I have a 1974 Ford f-100 shortbox. My question is that even though I wanted to build it to a 1976 xlt ranger, the cab I have (1976 parts trucks) seems very rough. It has at least 6 dents or more on the roof lines (edges). Also, the drivers side rear edge, by the fuel neck, bent from filler neck to corner cause the truck had been reared, hard. (sorry, but i cant get pics, old tech here) Upside, No rust anywhere, just many dents in bad spots. My dad is willing to give up his mint bodied 1979 3/4 ton Lariat with 400,000 km as a donor truck for sheetmetal. Just to get my shorty on the road. His susp, wiring, brakes, 460, c6, rear gears, all tired, worn & box is completely shot. It has not one dent, no rust, all complete, and metal/paint is ABSOLUTELY IMMAC. BUT..... I do not want a/c in the worst way. Can that be remedied? The other thing, It is two tone racetrack trimmed metallic dark brown and a cream inner color and roof, not much of a custom shortbox color, or is it. Repainting is out of the question cause the the purpose of giving it to me... primo paint to be used for another 30 years or so. Just bolt it on and get my box painted.

Idiot to pass up and take beater to body shop, or go for it and save a nice truck???? If I don't use the 79, it gets sold, HELP

 

That's a lot of info coming quick... But without pics, everybody on here can just make assumptions, that's it.
If the 79 cab is perfect, obviously I'll say go for that. Unless you want to do the bondo work on the 76, if it's even in good enough of shape to bondo.
When you're talking about A/C, do you mean the vents in the cab?
When it comes to painting, it's all your own preference. My 70 had a blue cab and green and tan two tone bed, so I rattlecan primered the whole truck, just to get it a uniform color (got rid of that Sanford & Son look ). Planned on repainting the whole truck, but never happened.

 

Definately a lot of info right off the bat, and believe me, I shortened it to. The 76 cab Probably could be fixed but also with a cost. The 79 cab needs no work. I'm just not sure if the brown/tan scheme would make a nice custom shortbox 2wd, mostly cause i've never seen one before.

And with the air cond, I don't like the big ugly compressors, nasty hoses and that enormous box on the firewall. Just too much clutter under the hood. I know behind the a/c unit is a massive hole on the firewall. Whether I can weld it up with a non a/c firewall, I don't know, too many q's because I don't know the first thing about bodywork.

I am heading to the body shop later this week to show them the cab and ask some q's, maybe their answer on the 76 cab will make my mind up for me

 

Sounds like a plan with the bodywork, but you should find out how much it would run to clean up the 76 compared to painting the bed to match the 79's paint.
Is the 76 cab's paint the same as your current shortbox, or would you still have to paint the cab/bed?
If you have a weekend, and you're just dealing with dents, I'd try bondoing the cab yourself (I just learned on a 95 Civic that's going straight to the paint shop) at least just to try. It really isn't difficult, and a $10 can of bondo + your time vs. the cost of most body shops....
Still not straight on the A/C... (never had a truck with it, just the A/C pump on the motor, and I ripped that right off...) You're current motor has it and you want it off, or are you talking about all the hookups and the setup in the cab? It's easy to remove from the motor, if you have a 351M/400 (that's as far as my A/C experience goes). Just unbolt the pump, remove the belt, and detach the hoses.

 

All the panels will need paint, the 76 has no matching panels on my truck. I suppose I could try a little bodywork at home here, worse comes to worse, the bodyshop takes it all off.

As for a/c, I will be taking the compressor and plumbing from my dads 460 and swapping it over to my 429. The cab of dads has the big housing on the firewall and thats what I want to get rid of. If I do the swap, thats the only piece of an a/c system that will be on my truck.