Hey guys,

I'm new to dentsides and just picked up a '74 F-100 Ranger 302 auto lwb. I'm thinking of fixing it up, but not a frame off restore. Just to have something that works and looks decent. This truck is kinda special because it belonged to a late, great friend of the family. I cut my teeth on fixing up a '86 F-150, but I am in no way a mechanic.

The truck is complete down to the hubcabs, but has rust in all of the typical spots(arches, bed floor, cab corners), My biggest concern is rust hole through the air vent box? behind the driver front fender.

Second, the rust on top of the windshield trim, no holes yet, except for a quarter-size hole on the inside above the windshield (behind sun visor) .

Radiator core support is damaged and rusted on one side.

Frame, cross-members and somehow the floor are good.

I will post pictures tonight.

Is this truck worth saving?

 

Absolutely worth saving, and we haven't even seen any pics. You could get a new cab, or have someone patch yours. The roof is pretty common, but the cowl vent tank is maybe a little less common. If you're comfortable working on the newer truck, the Dentside might prove to be a treat to work on - minus any stuck fasteners...

 

F-100's seem to be the most popular truck if you browse YouTube ...tons of videos of people pimping them and dropping them (I think it's lame tho). Definitely a valuable truck to keep.

 

 

Defiantly NOT worth saving.... Please send to me for proper disposal.

 

Decent rust under the trim. Door is missing a big chunk.
Ok haha. The pictures make it look better than it really is.

I haven't put any work into this truck yet except change the oil and rebuild the carburetor. It was sitting for the best part of 8 years. With 180,000 miles on it, the engine runs great with plenty of power and no noise. Smooth like a sewing machine, but noticed the dash gauge read good oil pressure until warm and the needle would peg to the N of normal.

So I installed a mechanical gauge and it reads as so, 40-50 psi idle and drive when started and falls to 30-40 cruising hot and 0 psi at hot idle in gear. Bumps up to about 20 when parked.

Im wondering if this could be something other than just a worn out engine? No noise and it doesn't smoke at all, but the zero oil pressure doesn't seem good.

 

300/4.9 FTW! Probably needs moar pressure, but I'll bet it'll last a good long time on what it's got now.

 

what weight oil did you use? I would try 15-40 to improve the hot pressure.
get on Eastwood.com and check out their rust products. its important to slow the rust until parts can be replaced.

 

I used 5 qt of Rotella semi-synthetic 10w-30 and a 1 qt of full synthetic 5w-20 because thats what I had. Figured at least it would flush the crud in engine. Ill check out Eastwood.

 

Yeah, you can't really look at it that way (money-wise) if it's something you love. But if you're relatively indifferent on that level, an old truck is quite frankly NEVER worth what it costs to rebuild it from a poor condition. Or almost never, as there are often exceptions.
Even if you do all the work yourself, the parts costs usually exceed the value of the vehicle. If you have anything done by the pros (especially body work!) you will never even come close to a return on your "investment" unless it's some rare Shelby/Stroppe one-off original-never-restored-barn-find with low miles and always garaged.
What's a truck like this worth in perfect shape? Maybe 10 grand to the right buyer? Would cost you $40,000 easy to have a shop restore it to driver condition. You want nice and restored? An easy $75 grand.
Parts alone these days can reach $10 grand without breaking a sweat.

So just trying to say, "you gotta wanna" when it comes to rebuilding an old rusted out rig.
But you said it was once owned by a beloved family member. That alone can make the journey worthwhile. If you are old enough to have kids that remembered and loved the relative too, they may also have fun working with you and inheriting it from yo someday.
Assuming of course that any kids you might have are even remotely interested in cars and old trucks!

Good luck with the decision.
(he says, playing the negative nelly side of the argument again! Sorry bout that)

Paul

 

Don't think of it as 'restoring' it, more like returning it to a driveable, usable, practical vehicle... and then working on the aesthetics a bit. Once you have a running, reliable truck you won't worry so much about the rest of it, and what you do want to do on it will get done because you actually drive and use it!

Change the oil for 20W-50 if you live in a warm climate and 15W-40 if you live in a cold one. Plain old semi-synthetic mineral oil is fine as these old engines will contaminate with particulate matter long before the oil breaks down due to heat cycling, shear stresses or any other form of degradation. As long as you use a filter ever change you should still get 3 to 4 thousand miles out of an oil change, 5 if you drive longer trips (30min plus) with less short runs.

Start any bodywork at the cab and then move to the bed. The cab will be the majority of the hard work.

- boingk

 

Ideally I would want a F-250 4x4 stick shift truck so it's hard for me to take on another project that I'm not passionate about. 2wd f-100 just doesn't do it for me. But the alternative was to let it rust or get scrapped.

For starters, I'll try to stop the rust where I can.

 

Let it keep rusting!!! Cover the body in a roll on bed liner!
make it drive able and use it, you'll have the time of your life.
Repairing the body is just insane.

 

If you're going to beat it to death on a farm or oil field or construction sites or something. That truck is kind of too nice for that, but we might have different standards...

However if most of your hauling is for personal projects, you're not on a time-clock, and you're going to be taking the time to load and unload carefully, it does make sense - especially if you're driving it in town, and have a garage to keep it in, and want to do the project...

 

If you don't want to spend to much money, but want a repair job that will stand up reasonably well... wire brush out all the rust, then treat it with a 'rust converter' type compound. Now etch prime it and throw some fibre-reinforced filler in there. This will provide a heavy-duty base for the top-coat of bondo, and after bondo and sanding you can prime and paint.

I did just that with a landcruiser to fix the A pillar and roof corners. Hell, I even told the next owner... it looked good so he didn't care at all.

If you want pictures let me know.

- boingk