Picked up another project vehicle, 1976 F100 short box. It has a transplanted 351W/auto. Complete truck that hasn't been trashed and rebuilt. Short term plan is to fix the small stuff and drive it. Long term is a full build, for the street, of a vintage, period look.
Drove it as-is 100 miles last night and actually made it home without issue.

 

nice wiring hanging over exhaust manifold.


had a few mirrors over the decades


Seat in nice shape


Lots of holes everywhere in the bed




Custom trim level with no moldings like I wanted




Missing a tooth...

 

I expected puddles of oil, trans fluid, coolant, brake fluid, and diff fluid under the truck, but instead I had 2 fuel puddles. Fumes in the shop were thick. Frame coated in gassy grease. I found two hardline/hose connections that were leaking. All of the hoses need replacing. So I just pushed the hose on further and cranked down the cheap clamps. Leaks stopped but still stinky. Need to make a plan before I start spending money on fuel system. Will be single tank, EFI to support 600+ hp, AN fittings, ect.

 

Perfect find. If its stinking, check the charcoal canister and see if the hoses going to it are good and that it is in place. Keep the pics coming.

 

Yes I thought so. I paid too much, but it is the right truck to start with. So maybe cheaper in the end. I considered anything from 250 long bed to chop up, but at least this will be an original F100 shorty.
Thanks I'll check that after a good cleaning.

 

Hope you also got the West Coast mirrors and door hardware for the truck. Looks like a fun project.

 

No, no WC mirrors. If it did, I would put them on my 72 4x4.

 

Figured I would rack the old truck and see what could have gone wrong...


Found the source of the nasty vibration...


Has a small block c6 with no kickdown


No under coat to deal with.


I finally found the dipstick, it is under the brake booster. Oil level? off the bottom. Put a few quarts in. Brake fluid? Front reservoir almost empty, topped off.

 

Rear end tag says 3.25 gears, open diff. Speedo is way off, but it works.
Got it registered and insured.

 

Working on getting a kickdown solution for the trans. Bought a cable, but open to making a rod if that's a better route.

There is a screw that fastens the kickdown lever to the throttle lever, effectively making the kickdown not usable. I removed the screw and the kickdown lever is very loose like a bushing is missing. It hangs up the throttle operation.
The parts diagrams don't detail this aspect much. Advice?

 

Looking at the carb some more, there is a bushing intact but the shaft end of the kickdown lever is bent open. Need to pull the carb off and see if I can repair it.

Dog ready to go for a ride.



Found source of clanging noise over bumps

 

Step one to making the truck into something more of my own, was to change up the exhaust. Eventually I'll do a full system, but for now just some cheap mufflers on rusty pipes and manifolds. The existing system was pretty quiet with the really long glass pack style mufflers. I haven't used chambered mufflers in a long time, so decided to go that route. I ended up going with Jones full boar units to get the center in/offset out configuration I wanted. To make it more obnoxious, turndowns instead of tailpipes. I bought a 'U' bend to chop up into the pieces I needed.

Since the old mufflers were so long I extended the piping as much as I had to get the mufflers behind the cab.


I made my own hangers out of 3/8 rod bent as needed with some homemade dies in the press.





How does it sound?
Idle is loud with drone, but regular driving and heavy throttle are decent.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NwdLGZAVA8EbmJt49

 

Axle flip is too low and basically no travel without a C notch, so I just flipped the forward hangers. Fun times removing rivets. I welded the hanger on instead of drilling lots of holes. Also easier to relocate. I picked a spot directly above and tacked them in. Driveshaft is too long now. Set truck on it's weight. Axle centerline was short by an inch, so moved the hangers and buzzed them in. Drop came out to 4.5". Pinion angles up doing this, too far but not too bad.

 

With rear end lowered, the driveshaft is too long. It's too long at ride height, and the issue compounds when suspension is at full droop. And on top of that lowering the suspension has moved the range of motion up, but the droop limit was not. So the shocks allow the springs to droop 4" more than stock, and the shackles invert. So the hack is to chop the driveshaft and limit droop.

Driveshaft shrinker


After math and stuff, I determined I needed to shorten by 1-1/2". This yields 2" of slip yolk range at ride height, like it was before. I used the drop as a sleeve by removing a slice. Trim like a piston ring until there is a small gap for the tubing inner weld. Then weld all three pieces together.


Since the sleeve is short, it won't align the tubing by itself. And to clock the ends easily I clamped them to the table with shims to get everything level. Then bracing and clamps for the orthogonal plane. This leaves 3 windows open to start welding.


I chose to grind my ugly welds, haha


Slap it back in. Well almost. It's still a few inches too long at the over-droop condition. It will destroy the u-joints when it bottoms out the slip yolk and binds up. So before it can be installed have to deal with limiting axle droop.


The original adjustable limit strap, aka chain. Strong, cheap and readily available. Not quiet or light weight. I set the length to prevent the slip yolk from bottoming out. This is just temporary until I get new shorter shocks installed to limit the droop, and now I know what the extended max length can be.


Pinion is way off but went for a quick test drive. It vibes as expected. Need to cut axles perches and clock axle about 20*.
After that can move on to the front end.

 

Peeled off two layers of steering wheel covers. Found the rubber pad for the horn bar in the glovebox, so I put it on. Fits poorly. Plan to rehab the stock steering wheel with some epoxy and spray paint like I did for my 72.