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Hi all. I have been meaning to post up for a while so here we go. I bought this package deal about a year ago. A registered as 51 F1 with no motor/trans and a rotted out but driving 66 F100 with a 1980 302/C6 and 9" diff. The 51 has all the signs of a 52 like the flathead motor mounts, hood spears and front upper grill and hood emblems. Anyways I pulled the motor/trans from the 66 and swapped rearends so it would be a roller, then I sold the 66 and recouped over half my money back so I am not into this 51 for very much "yet". More to come.
So while the block was at the machine shop I stripped the truck down to the frame. Cleaned up the frame and painted it. Replaced all the bushings and pins in the suspension and removed a few leaves from the spring packs. Once it was finished I mocked up the motor placement with a spare block and transmission I had. I received the block back and finished rebuilding it and the C6. Placed them in the frame and put the cab on to check my clearances. All good.
I removed the cab and started on it. Found a few surprises but nothing that can't be fixed. I replaced the front floors and cab supports, rockers, lower cowls and rear cab corners. Made my own lower toe kick panels. Door fitment was continually checked during the process.
Cab was then stripped and a lot of hammer and dolly work was done. Now it is in epoxy primer. This is not going to be a show truck. I have had show vehicles before. This is just going to be a driver. Once the primer was cured I put it back on the frame and started test fitting pieces to make sure it all still lined up and I wanted to check my stance. This is how it sits today. The cam has been broken in while sitting in the frame and I have since replaced the intake and carb to Edelbrock components that match the cam. As you can see I have a lot of work to do on the fenders. One may not be saved.The box will need a ton of work also and I will need to find some running boards. That's it for now. Cheers.
Looking awesome so far. I like your approach of test fitment and re-test. I made the mistake of buying my doors after doing the cab work and fitment is a bear.
Excellent and methodical work. You went at each task until completed and didn't get waylaid with peripheral issues. Good job, you will be driving soon!
I was able to get a few more things in epoxy primer. Lots of hammer and dolly work to limit the amount of filler. Looks like the lower fenders had a pretty rough life. One had a ton of filler on it so much so that it weighs half of what it did before. I spent probably 4 hours just on this one lower and it is still gonna need a slight amount of filler.
The weather was a little cooler today so I was able to push it out of the shop and blow off all the dust and wash out my shop. I have been working on the doors. At some point there had been 2 different types of mirrors on it so I welded up the holes and have been trying to get it as close as I can so I can limit the amount of filler used. The door gaps have turned out pretty good. The board is there to help get in and also I kept smashing my shins on the support arms.
Like every one else I have been busy with life but have been able to sneak into the shop every now and then. I have been working on the doors removing rust. The doors were not that bad. Here are a couple pics of the patches I had to do on the inner bottoms of both doors.
I did this next patch in 2 pieces. The inner brace was also repaired.
The lower portion of the door skin was also replaced but I do not have any pictures of that. While I was waiting for spot weld to cool I was also working on getting the truck to move on its own. I had a driveshaft made up, installed the Lokar shifter and throttle. I have just temporarily wired it so it will run and took it for a quick drive around my neighborhood like this. It ran great.
