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

[WiscoF100]

Steering gear just arrived. It was out of my possession less than one week including transit time.

Truck was sidelined because some other projects came up and the flu came through the house and other life things. Next week I’ll get back in it.

 

[WiscoF100]

Nothing exciting picture wise but I finally got back on this again

Here is the side project that interrupted. I was equally guilty in this. You know when your wife says hey I saw this on Pinterest…..The opportunity was there to use a skid steer and auger and I have wanted to invest in something like this for the family for awhile.

Finally getting the metal to move where I want it and even some places I don’t. Lol It’s getting close enough now that I could test the glass tonight maybe. One hold up was waiting a 3rd body hammer set to arrive that wasn’t complete ass.

Ordered 25 sq ft of 5mm mass something something deadener. It’s butyl, foil and rubbery foam. Should be just enough to cover the entire floor profile. Also purchased an ACC black vinyl floor. The deadener plans for the rest of the cab are in the air. If want whisper luxury, I have the chummings for that. This truck will all new weather stripping etc will be the most fanciest dentside I’ve ever owned

 

[WiscoF100]

Most of the profile is there but I’ve still got to figure out how to pull that fupa back in. Maybe I’ll just cab swap 🫨

The height across and flange shape is pretty good. Thinking I might have to spread the A pillars at the roof to pull the fupa down and in. I’m just winging it.

 

[WiscoF100]

Gonna try this buck to dial in the flange. Traced a 1x6 against the glass. The top of the glass profile is flat.

Also rigging up a scissor jack to spread the A-pillars outwards. Wish there was an instruction manual on how to fix your truck after you fucked it up.

 

[OX1]

Most of the profile is there but I’ve still got to figure out how to pull that fupa back in. Maybe I’ll just cab swap 🫨

The height across and flange shape is pretty good. Thinking I might have to spread the A pillars at the roof to pull the fupa down and in. I’m just winging it.

It's doable. I smashed my A-pillar hard even with EXO. Cut that whole corner out (not pretty, but I only cared about structure on trail rig), but still got windshield back in it. So keep at it, I don't think you need to swap cabs for that.

 

[WiscoF100]

Cab swap was just satire. I know I’ll get it but man it’s wayyyy further out of whack than just isolated to the pinch point of the cherry picker.

I should’ve addressed this immediately instead of following through with the original placement on the chassis. Should’ve left it right on the floor and tackled this. Pain in the dick trying to work against the ceiling and a finished truck.

Once I cutout this buck today I hoping that spreading the A pillars and replacing the interior fascia panel I can get it to hold shape and or hold shape while getting some spots welds I place.

Glad to see someone else doing some metal work on one these trucks

 

[WiscoF100]

I’ve tried searching for a collision spec book but no luck.

Be nice to know what kind of margin I have for glass/gasket tolerances beside the obvious of getting the general shape back.

Going to pull the gasket out of the box and familiarize myself with that to get an idea of the relation of the glass dimension and flange dimension and how it all goes together.

It’s not a detail I want to share at this time why I can’t reference my 77 cab but the dimensions I can pull from it don’t correlate to the cab I’m trying to fix and neither does the glass. Hence why I need to figure out the glass, gasket, cab relationship.

 

[OX1]

I’ve tried searching for a collision spec book but no luck.

Be nice to know what kind of margin I have for glass/gasket tolerances beside the obvious of getting the general shape back.

Going to pull the gasket out of the box and familiarize myself with that to get an idea of the relation of the glass dimension and flange dimension and how it all goes together.

It’s not a detail I want to share at this time why I can’t reference my 77 cab but the dimensions I can pull from it don’t correlate to the cab I’m trying to fix and neither does the glass. Hence why I need to figure out the glass, gasket, cab relationship.

That gasket being as thick as it is, is a bit forgiving in dimensions, but I'm sure you want to make yours much
closer to perfect than I did. Weird that it got pushed out/up from the inside.

 

[WiscoF100]

My observations as well when I unboxed the gasket. I made enough progress that I’m ready to slide the interior panel in place and begin final checks. Ordered some alloy armor to spray everything down with before welding. I’ll test it first. Maybe I delayed myself another week for nothing.

 

[WiscoF100]

Pane in the glass

Alloy armor delivers tomorrow. If I didn’t live in the rust belt I wouldn’t even worry about welding these panels together without corrosion protection. The buck helped but not as much as just testing the glass periodically.

While winterizing the property and clearing the leaves I focused on some shed organization which included bringing the back glass off the shelf. It had a bunch of etched sticker silhouettes and hard water stains (obligatory hunting or rifle club sticker and some cool “western” script Wyoming and Montana stickers)

5 rounds with 000 steel wool and glass cleaner got me most of the way there.

Kept scrubbing until this cool 35% color developed

Finished the night by getting the gasket on. It’s difficult in the beginning but gets easier once you’ve got two sides on. I placed the joint bottom center and worked out and around. Used a heat gun to help. The tint made the job more hassle than it should be. The gasket doesn’t really have any shape unlike the front.

I plan to rope it in tomorrow night

 

[Loki89t]

I just swapped my back window out of my truck for a slider from an OBS and your tint job looks waaaay better than mine

 

[WiscoF100]

Idk yet. I’ve never applied tint before and I’m worried about the edges or adhesion in general but it sure does look purty in the pictures!!

OBS back glass is the same?

 

[Loki89t]

Idk yet. I’ve never applied tint before and I’m worried about the edges or adhesion in general but it sure does look purty in the pictures!!

OBS back glass is the same?

OBS glass fits as long as you use the gasket that fits the window. I think the OBS glass is thinner than the dentside glass so the dentside gasket doesn't work with it.

 

[WiscoF100]

Cool, learned something new today

 

[WiscoF100]

The back glass was not fun at all. I followed what FTE and YouTube videos said about applying bedding and glazing compound to the cab flange. What a mess. Had to remove the window once. Thought about calling it quits but we pushed through it. The lower corners aren’t quite right but I’ll see if I can smack the glass around. Acetone/carb cleaner would not touch this snot. Luckily I had a bottle of goo gone spray gel. Wife made some remark that reminded me I had it and immediately ran for the bottle. Tedious but cleaned the nasty shit right up. She was in the trenches with me getting this sorted out.

For nothing going right it sure does look bitchin!

Header panel cleco’d in place and so far so good with reassembly.

 

[rattle_snake]

Glass looks good. Nice work.

I bough some 3m glass goo based on info I had. Old timer glass guy said no, not needed on either window. Go in dry. They don't leak.
He popped the back window in 5 min for $25. The windshield with the MF'n trim took him well over an hour.

 

[WiscoF100]

Dry it is for the front install 👍 I bought good gaskets, I should trust them.

I don’t have any experience with this so touching a hot stove was the only way to go. And what a BS sticky nasty hot stove it was. Going to regret ever removing the glass and cleaning up the rest 🤢 That day will come when it’s paint time.

 

[WiscoF100]

And I should specify my install sequence with the rope. Originally I had the slack ends at the bottom. Set lower flange and work bottom to top. Once the black goo got out of control we pulled the glass to re-evaluate. In the haste and panic of what do I do to fix this, I thought maybe I should reverse the rope and push the window up into the cab. This proved to be a worse idea but there was no way I was starting over again. So it was installed top to bottom which gave me very little control over the glass and resulted in poor lower corners. Hard lesson learned. I’m confident the front will go better.

 

[holdmypocket]

When I did the EB we used some 1/4" twine SOAKED in Dawn dish soap. Went counter clock-wise and of course the last two corners (bottom and top passenger) were a nightmare. I took a pick like the one in the following picture and hammered the sharp point into itself so it was more like an "O" and was able to use that to manipulate the gasket around without tearing it. That helped a ton. I do think soaking it in soapy water was key to our success but it still took at least an hour.

 

[WiscoF100]

holdmypocket yeah a gentle hook would be helpful. I made do with a blunt pick in a couple of spots but still could’ve poked a hole easily. Debating soap spray or this weatherstripping conditioner I have that evaporates to assist the front gasket….

Feeling very accomplished for this set of rest days. The structure is complete. Little bit of cosmetic details to complete and lay down some paint where I was working. It was fun pushing and pulling and clamping 3 layers together with limited access. The alloy armor is pretty tough and it welds very easy. I’m sold on that stuff.

Did some prelim cleaning

 

[Levigarrett76]

You are an artist

 

[WiscoF100]

Thanks, it’s a relief that I’m saving this and not making it worse. Way more satisfying than dropping it off at a body shop

 

[OX1]

OBS glass fits as long as you use the gasket that fits the window. I think the OBS glass is thinner than the dentside glass so the dentside gasket doesn't work with it.

Interesting. I have a slider from one of those, but no dentside pickups. Maybe time to put it up.

 

[OX1]

Thanks, it’s a relief that I’m saving this and not making it worse. Way more satisfying than dropping it off at a body shop

I remember jacking off the floor (not to be confused with jacking off on the floor), just like that.

 

[rattle_snake]

 

[WiscoF100]

Pretty sure I didn’t share the fan swap update.

The dual fans were a hindrance. Inefficient all around. Didn’t spin fast, restrictive and high amp draw. Kept killing the 30amp circuit breaker. Blah blah blah

Going to the 16” from the KOH rig along with the Spal controller. 10 years from now when summer returns to Minnesota if this fan doesn’t keep up, I’ll try bypass louvers in the shroud to free up some airflow.

Hit the steering gear with bright Ford blue and it was too Smurf-like so today I shot some Alloy armor on the cap for contrast.

No major windshield progress since I only had 1 rest day this week. I did remove the sound deadener fuzz from the roof finally.

Along with the fan wiring I mounted some buss bars for all the trigger wires- gauges, relays, etc

The idea will be to replace the dark brown on this truck with something along the lines of the two copper/root beer colors seen below. Dads 54? Panhead and Moms ‘58 Apache. Both machines were very custom for their time.

Banking on getting furloughed next week. I’ll be able to drive this truck again if that happens.

 

[fordguy]

astronomical amount of work.

Props.

 

[WiscoF100]

fordguy thanks man. It certainly is. Even I have to remind myself that I have created this truck from a pile of bolts

 

[fordguy]

the fab stuff some of you guys do - why arent you running a ful on shop? Skills and knowledge are amazing.

 

[WiscoF100]

I work too slow