EDIT: Working on posting photos... Hi everyone, I've been looking for a 61-66 F100 project for awhile now in order to pass the time while at Fort Hood, TX. I found a solid '66 F100 short bed that I'll have home within the next week to start working on. It's a factory 352, 4-speed 435NP with a granny gear, Dana 60 with factory locking 3.54 gears. It hasn't run in a few years, but according to the previous owner it "ran when parked" for whatever that's worth. lol. It needs some body work, but mostly just bumps and bruises from being used around their property. The tailgate is completely gacked from someone backing into the truck with a tractor. Luckily, because it sat out in the desert it doesn't have very much rust to take care of. My plan is to build up a 390 with decent heads, cam, intake, etc. or possibly find an another OT FE motor (in the vicinity of 428ci if you know what I'm sayin), as well as give it a decent hot rod rake, steel wheels and hubcaps, and a 4 speed toploader. Should be fun. My main concern is keeping the rust from spreading in the vital areas like the cab corners, mounts, drip rails, bed. Being in TX right now it's not much of an issue, but once I get it back to Baltimore I know I'll be fighting the moisture. I was thinking of just knocking the surface rust off and using a clear primer like some Rust-oleum auto body primer in clear to keep it from spreading. That way until I get it painted I don't have to look at splotches of primer. I'm not one much for the PaTiNa look, but I just want to keep it from becoming deeper rust. Any thoughts on that?
That 60 is geared perfect. Lots of support for it. I wouldn’t trade it for a 9. But I have a 9 I would trade for it
I'm going to clean up the surface rust on the drip rails, but I'm not sure what the best method to seal them up would be. I'm guessing there's some sort of automotive caulk I can put down on there? Also, from what I can tell DJM's dream beams are the go-to way to lower the twin-I-beam front end. I don't want to slam the truck, but want a nice rake. What's a conservative way to lower the rear? I'm really not interested in flipping the axle and doing a C-notch. I need to still use this as a parts hauler truck. I've been reading up on different methods. I think the majority of the big patches will come off fine, but I'm more concerned about difficult seams and spots like the drip rails, cab corner, etc., then actually SEALING it so it doesn't come back.
Most panels rust from the inside out, so if there is rust showing on the outside then its already too late. I would clean out every nook and cranny, then coat the insides of the panels with a good epoxy primer. If your not planning to paint it immediately then using wax oil on all the enclosed areas helps, but it makes a hell of a mess. It looks like the majority of the rust in your photos is just surface rust from the paint wearing thin, rubbing compound works good to clean that off, then Carnauba wax the whole truck, reapply every few months if its sitting outside. Or you could also get your local auto paint store to mix you up some color matched paint and just fog some paint in all the areas that primer or bare metal is showing through.
This is what I'm thinking I'll probably do. Right?? lol. There's a reason I looked for a project while I was down here.
I read up on that stuff and it looks pretty good. Don’t know what I hadn’t heard of it before. Say I wanted to knock off the surface rust like on the cab corners, what would you recommend I start with?
The original 352 is a nice jumping off point for a much larger FE motor. With a nominal overbore (.050") you have the standard bore of a 390, add a 390 crank and you are there. With a 428 crank you have a 410 (a Mercury motor built for torque). With aftermarket stroker kits you can go all the way to 445 cu. in. Of course you will need better heads to feed the increased displacement but there are plenty of options, factory as well as (OT) aftermarket. Lou Manglass
CLR and buffing compound will go a long ways. If you found some color match to fog in over the bare metal that wouldnt hurt. Open the kick panel vents on both sides, dig and vaccuum all the crud you can out of them, they will be full, once theyre clean that will help kick panel and body mount rust from happening
Don’t paint it.....That is an honest Texas truck. I know as Ive spent the last 66 years here. Gibbs is good. You just have to apply it regularly.
I hate to be stupid, but are 100% sure it’s a Dana 60 . I have seen a Dana 44 in early trucks , never seen a 60 , 5 lug in a Ford 1/2 Ton . That does not mean they were not there , but super rare . A real son of a gun to swap years in vs. the 9 in. Bottom casting near the cover will define if it is a 44 or 60 . It will be cast into the housing . Any housing 65 -79 will be a direct bolt in swap , in fact from 48 to 79 had very slight changes mostly shock mounts on the rear axle housing . Again if you need any help or small parts , my Buddy has owned 3 of them to date .
Read um and weep. Lol. Unless it's been swapped out at some point, but I have no reason to believe this truck is anything but original.
I have to agree , you are 100% correct . It’s rated at 3300 lb same as the 9 inch . I have to honest , I have snagged 100s in the junk yards through the years , not one have I ever seen with a Dana 60 . That’s a rare bird in deed . But again you are correct by the door code it is in deed a Dana 60
I've got the truck back at my garage now. Working on getting the 352 fired up, but it's going to need brakes, tires, and the wiring gone through since I'm finding some loose ends. Poking around on classified I found a 66 Q-code Thunderbird with a 428 sitting in a field, so naturally I bought the motor out of it and today a buddy and I went and pulled it out. It's supposedly a 70,000 mi motor, but I severely doubt it. It turns over great though. I plan on taking it to someplace in the Fort hood area (Eaton Balancing?) to rebuild the short block and go over the heads so that I can assemble it. I'm torn between calling it Rocket Dog II after the F100 my dad had when I kid and The Rust Tractor since there's a weathered bumper sticker on the tailgate that reads "Rust Tractor" lololol
Make sure you get a 428 flywheel as those are the only externally-balanced FEs.... Good score on both the truck and the motor. Those are getting very hard to find around here.... First year for the twin I beam, great front suspension for a truck; those will take a beating. One tip; unless you plan on high-speed off-road excursions, run as stiff a front shock as you can, that will reduce bump steer by a lot. The last one I had, I ran Gabriel 'Adjustable E' set on full stiff. High speed on logging roads broke shocks/lower mounts though... LOL The big Dana rear in the F100 is very rare. Had a co-worker who had one, he needed a replacement axle and it took forever to get one.
The floor pans are COMPLETELY gone. This thing was seriously rusted out. I didn't take pictures, but I could have rolled under the car and sat up in the middle of the vehicle. It's still for sale I believe if you want it. PM me and I can get you in contact with the owner. Noted. This was an automatic car, so there was no flywheel unfortunately. I'll have to do some more searching or buy a new one. I wasn't planning on picking up a motor so soon after getting the truck, but this came up and was a smoking good deal, so I moved on it. It'll be a while before I start tearing this 428 down. I did some research on the head casting and they're C6AE-R heads, which look like they're Cobra Jet-like ports with standard sized valves. Pretty happy about that.
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