tank is actually a chemical build up from all the additives from the gas companies.


I pull my fuel tanks and fill them with white vinegar and let them soak for up to a week or so and then flush them out real well. Normally what looked like rust in the tank, when the vinegar is finished, will be nice clean metal with no pitting from rust. I have seen some bad tanks and vinegar made them look like new. Rust on a tank is a different issue where mud has gotten on top of a tank and rotted thru. To check for actual rust, I poke on the tank with a screw driver to see it is rust.


When done with cleaning a tank, I seal it with Red-Kote and it will seal up some pin holes if there are any.





Link to slotted wheels http://www.akhwheels.com/pages/showWheel.php?pk=987

 

Not sure why the picture is messed up at the bottom. If it does not clear up, I will get a better picture later. It is showing good in my Photobucket account.

http://www.martiauto.com/

 

It's a little fuzzy, but readable.

 

Thanks Mike... Hope it will help someone that might need to use this for a tank in the future. I have used it many times and it works great.

Rustoleum Industrial Aluminum spray paint

Bezel Removal... https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post14880899

 

I finally got this truck home, but it was the trip from Hades. Got two flat tires on the trailer. One blew out and the spare was dry rotted. Luckily we were able to find a shop that had two 15 inch trailer tires. What should of been a 2 hour round trip took us 5 hours total and a lot of driving since we were out in the middle of nowhere.


What is left of the two tires. The bumper guards will not be going back on. I am sure it was an expensive option back when it was new.


Yeah!!! first hack job I have found while cleaning the engine bay. Instead of getting the correct bolt to hold the air cleaner cover on, they used a long screw. Not the correct way to do it. For the most part this truck does not look like it has been butchered up.


To show some of the cleaning I got done and one reason I like to work on Ford and Dodge is the distributor is up front and easy to get to. Two reasons I dont care to work on a Chevy is the distributor is in the rear and the exhaust is a pain to work on and getting to the spark plugs in some cases. This being a field truck, there was plenty of rat droppings in the engine bay. Probably 5 pounds worth. It will be sanitary when I get it completed. I have seen cars in the bone yard that were probably bigger health hazards from humans and one reason when I get a used car I clean it myself.

 

Bumper guards same: 1964/77 F100/350 & 1978 F100/350 before serial number AG0,001.

The chrome front bumper with the horizontal vinyl bumper pads was standard equipment on 1973/77 Ranger XLT's.

Your Super Cab has the desirable Super Cooling radiator.

It uses a different radiator support than the standard/xtra cooling and A/C radiators, as the Super Cooling support has a larger opening radius.

 

So the long journey begins......it may take more than 2 years to complete though....most go over their intended finish time.


I sure have.....been almost 6 years and I still aint done yet....

 

Thanks NumberDummy...I was not aware of the differences of these trucks. You are correct, this truck has a huge size radiator. I looked at it and it seems to be in great condition. I am going to send it to my local radiator shop to have it cleaned, tested, and any repairs it may need. I sure the replacement cost for this radiator could be an eye opening experience. It should do the job of cooling.

Hello kwe45919...It generally takes me about 2 years to get one completed. I really want this truck to look as new as possible and rock solid when I get it completed. I was just recently looking at what all I need to do to it to get it to where I want it and it is a biggg job ahead of me. I plan on going thru every system and sure there are going to be some surprises waiting for me that I am not aware of yet and could be a set back.

M50D 94 F150

Green carpet http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-79-Ford...9XRXHL&vxp=mtr

 

Like NumberDummy mentioned, this thing has a huge radiator. I checked as best as I can and think my local radiator shop is going to be able to clean and do any repairs it may need. I have a trash can half full of the rats nest and still have not got all of the mess out. I have nesting material down on the frame rail, and still behind the motor to remove. I was able to get the Fan Shroud cleaned up from the rats mess.

I expected to replace the Radiator cap and Fan Clutch just due to the age and the Fan Clutch looked like it was about ready to fall a part. I will go thru the rest of the cooling system soon and get the heater core and block. Eventually I will be going thru the fuel system, brake system, and other systems.

My shop is not as big as I would like to get the whole truck inside so am trying to get different parts of the truck in the shop before the cold weather sets in. I am hoping to take some vacation time in soon for some winter projects.

So far everything is about what I expected and really no damage from the rat. These few parts are a start.


You see on tv where people bag and tag all of their bolts. I have tried that in the past and when trying to put it back together, you can have several bags for the same piece of the truck. Now I put the nuts and bolts in the part they came from. Well worth it when reassembling.


L&L catalogs. Dennis Carpenter, National Parts Depot, Jeffs Bronco Graveyard, LMC. ClassicAutoParts.com, Truck Shop Orange Ca wwwTruckandCarShop.com

Tabco sheet metal..... https://tabcoparts.com/pickup-trucks...1978-1979.html

 

So do you put the Red kote inside the tank?

 

Hello good to doo...You coat the inside of the tank with it. It is like pouring pancake syrup in it as it is thick. I have not done a Ford truck tank yet and not sure how well you can see inside the tank to make sure you get complete coverage. I have done several other tanks.

It says you can just coat over the build up in the tank and seal it away from the fuel. In some cases, when you see a tank it will look like rust. What it actually is, is a build of the fuel additives. It can get up to 1/4 inch deep and it will have veins that look like the veins in a tree leaf.

The sides of the tank will have flakes like fish scale on the sides. Every tank I have ever cleaned has always come out looking like new steel when using white vinegar. There are other products that you can use to clean tanks but I just use vinegar.

It can take a while to clean the tank which is why on a project it is usually one of the first things I do. When I get the tank cleaned, I then let it dry, usually with a hair dryer or a low heat gun and you will have red dust left in the tank. You can try to blow the dust out but it is hard to get all of the dust out. I learned to use a vacuum cleaner to get the dust out. The dust is going to be like baking flour.

Red Kote says it can seal up pin holes. I have not cleaned a tank yet that had pin holes in it. I have scrapped some tanks from mud on top of the tank and it rusted big holes thru the top. Before cleaning a tank, I take a screw driver and tap around the tank and see if it will push thru. A tank should be able to take a fair amount of pressure with out the screw driver breaking thru. I really like the Red Kote. I have two tanks and not sure the condition of them. If I could afford new tanks, I would go that route but some tanks may not be available.

I get my Red Kote at Oriellys and sure other part stores can order it. Usually the stores will not have it in the customer area but have a can in the back area. You will need to ask a sales clerk if they have it in stock or they can order it in usually over night.