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Here is my first truck. My grandfather gave it to me in stock, long bed form and my dad and I street rodded it. If anyone viewing is from the Pacific Northwest, I would like to note that Ted Dineen taught me everything on this project when I was a big mouthed high school kid. Great dude who is missed by a lot of guys in the scene out there.
Anyway, I sold it when I was broke and have always wanted another one.
The day after I dropped my kid off at college I made the trek from New Jersey to New Hampshire to pick up this project.
It was originally an Arizona truck and the nice folks I bought it from had it for 20 years but didn't get an opportunity to start on it.
I was most excited about all of the included parts that were not installed:
- TCI mustang ii front end with power steering rack
- 1989 crown Vic 302 and AOD
- 1986 Lincoln 8.8 rear with 3.27 gears
- no limit fat bar 4-link with coilovers
- 90's Ford pickup bench seat
- NOS Ford tailgate still in box and a bunch of other stuff
The drive home was dicey. There was no motor in the engine bay and the bed of the '56 had the motor, trans and rear end in it. Made the tongue weight too light on the trailer so I had to keep it under 50 so I didn't fishtail.
I'm a few weeks into the project so ill make a few catch up posts.
Starting with the motor. It had 60k miles before the crown Vic it came out of was totalled. The good is that it's a low mileage 302 and AOD that are easy to build into great runners. The bad is that they sat outside for 20 years collecting dirt, rust, and mice.
My little kids helped with the tear down and went with me to the machine shop to have the bottom end rebuilt. It was refreshed but didn't need to be bored so it was honed and decked and re assembled with new bearings and such.
I have a set of aluminum heads being built and will put in a Ford e303 cam and am deciding between carb and fuel injection.
I bribed some friends to come over on a Saturday with steaks and beers to help me remove the body.
Front clip and bed came off easy...too easy, really. The bed was held on with two loose bolts. Thank God it didnt fly off on the way home, that oukd have been a disaster.
We built a contraption to hook onto the engine hoist that let us pick up the cab by the upper door jambs. Also built a cart that uses the cab mounts to attach it.
Arizona trucks are great! Minimal rust and the bolts came undone easily.
The next weekend I soda blasted the frame and sprayed it with VHT chassis paint to keep rust away. I ended up using por15 on it later to give it a more sturdy coating.
Nice start! It looks like someone has already replaced part of the floor? You have a much better cab than I started with. Do you have a aftermarket heater? I don't remember a plate on the outside of the firewall on the right side... I found out after replacing most of my floor that my roof was really bad. It looks like you have issues with your roof also. Not to discourage you but so you can plan for it. I had the same thing happen about the bed, mine was held on with one finger tight 1/4" bolt when I trailered it home! I'll be following along. Welcome to FTE!
Nice looking cab dolly. I’m pulling my cab off this weekend.....might have to copy that!
Thank you. It works well since it can rotate at the point it mounts to the hoist and let's the cab stay balanced as you lift. I don't think the pic shows it but I attached a chain to the eye bolt and then to the hoist so it couldn't tilt too far away from me if something went wrong. Good luck pulling your cab!
Nice start! It looks like someone has already replaced part of the floor? You have a much better cab than I started with. Do you have a aftermarket heater? I don't remember a plate on the outside of the firewall on the right side... I found out after replacing most of my floor that my roof was really bad. It looks like you have issues with your roof also. Not to discourage you but so you can plan for it. I had the same thing happen about the bed, mine was held on with one finger tight 1/4" bolt when I trailered it home! I'll be following along. Welcome to FTE!
Thanks. The floors didn't have any repair work, I had just sanded down and repainted parts of it to see what rust was lurking. They are in pretty good shape, will need a couple of patches.
I don't know if the heater is original. It says Red Head on the front...see pic.
The roof is a concern, I have done some sanding since those pictures and have run into some pinholes. Haven't decided how to approach it yet.
Heater box Floor under fuel tank Floor rust left side Pin holes in cab roof
My gauge cluster was broken and rusty so I grabbed a used one off of eBay. Dismantled it to clean and paint everything. I used a metallic grey paint for the bezel and florescent orange on the dials. Simple green, glass cleaner, and a razor blade were the tools for the clean up.
I spent less than $100 in total including purchase price on eBay.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
