Mc Fugly

[67swbranger]

Hi all, my name is Mason, I'm pretty new to bumpsides but i've been restoring Fords for 3 years. I bought this truck intending to rebuild the engine and throw it to eBay. But a cracked engine block soon put that plan to rest. My plan for this truck is to update the brakes and suspension with the front disc brakes from a 1974-1979 f100. Drivetrain wise it will receive a 351W, behind that a C6 auto transmission and behind that a ford 9" rear end with drums most likely. Should be fairly easy to get most of the drivetrain from a parts truck.

As far as the exterior of the truck goes, after I cut out 60% of the metal on this truck and replace it with nice new metal it will get nice shiny 2 stage red paint, with the factory steelies and restored hubcaps. The interior will be the *LMC special* IE new dashpad, red (maybe black interior paint) paint, carpet, door panels, and new seat cover. Also all the basics of a restoration, new cab mounts, paint frame, new weatherstrip, new to me wiring, stereo system, new brake lines, new exhaust, new fasteners. You get the idea...


But I imagine you guys didn't click this thread just to read about this truck, so! pics it is




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This thread will be updated largely as things happen, as parts get removed/installed and parts trucks come/go. I don't think I have the same budget as most of the other guys on these build threads, only about $200 a week to put into this truck, but I make that 200 count! This is my first time with a truck (ish) so if anyone has advice / wants to let me know if i'm about to make a mistake please chime in! In the mean time, its three in the morning right now and here is the fruit of my labor:



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Front clip is now off of the truck! Took a few hours of poking it to find where ford had hidden the last fender bolts, which brings me to...



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What is so far the most dastardly bolts on the truck, it was hard enough to find in the first place but even after I found it, the bolt was hateful to take out on the drivers side, it was too little clearance for a shallow socket, not enough room for a deep socket, to little rotation for a u joint socket and to much angle for a wrench. Passenger side went fine, stuck a deep socket on it and took it right out. Go figure.

[flyboy2610]

I think you have a slight rust issue.
Welcome to the money pit. Keep us posted (pun intended) on your progress.

[67swbranger]

Well didn't get very much done today, dealing with a super nasty cold thats slowly turning into pneumonia . Makes working on things go a little slower. This is my first body on chassis vehicle i've done, and I love it! Got the entire front clip lifted off the truck within 4 hours. Typically takes a couple days and alot of cutting to do that on a uni-body vehicle .

This front clip mount is mint!

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Lots of surface rust, no major pitting or through rust on the frame (so far), looks like I lucked out

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Its a good thing I enjoy pressure washing, because I am going to be doing a lot of it

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Front clip is resting on some saw horses. The entire thing is in really, really bad shape. But there's a reason this project is named "zombie truck" not "tastefully modifying a carefully preserved surviving f100"


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Sometimes I wonder if this truck went underwater in a hurricane. Most of the surface lookin rust you see in this pic is through rust


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Not sure how the fenders stayed on, every place where they attach has rusted away


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This is probably it until next week folks. Looking for a few opinions here, is this too many pictures? not enough?

[67swbranger]

Got cab off, not quiet sure how I got it off it one piece but at least the teardown portion of this build is done! Assuming nothing *major* comes up I should be able to buy a donor truck in two weeks Heres some pics of the frame


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This is going to be my last major-ish update for a couple weeks, until I buy the donor vehicle. Any fans here of 1980-84 trucks suspension and brake wise?

[flyboy2610]

While you have the cab off, take a good look at the cab mount brackets. They are the ones sticking sideways away from the frame in front of the driveshaft in your pics. If they need repaired or replaced now is the time to do it. Moisture can get trapped on top of them and that leads to bad things.
They are held on with swaged rivets and some of them are on top of the frame. To get them off they must be ground off and driven out with a stout punch and a big hammer. Once you get a cab on the frame, you won't get those brackets off with taking the cab back off.

[Bigfreeb]

You have it torn down so far why don't you do the Crown Vic front X-member instead of dropped springs? That gives you better suspension and brakes in one package could even use an 8.8 rear from one. Might be cheaper in the long run. Just throwing out there.

[67swbranger]

You have it torn down so far why don't you do the Crown Vic front X-member instead of dropped springs? That gives you better suspension and brakes in one package could even use an 8.8 rear from one. Might be cheaper in the long run. Just throwing out there.

I've considered it, but frankly I'd rather have something directly bolt in. For some illogical reason I am not a fan of CV swap. And cost wise buying a 73-76 f100 is far more cost effective where I live than a CV



Unrelated to your suggestion but how do I change my thread title? I am considering a 302 and the title says big block , shouldnt have locked it down like that, so any way to change it/ take it out?

[flyboy2610]

When you reply to your post, the thread title will be in the 'subject' box at the top. You can edit it there.

[67swbranger]

Thanks flyboy!

[motzingg]

For some illogical reason I am not a fan of CV swap.

Ya'know me too, I cant for the life of me figure out why, but it feels like having wishbone suspension, rack and pinion steering, etc. would remove some of the inherent 'truck-ness' (read: crappy-ness).

One of these days i'm going to hit a curb or pothole and the steering wheel is going to break my hand, and then i think i'll be installing the CV front end with one hand in a cast.

[67swbranger]

Well I'm back fordification, took a little (alot) longer than I thought it would take to buy a parts truck but the right one came along and I hopped on it, The donor truck is a 1979 f150, was a daily driver before I got it.... 351 windsor from a 1974 ford truck, its got a holley 600cfm and a eddy performer intake, guess the PO wasnt much into brand loyalty but it works great. True dual exhaust with really old glass packs. Most gaskets on the truck are new, saves me that PITA. Freshly serviced brake rotors, all the rubber bits on the front suspension looking good, no squeeks, leans or pulling to different directions. PO had replaced sending unit, fuel pump, voltage regulator, starter, flywheel, ignition mod, and gauge cluster. Also almost all the metal parts I needed were rust free, bed, inner fenders, fenders and cab corners. Only issue I noticed at all is the C6 transmission leaks from the pan, very simple fix. All that for $1100. I feel like I got a deal...



That was two weeks ago, heres what I've accomplished since I bought the donor truck

Couple days wire wheeling and sanding and then painted the frame. Really liked the way the frame turned out, too bad no one will ever see it Makes it a hell of a lot easier to work with it now atleast

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Got my new to me cab corner on and welded in, this picture is after grinding, priming and a small amount of body filler


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Sorry for the bad photo and the mess, this is the first thing I did after I got the donor f150, the floors are plain sheet metal welded in. Butt welds on 3 sides lap weld on 1 side, ground flat, primed, bondoed. Was kinda relaxing to sit down for awhile and get the sheet metal to form



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Was driving my 79' f150 when I decided the one thing I really needed to improve my driving experience was some brake fade, so I ditched those nasty ole' disc brakes and put in a drum brake set up. I decided that the power steering was not *building character* so I also put in a nice manual steering box. Probably going to ditch those sissy power brakes soon and put the manual master cylinder in, my calfs were feeling a little weak.


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Disc brakes put on my 67 f100, It was a incredibly unpleasant task because I had run out of concrete, so I was forced to swap the suspensions in the mud. Also had to do it twice because the 1979 f150 needed to stay rollable, hence why it now has the drums and manual steering. Plus both I arms got stuck and my jack collapsed. Thank god *complexity* is not in the ford dictionary. I had tried a similar suspension job on a porsche 944 in the same conditions, which led to the only time I have given up on something in my life.


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Bed put up a fight on removal, I put up a bigger fight


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new bed sitting in position while I give it a thorough eyeballing. Based on my research if I stare at it hard enough it will attach itself, still waiting.


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My dad helping out on the bed, lot more fun working with him, also I'm incompetent with a mig welder, still prefer my old lincoln buzz box. Could do anything with that beast.



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Bed welded in most of the way, VERY rough around the edges, got about 16 hours of grinding, tons more tiny patches but it will be awesome when its finished. I have left a 1/2" lip around the edge of the old bed, so we did lap welds all around for strength/looks. Plan for the bed now is to replace the bottom half of the sides and the top of the sides, then work on the wheel wells. After that the thickest bedliner money can buy and some red undercoating to match the cab.


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Cab is on the truck for the first time in months! Its an amazing feeling seeing in on there after staring at a blank frame for months. Though it hasn't helped with the trucks new nickname *Fugly*. Cab is completely rust free now, everything that needed to be cut out and replaced has been cut out and replaced, wire wheeled the bottom and the firewall, then painted it gloss red. Looks great against my black frame IMO



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Thats everything for awhile now...

Will post again when i'm finished replacing sheet metal. This website is amazing!

[67swbranger]

One of these days i'm going to hit a curb or pothole and the steering wheel is going to break my hand, and then i think i'll be installing the CV front end with one hand in a cast.

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You are a better man than I if you can install the CV suspension with 1 arm, best of luck to you. If I were you I'd wait till your arm healed.

[67swbranger]

One of these days i'm going to hit a curb or pothole and the steering wheel is going to break my hand, and then i think i'll be installing the CV front end with one hand in a cast.

You are a better man than I if you can install the CV suspension with 1 arm, best of luck to you. If I were you I'd wait till my arm healed.

[67swbranger]

Project being delayed for a bit, pulled the engine to replace a rear main seal and found out the bearings are utterly trashed, barely a drop of silvery stuff on them, just copper showing. Probably should have taken the hint when I pull up to buy it and the guys been warming up the engine for atleast 30 minutes... pulled all the mains just in case it was only one but their all shot except for one which is lookin kinda mint unbolted the con rods and they are just as bad gonna have to rebuild it. Have not run a "official" compression test but on cylinder 5 I can push it down easily with one hand, not so much the others Bare minimum its rings, bearings, gaskets, plus some torquey cam that works with my stock engine. If the top end is even worse then i'm gonna *justify* a port job and some massive valves + a camshaft that will be happy with that. Fingers crossed its just the bottom end though

Either way, cannot install anything else on the truck until engine is in, kinda makes it hard to plumb fuel lines when you don't know where your engine will be ALSO previous owner had a special talent for wiring. Pretty much a damn miracle it works, it is far to complicated to mess with. Got about 40 wires ignition side and I'm fairly sure that's 28 more than I need with the aftermarket stuff on there. Going to pull everything that runs from the key to the battery as one piece. Its either that or buy a painless wiring kit, which I don't want because I have recent wiring on the 67' f100

Thats about it: Silver lining: rebuilt engine will increase the value a lot when I sell it!

[67swbranger]

Its been awhile since my last post, lots of holdups and even more rainy days (mississippi, nuff said). I am genuinely horrible at remembering to take before photos, and a lot of the after photos are done at night, so here goes, sorry for the bad photos






Got the rear end out of my 79' parts truck and cleaned it up a bit, it's not much special, non posi and all but according to the tag 3.70 gears, pretty much what I was looking for gear wise . It is a fair bit wider than the old rear end so I had to narrow the spring perches, kinda nerve wracking because it was my first time but it went together fine & straight


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Narrowed and painted, you cant see it that well in the pictures but I reinforced the new spring perch location, probably doesn't need it but figured it can't hurt to have it


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Again, apologies for the bad photos, I will update this thread later with better ones taken during the day
This is my jury rigged bed, I got kinda tired of the traditional lay-it-flat method of mounting the bed so I decided to go for the sailboat method of mounting the bed. Coincidentally it makes it easier to wire wheel and paint the bottom of the bed like this.


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Nastiness...


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Got the bed set on the frame, I have some notching to do but its looking pretty good
Also got my driver side inner fender mocked up, sits kinda weird but I can't really tell until doors and fenders are back on


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Primer came in, along with some extra quart cans of rusty, really loving the rustoleum for painting every not directly visible surface on the truck, gone through 2 gallons of the stuff already and still not done yet looks decent on a prepped surface if you reduce it like mad with acetone


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Welding in patches on the doors, did the same on both sides of both doors. Funny how ford doors always rust in the exact same places


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Shot the back of cab and bed with some rustoleum before I put them together for the last time


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Got all almost all the wiring from the 1979 f150 crammed into my f100, going to take every single wire before i'm through. biggest issue I ran into was that the 1979 key cylinder is on the right, and the 67 is on the far left, but I have 3 1967 ford wiring harnesses to choose from so i'll make it work somehow, it works now but the steering column harness is sticking out in plain sight and I don't really like that.


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Here's the hood, its pretty bad, has the rust in the picture on both sides, front had collapsed from rust damage and rear of the hood has separated at the seam from rust damage, pretty nasty.


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Very, very rough patch of what I'm going for, this is gonna be it for a bit because my HF grinder bit the dust (thanks harbor freight )
Still gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for the corners and for the weird arches on the side, but the part that almost touches the hood seems to be doing ok. The welds on the *arches* are just there to keep the other patch from moving, they aren't staying


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And before I forget, here's what's happening with the engine, the intake bolts are snapped on both ends of the passenger side head. maybe it's why the guy decided to sell this truck 2k undervalue and why noone would touch it for a month? I don't know. broke 8 drill bits and a easy out on the bolts without success, so the head is at the machine shop getting drilled and tapped. Got the new bearings installed, all new gaskets. Also ran a hone through the cyls and put some new rings on the pistons. Funny how replacing a rear main seal turned into rebuilding an engine .

My current goal is to make the truck run and drive, prep and primer it, paint it and put the body back on. By christmas. And also build a 2 car garage sized workshop for future vehicles. I like setting arbitrary and likely unattainable goals, don't judge .