1978 F-fun hundred 3/4 tons and 37s

[WiscoF100]

I got bored and made a dumb decision almost 3 years ago. I “needed” a truck for driving in the snow rather than my beater car or pavement princess. The best I could find was a pile of parts. I overpaid but I didn’t have time to drive out west to purchase other candidates. C’mon this was an impulse buy not a responsible choice.

We had just relocated to another state (again) for my job. The house required a full renovation before it was habitable. Minnesota is ghey for a few reasons. Nobody finishes their garages. So buying a truck was dumb before I was ready to work on it. 9 months later the house was finished and I had my garage wired, insulated, walls finished and heated. Gheyness #2 vehicles must be registered and insured at all times regardless of operational status. Also had a lovely 6 month fight with the state about the value of the truck, my purchase price and several thousand dollars of taxes (ransom) they were holding my title for. I won. They pounded sand. Bitches.

 

[WiscoF100]

The build is a mix of hack and restomod. Mostly hack because Boyd Coddington is dead.

The plan was slap it together with my eyes closed and drive it. But one thing leads to another.

It was a 100% complete truck minus a bed plus a bunch of spare parts as the guy wanted a 4 speed truck.

The 351M was roached so I was searching for a 400. Found one but the crank was spun because mud truck.

 

[Levigarrett76]

Fuck ya

Assuming that was someone's project they gave up on?

I did similar as you 3 yrs ago and bought an abandoned project, and after a move and completing a shophouse im finally back working on it.

 

[WiscoF100]

Yeah the guy had good intentions and capabilities but he realized he didn’t have the time with retirement coming up as they were moving south to chase the grand babies.

Truck isn’t finished yet and is well documented. Many posts to come

 

[WiscoF100]

Truck was tarped on the trailer for 9mo. I figured squirrels would be living in it. Nope. Once I unloaded the trailer and moved the totes into my storage building, shrews or some other dumb bastard started ruining everything.

While I was finishing the house projects and waiting out the -20* winter, I shopped for all the gaps in parts I knew were missing, replace or customize to my liking.

Things that were ruled out. Stock suspension, small wheel/tires, 1/2 ton axles. Sold off most everything I didn’t want on marketplace.

Regrettably I couldn’t have the frame sand blasted. I dislike the lack of resources living this far north. Could have it blasted same day for $100 in Salt Lake City. I wanted to plate the frame rails. I started the same time as bent bronco and his TTB build. This kinda became a bolt-on-Barbie once I couldn’t have my way.

To explain some of the parts below. First, I don’t give free public advertising. I settled for 78 F-250 D44/60 combo. Price was right and so was the effort compared to SD or $$$$ of KP60s. The suspension is a 5” kit which I only used (liked) 50% of the components and fabricated the rest. The rear utilizes a 3” u-bolt eliminator and the front has new factory type wedges. The engine brackets are a joke. Supposed to be a convenience instead a $400 joke.

Guy had already bead blasted many small components to my advantage. Also, northerners are POR-15 fanbois.

The fun part of buying and selling parts was meeting a lot of cool cats with the same passion for these old trucks.

 

[ChrisRWG]

This looks like it will be rad. Also, that is some shit requiring a disassembled vehicle in your garage to be registered and insured.

 

[WiscoF100]

ChrisRWG I’m reminded each year when I place the new stickers on license plates sitting in a toolbox drawer 🤣

This truck has a just go with it identity. Soon I’ll get to see it outside for the first time.

 

[WiscoF100]

Levigarrett76 have you always lived in Ga? Trying to remember what projects you might have had on the old board. I remember some Mn members by their signature. (Minnechoda this or that….. or the cold keeps the riff raff out) Anyways just random thoughts of cool projects from yesterday that never made it over here.

Fill in the blanks ⬇️
Tony the Tiger (dude who built what turned into “Gord” Had 3 different dent builds on pirate.

That narrowed slick side cab on rockwells in Oregon. Kid put slick side grills on Rangers.

Mustange_(something)70? rear engine 400 on meritors mega truck in Canada

 

[Levigarrett76]

Levigarrett76 have you always lived in Ga? Trying to remember what projects you might have had on the old board. I remember some Mn members by their signature. (Minnechoda this or that….. or the cold keeps the riff raff out) Anyways just random thoughts of cool projects from yesterday that never made it over here.

Fill in the blanks ⬇️
Tony the Tiger (dude who built what turned into “Gord” Had 3 different dent builds on pirate.

That narrowed slick side cab on rockwells in Oregon. Kid put slick side grills on Rangers.

Mustange_(something)70? rear engine 400 on meritors mega truck in Canada

I have always been in GA, with a short stint in AL

I never had anything on the old board i felt worth posting, Most of my days on pirate i still had my dentside 76/79 that turned truggy and sold off in 2010, its a full buggy now.

I remember following halogrinder's cheap truck challenge, that was cool build
AZf150 and that orange supercab
There was Proeliator who has the 73? mud truck with nice 557 or something
i remember Mustange70, he ended up going full tilt with that sucker.

Couple more im sure ill think of later

Ive got a bunch of pictures on my computer at home I could dig up

 

[Snowracer]

Fill in the blanks ⬇️
Tony the Tiger (dude who built what turned into “Gord” Had 3 different dent builds on pirate.

That narrowed slick side cab on rockwells in Oregon. Kid put slick side grills on Rangers.

Mustange_(something)70? rear engine 400 on meritors mega truck in Canada

Lucky13 is who started gord and built the tiger truck. he posts a little on IG and all rat rods and stuff now it seems

narrowed slick has built a few other rigs and post quite a bit on IG as well

Mustang70 finished that truck and raced it a bit last year


awesome to see you here now as always liked your build on the old site and you do super clean work

 

[Grendel]

Did your spring pads/ u-bolt eliminators come with bolts?

 

[WiscoF100]

Lucky13 is who started gord and built the tiger truck. he posts a little on IG and all rat rods and stuff now it seems

narrowed slick has built a few other rigs and post quite a bit on IG as well

Mustang70 finished that truck and raced it a bit last year


awesome to see you here now as always liked your build on the old site and you do super clean work

Yes! Lucky13. Always loved his overlay bracketry. Not a fan of gord but rather the OG builder.

I came across what I thought was the slick side but lost track of him on ig

Last update I saw on the old board was of the custom wheels mustange70 built.

Thanks for the compliment. I try my best. Many people have set the bar high to inspire me. I still have the blue 77 that raced KOH but won’t share updates until it’s finished. Been 6 years since it was decommissioned and living on jack stands in 3 different states.

Did your spring pads/ u-bolt eliminators come with bolts?

No, local Hillman hardware at first but had to sniff out some longer ones and scored them through an eBay auction. They are 5/8 x 6.5”

 

[WiscoF100]

The Deaver springs arrived Father’s Day of 2022 after committing to the F-250 axles a couple weeks prior.

Comparisons against stock springs. Everything checks out against the advertised 5” lift value and turns out the ultra4 truck (cab) is stock height (with new and improved 8.5” uptravel)

Diff covers and disc brake brackets (of declining quality)

TC pump bracket/pump, CVF pulleys and demon carb. This is the 400. Red flag Chevy orange

Minnesocold

Long toooob headers

38 gallon tank. It receives a few mods down the road.

 

[WiscoF100]

Finishing out the garage. A lot of work playing the shuffle game and not knowing where I want outlets etc. It was kind of fun since I’ve never fully carved out my own work space before.

 

[WiscoF100]

Nothing exciting picture wise positioning the axles and bracketry etc. A bunch of measuring and dreaming took place plotting the custom steering and rear long travel shackles.

Here’s a shot showing how far off the engine brackets are. 10/10 would not recommend. It’s not a matter of interchangeability and variables but they were simply fab’d poorly. My friend also bought a set for his 73 360ci and they were a nightmare as well. His were installed frame-off like mine.

The drivetrain was pressure washed and readied to be installed.

Comparison shots of short vs long output shafts and single vs double cardan.

Of my many squirrel brained ideas I chased down a ribbed case. $200 and helped grow my 205 collection. The grand scheme is ribbed case converted to long output for double cardan drive shafts front and rear….because wannabe go-fast. The guts from this case will then build my small block C6 in the ultra4….#NP435delete

The 400 was to be run as is with plans to have the 351M built to be a 400 or more by TMeyer but all those plans were scrambled once I discovered this engine was toast. Shame since the engine was a nice .030 over rebuild with name brand parts inside. It had all the typical 335 oiling failures in the rotating assembly. HV pump, mud truck 😑 Pan was full of sand 😡 Good thing I decided to peek before dropping it in the frame.

Before setting the drivetrain, the cab needed to be brought inside. Everything was mint until this point. It had been handled safely without incident removing, loading, unloading. Then months later moving inside a strap slipped. It was picked through the windshield with 4 straps down to the cab corners. It didn’t fall far as I had it real low. But the hoist arm fucked the windshield frame. This was a huge disappointment and still is. Lost a lot of motivation.

Show must go on. I marked the frame for future plans of the long output shaft and drilled the holes for the tcase mount.

 

[Levigarrett76]

Thanks for sharing those back to back c6 photos, very helpful.

Sucks on the 400, what is plan for build now?

 

[WiscoF100]

Visual comparisons are the best

August of 2022 it was decided to peek inside the 351M checking the typical suspects. #1 main and #7 rod. OE crank was good. Can’t judge a book by its cover. Engine was a very dull rusty overheated looking mess.

Engine build is the next chronological update

 

[Frodo]

You definitely don't have to have registration on a pile of parts in MN. When you go to re register it, they will try to hit you with paying registration for all years since it was last registered. To avoid it, there is a special form where you put how long it has been off the road. The few times I've needed it, they gave me the form at the DMV. Or maybe something changed in the last 2 years.

 

[WiscoF100]

Well I did experience the back dated registration issue, because of the previous owner. Dealing with these franchises or any dmv for that matter is a headache. The lady in our local small town office was a terror. I managed to fight the past due registration fees and some other tax stuff but she would not budge on the current registration business. Very likely I’m naive. 🤷‍♂️ When it came to fighting for my title with st paul there were numerous forms exchanged, statements and photos to prove the truck wasn’t worth the $26,000 that their “independent research” claimed 🤣 These fuckers scroll marketplace for rattle can rebuild prices?????

I have over turned another issue regarding my 1ton ram registration and they issued a refund of the difference. That was through my own research and dealing with the Duluth office.

 

[Frodo]

That's wild! I was way down in southern MN and never had any issues with my local office. Sorry to hear you had so much "fun". My dad recently put collector plates on his old 4x4 after not being registered for a while, and to my knowledge didn't have any issues beyond the back dated registration.

 

[WiscoF100]

It ‘99 when I was introduced to the 351 Cleveland. We had both 4v & 2v variations and whooped everyone’s ass in circle track. I also had some strange and most likely lubrication failures and had once found a gold mine of tech from Yates and Roush. It was in the rabbit holes of network 54 or whatever that site was. I lost that info 20yrs ago. Anyways, the best I could do now was to give the TMeyer approach to oil control a try.

I purchased his HV oil filter fitting and cam bearings.

By the numbers this block should be safe from cracking. D7TE-A-2-B MCC 7 E 13

Heater circuit fitting was rusted to practically nothing. Hole was oversized and replaced with TMeyer press fitting. I could’ve tapped for npt but just wasn’t interested.

No pictures taken but the cam bearings crumbled apart.

Scored a large accumulator for the race car and in turn used the supply for 351M shenanigans

 

[WiscoF100]

My own approach to lubrication mods is simple. Is the hole small? Yes. Can the hole be made larger? Yes. Then get to work. To determine exactly how much the galleys needed to be modified required a complex math equation where you utilize your male instincts and see what fits in a hole. A Melling HV pump is more or less 17/32”. The galleys are not. Rocket surgery. Now they’re all port matched to the pump. To get across M1 to the passenger lifter galley, I had to purchase a 12” drill bit.

Rear OP port is capable of 17/32”

Front OP port increased to 3/8 NPT for -10 plumbing

This is the TMeyer mod

I love grinding/blending cast flashing. I didn’t spend much time on this block but I hate the sharp eye sores. No exciting pictures but the cylinder ridges were cut (they weren’t much) and the bores were ball honed.

All galleys were then blended using summit racings carbide burrs

Comparison next to a 302 block. That’s a problem I didn’t need. It’s a fancy 331 short block. Looking back through these pics, I was dealing with so much clutter transitioning from the move, remodel, unpacking etc

 

[WiscoF100]

Intake comparison. These tall decks are sooo wide.

I hadn’t set a crank in 20 years, so this was pretty cool reliving my childhood.

I tried being frugal and reuse the pistons but there was no way of cleaning the ring lands to any point of satisfaction. I was kinda nervous about removing and hanging new pistons. I was worried about special fixtures or practices but once I saw that you could simply hold a rod bare hand using map gas and slip the wrist pin through I gave it a shot. Super easy.

No pictures but this was also my first time of installing cam bearings. That was something my dad handled when I was a kid. It was cool buying these tools that I remember him having in his shop. I was nervous since these modified cam bearings specific orientation due to their oiling mods. It turned out just fine.

The 400 offered up the oil pump, mystery cam, comp push rods, heads for this build. I’ve never degreed a cam before but it was absolutely critical to figure out what cam I was working with. Once I found the specs and googled the marks on the core, it was confirmed that it’s an Edelbrock #2172

EPA delete

 

[WiscoF100]

I have a huge fascination with the early factory sponsored racing and even the fallout when guys still did what they had to do to push the limits of what was possible. What a time to be alive if you were a geahead. I love the cowboys they were. I mean c’mon hotel parking lot engine overhauls, jungle pam and zero fucks given. I think these were Gliddens valve covers. I’m working on hacking my own set together.

I tried a couple different pointers and nothing corresponded to my balancer. So I trimmed this one. The engine was set true TDC as confirmed in earlier post.

Time to put lipstick on this pig. Also seen is the flow kooler pump.

Shop graffiti

ARP 12 points and SFI plate. I never skip on quality in places I can’t service/parts that can butcher my feet off.

 

[WiscoF100]

Shots of the oil equalizer line and the branch for the OP gauge

Made a quick balancer install tool

Fender dump headers.

Block heater because minnesocold. Also, I never use stock starters. Who wants to deal with slow dunna nuh dunna nuh dunna nuh cranking?????? Fawk that.

-4 PTFE repurposed from the race car brake lines

I hate people who put #1 on the dizzy in some fucked off position. 13726548 is a work of art. Don’t forget to time V belts either.

 

[WiscoF100]

335 engines only have 1 npt port to tap the coolant for temperature. But I fixed that wagon. Now the fan controller can have pre-thermostat water. Super easy mod.

2 last notes about the engine. The distributor is from my last attempt at dirt circle track. Literally a smog ‘74 351c 2v with only a cam and aluminum 4v intake. It would pull the 383 and 410 whatever sbcs down the straights but I never got the car to turn in the 3 times I took it out. I had to become an adult and work and never raced again (circle track). The intake is an Edelbrock performer 400 #2171 from the blue 77 F-150 before it was chopped up for crawling/koh.

Quick and dirty oil vapor separator.

The only 460 in a merc sable. The build hasn’t gone there yet but eventually it will receive a BBF transplant. Something I’ve never had before.

That pretty much covers the engine details

 

[Levigarrett76]

Awesome,

I might have missed it, did the 351m stay 351? (no 400 crank)

 

[WiscoF100]

Correct

The crank was sold. It would have to be turned to clean up and I just wasn’t gonna go down that road around these parts and my unrealistic expectations of when I thought I would have this truck done. I really wanted to experience a square motor because growing up there was hype about that (4” stroke 4” bore)

 

[Levigarrett76]

Correct

The crank was sold. It would have to be turned to clean up and I just wasn’t gonna go down that road around these parts and my unrealistic expectations of when I thought I would have this truck done. I really wanted to experience a square motor because growing up there was hype about that (4” stroke 4” bore)

same here on a square motor

I had a craigslist 400 I ran in a 79 that was worn out i threw in, in place of a 400 with two blown head gaskets and block damage.
It had noticeably strong off idle torque. It self destructed, it allegedly had an "rv" cam in it.
Had a stock 351m that was so anemic it would not spin hummer takeoffs in reverse up hill on wet concrete. i currently have a 351m with broken crank ( insert freshly rebuilt never fired story). If the 460 had not fallen into my lap i was going to do a tmeyer 400 build to see what all the hype was about

 

[WiscoF100]

same here on a square motor

I had a craigslist 400 I ran in a 79 that was worn out i threw in, in place of a 400 with two blown head gaskets and block damage.
It had noticeably strong off idle torque. It self destructed, it allegedly had an "rv" cam in it.
Had a stock 351m that was so anemic it would not spin hummer takeoffs in reverse up hill on wet concrete. i currently have a 351m with broken crank ( insert freshly rebuilt never fired story). If the 460 had not fallen into my lap i was going to do a tmeyer 400 build to see what all the hype was about

I’d like to see a broken crank

Here’s a picture of the 400 crank when I shipped it

Here’s a crank that somehow manage to offset grind itself Guy wanted $50 for this “400” crank. Just another junk 351m