Projects Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Well, it seems that I am in a holding pattern on firing up the 300. My son is going to lend a hand with my unmentionable intake system. But, he and his family are going through a round of COVID. He has no symptoms, my granddaughter and grandson were feeling a bit out of sorts for a day, then they were back to being themselves. My daughter in law...not so lucky, but not super bad either. Mostly flu-like stuff.
At any rate, this coming weekend's plan to fire up the Furd will have to wait.
So onto the doors. They are a mess. Not much rust on the sheetmetal though, which is good. No metal repairs!
All the mechanisms are FUBAR. The spindles that the door handles fit on are stripped. Either really buggered up splines or none at all. Someone had drilled and tapped for set screws going through the handle and into the spindle. That buggered 'em up pretty bad too.
Repopped stuff is listed, but the window risers are out of stock and pretty expensive as compared to other types. For an extra hundred bucks or so, I can just go with a power window kit. So I think that's the way I'll go.
On the door latch lever, rather than go with a clunky stock style lever, I'm gonna retro-fit a pull lever out of something else, and mold in a surround into the door panel.
The passenger side door took a few hours to strip and sand for etching primer, which I will spray later today to get some protection. Pictured, laying on the door is a lever from a late 60s VW. Very simple. Very cheap and easy to adapt with plenty of pull travel.
The driver side door won't be so easy. The riser mechanism is locked up. So that should be interesting to get apart!
The big rectangular hole at the bottom of the door just has a sheet metal panel the screws on. And nobody ever cut it for speakers! Amazing!
But I think I wanna fab up some door pockets. I goota think about making something from scatch or cutting up the existing panels. First, I gotta see how much room there is between the door and the seat.

 

This is not a great picture of my interior but you see the door pocket?

It is practically flush with the door panel but it extends into the door 3 or 4"
Deep enough for sunglasses and such. Just an idea when space is a premium

 

Mike, 2 things you may not be aware of: Ford offered door panel pockets as an option on custom cabs. I have seen that many times so I have reason to believe it was factory. I'm a believer in Nu-Relic power windows. Bolt in place of stock regulators and do there job. End of 2 items.

 

I am aware of the factory door pockets. Although that would be easy, I still think I'd like to do something custom though. Much like Bandit Billy's.
Thank you for the reference to Nu-Relics. Looks like just what the doctor ordered! The price is right too! I bookmarked that to come back to it later when I get ready.

That is nice! I like that idear a lot. I just might steal that idear fair and square!

Thanks guys!

 

Your for the takin. They surprise people when I pull out glasses or a flask, er I mean water bottle, out of them since they look like map pockets.

 

"Where your upper coolant sensor is in the tee, it may create a bubble and fail to read properly."

To bleed the air, when the coolant is warmed up and circulating, just loosen the sensor a little until coolant pushes out past the threads. Retighten.

Much like bleeding a brake line.

 

I went ahead and ordered the power window kit from NuRelics. I didn't really wanna spend the money just yet, but they had it in stock. The way things are going lately, they may not be in stock when I am ready. Plus, lifetime warranty! Hardly anyone does that anymore.
I really appreciate the reference!

 

I finished the unpleasant task of getting the doors apart, and getting the paint stripped off the inside. I pretty much have a blank canvas for arm rests, door latch levers, etc.
I got 'em both fitted up back onto the truck, with door gaps as even as they are gonna get, unless there is considerable cutting and welding involved. Not gonna go there. It is by no means gonna be a show truck. This is just factory tolerances of the day I think, where close enough was good enough. (especially on a friday). After all, it's a truck, and not a passenger car.
The truck does not have any signs of ever being hit in the door. Although the driver side door has some filler where multiple types of mirrors have been mounted. Looks like maybe a mirror got side-swiped at one time, or something to that effect.
But something presented itself that I just have to ask questions. While the exterior door gaps are within reason, the top rear of the door, while pretty close on the outside, has a pretty big gap inside. Big enough that I don't know if off the shelf weather stripping is gonna seal.
So the question is, have any of you guys used any kind of spacers or foam shimming to take up big gaps on these older cars?

 

Mike, I use weatherstripping on both sides sometimes. Mcmaster.com has some low cost self stick rubber that could solve your problem. My stuff is used daily as you have stated your intention to be.

 

So, on the door opening as well as the door itself?

 

Not sure about the '61-66 trucks, but the later ones seal closer at the door edge. I wouldn't worry about it too much until you test-fit the weatherstripping.

 

Mike, I used a dollar bill and drug it around the opening. Wherever it was loose, I knew it needed more adjustment or more sealing. This was on 2 51 Ford pickups that I did. I'm sure the doors were sprung some but it was outside of my skill level and desire to repair them. One of the trucks had a long history of a coyote chaser. Nothing was where it should have been. The only thing that was important was to be sealed good enough that I could drive it anywhere in any conditions without trouble.

 

We used the dollar bill to check door gap in the body shop for years, the trick is to feel the amount of drag on it, too loose equals wind noise, to much makes the door hard to close and it pops when opened. Just my Dollars worth Frank

 

Me too. Except I couldn't afford a dollar so I'm using a twenty-five cent piece.

EDIT: Somebody just told me apiece of Tyvek will also work. Great. Saved 25 cents.

 

Thanks guys. Most helpful. I will use that dollar trick!
It's simply that the factory tolerances for the door and door opening seem to be pretty loose. I have the door fitting as well as it can, and I'm just not gonna cut and reshape the opening or the door itself. I just want it to seal well enough to minimize wind noise and water intrusion.
So without having the weatherstrip yet, I'm just guessing. And my guess is that getting it sealed up will be just as fiddly as getting the best overall fit was on the doors themselves!

 

That is a later body so the weather strip should be near the outside as on my '64.

 

Hi Mike, just cut it up, it's what all the cool kids do! Here is a shot that might help show how everything contacts.

 

Moving on to another area of the body while I wait on other things...
The grill. Not much thought is given to a grill unless one needs one. Or in this case, has a grill, but somebody knocked its two front teeth out. Coulda been one of those argument of "Which is Better? Ford vs Chevy." Then led to violence and the ol'Furd gettin' it's teeth knocked out!
Anyway, reproduction grills are beau coup bucks. Add in shipping, and it's near a grand.
I thought about finishing the job, and removing the rest of its teeth and adapt a "billet" tube grill over from something else.
However, being the tightwad that I am, and with a bunch of .050" thick aluminum sheet in stock, I decided to give 'er some false teeth.
The result is far from perfect, and from 20 feet away, no one will even notice once I fill the seams with epoxy and paint it. Probably something along the lines of argent trim and wheel color.

 

I agree with your grille mod. I recently did a 72 and a 78. I spent hours on both with a hammer and dollie because of the replacement costs. I just did put a 53 grille in a 51. I had to pay quite a bit for a beat up piece. There's a lot of parts that are painful to buy, anymore.

 

Nice job on that grill!

 

Hey Mike,
Thanks for the note on the T5. I'm rereading parts of your thread here and thinking I need to truly dig in and digest. My pedals are way high off the floor, brake and clutch, so on top of getting a T5 I need to address some of the short comings of the stock setup to make it more user friendly in an urban setting. Your 3.54 rear gear and what American Powertrain has listed as a 2.89 first gear, if that's what you've got, looks more civilized than what I'm potentially looking at for my 3.70 rear end. I need an ex drag racer who can pit stop in my garage to hold my hand through some of this stuff.

 

I've learned a lot on various forums through the years, so if someone can get some usable idears from my posts, it is worthwhile.
On my set-up, I was more interested in the final drive number than low gear. I wanted highway efficiency. Sound like you need stump pulling low gear power. On the street, you can try just starting out in second gear. If your low gear is too low, you can always go to a taller tire, or shorter tire if you need more out of low gear. Maybe it would be an option to have a spare set of tires for certain chores. A lot like racers who use different tires for different track conditions.
The pedal assembly comes out easy and is easy to tune up. Both clutch and brake pedals have travel stops. Perhaps on yours, the rubber bump stops are gone. And, with the fab skills you've shown, you can easily do the ball bearing thing.

 

Well, a major milestone reached today. It's a runner! My oldest son was here to oversee the set up of the Unmentionable Fuel system, and it fired right up after the initial set-up was done.
It was not without incident however. Within less than a minute, the alternator belt started to squeel. It quieted down a bit, then the belt broke. A quick trip to the auto parts Piggly Wiggly and we were back in operation.
We kept the rpm up around 2500 for the first ten minutes. The handheld gizmo that accompanies the unmentionable fuel system was reading the rpm. At first, no tach readings on the truck's tach, but oil pressure was steady at about 50psi. We ran it about ten minutes and it started getting a bit hot. Maybe 210. And then it shut off by itself.
Turns out a couple of push on connectors on the distributor were "Not Quite There."
Fixed that, topped off the coolant, and she fired right off. Another ten minutes in, and we backed it down to idle speed, set the timing, and she settled into a nice smooth idle, with 21 inches of vacuum. Great throttle response too.
Had a bit of an oil leak on the side cover, but cinching that down once it was warm, seemed to stop it. It still seeps a bit out of the distributor flange, and I have a bit of fuel seepage on one of the fittings.
But, she's alive, and sounds great. Sounds a bit like a tractor out the exhaust at idle. Inline 6 with dual exhaust sound.
So, a major source of apprehension is behind me. Now I can move ahead and concern myself with other things.
I have to get a drive line made and a final brake bleed before I can drive it around the block though!
I'll have to wear on of my motorcycle helmets with the face shield. Windshield is not in yet!

 

Mike, I love your thread. My first truck I purchased myself was a 1966 F-100 Custom Cab with an FE. I really love your approach with the 300. I truly love 300 Fords, and if Little Truckdoctor didn’t have a C-10 gifted to him, it would be an F-100 with a 300. I have only one question, why a T-5 and not a stock M5OD?

 

Truckdoctor Andy, not everybody knows about the M5od trans. In my part of the world they are rare. That would have been a good option for Mike. Mike, congratulations. Hearing them run is always a good day. I used a helmet on one of my projects, to. That way people can see your smile.

 

Like WFO says, I was not aware of that trans. I am not a lifelong Ford guy. In fact, I've only owned two Fords aside from this truck in the 50 plus years I've been driving.
While doing my research, I knew I wanted a 5 speed with overdrive high gear, and it seemed there was a lot of discussion on several fronts about the T5.
But even with scouring classified ads on various sites, I couldn't find any used stuff I was willing to take a chance on. So, I just bought it new. It's a done deal. I got what I wanted, and now she's a runner.
All that is left now......is everything else. And there is a imperial sh!t ton of stuff on that "everything else" list!

 

Mike, I didn’t know you weren’t a lifelong Ford man! The M5OD was the standard 5 speed transmission used in F-150 from 1987 to at least 1996 when the 300 was discontinued. It was available in 2wd and 4wd versions. It’s a very plentiful transmission around here. I wouldn’t go drag racing with it, but for cruising and such, it’s great.

 

There's five different versions of the M5OD which may make it tough to find the right one. First gear is really low, almost granny-gear low so it's usefulness in normal driving is low. It has an integral bellhousing, and the probable deal-breaker for Mike (it would be for me), is only set up for a hydraulic clutch. Strength-wise, it's only slightly stronger than a T5 but parts are harder to find. Ford used a stronger ZF S5-42 in the F250/350, but most of the same issues apply.

 

Thanks Steve. In that case, I'm satisfied with my choice. I went with a hydraulic clutch set-up anyway. After gettin' 'er fired up and testing the clutch, I may have to make a linkage modification. I won't know until I get a drive line in it. It went in all gears except for reverse. Maybe it was because the output shaft was tuning. Even so, it's just fiddly work

 

I've got a F250 with the ZF 5-speed in it and low gear is useless in 'everyday' driving. Unless I'm heavily loaded or towing, I don't use first. Also be careful with your final drive ratio; too high and the motor won't pull it. It's NOT recommended to use OD when loaded/towing. I have to be doing at least 60 MPH to even try OD and have to downshift at every hill, around town it's basically a three-speed. I've got a 3.42 axle ratio (the tallest they offered), it should be around 3.70 or so.