I have acquired a 1960's Ford. I am not sure on the year yet, we are contacting the previous owner right now to get that information. I am sure that it is from either the late 50's into the late 60's, in that range. (I know alot of years). Recently my great uncle passed, and this truck was in his barn. Since then I have been given permission to have it for a "project truck". I was thinking about going threw and completly restoring the vehicle, but I decided instead, doing a custom job. I will incorporate the old body style with newer electronics. I am looking forward to the challenge, but I want it to be a one of a kind vehicle. The body and frame is all very solid, only a few odd and ends to fix, and only a minor amount of rust to correct. I'm going to need alot of advice. I want to know to what extent I can modernize this vehicle. Just about everysite I have looked at doesn't have anything from that year range for parts. Can anyone tell me if I can get parts from a similar Ford make, and make it work. I'm not looking forward to ALOT of work to make it work. I want to lower it, and add a body kit or ground effects of some sort. It will end up being a "Street Rod" when I'm done. I'm only 18, but have been saving up for a while to do this project. So any help with parts and compatible makes or somthing would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Aaron

 

Welcome, Aaron, to the nation's truck stop! You can get your answers here, that's for sure.

First of all, we really need to know what year it is to help out. Ford made radical changes to the entire front steering and suspension after '64, and that affects a great deal of the bolt-in upgrades you can do.

The good news is that if you can give us the VIN, we can tell you what year it is - or at least what year it isn't!

As for electronic upgrades, there are a great deal of options that way. One of the best is to get a complete later donor vehicle that has fuel injection and automatic overdrive, and harvest all the parts.

Aside from the VIN, you can help yourself out by searching and reading the posts here.

Again, Welcome!

 

Going threw a vehicle is going to be painful.

 

If you don't have a VIN # handy, you can browse through the gallery here by year to get an idea of what year truck you have. 61-66 look nearly alike (for the most part). The fenders hood and cab are all nearly the same, grille and bed may differ.

First thing is to get the year and model figured out because different years have their own quirks as to how and how easy certain upgrades are done. Hope ya got a Slick!

 

As stated above welcome aboard; there use to be a "Read First Post" on this forum, if you find it there's a display of the front grilles of 48 thru 72 grille's. Its a quick reference means and as John aka 'Banjopicker66" mention, post the vin data, its either in the glove box attach to the inside of the glove box door or attached to the drivers side door near your door locking mechanism. (if it hasn't been remove) these are the two basic places Ford place the vin tag in late fifties - 60's on our trucks.

Mitch

 

Don't forget you can also find the VIN # stamped on top of the frame rail just behind the front axle. That will tell you the most acturate information in case someone swapped the cab or grill.

 

Well I looked on both the door and inside the glove box. Both have been removed. I haven't got far enough into it to get to the frame rail. The guy whose vehicle it was before, is out of town and won't be back till tommarow. I am just really interested in getting everything together and ready to go before summer hits so I can get it done and ready for fun. The body will require little or no work, some minor rust spots. Everything else isn't very severe just some electricle and mechanical fixings. I'm hoping he'll get my messages for tommarow and call me and tell me the year so I can get things set up and ready to go, so when I get it moved to my garage I can start right away. But thanks for the replies they'll help alot once I get the year.

 

See if your truck looks like one of these.

 

Well. I haven't gotten an answer from the guy. But, from looking at the front ends, and other pictures from the gallery, I have came to the conclusion that its a 1963. I am almost 100% sure. I have been looking at some different options. Another question I have developed is I have a 78 Ford with a 460 in it. Can I take that and put that into the 63? Well you guys have the year, let me know what I can do. Thanks a ton for the responces.

 

The 460 will fit but you wont be able to use the stock motor or tranmissiom mounts. 61-64 utilize a front and mid mount system. You will have to weld in a set of perchs or universal engine cross member. I did the swap myself a few years back with a universal kit. I butt welded a few pieces of angle steel together to form a tee that I ground until it just fit vertically between the frame rails. I did that in case I want to swap to a different engine down the line. It also helps to center the engine frame as needed in the engine bay. Not to mention its a lot easier to weld edges then to try to fit the welding tip in the rails.

You will also need to cut out the old transmission cross member. Drill the center of the rivet heads off then pound them out with a punch. The next step after that is actually cutting the crossmember in half to make it easy to drop out of the rails. I tried for several hours to get mine out in one piece but couldn't find a way short of taking the whole frame apart.

 

to put a 460 in a 63 ford you will have to build a new set of motor mounts as well as a way to suport the tranny.

 

Alright. It's just a thought that I came to first. I have that, and that would be alot cheaper than buying a "crate motor". Is that going to give me alot of power and torque? I mean I know it has alot of towing power, its in a 78 Ford, that we use to tow trucks that get stuck out at our mud holes. I wouldn't mind some other options for an engine. I want somthing that is a very fast accelerating and such, maybe for drags. Please let me know, and thanks.

 

What engine is in it now? 6 or 8 cyl. could be a y block and they can really go.

 

It doesn't have an engine in it right now. The previous owner had some modifications that he came up with himself, and he took it. I can tell you for sure that the engine that was in it couldn't accel. have as fast as my 98 Jimmy, soo.

 

That could be a good thing. An engine from that era. Like a y block would bolt in with the least mods. But a Winsor with a late modeled OD trans is not to hard a mod. Lots a folks on here to help walk ya through whatever you decide. IMHO ain't nuthing like a y block.