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Limey Bastard ~ 1974 F100 4x4 Resto

Nice work man. She’s coming together quite nicely. I’m looking forward to seeing how the bodywork goes
Thanks man... I have quite a bit of body work just in the cab. Not terrible but theres a single dent that will require a pull and some body hammer work. The floor boards, especially the drivers side, has a few rust holes~ so I plan to just cut and replace with a portion of stamped floor pans I got. All in all not to tough. I am really struggling to find a good bed to work with. They used to be a dime a dozen and readily available... apparently that's changed. I do have another bed more straight than the one that came with Limey (the bed floor is in really great shape too, kind of a shame but the tail light sections are really smashed and creased), but it will need some help too. My guesstimation is about 20 hours in labor on it. May end up going that route if I have to... I really don't want to build a flatbed, but might if I can't find a good donor bed in the next month or so. Not my first rodeo with that.


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I know where there's a good straight one in the White Mountains... of NH :flipoff2:
 
This would be the other bed, thats workable... but I know it's been "worked" on before...
 

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looks better than the green one.

can you compromise and just section that bed and use the rear ~1' of it and a bit of side to pop onto the green one?
I am kind of leaning that way.... I wonder how hard the entire side would be to remove and just weld the other ones on. New bed sides are 600 bucks and shipping (the shipping is stupid price, as in 300 bucks). :homer: AND, they aren't nearly as stout as the og's... for a grand, I'd rather do a bit of body work on a different bed, or work with the two I have to create a nice bed.
 
Another quick update... managed to make a small dent in cleaning up the brackets, inner fenders and rad support. Waiting on a heater core to finish off the A/C-Heater HVAC box before I pop it back in. I spend far more time cleaning and painting things on this than I have any vehicle to date... but it's coming along. Also set the carb back in place with a new fangled electric choke to cut down on tubes. Less mess :laughing:

Should have the rad support, inner (maybe outer too) fenders assembled this weekend or early next week... would like to start the 360 up and see how she goes by next weekend. Still have a bunch of wiring harness to go through.

Other things still on the list are brakes, front and rear~ driveshafts, they are getting al new u-joints and center bearing installed~ exhaust, just the oem style will be getting installed~ interior floorboards to cut in and weld (After that I have the majority of new interior to install- floor rubber, dash, seat and etc... Tons of cleanup).

Some pics:

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Got the A/C and heater box rebuilt (blower motor replaced, new resistor. The heater core and A/C evaporator were in great shape) and all sealed back up. Inner fenders going on later today and then I can start to dress those out with all the knick knacks ie: battery boxes, vac canister, wiring looms/ harness, starter relay and etc...

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Slowly getting there.... Was hoping by now to at least be knocking some tin and getting body work done, but I am STILL on the hunt for a decent bed to work with. So I have spent the last week or so (as time allowed) to finish off the engine bay and tear in to the rear axle and get some other things lined out. Gas tank cleaned and painted, springs, all components basically cleaned and prepped for assembly. Should have the rear axle put back tomorrow and then the brakes will be next... prolly knock out the rear fairly quick, then rehab the front drums with some hardware (shoes, seals, springs, slaves and etc...). I also went through the A/C compressor, clutch and whatnot and tested the system for leaks. All good! Drained and filled the compressor case with ester oil (8 oz.) for the switch to r134a, and changed all the o-rings with some greenies to comply with the new gas... actually made a pretty big dent this last week.:grinpimp:

Some mo progress pics:
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Side note: This thing had the original (yes original) rear brake shoes on it (I checked the dates...). SO I am seriously thinking it has 37K original miles, even as rough as ol Limey looks. Ha!
 
Don't put too much stock in that. I have a F-series that has ~150k on the original rear shoes.
Probably true.... I was just thinking the fact they are intact and fairly clean, along with the engine cylinders the way they looked... Prolly right, wishful thinking and all. For sure I will know more when I attack the front brakes.
 
I did get the rear all back together and some new shoes, slave cylinders and hardware on the rear brakes/ axle... fixed the leaky seals too. New shocks (one fell apart in my hands :laughing:), and spruced it all up with some fresh paint. Rear gas tank mounted too... new sending unit/ filter and some new hoses (old ones also crumbled apart in my hands).

Piccy's:

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Should also have the exhaust in tomorrow... would really like to turn the thing over and tune the engine. Front brakes should be done over the weekend. Got the steering column rebuilt and installed too...

I have been picking up a crap ton of side work to fund the thing (little electrical jobs here and there)... wife looked at my budget and giggled, then stared at me and said "well, it better be fun to camp in". I really should learn to keep my mouth shut. I think as of today I am only into it around $3200 (including cost of the thing), but still need paint, tires (although I do have some 32's on 16" wheels I could run) and a few interior/ exterior components.

So what the heck are these worth all gussied up? Cleaned up, painted and nice interior with a fairly fresh (or at least freshened up) 360FE, C6 and an np205? It's the plain jane version of the "custom", I realize they prolly aren't fetching what the Rangers and xlt's are.

I am guessing it varies by location and all... I can't imagine I would be upside down on the thing. I have seen some real beaters going in the 4-5k range. Not that I am gonna flip it, I want to drive it for a bit and enjoy it (at least until gas hits 5 bucks a gallon:laughing:). I will also be into the thing for a couple hundred, or more hours.... would want my time and parts out of it, or at least a fair amount for my time and work.
 
I have to ask, because all your jobs are so clean and nice by the end. Do you wire wheel all this stuff down to bare metal and then paint? Like did you separate those whole leaf packs and do it all up?

My next old project will be done more “right” this time. Take it all down, do it all up.
 
I have to ask, because all your jobs are so clean and nice by the end. Do you wire wheel all this stuff down to bare metal and then paint? Like did you separate those whole leaf packs and do it all up?

My next old project will be done more “right” this time. Take it all down, do it all up.
It really just depends on the amount of gunk and grime involved. I wire wheeled the bulk of crap off the frame and just rattle canned it with some chassis paint The front of the frame was a literal nightmare... 50 years of grease, oil and grime. It got the pressure washer and serious scrubbing, then wire wheeled and shot. The pics may do it more justice than it deserves too :laughing:. There have been a few trucks that were really simple... just quick clean and go. Mostly 80's/ 90's Toyotas though. Far less work and done in a 1/3rd of the time. This one is testing my patience. :homer: Gettin there though. :grinpimp:
 
Vintage 4wds are gaining fast

I imagine with your garage single stage paint job, a freshly upholstered seat on steel wheels and new 33s, functional AC, it'd be worth between 15-20k

Maybe more on the east coast.

You may also find a 20k buyer right there in the white mountains, the guy that retires and drops 400k on his rustic place wants the matching vintage truck...

I figure at some point this had to roll over, but hot money flowing, shortage of new 70k trucks, relatively cheap gas, kinda the perfect storm for turnkey old iron
 
I'm seeing trucks like this sell in CA that need new floors/gutters/and other rust repairs for around $20k. They might have a paint job and are otherwise stock with maybe a small lift and original drivetrain. They just need to run and drive. With that said, I sold my '69 EB in 2015 for $20k and if I had waited a couple more year would have got double that. Still, doesn't seem worth it to sell because good luck trying to replace them later for a dollar amount you're gonna be OK with.
 
Seriously? Dang... I am keeping it for at least a while to enjoy and drive around. Didn't expect them to fetch that much. Now I really want to score a camper. :grinpimp:
 
In any case... I did manage to get the exhaust in this am... and of course the new muffler I got had 2-1/2" inlet and 2-1/4" out. The tailpipe I ordered that was truck specific was 2", naturally. :laughing: I had to reduce it down on the exhaust outlet to fit the tailpipe, al in all not to bad and it fits well. Should be able to bump the engine over and tune it over the weekend now. (fangers crossed).

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In before the “seems like it doesn’t have any power... almost like it can’t breathe.... think I need a bigger exhaust?”

:flipoff2:
 
In before the “seems like it doesn’t have any power... almost like it can’t breathe.... think I need a bigger exhaust?”

:flipoff2:
It probably does need a bigger exhaust... even the plain jane version did, and that's all this is. BONE stock baby! :flipoff2:
 
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