Projects Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Left a plastic shopping bag in the inlet of a water pump once. Thought it was a smart move until memory failed. Plugged up a perfectly brand new radiator.

 

I'll have to remember that one Johnny!
The radiator has yet to be installed.
I see you're from Downey. Close to my old stompin' grounds a a kid. I lived in Bell Gardens from '62 to '70, and my mom worked at Downey hospital. I understand my old elementary and jr. high school is predominantly Spanish speaking now. It was a working class neighbor then, I reckon it still is.

 

The demographics have changed. Move to Downey from Bell in 96. There were many on the block in Downey that bought brand new in 54. Today, well, time has put many to rest.

 

Success!
It really is amazing that now that the blockage was removed from the reservoir hose, it took about 10 pumps of the pedal to get 'er bled. One more system completed.
And it only took a week to finish a 30 minute job!
Now I can move on.
I guess fuel lines are next.

 

Check for plastic plugs this time!!

 

Ha! Absolutely!

 

Just found this thread. Now I want one.

Back when, I had the daily pick of two tow tks with that style cab.

 

Tom, last summer when I decided to go ahead with a project such as this, my son said, "C10." So I looked around. Around here in Central California, they were just too much money. But the "Slick side" Fords.....yeah, I really like the styling too!

 

FYI Fun Fact: It is a federal offense to have that on a car. The law dates back to the days of Prohibition where similar smoke screen devices were used by moonshiners to evade apprehension.
As are flamethrowers...

But then again, it is a federal offense to remove or disable emissions control devices. The more pragmatic question then becomes, "But who's looking????"

 

I like those old Fords...
Cool project, nice work, and I also like the 300 / T5 drivetrain!

 

The T5 is in our future also. I have the 7 leaf rear spring pack with a propane tank in the bed. I have a tough jobsite in/out and with a load of heavy bits, I can experience some epic wheel hop then a bunch of razzing from the peanut gallery. Did you have any bellhousing match up issues with the 300 or any hot tips I should look for concerning bolt up. I'll try to keep the Z bar for simplicity.

I didn't go the DJM drop beam route because the cost of getting it here was prohibitive for only a 3" drop. Could you comment a bit more on the beam issues as I have a friend now considering one?




.

 

Hey Whitewall. DJM shipped free at the time I ordered, so that saved $100. It took over eight weeks. The website said four to six. And I had to keep after 'em to get info out of 'em.
The beams are scratch built, which is great....all new material. The main part of the beam steps up 1/2" or thereabouts at each step. The main issue I had was the middle step contacts the underside of the crossmember before it hit the bump stop. They just need to disclose this. The other thing I haven't addressed yet is there is no provision for a travel limiter to keep the beams from using the shock as a stop when the vehicle is unloaded. So, those are my three main issues.
After the fact, I came across John's Beams. This guy uses stock beams as a core and cn do custom drop heights. I woulda went that route if Ida known.
On the bellhousing, the reason I built my own adapter was because the pilot hole for the trans was .022" out of concentric with the crank center. Years ago, I had a big block Mopar that ate thrust bearings because of that.
The 300 is the same bellhousing pattern as a small block ford, so you can use that bellhousing, but then you need to use the smaller 156 tooth flywheel. The problem there is that the 300 flywheel is neutral balanced, so a small block V8 flywheel won't work, unless you balance it.
Adapters are available, but you need to make sure it all lines up to avoid misalignment problems. But that allows you to use the stock flywheel, clutch and clutch linkage.
Also keep in mind that there are a few different configurations of t5s. GM, Ford, and some others. All with different input shafts. To use the correct one for an adapter, the Ford T5 has a slightly longer input shaft and the same spline as the stock 300 clutch. The longer input will be made up with the adapter thickness.
There are also different tailshaft housings, and some of those put the shifter in different locations, so you'll need to keep that in mind.

 

Question about the engine. Like the 300, was going to build one for a rod but v8 took over. Was your bad cylinder #6? Always wonder if those long 6’s should have a cooler line to radiator to get rid of hot water from back of block. Seems a long engine like that water temp has to vary front to back. Love your builfd

 

It was #1 Mike. Take the water pump off, and it opens right on to the #1 cylinder. I reckon that one runs cooler that rest? I don't know. But it seems to be common for #1 to be "The One."

 

Reverse of being to hot at #6 - the to cold #1. Crazy. Tks for answer guess no need to tap into/near #6

 

AmishMike, If you look at a disassembled engine you can see the coolant flow path and how Ford kept all the cylinders at or near the same temps. The water pump pulls cooled water from the radiator and moves it down the block toward the back of the engine. Along the way there are passageways up through the block where a small part of the water is diverted up into the head. The holes in block and head are relatively large. BUT the holes in the head gasket are small - on the order of 1/8" - to meter a little coolant up between the cylinders. At the rear of the block there are two very large trapezoidal shaped holes - commonly referred to as "banana holes" and similar holes in the head with no metering holes in the gasket. Most of the coolant flows here from the block, back up into the head, and back to the thermostat.

Interestingly, most wear on the cylinders occurs at the #1 bore. Because it is up against the water pump it runs colder. The most wear occurs in line with the crank, not across the bore.

 

I was hoping u saw my post & would respond. Believe u know the 300 pretty well. Chev recently did lot of research on water flow & understand reversed flow to cool engines. Always liked look of antique engines with separate tubes bottom of cylinder & another out the top. To much for factory but not for a rodder I believe. Tks for info never took mine apart

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

It was good to FINALLY move on the from the clutch! But before moving on completely, I set the seat frame in and pushed the pedal to get a feel. I am very pleased with the result! Smooth and easy. It’ll make it much easier around town in traffic. The effort is so easy, I could probably teach my 10 year old grand daughter to drive a stick with it.

Having the seat frame in also gave me an idea of how to proceed with the shifter. I have a piece of ½” X 1” rectangle steel bar to make it with. Looks like it’ll need a forward bend, and then a rearward bend to get it around the seat. 18” long seems to be a comfortable height. I may make it longer. Just because.

Over the weekend, I got the radiator installed. It has a couple electric fans, and I will stagger the temp at which they start. It’ll be controlled by the unmentionable fuel metering system I’m using.

I was a bit surprised at how close the fans are to the water pump. There’s about an inch. But like they say, an inch is as good as a mile! Three row aluminum, semi-specific fit. It’s actually for a ’64. Just about all the common suppliers do not list a radiator for a ’65 for some reason. And the ’66 and later was nowhere near the dimensions of my original. So I rolled the dice and bought one for a ’64. If it ends up too close, I can always space it forward some. The core however is exactly the size of the opening in the radiator support.

I went way overkill on radiator size because here in Central California, it gets hot in the summer. Really hot. 60+ days of 100° or hotter. 105 to 110° is common too. Dang near Texas, Las Vegas, Phoenix hot!

I went overkill because a couple summers ago, we headed to the coast to escape the heat. And wouldn’t ya know it, traffic comes to a standstill at the junction of Highway 41 (the main corridor from Fresno county going west) and 46 (the main corridor from Kern County going west) due to an accident. Everyone else had the same idea and there was no escape. No ther side roads out to make a detour. Nearly an hour sitting there and it’s 109° outside. My ’12 Ram handled it fine, and I wanna make sure the F100 does too!


Fuel system plumbing….

That unmentionable fuel system needs a return line, so I had to order up another length of 3/8” stainless steel fuel line tube. Until that arrives, in the meantime, I used the one I had to get the feed line routed. I have a couple 90° bulkhead fittings near the tank for the in-tank fuel pump, and a couple up on the firewall (red arrow). The flex lines in back will be less than a foot long. PTFE lined hose. I haven’t decided yet if I will run hoses to the throttle body, or another pair of hard lines from the firewall bulkhead across the firewall, behind the motor, so the hose can be short.

I also had a nice fuel filter “in-stock” from the drag racer. I bought this filter years ago as an “After the pump” filter, from Fuel Injection Enterprises. Good quality unit with -6AN fittings….with the exception of the element itself. Even thought the product description said it was compatible with methanol, it was not. It was epoxied together rather than soldered. And the epoxy used to join the screen material to the end pieces degraded and dissolved, loading the fuel system up with nasty debris. Anyone who has ever run mechanical injection, knows what happens when the fuel system becomes contaminated. Making it worse was the drag racer’s fuel system is far more complex that a “normal” MFI system. Along with a boost valve that raises the pressure when the turbo comes up on boost, it has the added complexity of feeding a rear engine driven pump on a full bodied car with a front mounted main fuel tank….I’ll just say that the filter degradation made a BIG mess of things.

But it is a quality filter, and with an element replacement, it’ll work fine on the ‘ol truck!

The tank mount is nothing new. Done countless times this way, so there’s no need to go into great detail. Just a Mustang fuel tank for which I made a perimeter mounting frame, that bolts to the truck’s frame.

For a fill, it’s common for people to just have a hatch in the truck bed as a fill location, but I’m gonna work on something a bit more elegant sometime later. I’ll have to get the bed back on to look at options. Later.

I also started laying out the under-hood wiring. So that will be a work in progress over the short term.

 

nice progress!!!

 

Thanks FTF!
My next trick will involve snaking a bent SS fuel line through the chassis from front to back. It would be far, far easier to split in two and use a union somewhere in the middle, but what's the fun it that?
It still may come to that

 

Nice job so far.....Really nice read!
6sally6

 

Mike, will the shifter move forward by turning the plate 180 degrees? I know it does on the tko trans. Might make the shifter mounting easier.

 

It just keeps getting better and better.
Keep goin'!!!

 

I haven't looked into that, and in fact have not heard of doing that. Something to think about if my shifter lever idear doesn't work out. The schematic attached is what I have in mind. 18 to 20" high Start with a 15° forward bend right at the mounting point, then somewheres between 45 and 60° back. Taper the top and put on my shift knob.

 

I've been using 3/8" nicop for fuel lines as you are describing. It is very easy to use and reasonable in price.

 

Fuel lines....done! Well, almost done. I need to make up some flex lines to go the bulkhead fittings. In the back, from the fittings on the frame to the tank. In the front, from the body mounted bulkhead fittings to the engine, which will be anchored to the block.
Pay no attention to that device on top of the manifold. It's existence will not beacknowledged!
One thing that I noticed in thinking ahead, is that with the fuel tank in the rear, a couple of the middle bed bolts will have no access. So, I think I'll have to make a nut plate to under the frame rail, so the bed bolt can just screw in from the top.
Also needed to lower the radiator a couple inches. I thought it looked a little high. So I measured the hood depth with a chunk of angle iron to see how deep it was from the shut line to the peak. Measured the height of the radiator cap using the angle iron to the top of the rubber hood bumper. 3/4" too high.
Easily fixed with drilling four new mount holes in the radiator frame.
The piece of steel for the shifter was bolted on to see where it ended up relative to the seat frame. I think a 15° forward angle will do the trick. I think I'll take a couple small pie cuts and weld it after bending. Bending on the wide end might not go well.

 

Mike,

Your engine compartment looks really clean and well laid out. Nice work.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve!