Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Alright, looking great! I've been waiting for some glamour shots. Fresh colour makes any vehicle look better. Like @wfo guy said, you've put a lot of personality in it already, all the other embellishments are icing. Great job.

 

With this update, I've effectively concluded my projects on the Ol' Furd till springtime. That's when I'm gonna go after the paint.
I finally finished the headliner. It's not perfect. I got a couple wrinkles that I couldn't get out. The material and the adhesive are very unforgiving. When I tried to lift the material off, it was destroying the fabric. So I elected to leave well enough alone....for now. I'll have to get more material to re-do it. But honestly, I doubt I'll give it much thought after this. Plus, I've seen much, much worse. I'm thinkin' of making a trim piece to go in between the front and rear sections tho.
And finally, I wasn't happy with the El Cheapo edelbrock 10" air cleaner. While it did the job for a time, I've always thought that it may as well have "Chinese Cheese" stamped into the lid.
I found this in my other sphere, which is "verboten" (that is a hint into what sphere I refer to) on this forum. But, it's a bit different in this sphere in that not everyone has one. Relatively inexpensive, and just a few modifications to make it work. I wish I could find a finned aluminum valve cover to match
So, that's a wrap till spring!

 

A door sill plate valve cover would go well with that air cleaner.

 

Wow! I'll have to look for that down to da hardware store!
Thanks fer the tip!

 

One of the objectives when building the drivetrain on the Ol' Furd was to deliver decent fuel mileage. 309 inch inline six, stock internals except for 351w pistons which have a bit less dish in the dome, and with the heads I have, 9-1 CR. Tremec T5 trans and 3.54 gears. OT fuel system and ignition. Runs along at 65 mph at around 1700rpm.
Today I took 'er out for the longest trip I've made to date with it. Although I was just a bit apprehensive, there were no hiccups what so ever.
115 miles. 5.2 gallons of fuel.
22.1 mpg.
I am very pleased with that. That essentially gives me a potential 400+ mile range with the 22 gallon tank.
She's passed her first long trip just fine. A few more refinements, and she will be road-trip ready!

 

Wow that is great mileage. The folks over at www.fordsix.com would be interested to hear about that.

 

Once the fuel system gets about 500 miles on it you should see even better fuel mileage.

 

Big rain here the last few days, aaaannnnddd my driver side door seal leaked. Got the carpet a bit wet next to the door. Got it dried out OK, but I'll need to get this addressed sooner than later.
That not only did that, but at least it let me know where the wind noise is coming from!

In the dress up department, I have one of Jeff Pierce's aluminum valve covers coming to go along with my fancy schmancy air cleaner! It'll go black with the tops of the fins polished off.
That was a "want" thing. Photo will come when I get it installed.
Fixin' the door seals is a "need" thing. McMaster car has some hollow "D" shaped weather strip that I will stick in as a secondary (or maybe primary) door seal along the top and leading edge.

 

Little bit o' engine bling! Nothin' more.
Well, maybe a bit more. Recurved the advance and fixed a seeping side cover gasket.

 

Looks really nice, Mike!

 

Lookin' good.

 

Thanks fellers!

 

Nice. Who makes that valve cover? Aussi Spd?

 

Pierce Inline. One of 10 I think he said

 

No big projects on "Ol' Furd" for the few weeks. It's been raining cats and dogs here in California through most of December and into January. We don't get much rain here over the course of a year, but we got the entire year's worth in the space of a few weeks. Fortunately for me, not much flooding. Others weren't so lucky.
I've made some fixes to seal the cab up a bit better. Aside from wind noise, the big rains have revealed some minor leakage. Those have been minimized.
I also put in the third turn signal switch. This new one is US made. The two previous were chinese. The cancelling cams broke off on both. The first, before I even got the truck on the road, and the second about five months in. Plus both were very "notchy." The new US made switch is much smoother. Hopefully it'll last longer. This time I also applied some non conductive grease designated for switches and electrical use. Non conductive.
Anyway, the picture-worthy stuff is re-doing the bed sides. I had partial length planks before, and the back was open. The downside was I had to strap anything I was carrying on the bed so's it wouldn't slide off the back on those high G-Force launches!
So, full length side planks and a plank across the back. It's bolted on for the time being. Eventually I'll make it easily removable so's longer stuff can be toted.
Refining some engine tuning parameters to try to improve in-town fuel mileage got me a small improvement. from 11.1mpg to 11.5mpg. I made another change in the cold enrichment segment right before filling up, so that change won't be revealed until the next fill-up.
Before above.... And after, below.

 

Mike, I want my hot rods to be useful so I like your changes. I think your in town mileage is ok. Not that I think it is what we would like but with my own exp. in comparison, if you get much more, I would be surprised. Glad you didn't wash away.

 

Thanks WFO. Of course I would have liked (and I actually expected) a bit better, since it's a just a little ol' 6 banger. (I reckon not so little at 300 inches). BUT....
For the most part in town trips are fairly short, and it's just getting out of cold run mode by the time I get where Im going. Freeway mileage is better than I hoped for though, at over 22mpg.
But yeah, its usefulness is improved. I can throw stuff in the back without worry now. And as refinements have been made, it really is a nice truck to drive. Remarkably quiet. At least up to the speed that a bit of wind noise creeps in. But even that is getting better with each tweak on the door seals and such!
And man, any more rain, and we'd have trout fishin' on Main Street! They actually have that just a bit north of here

 

Been enjoying reading through this thread over the past few days, Mike. The Ol' Furd is looking good, and while I wasn't sure about your bed decision, seeing it now it works! I've got ideas for a 300-based build, so your little tips and tricks (and build specs!) are very helpful

 

Thanks!
As it turns out, I have an update!
Since the last update, I've just been driving and tuning to improve in town fuel mileage. I'd been waiting for warmer weather to tackle "TheNextBigThing." PAINT! Well that happened over the last couple weeks, so it was time to get to it!
I did this at home, a panel at a time, using Summit's single stage urethane "Wimbledon White" and a Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun. It's not perfect. I wasn't attempting perfection. The color is not my favorite, but it pairs nicely with the maroon I painted the roof and wheels. Those colors really pop next to each other.
I took all the fender bolts out and removed the grill, hood hinges and latch so the paint get get completely around the edges, plus all the way around the door jambs.
Almost looks like a perfeshunal did it! I still have to paint the hood.
I put four coats on, so if I get a wild hair, I can cut and buff. Probably won't.
For a daily driver that is bound to get scratches or dings, it's good enough. I didn't want to have to worry about it.
Looks good from five feet away!

 

You're doing good, Mike. I think you will do a cut and buff especially on the hood because you look at it all of the time. I'm still waiting on the "booby bouncer" video. LOL.

 

You dirty old man!
But, it takes one to know one!
I'll get to work on that

 

It seems paintin' the hood will have to wait a bit. A big and cold storm has parked itself over California. My area, at the foot of the central Sierras is getting dumped on, and it's too cold to paint. It was really strange seeing snow at the 1000 foot levels, as well as getting light hail that was almost snow when we were playing golf a couple days ago!

 

Hey Mike, Hail and Hoods mix well! We're getting our share of weather too. Looks like about 8" last night. I'm done with Winter!

Truck's looking great. Are you painting in your garage? What kind of booth arrangement have you got going on? I happen to love 'Wimbledon White' although I have to look up how to spell it repeatedly. I want to spray my inner fenders Wimbledon and rattle cans are not durable enough nor do they match my firewall that great. Would consider going the route you're following for this task.

 

Thanks Will. Just painted in my garage. No booth. A panel at a time. Not perfect by any stretch, and certainly no where near Bandit Billy quality! But, surprisingly very little dirt in the paint. The Hot Rod gods must have been smiling upon me. But then, and this time of year, no bugs are flittin' around.
This is a true daily driver, and I didn't want to have to worry about it getting scratched, dinged or even dented.
I used Summit's own brand of urethane, along with a $30 harbor freight HVLP gun. Not expensive, and you can buy quarts for small jobs. It says no reducer is necessary, but I found that it flows out much better reduced. When I painted the wheels, the finish was super orange-peely. I could not let it pass, so I sanded and re-shot using reducer.
Summit's Wimbledon White is a bit "creamier" in color compared to Ford's or Chrysler's factory color. At first I thought it was mixed wrong, but decided to just roll with it.

 

Finally got a couple days close to 60° so's I could paint the hood. Came out pretty danged OK I think!
Side trim next. The pieces are a little rough, so I "semi-stripped" the clear anodizing with Easy Off oven cleaner. Didn't get it all, but it made what was left much easier to sand off. The plan is to sand with progressively finer sandpaper, then polish. It'll need to be polished every now and then since it is bare aluminum.
Anyway, took "Ol' Furd" out to a "Cars & Coffee" gathering this morning before the rain comes back.

 

Mike, I don't know if everybody will understand what you have done. If they saw the work and could understand the point of a good driver that really is useful, I think it would make sense. You have a 4 season vehicle that can do things and is affordable to drive. That marks a lot of x's. And besides, it's a booby bouncer. LOL.

 

Agreed. I didn't build it to suit anyone besides myself, although many seem to like it. I'll typically get several thumbs up and a comment or two whenever I drive it. But, everyone has their own preferences, and that is what makes the hot rod scene what it is.
It was planned from the outset to be a driver. Not perfect, nor intended to be. I didn't build it with the expectation to win any car show.
My last project, an OT street legal drag car, was none of those. Of course it was fun! I got to take it out to the track a half dozen times a year, make a few ten second runs, and wait (while spending a bunch of money) until next time. It was also a show winner several times. Drive it to the dairy queen? Yep. Possible. But it's rate of fuel consumption, being mechanically injected on methanol, kept those trip short. Really short. And most times it was "Punch and Coast" to make the most of the fuel on board! But although street legal, I couldn't drive much more than a couple miles, let alone haul a dozen bags of concrete mix!
As such, with this truck, I could most likely drive it anywhere, any time, haul the concrete, and not worry (much) and dings or scratches! Or worries about running it out of fuel for a five mile round trip!

 

It really has a nice stance. Looks badass.

 

Hey Mike, sure looks like you got your gaps pretty tight. Did you use the cowl weatherstrip for the hood because mine appears to hold my hood high - yours looks pretty good. I did the hammer hit trick to get take the bind out of the hinges and the 2 x 4 tweak still didn't quite get it aligned. I have to get some hood bumpers but, closing it requires me to walk to both rear corners and push in and then it looks ok but, still rides high at the back. It might be the wrong hinges because they don't both look the same. Overall yours is looking great. Wheels looked tucked but, not too low. Comparing your hood height to the Chevy next to it looks like the Booby Bouncer has a nicer ride than it's neighbour.

 

Looks great Mike. I really didn't think I liked what you did with the box, but now with the boards and the color I like it. Great work!!