Projects '60 F100 Daily Driver Project.

Okay, a quick update. Haven't really gotten into much. You know, with the holidays and all.

But, I did manage to beat out a little side project I've been wanting to get done. This thing is a daily, so it needs cup holders.

When I was coming up with this design, I only had two requirements.
1. It had to stay with the aesthetic of the truck.
2. It had to be able to move but not go rolling around the cab.

Took some measurements, made a mockup out of cardboard, started cutting up some particle board I had laying around the shop and this is what I came up with.


The mockup was taken apart and used as the templates for this thing. Cut everything out, glued and screwed it.

It's basically just three quarters of a box with fat hockey stick-like wings to give it that Bowling-Alley Chic feel.





Here's what I came up with, vinyl wise. Found this close matching red and perforated gold at JoAnne's and thought that together they felt very T-Birdy, so I went with it.



Sprayed everything down with good old Super77, left it tack up and started laying out the vinyl.



I covered the box in vinyl and installed a nice set of marine style stainless cup holders I found on Amazon for like $9 bucks.

Before covering the wings with vinyl, I used good old fashioned Home Depot aluminum flat stock and bent it around the perimeter. Once made to fit, they were held in place by some countersunk, dome head, stainless screws.





After that, the trim came back off and the red vinyl went on. I cleaned up the aluminum a bit and gave it a nice brush finish with progressive grits of sandpaper, finishing up with a fine Scotchbrite pad and screwed it back on.

Presto-chango, one cup holder guaranteed to make your Mom's 1950's formica and aluminum kitchenette set go all metal-flake green with envy.



Time for a test fit.







'Fits good.

Now I have to get off my ass and get this transmission out.

 

Spiffy AND you get a nice hidden compartment under the seat to keep good stuff out of sight.

 

Looks great,
I need cup holders for my woody, thanks for the idea.


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ccain,

I love the console/cupholder! The vinyl and aluminum trim work together really well. It looks great!

 

Nothin' much to report.

I didn't get any pics, but I pulled the trans and overhauled it with new clutches, seals, shift kit, modulator... yadda yadda. Slopped it back in and aside from the output shaft seal being missing from the overhaul kit, there were no slip ups or issues and it shifts a lot smoother. 1st and 2nd shift a lot smoother and 2nd to 3rd is quicker. Oh, and no leaks.

I also ran new metal trans cooler lines to replace that honkin' long ass string of hose the PO had zip-tied to the frame rails.


Now I'm working on the exhaust to get rid of those stupid assed "leaf blowers" shooting out the back of the mufflers. Gonna put an X pipe on it, new mufflers, and and shoot the tail pipes out the back on either side of the tank. Film at 11.

Also, went on a little side quest. Those ford truck tail lights weren't doing it for me.
Eventually I may french something in back there, but for the time being, '63 Impala lenses are the right size, I just needed to drill two new screw holes in the housing to accommodate the new lenses.

I think the new lenses gives this thing the bit of chrome the ass end needed.





Again, not much of an update, but life has a way of screwing me out of shop time.

-D

 

Like the new taillights.

Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone

 

ccain,

The taillights look great! That is a simple, awesome looking change. Good work!

 

I agree with the need for a bit of chrome on the rear end... these trucks are a bit agricultural on the ass end!
Love the project!

 

Okay gang. It's been a while since an update.

I didn't get any pics, but I was able to get my exhaust figured out and installed.

I made out like s bandit thanks to the free exhaust pipe I got from a friend of a friend who owns what's left of a defunct muffler shop.

Went from those dumbass leaf blowers...



to some nice chrome tipped duals pokin' out under the rear valance.



Holy hell, moving that exhaust really quieted the inside of the truck. No more droning from underneath.

**Damn... I need to pound that tailgate flat. Geez. Poor thing looks like Bigfoot tried to have sex with it!**

I also installed new hood bumpers to keep that behemoth from slapping the fenders over every bump. Damned old thing is REALLY quiet inside now. Holy hell. What a difference!

Now... I've got a problem.

I've known from the get-go that I had to address this because the motor mounts are shot anyway. But whomever "fabricated" these pads for the motor mounts called it in that day.







These things flex like Gumby's dick. They're gonna end up cracking the frame or worse.

So... I if you guys could throw some suggestions my way, that'd be awesome.

Do I just box 'em in and add a couple of gussets, or start from scratch? Either way, I have to yank the engine to get at them anyway, so...

 

I want to lower my 60 F100 too but not to the point that it looks absurd so I agree with 38chevy454.

I think we have a lot of frustrated minitruckers here. Traditional hotrods were not lowered so far that they look goofy

 

Gonna have to have a chat with Sid, but I'm honestly considering the same setup as on @Chris ' 57 from this thread:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1957-f100-spring-project.1187532/

Only, I don't think I'm going to adjust the rear down as much as his. I like the slight rake and how it looks with the slots.

 

Nice

 

I used the Speedway Universal SBF engine mounts in mine. I'll see if I have any pics of them installed. Of course the frame side tabs were far too short, so I had to fab my own.

 

They look very much like what I had in mind. Man, I would love to see pics of them installed.

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I would box those motor mounts and then add a crossmember to connect them.


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I'll get some pics tomorrow and upload them.

 

Over achieved... walked out to the garage and took some pics... Took longer to resize them than it did to take them.

Engine is offset to the Passenger side about 1.75" if I remember correctly and the drivers side mount had to be notched for a small drain plug that was in the block.
Hope these help.

 

Nice truck! I like the work you've done on it.

If it were mine I'd screw up everything you've done and put an FE in it, you know since the mounts need to be redone and all. Hehe.

 

Thanks, @fauj ! I really appreciate it.

 

No worries! Glad I could help a bit.

Stay safe!

 

Presenting the "Insta-gasser look" mod!



Just add lumber.



Got bored... building a shed... staying outside... social distancing... from the wife... before we kill each other.

 

Looking good! I need to build a shed too, damn another reminder! lol

 

Okay, so you know how goes. You go in to fix one thing and you end up finding about six other things you have to address. That has been my week.

Replaced the PO's 2 foot long fuel line hose from pump to carb with a nice, clean, bent metal line.

Got that all buttoned up and found a small coolant leak coming from the heater hose.

Replaced the hose, had the truck idling to come up to temp and belch the air out of the system and I hear this grinding.

Sure as shit, alternator bearings were toast. It's been a while since I had one apart so rather than just get a reman, I opted to tinker with it.



Stripped and painted.


A little uneven brush wear. Bearings were toast.


There was no support bracket from the block to the bottom of the alternator. Just a singular, long assed bolt running through the mounting tab of the alternator, through a 3" spacer, and into the front of the head.

PO had the belt cranked so tight he bent the long assed bottom bolt. Alternator sat crooked enough to put strain on the bearings.

I made up a bracket from some shop scrap to avoid that mess again.



I didn't take any pics of the reassembly because I just wanted to get the damned thing together, and by the time I remembered to take pics, I was sliding the fan spacer on the shaft.

I ordered the parts and the shipment got lost. I had to wait a couple of extra days for parts in order to get this thing back on the road and this cut deep into my weekend.

Nevertheless, it went back together. I tested the rotor and stator, cleaned it all up, soldered in the new rectifier and brush set and put everything back together. Old pulley had marks in it so I replaced it.


I hadn't seen this particular one-wire conversion set-up before, but it's pretty neat.


So, anyway. it's all back together, tests out at 14.2 volts and is quiet as a churchmouse. And, at the end of the day, I'm into the thing for about $40.


Also, I keep finding the PO's "I'll get back to that" stuff all over the truck. While I was waiting for parts, I noticed that the lower grille wasn't fastened to the upper grille at all. I bolted it all together to put it right and ended up solving most of the rattles I had up front. Win-win.

 

Very nice repair, I am envious, been wanting to work on mine, hell even bought a bigger house with a bigger garage, but didn't manage to buy more time! lol

 

Nice fix on the alternator - I've never had one apart before. Thanks for sharing that, gives me the idea I might try to fix the next one that goes out before I just buy a new/reman one.

 

They're just nuts and bolts like everything else, and the reman kits are cheap. Toughest part is getting the pulley nut both loose and tight. Other than that, they're pretty self explanatory and the reman kits come with detailed instructions. Not that I'm an Alternator Surgeon or anything, but if you crack one open and get stuck, just PM me and we'll work through it together.

Okay, kids... it's update time!

So, this thing never really felt like a truck inside nor did it look right. The interior is stuck in 2003 and is not aging well aesthetically. And that velour headliner hung over me like a dark cloud.



So... I ripped it all out.



Good riddance! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.



Here's the substructure stuff I saved to reuse and a nice roll of ivory vinyl.



3M Super 77 is the sticky, golden nectar of the gods. Here's some recovered panels.



And here's the finished product... well, I still have a few spots I have to go over, but I'm pretty tickled with how its turning out.



Next is the seat and that god awful, saddle colored, deep pile, 70's custom van carpet. Oh, and sun visors.

Oh, so here's a weird thing to find. There is a seat upholstery under this upholstery. You can feel the piping under the velour cover. There is black vinyl hanging out under the edge where it's hog ringed to the frame and its hog ringed separate from the brown vinyl. I may carefully pop off this upholstery to see what's under it.



Either way, I've got some seat upholstery picked out to order. I wish I could find upholstery that is right for the year of the truck, but that's a pipe dream. Besides, it's probably way above budget.

Well, that's about it... Oh, yeah, I forgot, I posted a thread looking for some specific door mirrors which I was able to locate. They'll be here Saturday, so I'll post up an update when I get them.

Have a good one, guys! And if you can't be good, be good at it.

ttyl

 

Thanks for the encouragement regarding alternators. That new headliner is SO much better! Nice work.

 

Here's the link to the thread about the mirrors. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...irrors-any-ideas-found.1197774/#post-13639433

I had to come back and add the link because I forget you guys don't know what's going on in my head. I start going on and on about mirrors and everybody is like... "huh?"

Anyway, early-onset dementia aside, one of the mirrors came today. Looks like I found the right ones.

 

Nice work! My Dad bought one new in late 59 for the ranch. I promptly took it to Madera Drags and won C/S. Wasn't allowed to drive it after that. He finally gave it to me 19 years later.

 

I keep looking at this pic... d'you guys reckon that the "bed rails" on this truck could possibly be repurposed lake pipes or even functioning custom exhaust that came up through the forward stake holes?