Nice find, parts is parts!!!

What is this "rust" thing ye all speak of?!

Seriously, man I DO NOT miss rust, I grew up in Missouri, salt on the roads, kills metal,,,,

I have been spoiled by my trucks out here on the left coast, even my 63's cab corners are clean.

edit, LOVE the rims!!! Been lookin for some dem!!

 

Don't worry, this thing really doesn't scare me as far as rust, I've seen far worse. This one is getting fixed, I'm collecting parts right now. I picked up a set of new nickel-coated L&L fenderwell exit headers for $400 shipped from Ebay this weekend, and just tonight I hauled home my '79 cab that is going on this truck. I have a dime-size hole in the passenger side floor to fix, and a little rust on the back wall to repair, other than that it's mint. I'll keep updating with photos as work progresses.

I also stumbled upon a parts truck tonight on my way home with the cab. I stopped into a shop to talk to a guy about a spray in liner for my 05 F150, and he saw the cab on the trailer and we got to talking. Turns out he has a beatifully restored '76 Highboy in underground storage with a 6" lift. Had it since it was new. As we talked more, he mentioned that he also had a complete '78 F150 that was rough that he wanted rid of. I asked him how much, and he said $50 bucks! I went and looked at it, and even though the body is shot, its a 400/4spd/NP205 truck with everything there. Score again! I'm going to pick it up this weekend.

 

wow that was a major score! the truck is worth way more than that in parts alone. around here you would pay more for the front diff as a core.

 

Wow...nice find...lucky for you I didn't find it first.

 

dude, you're just running across some mean finds. how bout you give some of that luck to me?

keep us posted....

 

Update on the progress of the 1 ton. When I originally bought this truck I had planned to take my time, build everything right the way that I wanted it. I'm trying to build a house this fall, so I really didn't have time to work on it now, and I had the '77 for heavy hauling, general beating and off-roading while clearing/preparing land for the house. Unfortunately, last week the '77 finally died, which really put me in a bind. I've had to use my '05 F150 FX4 for hauling chainsaws/brushcutters/fuel/etc. in and out of my land, which is really hard on it. It gets covered in mud daily since there is no established driveway yet, and I've constantly afraid of rubbing a tree or scratching the paint. Don't get me wrong, it is a truck, and I use it like one, but when you spend $38K on a truck you try to keep it nice as long as possible.

So, ultimately I have decided to throw the F350 together and get it roadworthy as quick as I can so I can use it for the dirty work instead of the '05. The goal is to make it safe, reliable, and capable. Looks are not important at this point, but I'd like to make it look respectable, if for no other reason but to keep the cops from bothering me. I am also directing most of my cash towards the house at this point, so low cost is also a major focus.

I started into it hard last week. So far, I got the body from the cab forward patched back together enough to get it to pass PA inspection. Major issues were holes in the cab corners and floors. I have another rust-free cab for it, but don't have the time to swap it right now, so I did some Bondo art on the cab corners, and screwed some metal panels over the floors. Flame all you want, but the cab only has to get me past inspection and last about a year. The drivers side door was pretty bad, so I replaced it with a better spare that I had, and both front fenders got pitched in favor of better ones. I also had a spare '79 grille shell that was straight, so that went in along with grille and bezels from my large parts stash. I salvaged the hood off of the dead '77. Everything is getting spray-bombed Rustoleum flat brown for color uniformity. Here are some pics so far of the progress:





I scored a seat from a late-80s F150 from a swap meet a few years ago for $40, and since the seat in this truck was pretty much shot it got swapped out. This thing is really comfortable, and the material is still in pretty good shape.



More progress to come in the near future.

 

Nice. No shame in cabbage patching something together to get you by. As long as you really plan on going back and doing to right

 

Nice Truck!
I like the hood!

 

Looks like its getting some headers?

 

nice steal of a deal, coming along nicely, nothing wrong w/making due w/what you have at hand!

 

I guess you noticed... Long story short, not yet.

The 460 is out of a '72 Lincoln, and has a cracked passenger side exhaust manifold. I mean, almost broken in half... I've never seen one so bad. Problem is, although I have a few sets of car manifolds, they are off of later-model 460s, 77s to be specific. Ford changed the manifold castings in '75, and the later manifolds will not fit the exhaust that is built for the earlier manifolds. The exhaust system is really nice on this truck, almost new, and I really didn't want to redo it, so I was weighing my options. If you look there are also 3 different passenger-side 460 manifolds laying there as well.

I scored a set of unused nickel-plated fenderwell exit L&L headers from Epay a few weeks ago for $320, and I planned to install them when I install my built 460/4spd that I have planned for this truck. My thought was, if I have to modify or reroute the exhaust, I might as well just install the headers now, build the header exhaust, and then it will be done. After much contemplation, I settled on using stock truck manifolds that only will require minor cutting/welding of the original exhaust, and saving the L&Ls for the motor that will actually need them. I put them back in storage for now.

 

Nice find....... My f-350 4x4 was in similar shape when I found it (for about the same price too).

I recently finished mine and love the thing!!!!!




Where in western PA are you at? I sold off most of my extra parts but still have a few leftovers if you need something.

 

I'm up around Sarver, just a few miles from Lernerville Speedway, about 40 minutes north of Pittsburgh.

I have pretty much everything I need to get this thing on the road for now, but when I rebuild it right later it will need doors and fenders. I have a rust-free passenger side door and fender, but I need a drivers door. The drivers side fender that I just mounted on there is also rust free (scored for $20 at Canfield swap meet 2 weeks ago), but as you can see it's pretty bent up. Other than that, I've got everything for it already.

Good to see another PA member on here, sure are a lot of us. Really doesn't surprise me, though, since these trucks are everywhere around here. Lots of guys fixing them up now, too.

Nice truck, btw, that thing is pretty sharp.

 

Attachment 16751 well, here's mine! original cond. bought it 4yrs ago w/ 21k miles. i added the lift/tires/wheels & repaired several other small details associated w/a truck setting more than it gets drivenAttachment 16752

 

[quote=fordrealdrive;7782715]well, here's mine! original cond. bought it 4yrs ago w/ 21k miles. i added the lift/tires/wheels & repaired several other small details associated w/a truck setting more than it gets driven[quote]

Wow, man, sweet truck. I would kill for a Supercab, although I think my next one is going to be a Crewcab 4x4 with a Cummins swap.

So, what are the details on the lift/wheels/tires? Ultimately that's about how I'd like this one to sit.