This build technically started back in February, but haven't found the time to sit and write it out, the flu has knocked me out for a couple of days now so I figured this is a good of time as any.

So first a little backstory, it's 1998 and young Boltgun is lounging his summer away as usual at the family farm. My grandmother comes to me one day and say "you'll get your license soon, why don't you get grandpa's old truck roadworthy again and drive that?"
I was ecstatic, grandpa passed away in 1990 and the truck had been regulated to strictly farm work since then, it ran and was tagged, but that was about it. The lack of power steering meant grandma didn't like to drive it, and everyone else had their own trucks to use.
Over the next couple of years I worked on it intermittently, a tune up, new clutch, brakes, etc.. and drove it for a few years in high school, until one day it started loosing oil pressure and was parked. Years passed and life always seemed to get in the way anytime I thought about going and messing with it.

Originally the plan was a simple engine rebuild and get it back to driving status, my loving wife however said "If your going to do this, your not going to half-a@$ it, restore it right". Fair enough.

So this is what we are starting with, a 1979 F100 Ranger, 302, 3 speed, 2wd longbed, no power anything.

 

So this has been its home for a few years now, tucked away in the weeds at my mothers house, aired the tires up, drug it out and started scrubbing to see what we were working with.

 

The front end damage was actually two-fold, a buddy ran it into a tree years ago, and I subsequently backed into it years later with another truck in the same spot (more on this later).

The motor had been robbed of some ancillary parts for other projects over time, but the interior was relatively clean.











No mice in the glove box either! Probably because a 5 foot black snake had been living in there.

 

Looks like a great start. Are you planning on power steering and brakes? I'm liking the door panels and the color combination of the truck can't wait to see the project

 

Thanks!
Right now it's going back 100% stock, once my girls get old enough to reach the pedals I may add some power options. A 5 speed and some decent gears would be a welcome addition, just don't know if I want to change it up that much yet.

 

After pulling it out and going through the gears, well..I didn't have any. Someone (probably me) had reefed on the shifter too hard and broken the shift tube. This led to a complete steering column rebuild.





Broken tube



New shift tube




The cause of the damage, these got cleaned up and reinstalled with new bushings.







New lower column bearing, plug welded in place. Should make future replacement much easier.




And finally, a NOS horn pad with the correct silver trim.


Everything else got new bearings, a new TSS, paint etc...

 

Good looking start!

Following as we have the same truck with a few years difference!

 

Started pulling the front end off for engine removal, and found a little more than what I was looking for.




Notice the cowl corner?






Umm yea, that's not supposed to look like that...

After poking around a bit I noticed a few more clues, no seam sealer between the inner and outer fender, and an extra washer on the passenger side core support mount. Grandpa bought the truck used in 1982, I'm guessing it was wrecked by the P/O and whoever "fixed" it decided that the cowl would never be seen and just left it. The good news is I have a few leads on parts trucks that I can cut up.

 

Discovering the cowl damage was somewhat disheartening, but we persevered and pulled the motor/trans without too many hiccups.




Ended up using a boom pole attached to the "little-tractor-that-tried" to the left of the truck here to get the engine and trans out. It worked, kinda. A few hundred lbs of weights on the front would have made things smoother. When it goes back together I'll probably borrows a neighbors bigger tractor with a FEL.

 

302 rebuild time!
One of the nice things about living in the heart of NASCAR county is that there is no shortage of great fabricators and engine builders. Although this is plain vanilla rebuild, my engine guy kept me in the loop for the whole process and answered every question honestly. He's a one-man show, but the quality of his work speaks volumes.








Cleaned up at .030, mains line honed, decked .004

 

The autopsy showed nothing to wierd, except that the cam bearings were basically de-laminating, which caused the drop in oil pressure. Cylinders cleaned up at .030, and the whole thing got put back together with new pistons, an r/v cam and lifters, valves, pushrods springs and retainers.

While he had the motor I set about rebuilding the distributor, cleaning/painting the manifolds and all the other small odds and ends. The 2150 that was on it originally was lost to time at some point so a brand new Holley 500 took its place. The original crank pulley is somewhere with it, so a set of billet pulleys were ordered from CVF Racing.

 

Wow! that looks incredible! Do I want to know how much the motor rebuild cost?

 

Thanks! Should be a good runner I hope.
As far as cost, complete long block rebuild was right at $3000. Not cheap, but money well spent in the long run.

 

I sure wish we lived closer I have a donor cab I would give you the cowl pieces. At least by the pic it looks like a easy fix.

 

Thanks, I've got access to a couple of parts trucks, finding the time to go cut them up is the problem right now. And yea, it conveniently broke most of the spot welds, so cleaning it up and welding in a new panel shouldn't be too big of a job.