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I wanted to create this post to maybe help others or act as a "how-to" when doing some of the upgrades I did on my truck. I found that there was a lot of misinformation out there as to what a person could or could not do or what had to be done in order to accomplish some of the things I did. In fact, most of the information was incorrect, which I found upsetting as I feel like it deters a person from doing something rather than making it happen. Although I am mid-way through my project, most of the changes are done, and the rest is mainly bodywork, so I thought now would be a good time to write this.

My truck is a 1970 Ford F250 4x4 with a 360 FE, manual NP 435 transmission, D44 front, D60 rear, and Dana 24 transfer case. My wife bought me this truck for my wedding present, knowing that this was my favorite Ford style, which I grew up in and had in high school. The truck overall was in fairly decent shape but ran rough. When I got it the first thing I did was put new exhaust on it and tune it up. I was having issues with the fuel supply and learned the tank was delaminating, sending particles down the lines and clogging up. A new tank and hose fixed this, but the engine itself still had some major internal issues, after it wasn't solved with a throttle body, I decided to run it as is and would address the problem down the road. During this time, I continued working on and replacing old and worn-out parts.

I decided I wanted to replace the front end with something that had disk breaks and this is where the forums came into play. I read forum after forum on replacing the front end and it was nothing but mixed information on it and what had or could be done. I found a high-pinion Dana 60 out of a 79 and purchased it fairly cheaply. I had the front end rebuilt and regeared to match the rear. I was so confused by the forums that I decided to sit on it and wait a bit.

Fast-forward a few years. I was talking with a buddy, and he had a 390 core that he wanted to get rid of. I decided I was interested and would have it built and then thrown in mine since my engine just wasn't meant for this world. The truck must have taken it as a sign because as soon as I got the engine, the one in my truck finally gave up. I had the 390 rebuilt and this is when I decided to go all in. I couldn't see myself just putting the replacement engine in and calling it good. I wanted to do some other stuff to it, like an NV 4500 conversion and, of course, the Dana 60. So an engine replacement turned into a full-on frame-off restomod.

Initially, I stripped the truck down to the frame. Everything was off of it except the axles. I then removed the 1970 Dana 44 axle and placed the 1979 high-pinion Dana 60 in it. It literally fell into place. I only had to move the upper shock brackets on the frame to match the lower shock brackets on the axle. The cool thing about this is that the holes were already in the frame and no drilling or anything was required. You un-bolted and moved and then re-bolted.

I took the frame after making some repairs to the front cross member, which everyone thinks is the place to hook a tow chain and some shackles, and had it sandblasted and painted.

Once back home, I set out to make the break lines. I read that the break lines from 73-79 were required and would fit in with no changes. This was inaccurate as nothing about them was drop in. I ended up taking all the pieces and straightening them, and then re-bending to fit as needed. I knew I needed a different proportioning valve and got one for a 79. I built a bracket for it, mounted it where the old one was, and then built the lines away from it. The brake lines from the calipers to the mounts worked fine and mounted up with no modifications. I know I need to run a different master cylinder and brake booster and I do have those.

At this point, I realized that the Dana 60 was wider than my rear end and I hated it. Off to the forums, I went, where I read a myriad of information about swapping out my rear end for a 30-spline Dana 60 of the correct width from a 73-79. Most of the information told me I would have to move the spring perches because the frame widths differed between the bump and dent side fords. I found a rear end out of a 1976 F250 4x4, and it was bolt-on. There was absolutely no requirement for moving the spring perches.

I had the rear end and transfer case rebuilt at this time, and the only issue I had with the 76 Dana 60 and my frame was that the emergency brake cables weren't long enough. I had a custom set of cables made by a company in California. I will say that the company was great and the cables were cheaper than the factory ones.

While the transfer case and the rear end were in the shop getting built, I went ahead and began the installation of the NV4500. The forum member CEETWARRIOR had done a great writeup on this in 2005 and helped me tremendously. I found a company that made a conversion kit that came with the transmission and most all the parts to do the swap. They provide a Dodge NV4500 with the GM yoke on the back. I had to source some parts, but other than that, it was great. I had to unbolt the transmission cross member and move it back about 5 inches to start. I then drilled out the cross member to take the transmission mount and had to notch it slightly to fit around the transmission. I drilled the frame and bolted it in when I had the correct position and angle. I did have to have a pilot bushing drilled out to fit it, but it was a simple task.

After the engine, transmission, transfer case, and axles were in place, I had the drivelines rebuilt/built. The rear driveline needed no modifications and went in fine. The front driveline needed to be shortened by 2 inches, but other than that, the u-joint and yoke sizes were the same. Of course, the middle driveline that came off the transmission to the transfer case had to be built. It was shortened, and then a slip yoke with a 1350 size u-joint, and the yoke was put on to match the GM yoke coming off the transmission.

Many of the forums I read said that you could not run long tube headers with the Dana 60 high pinion, which was not the case. After everything was in I bolted on the headers and hooked the exhaust up. There were no issues at all.

This puts me where I am currently at with my project. The chassis is more or less finished. I need to put the power steering conversion kit on and build the four-wheel drive shift lever. I will build the shift lever once I have the cab done and on so I can make sure that it will fit within its hole in the floor pan. I know the hole where the shifter came out on the NP435 will not work for the NV4500 placement, but that's an easy fix.

I'm not saying that if everyone did what I did, it would be as relatively seamless as mine was, but I will say that all the misinformation was exactly that—misinformation. Maybe the wrong information provided was just out of context or just speculation without really knowing. Who knows?

This is a very basic description of the build, and more detailed information could be provided should anyone need it.

I hope this helps anyone with questions or concerns who is thinking about doing the same thing or similar.

 

A very nice writeup. One thing about the misinformation is that I believe that 90% of the Ford classic truck world have 2wd's and don't understand the small detail differences of F-250 4wd's Luckily you figured it out. 4wd F-250's had the same narrow rear frame widths until mid 77 with the lowboys change to the rear wide frame as 73+ 2wd and 73+ F-100/150's. The rear axle width changed in 73 to match the front also across the board. I hope to start work on my project 70 F-260 CC this summer.

 

 

Wow, very good write up and a Greta Truck! So now that you have made all these upgrades, do not forget about your steering. My suggestion is to look at Battle Born Brakes ( https://www.battlebornbrakes.com/ ) for brackets and ideas ( https://www.battlebornbrakes.com/pro...50-4wd-f26bstr ). I did purchase his kit for using the 79 style steering box and its very good. I had a few questions and he responded with answers and pictures, amazing supplier!

 

My thoughts were to go with benchworks steering setup.

https://benchworksteering.com/produc...ing-conversion

Ive spoke on the phone with them and really like what they have to offer.

 

I took the bed and some body parts to a local sandblaster in town to have him sandblast the underside of the bed and body parts so I can paint them or coat them with something.

At this point I think I’m going to run the old paint and do the patina thing.

I’m trying to find a core support currently. That is my biggest issue. I may have to get my current one sandblasted and patch it.

 

I got some of the body panels back from the sand blaster. I need to decide what type of paint or undercoating to use on it.





If anyone has suggestions I’d like to hear them as to what undercoating or paint to use.

I was originally recommended this.

https://tcpglobal.com/products/black...-0-875-gallons

thoughts?

 

Since you had it sandblasted I would do POR15 or another epoxy based coating.

 

I suggest putting a sealer type primer down on the bare metal. Then top coat with your product of choice. Not a fan of bedliner myself. POR15 is specifically designed to be used on rust, now blasted it's not really the right product, IMO.

 

Good work! I used the nv4500 with the GM 2wd mainshaft and tailhousing, looks like the same as yours. Might have to figure out how to do the transfer case lever and clutch.

metal by Charlie has a dodge nv4500 transfer case piece that looks simple.

I did the patina thing and it seems to be holding up. I was OCD about the bed seam, ended cleaning those out well then por15 in the seam, seam sealer, then paint matched the patina and blended. Kevin Tetz has a book on creating patina look if you have to replace major panels.

Cheers,
Sam

Factory cross member notched for nv4500 mount, tall angle irons are for transfer case lever support

From the top, transfer case lever cross shaft (crank for transfer case shift rod hidden from view)

 

Thank you for posting this. I was trying to figure out how I was going to do that. I think I will use this as a base and go from there.

 

I haven’t accomplished much lately as the weather is nice and it’s outside project and mountain time.

I did start on the cab a bit. I cleaned everything and started looking at what I need to get ordered for patch panels.


Floor panels need replaced for sure.

Maybe the door skin on the drivers side door

 

I started stripping and wire wheeling/ sanding the firewall. Didn’t get far but progress is progress.

The truck came out of Washington and they sprayed some type of undercoating on it 1.5 million years ago and that is a bear to remove. So I guess it worked.

 

You are still making progress, looks like you will have an amazing ride when you finish!

 

I went to order patch panels today and it appears LMC no longer offers as much as they use to.

I need the fender lower quarter panels and am having a difficult time finding them. I did a google and didn’t find much.

Does anyone have a line on them?

I was going to order patch panels for the inner fenders but it looks like all the panels are no longer offered either.

I think I will bite the bullet and just order repros instead of try and scab them together with general
sheet metal.

I'm still trying to source a radiator core support.