Projects 1965 F100 father and sons project

Great progress! Love how this pickup is coming along.

 

Thanks @guthriesmith. We're pushing hard and appreciate the thumbs up. Helps keep us motivated. Forgive the OT look but, Gold and Black - TRADITIONAL!!
Got my older guy welding like a bugger on shock mounts. In paint now. He honed our caliper cylinders and we cleaned the seal races like a dental hygenist. Threw the glam gold on it. We will use this colour on most of the engine parts, brake booster, etc. We are going to thrash this thing long nights until done. We're excited. Really want to see my guys drive it to school before the year wraps.

 

Got one shock tower done and shock installed. Kid's both went to work so I can't push the truck out to turn it around to get the passenger side done. Mounted the front sway bar too but, will hold off mounting the pillow blocks until everything else is done. Went looking for the 3/4" bar for the back and somehow I've misplaced the blocks for it. It was going smooth up to that point.

 

Another shock tower to complete today. As soon as I say this is the last time we need to push in order to turn her around I'll doom myself to push some more. She looks good out in the open though. Kids took lots of photos for a school project. So close. 2nd guy gets his Learners License this month.

 

Thrash night. Leon Bridges, light, tired - definitely, keep going. Shock tower passenger side done. Sway bar mounted. Wiring tomorrow. Come on steering universal, where the hell are you?

 

This is what happens when you are supposed to wire and there is a bottle of Carnuba close at hand. I did some wiring but, started polishing the turd - actually got it to shine. That was distracting. Search is on for my Amazon sourced Borgeson steering joint. Saw lot's of cheaper versions but, kept thinking - uhh, it's a steering component. The last thing going through my mind as I'm soaring off a cliff will at least not be, 'Maybe I should have paid a bit more for that joint!'

 

The analogies for what this represents utterly escapes me. Pulled the fuse box off the firewall to get some perspective. Nothing was labelled. I'm tracing everything with my multi meter and even it's saying, give it up, rip it out and go buy a rebel 9+3 kit. Save this one for another car when I can untangle and spread across the floor. I get angry just looking at it.

 

Wow! Nice progress!
I would like to find more detail about how you did the whitewalls. They look great, and I would like to steal that idear fair and square.

On the wiring....
When I started getting into my own F100, I looked at that 50+ year old wiring, and decided, no way. I took every last stitch of it out, and committed to to it by tossing everything out.
But then when I installed the wiring kit (EZ Wire), my truck was pretty much a bare shell, so it was much easier. I used nothing original from the truck, not even the switches. Although I do have the original wiper mechanism in there. The two speed conversion was out of stock everywhere when I got around to trying buy it. That's the only thing I haven't connected the wiring yet.
Your truck, on the other hand might be a bit more difficult since it is almost all back together. So I reckon you'll have decide for yourself how much you wanna get into it.

 

Hi Mike I'm on the road today so will for sure gift you the results of my internet quest for white walls when I'm at my laptop. In the mean time,... images that formulate the salvation of my sanity, and rear bulbs too.

 

And it begins!

 

It begins and then never ends - sigh. On the bright side, I detect a noticeable reduction in my heart rate. I am entering the Zen Zone.

 

Hey Mike. My justification for this process was initially to check out the look. Liked it. Port- a walls have a tendency to flap at speed and I have to hit the highway daily. After I painted my original tires and I started driving, a guy asked me where I got the whitewalls. He was squatted down looking at them up close. Told him tires came with the truck - which they did. The secret sauce is to use older tires then you avoid the beige which is starting to happen on my new tires. I figure I can touch them up in a year with the Sem. The tire in the photo is over a year. Dirt is from a year of grinding dust. Not cleaned up. Process was to use disk on a grinder only taking off main lettering leaving the nibs etc and if you have a line to run up to - great. For my cooper cobras I ran thin line pin stripe masking tape to get the 3" measurement I wanted then masked and sprayed. I used a heat gun on the tire to warm it up prior to spraying and between coats. The more care the better the results. Good luck.

 

Here are some interesting diversions from this week. I ran a fellow from work over to get his tire fixed after picking up a nail on the job site. West Vancouver old filling station on Marine Dr. Always wanted to stop and look now finally have. Borgeson steering joint arrived. Removing the old harness and unmarked fuse box. It was surgical and upon removing the offending subject it felt healthier. Showed my guy where and how to mount the new fuse panel then coached him on how to establish a nice neat wiring signature. I'm no sparky but, I've seen miles of it run so I know what it's supposed to look like. Left a sweep in the cab to help us keep things straight and organized now it's connection day. Will pull the sweep through once everything is hooked up. I'm so happy with this decision. $400 yes but, even paying someone else to correct the uncorrectable would have cost more. This way I can do it myself and I will be much happier with the results. I'm just not skilled enough to work that old mess out. These new harnesses are a dream come true.

 

Doesn't this just bring your heart rate down.

 

Thanks for the tips on the white walls. My truck has 17" wheels, and whitewalls are not available. I think white walls would looks great next to the maroon rims.

The wiring will be great. You'll be a lot happier, and also it'll be easier to troubleshoot, or add circuits. The ReallyBigBonus, is your son getting experience with it. It'll serve him well later on!

 

Sorry for the incomplete write up, I typed a bigger description but, somehow lost it. I agree whitewalls would look great on a dark rim. Tad biased over here though. I ground the whitewall then used lacquer thinner on the sidewall. The crumbly bits on an older tire are harder and they brushed right off. Newer tire they almost stick. Used the shop vac and I cleaned the sidewall with thinner several times to pull as much off gas through as possible. I sprayed 3 coats of plasti dip first then 3 coats of SEM vinyl dye to keep the whitewall from turning brown. The finish is smooth and satin when done. I did an exhaustive search for this process on the web and there seemed to be many variations.

 

I agree with @Mike Lawless, your white walls look great! Thanks for sharing the process!

 

Thanks @brEad. Added some spider caps to let the gold shine through. Looking for some '57-58 Fairlane dog dish caps or maybe some Caddy caps when I want to switch things up. Got rid of the 'dentside' mirrors in a bid to slowly rid the things that are not quite my cup of tea. Wiring is going slow. Had to make a hole patch and grommet install as a previous owner had hacked a hole where the wiring came through the firewall. Couldn't find a fitting that worked so had to make the hole smaller. More time consuming little things that are slowing completion date. Oh well it's a life well lived - Be happy.

 

We make cards in this household. Artsy bunch.
My Father's Day card was presented to me this morning. For the sharp eyed types, my actual licence plate has 1975 in it by some near coincidental miss. Qtr window has a red propane cert sticker and I used to have a fast food clown on my antenna. Crazy - kids notice stuff like that.

 

Wiring this thing has turned into a long term pastime. I thought I'd run the wire and be off to the races. I've pulled wire in, then pulled it out because of some weird tangle or changed my mind on the routing but, now doing crimps and shrink tube - satisfying in a strange sort of way. Making it look like there is no wire under the hood has quadrupled the time because I've repositioned solenoids out of the way to hide wire to and from. I still need to run wire to distributer and will hide that by running behind the motor mounts. Have to get longer battery cables because I spun the battery around so the cables will just pop on the terminals without looking at the cables. Tail lights and back half are done. Fuel sender done, wire is run in frame forward to rad support. Who does this crap?!! Went to a local show yesterday and looked under the hood of virtually every car. No one hid any wires - exactly why I am doing it.

 

Update - we're still wiring. I flew out of town for a few days to go fishing so we missed getting the truck done by the grad deadline by a whisker. Dinner was last week, ceremony was last night. My kid got a welcome surprise in the form of a small scholarship towards trades and technical training. He submitted a short film which included his involvement in the building of our truck and the design/build of a hybrid electric guitar. It was excellent. We got seated in the Hall and buckled up for a 4 hour sit-in while 350 Grads trouped across the stage. I got a tap on the shoulder from a group of friends sitting around us with a finger pointing at the program where it showed my kid was getting an award - unknown to all of us including my kid. The look on his face when he walked across the stage while his future plans were read out to the audience was priceless. He heads off to Industrial Design School in the fall with an interest in getting into automotive design. I can say I am quite happy we got our truck at the right time. It has undoubtedly triggered a significant interest in all things automotive including motorcycles. I've learned a lot and the process of showing both kids the meat and potatoes of my learning curve too has been hugely rewarding. Who says this gearhead stuff is a waste of time.

 

Congratulations to your graduate.
Good job Dad!

 

Yep, what Phil said! Congrats! Industrial Design school will be great! I work with some industrial designers at my work and they are trying to hire now. Seems there aren’t enough folks studying that anymore since we sure aren’t getting many applicants.

 

Thanks Phil!! Very much appreciated.

Thanks @guthriesmith . I'll pass this on and appreciate the anecdotal info. The options available to kids seems so huge it helps for them to get positive direction.

 

Before we forget this is a rusted old truck, I thought to get the fuel line in before I try wiring around the zone and of course it turns into another task. Not exactly traditional but, easy running the fuel line at least. Grinder wouldn't fit so had to get creative. It's like gymnastics for your brain sometimes. I like the look of the regulator and vaporizer. Looks like something you would see on an old airplane.
.

 

So I looked at various threads to find what a crimp should look like. I bought crimpers, non ratchetting a couple of months ago. Cut the headlight pigtails off my old harness and then found the bag with the new ones after I crimped on the old. Oh well all, fresh now. Wandering around in the fog wiring but, after every element I complete, I feel like I could repeat and do on another car.

 

Fantastic truck! Great work!!! Go man GO!

 

Thanks @ccain, yours is pretty bitchin' too.

 

Congrats on the boy getting that award!!

Wiring looking great. How did you do the inline crimps?

 

Many thanks for the well wishes. It takes a village to raise these critters.

The Haywire Kit I bought was in stock at a local tool supply retailer. I was going to buy the Rebel kit based on the pro reviews here but, by the time I finally decided I need to remove my old wiring I still was under the illusion I could get done by my intended deadline. I read many times where after a crimp you realize you missed adding the shrink tube. Kits don't come with an endless supply of crimps for the learners so I bought some supplementary connectors with the heat shrink on the connector. The issue is if you crimp too hard you puncture the shrink tube on the premade ones. I adopted the add shrink over the heat shrink connector in case I punctured and also because I live on the Northwest coast so the added waterproofing is good. The kits contain crimps for a variety of wire sizes.