Hi all,

I found and joined this site a few days ago and I thought I’d read and research a bit before I introduced my self. I’m a machinist from the New York City area currently working on starting a new venture with a good friend who will be the engineering side of a small prototyping shop. Last week I bought a 66 F100 (viewed here: http://ti-racing.com/pictures/66ford). This is my 4th ford truck, the last one being a 1997 F150 Lariat which I sold to buy my pregnant wife a Subaru. My very first car was a 68 mustang I bought for $500 in 1984 when I was 15, so I have been in the ford camp for my entire driving life. I’m really excited about getting this truck and about fixing it up. Getting back to the days in my old mans garage restoring my old mustang.



This is going to be a work truck/project for me but I need to take care of some critical issues right off the bat. The front end and steering are very loose, so rebuilding them is one of the first things. The brakes are also bad, and I think I’m going to go with a disc conversion kit from johnsf100.com. Also up first is taking care of some of the more rusted areas. The most important is the driver side door pillar area (visible in pictures 10 and 11). As you can see the pillar, floor pan, and inside cab wall are rusted through (you can see a sliver of daylight where the floor pan meets the inner side). I’m trying to find replacement sheet metal, and so far have only found reproduction floor pans and rocker panels.



So my first question is: Has anyone here done any work like this on their truck? If so what did you have to do and where did you find the parts?

 

Welcome to FTE! where in the city are you located? the lower door pillars can be found here http://www.carolina-classics.com/Det...072&category=0 i'm planning on buying them soon. i haven't had the time or money to tackle the rust yet on my '66

come check out the NY Chapter.

 

Welcome to FTE. The brake and suspension upgrade is the easy part. It's all bolt on using pre 79 stock parts. The rust is going to be a challenge. Your cab supports are probably rusted also. This means pull the cab off and lay it on it's back to do much of the work.

 

Lug Nut, I have no knowledge of "johnsf100" brake system, but the beauty of the '65 and newer trucks is that you can swap the entire front end from a later model truck, like up through '79 at least. Then you get power disc brakes, and power steering...very nice, easy, and relatively cheap upgrades. If you decide to go that route, I'm sure you will hear someone to tell you to buy a donor truck to get it all. I did not, but it probably is the way to go if you have the room/tolerance to store the parts truck.
Being an old tool and mold maker myself, I know that you will find your machining abilities invaluable to this project provided you have access to the equipment.
Good luck.

 

Welcome Lug Nut!!!
See you are familiear w/ Ford's, of one sort or another, and likely familiear w/ a few of the part suppliers. Dennis Carpenter, http://www.dennis-carpenter.com/ ; LMC,
LMC, http://www.lmctruck.com/ ,
National Parts Depot; http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=npd%20ford%20parts, and as noted, Carolina Classics, to name a few. I prefer using those supplier's who support FTE if at all possible. Suggest going online, browse the various supplier's, then request their free catalog. Found the catalogs come in handy as reference material, pic's also handy in displaying how components, parts are assembled.

IF decide to go with power brake upgrade, here is a web site, another FTE member posted quite sometime ago, may find helpful. There are variations and if you run a search in this forum (61-66) you will find quite alot of info on the subject. Or instance, using spacer between firewall and master cylinder to address brake pedal adjustment; whereas, or drilling new holes on actuating arm at the brake pedal. If intend for daily driving may consider power steering upgrade at the same time. Lot's of info on topic in this forum. http://www.mongrelmotorsports.homest...f100discs.html

Lots of knowledgeable, and helpful members in this forum. Could not have made improvements on the 65 had it not been for their input and valuable advice. Suggest browse 'tech/article', as well as, other FTE forums when time permits. Again, welcome.

dave

 

Thanks for the info guys.

I’ll look around for salvage yards that might have a donor front end but I don’t have the space to buy a parts truck. I’ll read over these links and see what I might need. The one advantage of one of these kits is that all the components are new and should be complete and ready to bolt up ( I know that “bolts right up” usually requires hours of fabrication). However if I’m going to rebuild the front end it may be better to get another one that way I can clean and re-bush it and have it ready to go before I take the truck off the road and pull it apart.

Did the 70’s broncos share the same power steering as the F series?

Peter-

Frank: I live in the east village, but my shop is in Jersey City.

 

No, completely different.