Pivot

So, all of a sudden... it's different direction time. I am spending alot more time on this truck than I anticipated. I wanted to "just drive my truck" and that was the goal. Well, I am now thinking that since I have spent this much time, I don't want to take it apart again. So, I want to get this done in a way that will be a long term driver. So....

I am doing the Crown Vic swap. This involves the front suspension of the 2003-2011 Ford Crown Victoria. A benefit is the disc brakes (which I already converted) rack and pinon steering, and a lower stance.

I found a car on KSL Classifieds for $998 + 6.75% tax, out the door $1,065 and I bought it July 5th. My friend and his family were up from Arizona for the holiday and he helped me get it home.

Since I have the whole car, I am going to use every piece I can. Which means that the F100 is getting a 4.6l v8, fuel injected. I am hoping that this will up the mpg that I can get with this truck.

So, now to strip it down and sell the parts on ebay that I am not using. I am hoping to make back my money on the car purchase and get a free suspension and engine!

So far the AC control until, spare tire and owners manual have been sold. I need to clean up and get the rest of the pieces on ebay and for sale sites.

Bed problems

At some time in the last 50 years the bed on this 1967 got swapped for a 70-72 bed. Crash, who knows? But I don't like the rear reflectors that were mandated by the government.

Mod Shop Metal sells a $25 part that you can weld in to make the bed look like a 67 again!

Now, I am not a welder. I have a welder. So this is amateurish, but it's stuck to the truck.A little grinding and body filler, and no one will know... well you will. But hey, you're not telling anyone right?

New paint... getting ready.

Since the paint was going to be changed, I went to the paint shop and looked through their color book. I found one that was really close to what I wanted. I got some things that I needed to paint. Now to finish up the prep, fix the garage into a paint booth, and send the family out of town for a week or two while I do it!

Ironically the color is an exact match for the handrails at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Whod'a thunk it.?

New Seat... again

Ok, so with the color change I need a new seat.
I am selling the old, new, recovered seat now. Here is what I want to do.

The seat tracks should go in nicely. The problem I have heard is that the back could be a bit low and need to be shimmed up.

Paint is not good

I never expected a perfect paint job from the friend who helped me paint the truck. I did find some parts that were not going to work for me. So my plan was to repaint parts of the truck. The two tone of the dash had some spots where the tape failed and wasn't repaired before clear. So I wanted to repaint that. It just ended up being a total redo.

And while I am at it, I think a color change is in order.
This is what I am shooting for now.

Exhaust-ing

I ordered parts many, many, many months ago.

I am going to be running the Ford inline 6 300ci engine. I also will be running a set of EFI exhaust manifolds. I did a little internet research, which is really someone else who tried something, and I bought the Walker Y pipe (41566). It turns out that this fits perfectly.

To get the pipe in correctly (without hammering the daylights out of it) I took the motor mount nuts off. I was able to lift the engine up about 2 inches so that the pipe could be tweaked in and out. I also took off the Offenhauser intake. It gave more room when manhandling the long pipe in from the top.

  

This was done 11/25/2016

I then took the muffler I bought from Summit Racing. Walker 17827. This is an oval muffler and it turns out it's not the one I wanted. So it's in the garage and on Craigslist now... I went to O'Rielly's and had them order a round muffler for me. I ordered a Walker 17842. This has a 2.5in inlet and a 2.25in outlet. The pre-bent tailpipe Walker  45454 fits over the rear axle well. The hangers are in the wrong places, but I will cut those off shortly. I rented a pipe spreader from O'Rielly's to expand the spots where the pipes join and ended up using some $2 exhaust clamps from O'Rielly's as well for connecting. Welding the pipes could be in the future, but since I am not close enough to starting the engine, we will see if that muffler is going to work. If I need to change it, it will be easier without the welds right now.

 

 Completed 1/17/2017

Sanding

So, rather than sand the truck with a hand sander, I bought a Harbor Freight 6in air sander for $35 - 20% coupon.

This made a long job much easier. However, HF doesn't carry higher grit papers for this tool. So I ended up at the auto paint store for some 320, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 discs for it.

De-FORD-ed the hood.

Minus-ed the F100 emblem.

And sanded the truck. There is still some rust to take care of, but hopefully it's moving forward. 

I just want to drive my truck.