Hi F-truck Fans,

I have a complet 65 cab and front clip out back but no chassy and a good 79 short box F100 chassy but the cab and front clip is rusted so bad its not worth fixing.

So I was thinking of putting the 65 cab on the 79 chassy,
and droping it on its cuts .

someone must have tryed this before so if you have heared of any one doing this I'd like to know how much trouble they had.

Thanks Ray71 (Australia).

 

Ray, Should your trucks be like ours in the US, it will be a direct bolt on (hole for hole). Over here the 79 would have disc brakes, & power steering that the 65 didn't have.

I have seen some different trucks in photos that we never had in this country, so all we can do is hope for the best. Keep us posted.

good luck

John

 

G'Day Ray. . .

My 66 F100 SWB CC Styleside sits on a 79 F150 "trailer special" chassis. I fudged the 2+ inch difference in 79 wheelbase & re-positioned bed mounting holes in 66 bed floor accomodating slightly wider rear frame rail spacing. No Big deal Just use the insulators to fit 65-66 (aka Slicks') style body instead of the later type.

Your Fuel tank will be in the rear, out of the cabin, so you have to mess around with somr sort of filler neck for "petrol" etc. But we're usually here, or at another Site for these great old trucks. I'll FWD that URL to ya via a P/M later.

It's a hard 3 day job if you got the right place, equipment, skills and so on, if not it's relative to what you do have. . . . doncha see? I've done a bunch of these "drop on" upgrades because they put these great Slick 60s trucks in the 21st century as far as PDB, P/S, better or more refined suspension Later power trains and all that good stuff.

I'd say I did 12 to 15 of these chassis swaps over last several years. 3 of 'em were on my own Slick, in fact. . . . FWIW

Keep In touch Ray. . . .

FBp

 

pete,

where did you route youe fuel filler? I would like to put a fuel door somewhere on the bedside, is this possible, or would there have to be some inside the bed (cargo area) modifications. I cant wait to do this conversion someday!

 

TGT

The filler neck runs between the inner and outer bed skins of 73-79 style beds. SInce our slicks only have 1 skin, the outer, I cut an appropriate hole in the bed floor so it aligned with inlet port of 79 fuel tank where the OEM filler neck on a 79 or 73-79 goes.

I made hole roughly 5.5 -6.0 inches in diameter, in my bed floor then I positioned the metal part of the filler neck in place MOL & figuring neoprene hose & all, I positioned pocket & door assy I'd cut out from the side a "rotted" 77 bed. The problem here is the filler pocket is what actually holds the filler neck top portion in place,and it will be outside of your bed while the filler neck is inside the bed. You will see how it goes together if ya look at one. When installed, top portion of metal tube is actually inside, the inside of bedside skin, in a pocket which also sits inside bedside skin. It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

When I was satisfied with my Layout, I marked it, cut my 66 bed side & fitted pocket & door to that hole, it's a sort of rounded-square opening, you'll see what I mean when you look at one. What I did was cut my bed side hole on the "tight" side then trimmed out to get best fit using door & pocket piece as sort of a template.

IF/ when you do this, parallel top of filler door with top of your bed side. If you don't filler door will look wierd, if you do, it looks "squared" to bedside, like it belongs there, even tho' it's not really plumb or level to true Plumb X Level references. I hope you're following this & know what I mean here.

Anyway when I got it all tacked up in place & was sure the metal neck fit & that I could R&R it with the thing in place, I took a square piece of body sheet metal, bent it on a bias, or diagonal with a 3.5" radius (7" dia) to cover hole in floor and cover the filler pocket too. Next trim "bottom point" off at correct angle & elevation so formed piece sits on bed floor & vertical edge is against bed side inner surface. The vertical sides req fitting & trimming to meet bedside curvature close enough to MIG in place. So does top point of bias or diagonal bend. IS that clear enough for you? The reason I couldnt do this with a triangle was the bedside to floor intersection is not really a square intersection because the bedside is curved there.

This formed piece sits behind wheel housing and is actually behind inner face of wheel housing too. IOW you still should have stock OEM 4'-0" between inner faces of your 2 wheel housings. You can still lay a 4X8 sheet of plywood in the bed.

The piece only serves to protect the filler neck from being exposed in bed if bed's not covered, is open or does not have a tonneau over it. It keeps you from banging against the fillerneck itself, and it looks a lot more finished also.

I hope this explains it okay for ya'. . . .
FBp

 

Hey Pete, I never got around to it, but I was looking at a E150 80s model (series 74-??) at the body side and shape. It has about the same shape as out bed sides. I had planned to cut the out and insides of the van and find someone with the skills to make the panel work to have a molded flip door gas filler.

Procrastination got me again, as I had to move and didn't have the job done. Would ya look at one when ya get the chance and post back if ya think that is a do-able option.

John

 

Thanks for the reply's,

I have been having computer trouble and have been unable to right back.

The f100 chassy I have I'm sure is a US one, the F-trucks over here came from the US, Canada and south America and were bolted together in Australia and all are a little different, in minor ways like brakes, axles and dashboards, but mosty they are the same.

So after reading all your replys it looks like I might have another project to start on, (as if I need another one at the moment)

The 65 cab is in realy good order the windows still wind up and down doors are rust free and it has good class in it, the cab itself only has one minor rust patch in the rear right hand corner.

So I think I'd better sit the cab on the chassy and have and have a look at all the work I'll be creating for myself.

Thanks Ray71.

P.S. I'll try and post a pic of the 65 cab in My Gallery.

 

Ray, did Ausi F-100's have any different trim or grilles?? Is it a right hand drive?? Just curious!

Mark

 

Hi Mark,

Aussie F100 have a different dash face and are right hand drive,the trim and grill is the same as the US ones but ours are a year behind, say your 78 or 79 model would be our 79-80 model, the Aussie f100 only came out with 250ci straight six motors or 302 and 351ci V8 cleveland motors only but still used the C6 or C4 auto's and the 4 speed granny box.
I also have a 79 bronco that was never released in Australia so it had to be converted from left to right hand drive it has the US dash face which looks the best and the radio airel is on the right hand side and has a 351m motor, other that is has the same setup as 79 4X4 f100.

Cheers Ray71.