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Well we have finally jumped into the deep end and decided to do some full tilt restorations on Ford stuff. I have been doing Porsche 911 resto mods the past few years and my partner has been building race cars the past few years. We figured what the heck lets try it out, so we went to Oregon and bought this 1970 F250 from the original owners son. It only has 40K miles on it but unfortunately water got into one cylinder and it was frozen when we bought it, so we were not able to drive it. We got it home and gave it a good look over and could not decide what to do with it, so we started buffing the paint just to see what it would look like, and it looked amazing! We thought maybe we will keep the original paint and do a full mechanical resto. After a couple days talking and thinking we decided to rebuild it mainly back to stock with a few tweaks.
First we started disassembly of the truck and categorizing all the parts, not throwing away anything yet unless it was actually falling apart in our hands. It did not take long to get it down to its bare bones.
once we got it completely disassembled and clean enough to go to sandblast the frame went out for sandblast and powdercoat. Since the truck was not running we had no idea on what condition the driveline was in so the transmission and transfer case went for full rebuild. The engine we knew was frozen so that went to the machine shop for all machine work and check specs on it.
As we get into it more I will be posting more pictures and updates. We want to build some dollies so we can wheel around the cab and bed and also build something so we can remove the cab and bed from the dollies without damaging any of the freshly painted areas as well as not damaging the pieces themselves, see ya soon!!
Thank you for all the compliments! The color is Candyapple Red per the Marti Report, that is one area that we may deviate and do a two tone maybe Shenandoah Green over Wimbledon White. Also found a Dana 44 disc brake front axle with a matching Dana 60 rear, that will be going in along with AC and power steering.
Just got the truck back from the sandblaster, has a bit of rust in the passenger floor in the area you would rest your feet, other than that one area we are rust free!
Got the frame back from powder coat last week and wanted to assemble the suspension but we were afraid of the factory bolts and nuts tearing into the powder coat as they did not have washers from the factory. So we got some washers and are having them clear cadmium plated to match all of the other hardware going on the truck. No one seems to sell clear cad plated stuff, it is holding us up a bit not to mention we had just received a big batch of hardware so we have a bit of a wait.
I have a question? Have you figured out how to ground all the lights and such? I had my frame power coated and when I tested it was not conductive. I have put the build on the back burner due to life but I still am trying to come up with ways to wire it. Thought about using a individual ground to the rear and using a junction box for all the grounds on the rear and on the front another junction box. Any ideas? Always looking for better options. Nice looking truck to start with.
What year is your new rear D60? If it is 77.5 or later, you will have to move the the spring pads inward as 1977.5-1979's had 37 1/2" wide rear frames, whereas highboys had 33 1/2" wide frames.
I have a question? Have you figured out how to ground all the lights and such? I had my frame power coated and when I tested it was not conductive.
Powder is just like liquid paint. It's not conductive on the surface, but the metal underneath is still metal and conducts very well.
You just have to get to it. Either drill a clean hole, tap a clean thread, or just make sure to grind the coating off at each grounding point. Or all of the above... Then paint over it once finished to keep the area underneath from rusting.
Basically just like you'd do with a bare or painted frame.
And the frame isn't the main grounding point on most trucks anyway. I still like to ground them, and things like tail lights and fuel senders can often be grounded to the frame, but it's mostly for RFI reduction and convenience. Most grounds are still run to the body.
It's a good idea to use jumpers between the body and frame, and the bed and frame, but the most benefit comes from grounding the body parts.
Making sure the battery is grounded directly to a body panel nearby, then a ground wire/strap between the engine and firewall, and even one to the core support if you suspect rust at the junctions. Even spot welds will eventually not be enough for the headlights and turn signals if you add in 50 years or rust, paint, flex and general wear and tear and deterioration.
There's nothing wrong with your idea of the junction box. It's just not necessary because you're mainly going to use the body for grounding, and the frame is still plenty conductive underneath.
02-11-2020, 04:01 AM
