So pickup this '54 f100



Parked in bush for 30 years

 

Turns out it was my brother in laws. New in 54, and drove on farm for over 30 years.
Quick trip to Manitoba, and it goes into the shop.



IMG 1636

 

Tear it down to frame

 

And start the long road to rebuild.
Daughter sandblasts frame.



Do it yourself sandblasting bay....never doing it inside shop again....

 

Put in mustang II IFS



Straightend a crossmember



Boxed the front for the ifs



Rebuilt rear shackles









Finished suspension with motor mounts

 

Then on to power. Put feelers out to friends for an engine.
Got lucky on a 355 with Turbo400, new rebuild with 20k km on it.



Donor truck '87 chev after ripping all apart
It donated engine, trany, exhaust, rad, seat and various other parts.



Cut frame, put on hitch and poof! Trailer!



Little cleanup



Ready to go

 

High compression heads, holley 650
Should go.
After having it sit 5 years, i checked it all out.
Check compression, dry, no oil. Some over 100psi, but a couple cylinders under 60. I though oh no....
So put some oil to losen rings.
Poof! Instant 180psi compression in all 8!


Test run, and engine flush

 

Rear disks

 

Another Canadian prairie truck saved! Looks like you are well through the way there. Welcome to the forum, looking forward to progress updates.

Dave

 

Then major repairs to cab
Repaired floorboards, not rotted completely through, but a few holes.



Design flaw from henry...what could you be thinking? A hole in the wheel well?!



Patches on bottom to close holes



Steering fitment





Double joint linkage to rack





And fit the front clip and fenders on to give me some hope!



Cut out inner wells for ifs towers

 

Then the cab comes back off for rust treatment with naval gelly and then the bottom gets coated.



Oh ya, all the rust cut out and repaired on cab and fenders.
Box flattened, and stripped.

And thats the end of the really dirty stuff.

 

Gas tank in good shape so a cleaning and back on it goes





Test new sender to make sure before cab goes on.

 

Then the cab is focus
Da sand
Clean, prime, block sand, prime sand fix, sand, fix, sand fix. Did i say allot of work getting it straight?



Had to let it sit a couple weeks so the primer would stick!





Initial prime





Turned back into a leopard

 

And then final seal coat




Wet sand

And then paint
3 coats of valspar blue, one ac21 clear with a silver pearl, 3 more coats of clear and finished product!




Just paint









Pearl and clear just make this worth all the work






Close up of pear finish. Doesnt do it justice.

 

I really want to see this in the sun!
That will have to wait as it hardens and then the cab goes back on for the last time!
Re-hook up steering and brakes.
On to electrical, interior (upholsterer is half done seat and rest of interior)
Ill update once thats done