Wow i don't know how i missed this build up until now...but boy was i missing out!!!!

You are doing a superb job! I am amazed at the level of detail and attention you are investing in this project. Very very very well done! Its going to look and feel the way it did when they drove it off of the show room floor.

 

It's been quite some time, but I didn't forget about you guys. Here's the latest on the restoration:

The remainder of the front steering components were disassembled and media blasted. The cast front axle beam was acid dipped to remove all grease and oil from the pores.

At some point in the truck's life, a large pothole caused enough impact pressure to damage the right leaf spring, bend both RH spring u-bolts, bend the spring's rear mounting bolt, cause a slight bend in the frame at the spring mount, and damage both spindle bearing surfaces. The frame was repaired, squared, and aligned on a frame jig at the beginning of the restoration. The rest of the damaged parts are being replaced as necessary. The NOS springs (shown on the previous page) are now fully assembled and ready for installation with their NOS bushings, bolts, and shackles. A set of NOS spindles and NOS shock mount kits (with correct castle-style nuts) are on the way. The front axle beam, rear shock mount brackets, rear axle seats, front hubs, and brass junction block are all at the powdercoater with a pick-up scheduled next week.

The reproduction main fuel line, which wasn't quite correct, was returned to Inline Tube along with the original line for custom duplication. The original line was 3D scanned and computer bent to match the original 100%. Noteworthy was Inline Tube's excellent service. They accepted their reproduction line back without the original receipt, custom duplicated my original line, and shipped the original and duplicated line back to me at no charge.

The frame-mounted wire harness clips and main fuel line clips are being shipped out for black oxide coating next week. These components were installed after the chassis second paint at the factory along with the main fuel line and frame-mounted wire harness.

Below are a few pictures of the new line and NOS fuel hose installed. Nearing another deployment in two weeks, progress will come to a stop until August, at which point I'll finish the front steering and suspension and start disassembling the rear axle and suspension.

 

Here's the latest photos of the concours restoration. Several components have returned from powdercoat and are ready for installation. The NOS springs/shackles/bushings were re-assembled and mounted, the brake line junction block installed. The computer copied/bent reproduction fuel line installed and the NOS rear fuel hose installed.

Projects for the next several weeks:

-Finish separating, documenting, and bagging all chassis-related bolts, nuts, washers, and clips which will be sent out for re-plating in the original finish (zinc, cadmium, black oxide, etc.).

-Take the NOS king pin kit and NOS spindles to the machinist for honing to the correct clearance fit.

-Powdercoat the steering link, NOS tie rod ends, spindles, NOS shock bushing cups and nuts, and select NOS king pin kit components.

NOS springs, shackles, bushings, and harware:






NOS spindles:



NOS rear fuel hose:



Misc:





And the entire chassis as of today:

 

I hope you're not going to reinstall that dirty engine and brake drums.

 

Wow... wish my frame looked that nice. What color is that?

 

Lol, nope. The drums are being sent out for powdercoat within the next few weeks. Surprisingly, the fronts have never been turned, and the same was true about the rears until I turned them a few years ago.

The frame color is 20% gloss black, which is the same color and gloss level Ford originally painted the 57-60 frames.

 

wow!...very detailed, the pics are awesomw, and educational...great job

 

That is INSANE! What do you do for a living, build rockets? Please explain (in detail) how you keep the garage so clean . Nice job, wish I had 1/3 of your talent, hey, maybe you could give build lessons to Bob's F100's .......

Wade

 

Doesn't look like this is your first rodeo. Nice big piece of carpeting, great for assembly of the frame, less chance to scratch things with carpeting.

Did you restore the Gold T/A?

 

Very nice, like to see this amount of effort to keep it stock! One question, are you really going to enter it in a concours? Wouldn't they take off points for powdercoating? Or is it just for your personal "judging"?

 

I think his garage is hermetically sealed in a time warp somewhere. Even if I do nothing in my garage it gets dirty from cotton wood trees, grass clippings, leaves and dust.

 

I thought if it was the right color and looked like it would have when it was first built is what makes it a concour build. We can't even spray the same kind of paint as what was sprayed back some 40 years ago...

 

I am highly impressed so far. Very very nice. Will definitely be following.

 

Thanks for all the positive comments. About the garage cleanliness, I'm a little OCD when it comes time to a clean working place for my vehicles. I don't build rockets for a living, but you're not far off. I fly the KC-10A Extender for the Air Force, which is basically a military DC-10-30 modified for aerial refueling. As for the Trans Am, I restored it as well. The restoration was a frame-on resto-mod, and is 95% complete.

Regarding the powdercoat and concours judging, most affiliations now allow modern paints and coatings with no point deductions just as long as the finish is original in appearance and color. I've seen a lot of powdercoating jobs over the years, and you can usually tell powdercoat from epoxy paint. The company I use for all my powdercoating does such a fantastic job, the finish is nearly indistinguishable from epoxy paint. I'm not sure how they do it, but there is absolutely no orange peel, which is commonplace with some powdercoating jobs. I'll probably never have the truck judged. I just want the truck exactly how it left the Ford San Jose plant in 1960, down to the last detail.

The restoration may seem very slow to those who have been following this post. Such a level of restoration takes considerable time. For every hour invested in restoring or installing a part, the same amount of time is dedicated to the documentation, photography, and annotation regarding the part. Everything from paint marks to the re-installing the bolt hex in the exact same orientation as removed to the spacing of the wire harness clips is documented--accounting for 391 photos, a very large Excel file containing the sizes, head markings, and finish of every chassis bolt and part number, and several notebook pages.

I'll keep the photos and updates coming.

 

Dustin,really enjoy your photo-updates.You'll never be able to let go of that truck when you're finished, but then I'm sure you never intended to in the first place.Keep the photos coming.

Steve