I picked up this 77 Supercab a couple years ago with the intention of just driving it, but... I can never leave well enough alone. I found this beauty (by mistake) in AZ and had it shipped to VA. I was actually looking for an 87, but the owner "typo'd" one spot in his ad and wrote 1987 instead of 1977 which caused it to come up in my search (Fate ??). The only rust was over the rear wheels and the bottom of the cab corners (typical spots). It's a Trailer Special and had the 460/C6 combo which I drove and enjoyed for a little over a year. I wasn't really looking to make a project out of it, but a very nice 2015 F350 crew cab 6.2L 4x4 found me. This truck had been hit on the driver side, denting in the rear door/cab side and folding the bed side up till it wrapped around the frame. Looked like a small car T-boned it and went under the truck. The insurance company "totalled" the truck and it was just too nice not to use. I'm actually a good ways into the project and figured I start a build thread about it. I tried to start one on a Facebook group, but that platform doesn't seem to have a feature for "build threads" (could just be my inept technical skills). Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures throughout the build process, but I'll post what I have. Here she is when I received her.

 

The bottom of the cab tells the story of the overall condition of the truck. Aside from the light rust color where the frame ran under the cab, the rest is still the original paint. The bottom of the cab and bed were sandblasted, covered in epoxy primer and top coated with Raptor Liner DIY bed liner. Found the "printed labeling" from the manufacture of the steel Ford used.

 

Made sense to body work the roof while it's standing up in front of me and worked the lower cab too while it's easily elevated to a comfortable working height,

 

I mentioned I was originally looking for an 87 truck and "accidently" ended up with my 77 (unavoidable) and the reason for that is I'm rebuilding an 87 for a customer and needed some clean, rust free parts (hence the reason I was looking in AZ). I ended up finding a 90 F250 locally (how ironic) for the customer, which had an extremely clean interior, bucket seats with center console. There's a method to this madness that will be revealed later, but these seats and consoles are actually "needed" for my build.

 

At this point I've only done body work which means I can still abandon the idea of putting this body onto the 2015 frame and "turn back"! However, the first rule in hand to hand combat is "always forward, never back". But that doesn't mean proceed without caution. I looked around locally and found a rusted out 77 Supercab and bought it for use as a "mock up" tool. I figured if I can't make the 77 fit the way I would want, I'd rather figure that out with a worthless body than an extremely clean one. In the picture the green body looks good, but trust me, underneath is a disaster. Ignore the bed, it's from another truck and was a temporary loan. I made swiss cheese out of the green truck's firewall as I "moved" holes around to get best fitment and alignment of all components. I used it's doors for fabricating brackets to install the 2015 window regulators.

 

Welcome to FTE!

Looks great! Can't wait to see more.

 

These pictures show how the Raptor liner turned out on the bottom of the cab. They also show the "light" firewall mods needed to allow the cab to fit around the engine. Way easier than fitting it up to a diesel. Just needed to make two simple "indents" for the heads/valve covers to sit back into. I also re-configured The area for the brake booster and steering column. The mods look flawlessly done because I practiced it several (many) times on the green cab. Too bad I don't have pictures of the butchery that lead up to this.

 

Here's a preview into where I'm going with the dash. The goal is to look as original as possible, but the 2015's gauge cluster is an integral part of the "computer system" so it needs to be part of the project. I'm working with a 3D design and printing company to come up with a surround that (hopefully) blends the cluster into the dash. Thoughts?

 

Very cool, definitely following along. I like where you're going with the gauge cluster. Will the final piece be 3D printed, or only for determining the design?

 

Had to go back in the archives to a project I did several years ago so I can explain the brake pedal mod. These pictures are from putting a 78 body onto an 05 donor. I did the same modification with the 15 brake pedal for this project so these pictures explain it well. I like to keep all of Ford's engineering in these projects, especially when it comes to the brakes: Pedal geometry, booster, master cylinder, etc. I "merge" the donor truck pedal assembly into the 77 assembly. This allows the use of the correct brake pedal and still allows the dash support to attach and gives the needed attaching area for the steering column.,

 

While on the topic of the brakes, here's one additional mod that needed to be done. The anti-lock brake controller was mounted directly on top of the spring tower and this interfered with the 77's inner fender. I want to keep the overall look of the truck as much as possible, so the controller had to be moved rearward about 10 inches and down roughly 2 inches. This meant new brake lines needed to be made coming from the controller out to their original connection points. Great thing too is the plastic inner liner still works. Just had to trim the back corner to fit around the controller.

 

Pictures can only explain things to a point and then it's time to make a video. This video explains (most) everything done to allow the body to fit the frame.

 

There's no easy way to explain what was done to the 2015 harness to make it look like it belongs in a 1977 truck, so I won't try. I've done many "re-wire" jobs in the past but this was by far the most involved. There isn't a single strand of wire from the 77 truck left in the project. In these pictures I used the scraps of an old cab to finalize the wiring and other components on both sides of the firewall. I modified the 2015 steering column to fit the cab and also modified the bracket for the windshield wiper motor to accept the 2015 motor. I went with a Vintage Air HVAC system for inside the cab.

 

Days and days of Dynamat. It's one of those tasks I find tedious and takes me forever to do.

 

The final piece will be basically what's shown in the picture. The idea is to 3D print an insert that I can put into any dash bezel by cutting out the two dividers. I worked with the designer on a couple iterations, and he sent several pics from his software, as we made changes. After several "back and forths" I gave him the thumbs up to print this one. I'm not completely happy with the arches over the upper gauges and I think I'd like to change the upper curve around the tach and speedometer. I just wanted to get one printed so I could see it on the cluster and then make a decision.