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Limey Bastard ~ 1974 F100 4x4 Resto

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This will be the one of the oldest Ford's to date I have worked on, the last was a 65 Mustang and that was 20 years ago (yup, that's a disclaimer). Old Limey is gonna get a tear down and build back over the next looooooooooong while. So patience is a virtue and all that! The plan is to go through this old F100 and give it some much needed love, after the life of neglect it's led to date. I know it's not the usual custom to try and restore old pickups, but it's a Ford and a 4x4.... so it goes in here. :grinpimp:

A little history... According to the vin Limey began it's life in San Jose at the Ford plant there in Feb. 1974. It came equipped with a 360 FE 2bbl, C6 3 speed auto. an NP205 mated to it and four wheel drive. It was equipped with the typical D44 front axle and a Ford 9" rear with a gear ratio of 3.50. The truck sits with all the original engine, trans and etc. to this day. It did however lead a pretty rough life, despite the lack of miles put on it. It was used as a snow plow for a cool old guy for almost 30 years to scrape his long driveway. It didn't get but a 1000 miles a year (if that) in that service, then it was purchased as a back up plow at my parents place and was parked for the last 8 years.

When I was able to swing a deal on it, it had been sitting and in a state of neglect. I was however able to get the old guy running after a carb rebuild, points and condenser, a coil and some fresh fluids. Drove it home about a week later after I made some room in the garage.

How I found it:
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After I got it home I started assessing the engine... pulled a compression test and it actually went fairly better than I expected. The lowest was 103, and the highest cylinder was 112. Given my altitude at 7500 feet I was happy with that. The 360FE is a pretty low compression engine anyway. I figure the rings are still ok, and the heads probably will need to get some valve seals no doubt. Also got the essentials like timing chain and whatnot to freshen the ol guy up. The engine will be getting pulled and set on my stand, as well as the c6 for a freshen up too... The front clip got tore off, as well as the bed to make life easier for the cleanup!

Bed removed:

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Front clip removed:

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Carb ~ motorcraft 2100 rebuild:

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So the last couple of weeks I have been junk yarding and sourcing a BUNCH of parts. List is growing, but have managed to find some front fenders (inner and outer) as the old ones were pretty roached. Have several parts on order~ engine components, exhaust, gasket set, and etc... will try and rebuild for the most part whatever is rebuildable. I'm a big proponent of keeping the original so long as I can. Also have various rubber bushings en route to replace a lot of bad rubber... radius arms, isolators and whatnot. The radiator just needs a scrub, and am planning to overhaul the factory A/C system. :grinpimp:

Theres going to be a pretty decent amount of body work too... mostly the exterior though. Cab Mounts are good as well as the frame given their age and environment it's been in. Will post as I go and when I have time. :flipoff2:
 
Nice!

Plate the frame where the steering box mounts while you have it torn apart, mine was nasty.
 
holdmypocket said:
Nice!

Plate the frame where the steering box mounts while you have it torn apart, mine was nasty.
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Can't imagine it's too weak of a link in the system... it's literally mounted adjacent to the cross member. Are they known to have issues there?
 
rattle_snake said:
Have fun cleaning all those old parts. Sounds like motor has some life left, slap valve seals and spring in and run it.
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I already have the hoist out, and the stand... gonna get a good refresh with all new gaskets, engine mounts, t-chain, freeze plugs, heads overhauled and etc... little scrub a dub and some paint. These old FE's are just plain stout and work horses to boot.
The old timing chain has more slack than my pants at this point.:flipoff2:

Side note ~ I've been working on Jap crap for so long I had forgotten what big blocks are. :laughing: Gotta love the simplicity and SPACE!
 
Sure, sorry, I understand you're pulling for reseal and whatnot, I was referring to bottom end. I think I have offloaded most my FE parts, but let me know if you need anything.
 
rattle_snake said:
Sure, sorry, I understand you're pulling for reseal and whatnot, I was referring to bottom end. I think I have offloaded most my FE parts, but let me know if you need anything.
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I appreciate it man! Should be good... I have another engine in the donor truck that spins freely. The parts rig is a 76 with I think a 390. If thats the case I nabbing the crank and rods and making this one into a 390. :grinpimp: I haven't actually explored that one yet, mostly because it's buried behind a couple of sheds with a mound of green waste blocking it's path to freedom. :laughing:
 
Well that was fun... time to rip into the engine and start cleaning up the rest of Limey (Greasy) Bastard....

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All these years of service and it's still fairly clean in the old bell... If ya look close you can see some carnage bits of starters that prolly died a miserable death. I see some little chunks of gear teeth down in there. :laughing:

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All set on the stand... I have been playing with little Toyota stuff for so long I had forgotten what a heavy pig these old FE's are! Prolly 650 lbs I am guessing. Puttin the strain on my old ass stand. :laughing:
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​

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:smokin: i admire that you can build cool retro "stockish" things

you hit the balance of overhaul vs leave it alone just right
 
Arickvan said:
:smokin: i admire that you can build cool retro "stockish" things

you hit the balance of overhaul vs leave it alone just right
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Thanks man! I started out building a bunch of Toys in the 90's... Couple that were fun, but at the end of the day (maybe I'm just getting old) I kinda liked the stockish, capable stuff for what I do now days. :homer:

This should be fun to get going again! My wallet isn't exactly happy... already upped the budget a bit. :laughing: Should be a good return on my investment though. Although the more I play with it, it's seeming like it might be fun to drive around for a while. :grinpimp: That's my MO it seems. Fix em up, drive them for a bit, then get an offer I can't refuse and on to the next one.
 
Aggie06 said:
I currently have two of that style laying in the bed of my truck. They may be pre-date code tires.
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:laughing:

I am surprised these things are still holding air with all the weather rot! There may in fact be innertubes under em'!
 
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​So far tearing into the engine, I'm a happy camper. :grinpimp:

The rocker assemblies are in great shape, albeit it looks like every valve stem seal gave up the ghost at some time. All the pushrods and lifters are in great shape considering it's age... and prolly the most slacky timing chain ever (that pic is my finger barely pushing it...). It is the og ford chain, it led a good life.:laughing:

Will know more later in the day what the valve seats look like when the heads get pulled. Not sure yet if they will make a trip to the machine shop or not. Hoping both heads just needs a good clean, inspection and some valve stem seals.

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Click image for larger version Name: 20210313_093745.jpg Views: 0 Size: 388.8 KB ID: 342414
 
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