back in august, i bought a 53 f-100 from the old man. his health was failing, and he didnt have time to fool with it, besides he has a "finished" 53 429, mII air, tilt, pw, ect....so $265 and $13 part for his garage door opener, she was mine. really rusty, but mine. the purchase price also included a 54 f-600 with a running y-block and a decent cab and complete 76 Plymouth Volare wagoon. after getting the turd home. i rebuilt the carb and installed a new fuel pump. after a pull start she fired up. it had some serious wiring issues and when you tried to release the clutch it would about buck you out of the cab....my original plan was to get it running and just drive it around, but with all the problems, i decided to just tear it down and get it back together as fast as possible.
so off with the front sheet metal (a couple good tugs is all that was needed) and out with axle springs column and box. after what felt like two weeks of measuring, trimming and measuring more, i was confident that the k-member was straight, i tacked it in . oil pan and exhaust clearence seemed to be ok even though i cut it in at 1.25" at the axle center line.
after the volarie was set, we yanked the rotted cab off, measured again, this time to the rear corners. ROADKILLER came over and brought his welding skills so he burned it all in nice, then boxed the frame from just in front of the firewall to the front crossmember. we also patched what few holes were in the f-600 cab with a roof skin from and old mustang that was laying around the shop. after that ROADKILLER (again) lettered the back of the cab "Gang Green". this way i wouldnt get off track and start paintin and cleanin.....we now have a plan- this thing is grungy and its going to stay that way.
once the old cab was off i got a 70 mustang master cyl and modified the f100 bracket so that it would work with the stock pedal. this is the only pic i have with cab off, and its before i trimmed and ground the mount....seems to work pretty well .after the Exploder rearend was mounted ROADKILLER fabbed up and burned in a notch while Gleeser and I ran brake line hooked up steering ect..
with all (most) the hard stuff done we put the cab back on, wired it up, button up a bunch of loose ends.... last night i got to drive it for the first time.....i'm still giddy as a school girl.... the best part is after new clutch, driveshaft, wiring harness, rebuilding the frontend, brakes all around, new tires and a seat, i'm still under $1300 including the purchase price of the truck well here she is in all her glory
yeah for the most part..... we did most of the work in the last 7 weeks....and it shows.....i only painted anything that was bare metal... and you'll notice the front fenders. they are off of the grain truck, with the 1/2 ton openings scabbed in...
Hey I was just gonna drop ya a line........... Looks good! Glad ya got it goin, you'll have some fun there!!!
Looks damned fine. Don't be afraid to paint it. Oh yeah, it needs slot mags like the ones on the mocked-up pic. Very cool, especially considering the price.
Except you're waaaaay further along that I am! Of course you also didn't have to have back surgery in the middle... but I still feel like a lazy bum! Thanks alot for the inspiration! Ben
Oh, I was going to say, it really looks nice sitting at that level... how far do you have the torsion bars adjusted from the stock level? Ben
thanks for the props guys! gotgas- not afraid of paint, its just not in the budget right now. i managed to score another truck and a half that has some salvagable fenders and a really nice bed. so at least a nice coat of primer will eventually find its way on it.. ben- in the pic the lower control arms are sitting level (where the lower ball joint sits). i replaced the bumpstops with some short ones from energy susp. i also have to say that your truck was my inspiration . and the videos and all the pics on your site helped a hell of alot. many thanks!
Hey Kropduster Great job bro that thing looks bad ass. You set a good example that cool is born not bought.
looks awesome bro!!!!!!!!!!glad you got it runnin!!!bet you froze your nads off on the madin trip!!! btw, i love your HAMB name!!!very catchy!
i forgot to mention, i am running 235/75-15 in the rear and 205/75-15s up front. it was running up hill with the same size tires all around .....i should buck up and by drop spindles, but damn $500???? . i think i'll let it ride crappy and chew tires for a while
I am going to have to take a ride with you, no hanky panky though ! Breeder said you drove it and all is well. Congrats and I love the name.
I have a pile of questions for you... Ok, you went with the explorer rear axle... looks like the drum brake version? I have the disc, but what did you do for a proportioning valve... front to rear? On the steering, what column did you go with? I have a GM that I'm kinda planning on using, but wish I would have kept my stock column... what adapters did you use for your column to the volare steering box? Are you using the stock springs in the rear? If not, what did you put in? Thanks Kropduster... Ben
The Jalopy Journal
