Hi everyone,

just starting a new thread from the previous Owner (my best friend/brother Jchet729)

check out JChets Orange for the start of this truck. This is my version and continuation to restore my friends Dads 1979 F150 4x4.
from this point I will refer to JChet as Dad. Jchett729 is his son my best friend. Just so it doesn’t get confusing.


This is when JChet (dad) went to pick up the truck to bring it home. Some years back less than 10 yrs.

This is when (Dad) got it home and in the garage to start messing with it.

At some point not too long after this dad was diagnosed with cancer. So in the process of fighting that, as he got time he would tinker with stuff and this truck but mostly his race car. So he didn’t get very far with this truck. And started to tear it down and diagnose what needed to be done. He took the box off the tail lights out. Took the front turn signals out they were not working. And that’s about as far as he got before his health really declined and he couldn’t really get out and work on it.

This is how dad left the truck when he passed away.





so the truck sat by the shop in the front yard for a couple of years. And I would drive past it every day on my way to work and then on my way back home and always look at it wondering what the family was going to do with the truck. So when I asked his son my best friend Jchet729 what they were going to do with it. He told me his daughter wanted it because it was grandpa‘s truck. His daughter is like my niece so there is no way I was going to take the truck out from under her. So I left it at that.
One day driving past the house on my way to work I saw the truck wasn’t there anymore and was assuming my friend took it to his house to get it going for his daughter. So I hit him up asking what was going on and of course he did have it at his house and he was starting to tinker with it trying to get it running. One weekend I stopped by and he was actually in the backyard, as I walked around he had the truck out, it was idling running pretty good but rough. he showed the truck off to me and I was very impressed; it was in really good shape. And I thought to myself dad really can pick good trucks to mess with and how in the world does he find these things. Not too long after this he was deployed to the Middle East for the military and the truck was parked in his shed while he was gone.

After a year and a half or thereabouts my friend got to come back home and our families decided to get together for New Year’s eve and hang out. Somehow we got in the conversation of the truck and asking about how his mom was coming along with cleaning out the shop and getting dads stuff sorted out. I had asked if he was still going to get the truck going for his daughter here soon before she got her permit or got her drivers license. And he tells me she wanted both the truck and this old maverick that Grandpa had and he told her no she couldn’t have both she had to pick one. So she chose the car and at that note. I immediately asked what are you guys going to do with dad’s truck? And he said I don’t know probably sell it I have too many projects going on and I don’t have time to work on this also. So long story short we went back-and-forth with a little question and answers I got permission from my wife and we decided that I could buy the truck. At a price that we will just call a family discount. So this is the truck as it sat when I bought it in January of this year.

In the shed from when Jchet729 was deployed. As it was when I bought it.

 

So the first thing I did was pull the carburetor and take it home to rebuild it. I just knew the excelerator pump and power valve was shot. This was January and we had a build up of snow so we couldn’t get the truck out of the shed until it melted and I wanted to get started.




Sediment and debris in the carburetor. And ended up having it in the gas tank also. More on the gas tank later.

so I got the carburetor rebuilt and then it was a waiting game for the snow to melt.

 

Finally March the snow was melted and we could get the truck dug out of the garage.

Digging the truck out of the shop.

so we installed the carburetor with a new fuel filter and then had to blow the fuel line with air to clear the line and get it to flow between the tank and fuel pump. Assuming it had the same debris as the carburetor had. Got it to fire up and drove it out of the shop. It was running rough and we decided to make a run to the parts store for a new cap and rotor. Also we didn’t show any oil pressure and got a new oil sending unit. But I didn’t install it until later.


so installed the new cap and rotor and fired it back up and it ran better but it was still rough. The engine was giving off a funny miss and I determined that the timing chain was probably in need of replacing. So we fired it up again and decided to get it loaded on the trailer and bring it home where I could dig into it.



As I drove it up on the trailer JChet729 had to help pull the truck by hand to get it over the top. That confirmed the timing with the lack of power. We got it on and ready for transport to my house that night. We spent the rest of the day visiting with the family. We are no longer close by since he moved and don’t get together as much as we use to. 1 1/2 away.

 

So the next weekend me and my oldest boy 6 started in on the truck. It had a few lug nuts missing so ran to the parts store to get some and a few other things. Also I put the center caps on the wheels. It just looks funny without them. Clean the rims up with a little WD-40 and some 4 ott steel wool.

Taken later but cleaned up with the center caps

Same here just the rear.

then I started to tear into the front of the motor to deal with the timing and see what it looked like.

Starting in on the tear down.

I didn’t get any pictures of the full tear down but did get a few of the timing chain and my oldest son helping.

That is the problem

Definitely

He just jumps right in even after I told him no. I didn’t want the transmission lines bent. So he crawls in from under the truck so he can be in the action. I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh. So I let him help and to teach him what I know. Gotta love his eagerness to help.

We took the timing chain and gears off and that was about as far as we got that weekend. I stopped at the parts store Monday on my way home from work to order a new one. Also while I had everything off we got a new water pump. Fuel pump and a new negative battery cable it was in bad shape.

I have 4 kids and 1more on the way. They all think this is just the coolest truck and all of them help work on it one way or another. It’s turning into a family project. My 6year old in the truck. He just loves it.

 

So as I started to put the truck back together after getting the timing chain set. I realize I should go ahead and put a new thermostat in while I have the coolant drained. So ran back to O’Reillys to get one. So that weekend we got it back together. I say we but my kids came and went as they wanted. Turned a few nuts and bolts here and there as they wanted to help. Then I got it fired back up. Change the oil and oil filter, Tuned the carburetor the best I could and this is when I found out the distributor was locked up and wouldn’t move. With the timing light on it it was at 10 degrees BTDC. It was fine but I can’t fine tune the carburetor so I got it as close as I could. Took the kids for a test ride around the block. Since I have more kids than can fit in the truck that means I took 2 test drives around the block. 2 kids each trip. A girl and 3 boys so far. We won’t know what the 5th one is until it’s born. We never find out and make it a surprise.
So checking out the truck I found a surprise that JChet (dad) hadn’t found yet.

Can you find it? My first thought was I’m glad I found this before it had a chance to start a fire. It was for the radio so maybe that’s why it doesn’t work. 😁 or that’s what the green wire is for.


The next weekend I backed the truck out to start cleaning/power washing the outside and see what we have to play with.

Dirty glass

Cleaning the windows just to see what shape the glass is in.

Dirty

Clean

Backed out for power washing.


Just showing the difference in what I was getting out.

Same here dirty verses clean.

Clean truck

after I got it cleaned up my daughter came out to help and we decided to buff just the hood to show her how shiny we could make the truck.

Test run down the side of the hood.

Just the hood completed had to get in for supper.

Getting better looking. But not there yet. The truck not my daughter, she’s always beautiful.

 

At least it was a discharged .22.



Awesome truck man!

 

Pretty wild. I’ve heard of people using a jumper wire or even aluminum foil wrapped fuse to by pass a fuse temporarily but this looks like its been there a while.

Thanks, the truck is in amazing shape.

 

After all that the engine was still running a little rough. I put new plugs and plug wires. Found that 1 and 2 spark plugs were fouled which means sometime in the future I’m going to have to tear into the motor. I’m hoping it’s just the valve seals so I can just keep running it for now. It runs a lot better and only smokes when I first start it up. When the engine warms up it’s good.

It runs pretty good now but it does have a little lifter noise. So it will need to be refreshed in the future. It’s good for now. I can move it around and work on it and around it. I also installed the oil sending unit and it has good oil pressure. So one more thing I don’t need to be concerned about.

 

There’s more about this truck coming. I’m further along than what you see here. I just had the day off for Independence Day Weekend. So I have been doing a brain Dump the best I can to get you guys caught up.

Thank you Jchet729 for telling me about FTE. There is a ton of great stories and knowledge here. As a new member this site is impressive.

 

Nice looking rig!
That truck is a real survivor. Keep up the good work.

Your supervisor is a real cutie!

 

Thanks, Hopefully I can add some more tonight when I get home from work. I’ll have to see what the supervisor says

 

Yep, I understand that completely!

 

After we had washed the truck and buffed the hood and played around a little bit with it. The one thing that was getting on my nerves was the weatherstripping around the doors and the window had the typical dry rot, cracked, brittle, and half of the door weather strip was nonexistent. So I ordered new ones from LMC truck. My package from LMC truck showed up the next weekend after I had installed the spark plugs and wires and messing with the carburetor from the last post.

I spent this weekend taking the doors apart and removing the old weatherstrip pulling out the vent windows, the door window weatherstrip, and the door weather strip that goes on the cab.

Door weatherstrip

Vent window weatherstrip

Bottom window weatherstrip

Window track weatherstrip
.
i’m not real impressed with this weatherstrip kit that I got from LMC. It does the job for now, I can look at maybe changing it later. Anyway that took up my day for Saturday getting to work on the truck. I believe that evening also I needed to tinker with the washer fluid box I noticed the hose was disconnected and just hanging. So my two younger boys helped me take it off so I could inspect it and see what needed to be done there and whether or not I needed to order some parts.

My 4 yr old and 2 yr old came by to help. I took a video of them helping take the bolts out. After they got the bolts out then they wanted to sit there and watch the video. Where is good help when you need it. (My wife came out and happen to take this picture of us working on the truck)

2 year-old needed a little assistance but was happy he was helping.

4 year old had it covered but I had to help just to make sure he didn’t drop my ratchet.

We got the hose plug back in then I added some washer fluid just enough to give it a good test. And presto we had a little stream shooting on the window. And then I remembered how bad the 70s vehicle’s were for shooting washer fluid on the window. Nonetheless it works. Reinstalled it and had another thing checked off my list.

have you ever had a list, got something checked off of it and then you find out you got to put three more things on it; that’s kind of how this is going. So I did another test Drive after we got the washer fluid box installed (this is how you reward a 2 & 4 yr old )and I noticed The rear end slinging a little differential fluid around. Man now I have to do the pinion seal. So I just added it to the list. I’ll have to deal with that later but none the less I ordered the part along with the POR15 kit in preparation for working on the frame behind the cab. Since the box is off.

 

Good work!
Yes sir... you have some good helpers there!

I have seen others say that the LMC rubber is poor quality. I got a set from LMC before I read about this so I am waiting for mine to crap out on me. This chinese rubber substitute lasts just long enough to get out of the shop then it starts to deteriorate.
Steel Rubber makes GOOD QUALITY pieces .... made of REAL rubber that lasts.
I got a cowl rubber piece from them and as far as I know, they are the only ones that produce a true reproduction piece that FITS and LASTS! It even comes with the clips to hold it in place. Mine fit PERFECT.

 

The Funny thing is when I was ordering all the weatherstripping I must have misread the catalog and some how I ordered the individual weatherstrip that goes on the bottom of the windows, the interior and exterior where you would rest your arm if the window was down. And they are better than what was in the kit. But I didn’t open this box until I had already installed the poor fitting ones. So I just threw them behind the seat for now and think I will change them out later. I was tired of messing with it that day. But they look like they came from a different manufacturer. So it might be better to stay away from LMCs kit packages. I’m not sure if this is true but it kinda looks like it might be. Maybe someone else can weigh in.