Projects Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Fairly new to the HAMB. So to introduce my self, Here is a pictorial journey of my F100 project.

But first, my background is being a drag racer for 45 years. The most currently ride was (is) a 1965 VW Karmann Ghia. I’ve had it for 23 years, put thousand of runs on it, won the March Meet with it in 2009 (the only VW to win in any class in the entire history of the March Meet). And now, I’ve handed it off to my son, while I hold down the job of “Pit Bitch.” Anyway, enough about that.

I bought this F100 about the first of August this year. The intent is to make it my daily driver. It is fairly solid, but not a dang thing on it was functional. The last time it was tagged was 2003. At least the title was clean, and the transfer was fairly easy.



The Plan….

Everything starts with a plan….or at least it should. The trouble is sticking with the plan (I deviated from “The Plan” almost entire on the Ghia).

300 Inline 6, T5 trans, front power disc brakes, clean interior and engine bay, dropped beams, with relocated rear spring hangers for a four inch drop all around.
The exterior will eventually be dealt with. A little at a time, after it’s up and running.



Disassembly….

Man oh man, what a chore! Although the truck was fairly clear of any intense rust, just about all the body panel fasteners were rusted solid. I had to torch most of ‘em. Cut-off wheel on some, and others were finaly coaxed out after liberal applications of PB Blaster.



After a full weekend of work, the front clip was off

To be Continued…..

 

Next out was the motor and trans. I don’t think the motor had run in a long time. It wasn’t locked up though. The trans was a Warner T89 four speed. The shifter was off the rails or something. But I wasn’t planning on using it anyway. I gave it away to someone who needed it for parts.

Little by little, she was stripped down. Unlike other projects in the past, this tired old F100 didn’t seem to have a single functioning item. Not even the switches. I had to drill the ignition lock cylinder out to get the switch out of the dash.

Tearing the motor down revealed a few surprises. It was in fact the big 300, but it had the 240 cylinder head. This is desirable actually, because the chambers are smaller. 68cc vs 76cc. And it had the obligatory frozen water pump bolt that just twisted right off with little effort. There was enough left to TIG weld a nut onto the end though. The heat input into the bolt during that broke it free and it came out easily.

The motor had an engine tag on it from the last rebuilder. I reckon it was too much to hope for to have a virgin block. Anyway, Art Schedlers Engine Rebuilding in Fresno did the rebuild. Interestingly, I worked there as a crank grinder in the late 80s and early 90s. I may have ground this crank myself! Doubtful. But it coulda happened!

I ran a dial bore gauge down the holes to see where it was. I got my hopes up for a bit until the last hole I checked revealed a .005” taper and out of round at the top of the bore just below to the top of the ring travel. As it turned out, the block was already .040” over, so that meant a .060” over bore. This will be it’s last trip. At my age, probably mine as well. Hopefully the 300 will last as long as I do…..and vice versa!

 

Mike, those 300's are tough as a $2 steak so it should make a good, reliable engine for your project. Any plans to modify it along with the rebuild?

 

Thanks fer commenting! The goal is reliability and fuel mileage.
The basic motor is more or less stock. Along with the smaller chambered heads, I'm using 351 Windsor pistons. They have a 20cc dish as compared to the 40cc dish that the 300 pistons have. As it turns out, the 351 pistons are the same pin height and pin size too! After calculating everything out, that''ll give me a static compression ratio of 9-1. The cam is a stock profile, and it may end up being a smidge too short in duration to prevent pinging. Just have to wait and see.
I have the later model dual exhaust manifolds, because they flow nearly as good as a header, and who doesn't like the sound of an inline six with dual exhaust?
I was gonna use a long tube header. I have one, but decided not to use it, and I WAS gonna use an Offy or Clifford four barrel intake and either a small four barrel or a Autolite 2300 type carb. Current supply chain issues dictate a change in the plan. The induction to be used seems to be a banned topic, so we just won't discuss it!
I was even gonna keep a point type distributor. But modern realities caused a change. The intake manifolds are out of stock, and who know how long that will be so. I could not get parts for the original single point distributor. Getting a replacement was more money than an entire HEI type replacement. Besides, a GM based EFI module is just as easy to keep in the tool box as a set of points.

 

You know I'll be right there watching Mike.
Anything with a 300 Ford six (the best kept secret in drag racing) and I'm in.
Subscribed

 

Didn't know you were a member here FTF!
The worst area of rust on the whole body was the front of the bed. Debris had built up and allowed to sit for who knows how long. I’ve decided to just cut the entire bed floor out, build a perimeter shelf, add some cross members and build an oak plank bed. Just like a mid 60s Shiverlay had!

This truck had an immense amount of filth. Rats had made nests in the vent system, spider webs and egg sacks all underneath. The mud and dirt buildup underneath was more than I have ever seen of a vehicle. Once that was all scraped off, she didn’t look so bad! I thought for certain I would have to get the rear end housing and leaf springs sandblasted. Once the big chunks of mud were knocked off and it was pressure washed, it started looking pretty good!

Once all the dash stuff was stripped out, I could begin the “Building Back Better” plan.

It started with making an adapter to mate a T5 transmission to the stock bell housing. I “Could Have” just bought a small block bell housing and it would bolt right up. But then I’d have to buy a smaller 156 tooth flywheel. But I had a chunk of aluminum flat plate on hand from another project, plus a really bitchin’ set of tools. The skill too! So, I commence to making my own.

One of the other reasons I decided to make rather than buy was I found the tranny pilot hole was .022” out of concentric. I could make the correction with my adapter rather than resorting to off-set dowels

 

Yup. I've got two ongoing 300-powered builds going on myself. Check 'em out below.

 

After getting the motor off to the machine shop, and the bed off and most of the muck cleaned out, I turned my attention to the steering wheel. I like the look of a factory wheel, and although I spend a good chunk o’ change on some stuff, I’m kind of a tight-wad. I coulda bought a repo, but decided to fix the cracks on this one my own self. This will be the second one I’ve done. I used PC7 on the first one. Basically, I think it’s the same as JB weld. Since I have had really good results using JBW in the past, and knowing it’s super strong, that’s what I used.
First, I sanded the entire thing. which was not easy! It had at least two poorly done paint jobs on it. The top most coat was black, then metallic green, and finally to the original blue. The base material was black

I used a hacksaw blade to clean out the cracks, and just filled a few cracks at a time. I used a flat and round file to rough the filler into shape, and sanded it smooth first with 80 grit, then 150. Right now it has a good thick coat of hi build primer on it. I’ll finish it a bit later.
Time will tell if JB weld was a good choice!

 

Nostalgic SIDs is dropping factory I-Beams now

 

I thought Sid only did beam axles.
At any rate, I already have my drop beams from DJM. I would have liked a bit more drop, but they are in.

 

Nice truck Mike, I'll follow along on your build.

 

This looks like fun.I``ll saddle up and go along for the ride.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

subscribed, love the plan!

 

Looks like a very cool project..
Keep on sharing with us... and nice to have you on here..

 

Thanks guys! I'd hate to be havin' this much fun all alone!
I stripped all the wiring out of the truck. Every last bit. 55 years old, with typically hack job splices and as brittle as kindling. Not a single switch was usable, and the heater was removed too. I’ll be using an AC/Heat unit from Vintage Air. Here in Central California, it get HOT in the summer. AC is a must if I want my girl riding’ with me!

Once stripped out, I began clean-up and paint stripping. Like the steering wheel, the dash had at least two poorly done paint jobs, the final being the bile yellow/tan that the exterior is.

I will say, whoever did it, did a very thorough yet piss poor job. Everything was painted. It was obvious that the interior was removed and even the inside of the glove box door and ash tray were painted. Yet, it came off is sheets! It took me about a week of working on it an hour or so at at time to get the paint stripped using AutoZone paint stripper. Can’t get the good stuff in California anymore. Just took a bit more elbow grease is all. I got ‘er done after a minute or two!

It took a couple months to get delivery on my dropped beams. Once they arrived, it was short work to get those installed and get the new disc brake rotors put on so it could be rolled out and the massive amount of dirt under the truck could finally be swept up. It dang near like workin’ on it in a dirt lot!

Once that was in, I went ahead and rebuilt the rear brakes. And, assuming (assuming is generally a bad thing, except when you assume the worst) that the rear end seal were toast, I popped the rear cover off, got the pinion off and the axles out, cleaned up and put in new axle and pinion seals.

Now one of the surprises was the rear-end. I had Ass-umed, yes once again, that the truck would have a 9 inch. But no! It had a Dana 60 with 3.54 gearing. The good thing about a Dana is the pinion does not use a crush sleeve to set the pinion preload. It is a shim stack. This meant that it was an easier deal to just pop off the yoke, replace the seal and torque the yoke nut back on with a big-ass cheater bar!

One wheel stud on the rear axles was broken, so I replaced all of ‘em. Now she was a roller!

 

At the end of August, my son and I went to a hot rod swap meet in Tulare and the Farm Show grounds. I found these at the first booth I stopped at, recognizing them right away as 240-300 Ford headers. In stainless steel no less! I asked how much, figuring the typical swap meet pricing scheme....he says "70 bucks." So I bought 'em. Aside from having a little yellow house paint overspray on 'em, they were in new condition. Never been run. However, they reside in the attic. I already have a pair of late model 300 dual iron manifolds on hand. I want to use those. This will be a daily driver, and I want it fairly quiet and trouble free, if the is such a thing.
But if anyone out there can use the headers, feel free to shoot me a message

 

The Dana was an option on the 1/2T models and pretty rare. OEM Replacement axles unfortunately are unobtainium these days so if there's any question about the axle bearings I'd put in new ones 'cause you don't want one going bad and damaging the axle. A buddy had one 25 years ago and needed an axle and it took two months and a nationwide salvage yard search to track one down. Wasn't cheap either, although these days you could probably have one made.

 

I found that out Steve. The code on the door tag spelled it out. Dana 60 with limited slip. I used to do gear set-ups for drag racers and street racers years ago. The Dana was my least favorite thing to work on. They're just a pain. If it came down to it, and anything at all went seriously wrong with this rear end, I'd most likely just replace the whole thing with a 9 inch, or a rear end out of a Crown Vic and get rear discs to boot. I'd even put a 12 bolt GM in it if it were the most convenient thing at the time. Function over originality every time.

The axle bearings were actually in really good shape, and looked pretty recent. But they didn't put axle seals in it anytime in it's recent past. The ones that came out had a leather seal cup. The outer bearing retainer flange was gooped up pretty good with silicone. I thought it was funny.

 

You have done a lot of good work in a short time. I am looking forward to more progress updates.

 

So far I'm only up to the end of September. By this time I've had the truck for two months.
So, toward the end of September, we start getting dew overnight. I didn’t want to do any more rust work than I had to, so I prepped and squirted some self etching primer on the dash. I told wifey that after the time changed, she would lose her spot in the garage so I could work inside. Doing the dirty work outside was better tho.

I’ve had the block and head back from the machine for a while, and now that the bare sheet metal was tended to for the time being, I set about engine assembly.

For the last 20 plus years building air cooled VW race engines, it has been MANDATORY to do a pre-assembly fitting of all the components. Things’ll get ugly quick without doing so. This Ford motor is just a stocker and has been together already. So a thorough block cleaning, ring gapping and bearing check was all that was needed. I did not check the deck height until it was together. I was just a tiny bit concerned it would be too tight. But it checked out at .028 to .030”. The chamber volume after the valve job checked out at 72cc. Based on that, I’d assume it’s had a valve job or two done in its time. At any rate, we’re right at 9.0-1 on static CR. Hopefully that’ll work well.
I got 'er all buttoned up, balancer included, and as I was getting the intake and exhaust studs out of the box (I like studs), I cringed. The front and rear main oil galley plugs were in there from when I pulled 'em to clean the block.
Dammit! So, fortunately the gasket coating on the timing cover wasn't totally dry yet, so off came the balancer and the cover. Fortunately I didn't have to yank the cam out. The holes in the cam gear allowed me to put the plug back in with the cam in place! Didn't even damage the gasket!

 

At this point I should add that the balancer I got did not have the timing notch in the right location. So using my handy dandy screw in piston stop, I rotated the engine back and forth bringing gently against the stop and marking the balancer. Exactly between those two spots is exact TDC. Then I filed a nice "V" notch at TDC.
I then rotated the engine to 15° or thereabouts BTDC and got the distributor pre-timed by lining up the reluctor with the pick-up. A little center punch mark on the distributor base and corresponding mark on the block will allow the dizzy to be removed and replaced and dropped right back in, for (hopefully) a trouble free initial start!
The plan is to crank the engine with the starter without plugs or rocker arms to get oil pressure before the first start. It'll turn fast without putting any undue stress on the fresh cam.
At least that's the plan!

 

nice
I also recommend placing a hash line 30 degrees ahead of the TDC mark on the damper. Since the timing cover is marked off in marks up to 14* advance now you can check total advance using the 30* hash mark (minus the vacuum advance).

While you're at it you could place marks every 120 degrees on the damper. Useful for adjusting valves, etc. which, with your VW background, I know you'll understand.

I'd post pictures of some so marked but as you know I am currently inCArcerated and don't have access to my files.

 

Good tip! I will make it so!
In CArcerated....that's funny!
Slow day at work here, so I'm able to manufacture quite a bit of goof off time today!
The gauge bezel

Man what a mess. The factory piece is plastic. This one, 56 years old, is very brittle plastic. I thought I’d try “welding” it back together with a soldering iron. While I was able to stick broken parts back on, the slightest tweak would break off another chunk. This ain’t gonna work. Aftermarket pieces were around $200.

But wait. I have a pretty fair stock of 16ga sheet steel. I have some bitchin’ tools!

So, I started with some chip board and made up some templates. First I bent up a “surround,” located the screw holes and attached it into the dash opening. Then I made another template for the vertical section that actually hold the gauges. I cut the shape I needed to two pieces of 3/4” plywood, and a piece with 3/4” extra around the outside edge to use as a flange. I clamped that piece between the two plywood pieces and rolled the edge over to form a flange. It worked fair. I shoulda made less of a flange, or pie cut the tight radius. but it still will work.

So then a bunch of holes were drilled into that flange, and I rosette welded it to the surround.

A little trim here, a little trim there, locate the gauge and indicator light holes and the metal work is pretty much done. JB weld was used to make a nice radius inside, and some vinyl “U” trim for edging, and it fits just right!

Initially, I was gonna use some “Chrome” vinyl wrap material. But with white gauge faces, and the dash itself will be Wimbledon white/Dark red two tone, I decided to keep it simple and go for the contrast of matte black

 

This post brings the project up to the current date.

A little sheet metal work on the fire wall and on the dash. The thing had six switch holes, not counting the ignition switch. So, I have a light switch, a wiper switch and I’ll leave one for a USB charger. No manual choke and the heater control will be on the Vintage Air console under the dash.

So, I made a three 7/8” circles, and TIG welded ‘em in. Also on the firewall, there were two rectangular holes for the factor wiring passthrough, along with two round holes. I’m using a 22 pin WeatherPac bulkhead fitting instead, which requires a 2” hole. Just one!

So instead of putting a patch on each of those holes, I just cut out a square section and made a single panel.

Then after some dusty sanding, grinding and scrubbing, some some Eastwood Rust encapsulator was applied on the firewall. This was followed by epoxy primer of the firewall and inside the cab, followed by a few coats of Wimledon white. The color coats were done at Zero Dark Thirty. Air is calm, no one up and about....
This particular brand is a bit creamier colored than I remember my old Dodge pick-up being. But still I find it pleasing. So it stays. Combined with dark red on the bottom half of the dash (below the trim line) and steel wheels and other color accents…..eventually,
I think it’ll look OK.
So that’s where I’m at. Totally up to date as of Nov2nd.
More to come in the months ahead for certain

 

Very nice job on the surround. I'll note here Ford did use metal surrounds on some models, although finding one today might be a bit tough. Generally found on uber-cheap, no-chrome-trim pickups, they're usually painted metal mimicking the plastic surround. Also found on the bigger commercial-type trucks (1T and larger), with many of these set up for a tach and full gauges and some are even chromed.

 

You're absolutely right Steve. Finding those metal surrounds is tricky. One has to be "Johnny on the Spot." And I don't use PayPal so that puts me at a disadvantage to get those types of things. And the F600 gauge panel....yep those are highly sought after. Finding one of those is trickier still.
A lot of these people selling them want dang near new prices for old stuff.
There's also an outfit that sells blank ABS plastic bezels. When I found those, I was nearly finished. I figured if I royally messed this up it could be a last resort type thing. But it came out OK after all.
And.....for only about six hours worth of work, I saved the 85 bucks the ABS bezels cost! How about THAT?

 

It always amazes me how much these engine stands can take. A fully dressed 300 six and with the extra length of a six has got to be a real test for it. Engine looks great, should a fun runner.

 

A cheapskate after my own heart! LOLOL. I'm getting to where I will at least try to build items rather than pay what I consider outrageous prices for some aftermarket stuff that's seldom as good a solution as what I build. And yeah, I've been having sticker shock over the prices of some rare bits I need. But if you gotta have it, you gotta have it... grumble grumble...

 

Cool project. What's the history of the truck?

 

Steve, I got really accustomed to building my own stuff with the VW. For what I wanted to do, aside from the basic motor, pretty much nothing existed off the shelf. A lot of the stuff I built from scratch, including the complete turbo intake and header, suspension, and a bunch of other knick knacks. Other people just spend the money to have someone else do that kind of stuff.
So yes. I am a cheap-skate. And not to brag, but I am a cheap-skate with a pretty broad skill set and a "bitchin' set of tools!" (Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
And a lot of times, I build my own own stuff for the same reasons many of you guys do....because I can!
Admittedly, some of the stuff I build doesn't work out as planned. Sometimes the piece can be modified to fix the issues, and sometimes you just have to cut the losses and start over.

Treb, I don't know the history of the truck. I bought it non-running, and last tagged in 2003. I was the third "owner" since the title had originally been signed over. So two people gave up on it before even starting.

After the disassembly, I found some probable reasons it was parked, and probably why previous intentions never got off the ground. Absolutely nothing was functional. The fuel tank had rusted through on the bottom, and the fuel line had a long slit-like hole in it. Although the motor turned freely, it was not gonna run on its own. I knew that going in. The body was fairly solid with some minor rust issues. Mostly surface rust that scrubbed off, but there are some areas that need more attention. The goal is to get it running and driving with a presentable interior and engine bay. The external rust repair and body work will commence once it gets to that point.