I'm getting ready to start a frame-off resto on my 61 F100 Unibody. I'm kind of stumped though as to the best way to get the body off the frame and refurbish the underside of the body. I can tear it down in the driveway of course but I have no idea how to get the body separated from the frame.

I have no bodywork experience but I think I could handle sandblasting the truck - I'm willing to invest in a compressor and the equipment and I think I could do it in the driveway. There is some pretty bad rust in the driver's side stepwell and the cab support on that side is shot too so there will be welding involved -which I have never done either.

Has anyone ever used one of those auto body rotator thingys? I've seen them online - I've also considered lifting the body up off the frame onto long sawhorses and rolling the frame out from under the body and then blast it from underneath - but again I'd be working over my head on the whole thing - not the best idea.

Please offer any suggestions you have - thanks!!!

Kris in Georgia

 

Do you have a garage?

 

Do you have a wife?

 

Hi Kris -

We did all of our work at home, behind privacy fence. We set up our carport as a work area.

As for how to blast/fix/paint the underside - check out my photo album. The "Cosmetics" one shows a rolling frame Steve fabricated just for the cab. It's aluminum angle, screws and wheels. The cab is bolted to it so it can be flipped to work on the bottom. Sure made doing the bodywork easier. It's also great because we just roll the cab out of the way when we're working in the shop on something else.

I wouldn't recommend blasting anything from underneath. The sand goes everywhere and besides you need be able to see what you're doing.

 

Kris check out this link for an auto-body rotisserie, it even gives you a ‘bill of materials’ if you are interested in building it for yourself. You are right in thinking the unibody presents more of a challenge that a traditional pick-up in a frame off restoration. It is heavy and bulky and requires special lifting.

http://www.prostreetcar.com/body_rotisserie.html

You should know this would be a ‘very’ time consuming project. A large shop area to work in would certainly make things a lot easier but many have done their restorations in their backyards. I personally would not start on a project of this magnitude without having a clear plan, the necessary tools and a full understanding of what you’re getting yourself into. Without an abundance of cash and a lot of extra time, this could turn into months if not years of endless work. For those of us who stick with it, it is therapy to an extent but nonetheless it will take its toll on you. Many projects are started and never finished because people under estimate both time and money a project will consume.

With all that said I hope you have fun and good luck,

 

Thanks Tom -

I missed the Unibody part so something like our little roll cage wouldn't work for him anyway.

 

Im missing something here. You have a 60ish truck thats a unibody? I have a 95 and its a full frame, i.e., you can remove the cab and box. A unibody does not have a frame with the exception of stub frames usually located at the doghouse (engine area). I thought the older vehciles were full frame also? Can someone clarify this?

 

Uni-body was a term used by Ford to describe their early 60’s line of trucks with the cab and bed being made together, 1 piece, without the gap between them. They still had a complete steel frame underneath.

 

I finished a complete frame off restore of my 73 about 1 year ago and I can tell you it's a HUGE project.

I used a carport and bought a pressure feed sand blaster and that really helped. I made stands that were about the same height as the frame and pulled the bed back about 7 feet and that allowed me the access to the frame.

In your case I don't think that'll work BUT if you could raise the body up about 8" with blocks and stands you might be able to reach the upper part of the frame with the blaster.

Be aware that running a sand blaster takes a LARGE compressor or it'll work the smaller ones to death. I had a 3hp 8.6cfm @ 40 and that wouldn't even come close. I added a 5hp 220 motor and changed the pullies so that it ran about 33% faster and that really made a difference.

I paid $70 (on sale) at harbor freight for a 40# sand blaster and it worked great. I used about 2500# of sand becuase I had to redo the bed several times. You can recycle the sand with a window screen covered over a 5gal bucket to filter it.

Also, get a bunch of ziplock bags and label EVERYTHING as you take it off, it'll help later as the project may take over a year.

Inspect everything a start hunting for the parts that'll need to be replaced as this may take some time to find everything.

Very early spring is a good time to start, once you have bare metal and humidity, you have surface rust in short order.

 

Karljay made some good points in his reply and made me think of something I have found to be a big help and that is photos. If you have a digital camera you can take tons of photos for reference and only print them if needed.

They will also add value to the restoreation should you decide to sell it later.

 

Thanks for the great information guys. Sorry I haven't replied sooner but I did get some good news today. I found a guy who's going to sandblast everything for me. He was amazed at the good condition of my truck and assured me he could repair the rust on the underside without taking the body off. I think I'm going to clean up the underside as carefully as I can with a wire wheel on my drill (yes I know it will be big fun!) and then he will sandblast everything else. He'll weld in new metal where needed and I will POR15 the underside. I'm sooo relieved I don't need to pull the body on the truck. I think I'll still go ahead and replace the body mounts by carefully raising the body just enough to get at them. Thanks again guys - pictures soon in my gallery.

Kris

 

Get about 1000 plastic lunch bags and 1000 white binder lables. Every part that you take off, even if it is junk, put it in a bag and lable it witht he date and a description of the part. Get a few of those big plastic storage boxes and put all your baggies in there. Get a camera and take photos of everything!!! I meen everything!! at all stages of the resto.Before you take a part off, take a photo. Better yet, take three photos. When you have the photos developed, write one the back of the photo of what the part is. I would even go as far as putting the photos in the baggies with that parts that you took off.