Projects My official 1959 Ford F100 build thread

I have several threads out there but not an official build thread so I figured today I would create one that I can constantly update instead of tons of small threads.

It started when I saw this truck and decided I wanted a 1959 ford f100


I searched high and low on the Internet and after 4 or 5 months of looking for one with the color and "patina" I wanted I found my truck on a farm in Dinuba Cali(outside Fresno) and shipped it back to Los Angeles.
Here is me in Dinuba after purchasing.


The car stayed stock for maybe 24 hours
Stock interior


First thing I did was rip out seats and have upholstery redone and carpet added. I chose black carpet so it doesn't show dirt and chose off white bench seat to match the front bumper. I also did the visors and door panels off white as well. Threw in a cd player after learning it was not original stereo anyway. And had to do grenade shift knob


Second thing I did was flip leafs over axle in rear WITHOUT NOTCH and 3inch SIDS drop axle upfront. Worst ride of my life in the rear. Also painted rims black and added 3.5 inch wide white walls


Blue dot tail light of course

I then decided I'm done with the shitty ride. I decided to airbag the vehicle. I took it to SIK fabrications in Carona. For all that don't know I'm in a LAW SUIT OVER THE FRONT SET UP. That's a whole different thread. Anyway, I went disc brakes and power steering. The rear is parallel 4 linked with pan hard bar and massive step notch. 2 viar compressors and 2 5 gallon tanks. I am going with a TCI mustang 2 front end( to replace the crap I have now )in the near future.


After bagging it I decided I needed to cover the massive step notch in the bed so I could carry my motor bikes. I decided to go with dark wood planks. I stained them and Polly urethaned the planks. Then welded bracketing and installed the planks with bolts through the metal supports. Also had to move wheel tubs up to lay truck.







next was on to cleaning up my nasty engine. I bought new air filter, new fuel lines and filer, and engine paint. I have a chrome oil filter cover just haven't installed yet.



Next I decided my truck Rattled to Much and was too loud. I decided Dynomat would be great until I saw the price. I decided to try this stuff I saw at lowes called PEEL AND SEAL. Less than $100 I did my entire cab with 2 layers and inside the doors with 2 layers. Huge difference in temp and sound. Probably best idea I have had. No smell and same shit as Dynomat. I did a thread on here about it.

 

Next thing I did was FINALLY after looking for months found the original custom cab steering wheel. Unfortunately it was in pieces. I decided to try my skills which are non existint. I used bondo originally but then changed to jb weld after advised on here. I filled all cracks with jb weld and then sanded, primered, painted and clear coated the wheel. I then cleaned up the horn ring I found which was covered in over spray. Someone had painted almost entire thing white so I used acetone and cleaned off everything I wanted to be chrome using Q tips.






Today I went to a female story called Anthropology and noticed they had some cool cabinet and drawer knobs. My fiancé told me how ugly my window roll up handles we're so I decided to make them cooler! I bought 2 drawer knobs and kinda rigged them and they look great and work better than the ones before. I grinder down a little rubber piece that came with them and used it like a little bearing to hold screw still from jiggling.






I'm working on doing same thing with dash knobs. I cut the screw shaft off and then drilled out the rest of the screw. I then drilled a small hole to insert a set screw. We will see how it looks later not sure about it just bored.





I also decided to make a trunk area under my raised bed. I still wanted to be able to see the frame work done so I decided to use chicken diamond wire. I welded some brackets and then tacked it in there. Now I have a trunk and can still see the work



Even gave my girl a mirror on her visor.


Here's how it looks now




Video of my cousin hitting the bags
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jdq0DhQSC0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sooo now that we are all caught up. I will just post on here anything I do from now on. Thanks for checking it out.

Blake

 

Sick!

 

Thanks man! Yours is going to be unreal!

 

Awesomee ! Looks sweeet!

 

looks good!

 

Great job so far, keep up the good work.

-J

 

Cool pickup !!!!

 

Very cool, once you get that front end squared away you'll be golden!

 

Thanks......ya I can't wait I might even attempt tci install myself with the help of a pro. I bought this truck to learn so I figure might as well give it a shot.

 

Great job man

 

So today I tinkered a little with the truck.

First I installed a second battery mount in the bed. On Tuesday I should receive my cole hersee 140 amp battery isolator. http://www.colehersee.com/home/item/cat/211/48122/. I have been having problems with the dual viar compressors draining my battery over time so I decided i am going to run all accessories off of a second battery.


Next I RECIEVED my http://ms-metal.net/ dash knobs. I thought I would give them a shot see if I could match them to my steering wheel I painted.

Sanded them

Primer and paint don't ask why I have a bunch of wine corks glued together....no clue



Then my fiancé gave me crap about building a bigger house for our tortoise....so I threw one together in 10 minutes and made a VW beetle the handle to open the top...no clue why just saw it in garage and used it...was in a rush to get back to the truck


That's my dog Ca$h and Wilma my tortoise haha

Any way now knobs are drying with my Macgyver style drying machine


I'll take a pic when they are installed and see if they look ok but here is a before shot all busted up

 

Super happy how they turned out...still need to wet sand and clear coat but I'm too impatient

 

Today I installed a set of tweeters which made a HUGE difference in the sound of the music inside the cab. You can see by the way my speakers Were before that the music probably sounded great at my ankles


I didn't want to drill into the door or dash so I decided to put them in the rail above the door. I did not cut that little section away it was already there so I decided to mount the tweeter there....you can hardly see them and it did make a huge difference...definitely reccomend it for anyone who just has speakers by their ankles.


With the help of the local stereo shop we installed the battery isolator and ran the compressors to the rear battery. Now I should not have to worry about getting a dead battery from running the compressors. Which was an issue in the past. Also I believe in the case of a dead battery when starting the vehicle I can jump myself .

 

Super excited got a great deal $200 for an old thermador swamp cooler. I will be restoring it over weekend...well cleaning it up paint remove dents etc. not trying to restore to original. Anyway here are some pics. I have yet to test how we'll it works

 

You really should put large heavy duty grommets on those battery cables where they go through the sheet metal.. The electrical tape will wear through in no time at all and then the sparky fireworks light show will start. Everything else looks good.

 

Will do thanks for the heads up!!! This is exactly why I post what I'm doing. So people with experience can chime in and help. Thank you

 

Wow your truck looks awesome! The steering wheel came out great too.

What color are you going to paint the car cooler? The same white/cream color as the interior might look cool. Or even black and white to match the wheels and tires.

 

Thanks!!!!
Ya I bought this truck to practice working on things. I have never worked with bondo or anything for that matter so I was happy how steering wheel turned out also!

I'm painting swamp cooler same as steering wheel! White cream color same as front bumper. I think it will tie everything together.

 

Worked on a super fast bondo and paint for thermo cooler......had to hook the string back up and wind the spring. Big pain in the butt. Took it for a test run. WORKS PRETTY GOOD . Obviously if your spoiled by AC you won't appreciate this but if you don't have AC in your car it makes a big difference but only in desert areas with no humidity.

 

not sure if anyone is into any bass or subwoofers in their truck. I decided I needed a little bit of bass. I still have the gas tank in the cab so I dont have very much room for an amp and subwoofer set up. I decided to order one of these Pyle all in one slim subwoofer with built in 600 watt amp. It has a bass knob to control the sub. I am pretty pleased for $149 it is super tiny and gives you bass without pissing neighbors off. I just thought I would share just incase anyone is looking. If you are expecting to have your cab rattle and have insane bass for $149 this is not the sub for you. I got the 8 inch sub and I believe they make a 10 inch set up as well.

 

what did you do to lower the front end?? looks awesome by the way....

 

Vvvvvvv

 

Originally i had a sids 3 inch drop axle installed. then i had it airbagged at a shop and was told i would have a jaguar front suspension installed. I ended up getting a "custom" front end installed based off a mustang 2. i am currently in a law suit with the company anc we are trying to settle the issue out of court. I will be having a TCI mustang 2 kit with 2 inch drop spindles and airbag set up installed in the next 30 days.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

I'm diggin the swamp cooler I would look for one for my f 100 but here in michigan we have wayy toooo much humidity to use them

 

Wanna sell the Sid's axle?

Your steering wheel is superb. So are the knobs. Color is so rich it looks like French vanilla. Great choice: it's the small things that add up.

 

Thanks a lot guys!!!!

Atwater mike sorry man sold the axle already

 

im sorry if i didn't understand correctly but did you say you had the 3inch dropped straight axel air bagged?? how i did it ride? sorry for being nosey but i just picked up a 59 myself and i don't have the cash to mustang II it so i'm trying to lower it as cheap as possible.. thanks for the info..

 

Sorry. No. At first in the first section of pictures it's just a drop axle NO BAGS.... It gets the truck lower it will be about $400 bucks. If you send axle in and wait for it to get fixed or $500 bucks Sid will send you an axle and refund you 100 when he recieves your axle in return. Make sure u get tie rod extensions.

 

your a life saver, thanks a bunch, hope to see ur truck in person at mooneyes this december..