Projects Just picked up a '62 SWB F100 Uni-body

did it come out of Waco - bought a Ranchero off a family that had a red one sitting,,,,

 

The unit body Ford pickups are a good looking truck. Last Saturday a friend and I were ar Anderson's U-Pull it junkyard in Kearney, NE and there were three of these trucks, one long box and two standard boxes trucks. All of them were in very good condition. We didn't ask any prices, but the trucks are in very good shape

 

It was in Speegleville when I got it - near Waco. The guy that had it had a body shop. Most of the other shit he had sitting around was all GM stuff. This was the only Ford he had that I saw. He hadn't owned it for very long though - I figure he was just flipping it.

 

That crossover exhaust pipe is the weirdest looking thing to me...

 

Few underside pics I took today...

 

I wish mine looked that good underneath........

 

Ha! This is the whole reason I bought it.

 

Looks like a West Texas truck - congratulations on the find. I like the small back window version of these trucks.

 

Yeah - I'm delighted to have it. Now I just need to find a hood that's in as good a shape as the rest of it. It has a bastard hood on it for some reason. The one that's on it now is rusted out along the leading edge like most of em are. This truck will be a delight to work with because it is in such good shape. The last one I had looked nothing like this one does underneath. Both front corner cab mounts were completely gone and the bed floor was also mostly gone.

 

Watch'n the progress. Nice start.

 

WOW, they are ALL rusted out in that front cab mount. That thing looks almost like new.

Open up the kick panel vents and shove your shop vac down the hole and clean it out good. Usually wet leaves pile up there and rot everything out. I've gotten a couple pounds out of mine more than once!

 

Already done that - there was surprisingly little material in it. I figure this old truck came from prairie country and was never around any trees much.

I have the brakes fixed on it now and have been driving it around town now for a few days. The ole 292 runs surprisingly well. You can literally reach through the window with one hand and just bump the starter and it fires up and idles perfect. If I get time tomorrow I'll make a video and post it up.

 

Mechanic58, I do not want to insult you by saying this but, have lubed the front end really well. I know after my 54 f100 was setting. Just greasing the front end really well made a big difference in the way it drove. Good luck with it.

 

I did grease it up good yesterday and it made a significant difference - however the best thing I've done so far is put two new tires on the front axle. It drives much better now. Now the only real issue are the spring end and hanger bushings and the pitman shaft bushings in the steering box. I don't figure this truck was run on many paved roads in its lifetime.

 

The tie rod is bent up too - haven't had a chance to straighten it out yet. Might get to that tomorrow.

Another thing I did today that made a huge difference was re-installed the cheap-ass Daytona floor shifter it has in it. It was previously installed by a moron I suspect. Now I can actually shift the gears with a reasonable degree of accuracy. lol

 

New video I made today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eetlWLBp54o

 

Thanks for sharing your new video

 

Dunno if anyone heard it in the new video or not, but the clutch in this truck was raising hell. It was making several different sounds - the throwout was obviously dry and noisy, but it was also making this horrible squealing sound just as it would engage. I wasn't sure what it was and I was worried the throwout was going to grenade on me so I pulled the transmission out today and dropped the clutch out. Opened up a can of worms...lol.

I suspect a previous owner must have had the engine overhauled by a very competent engine builder, but I think a shadetree installed it. The flywheel, although smooth and flat on the friction surface, has a deep wear groove (the entire width of the clutch lining) and the center part of the disc was actually making contact with flywheel surface towards the center. That's where the squealing was coming from just as it was engaging. Then they musta lost a couple of the clutch pressure plate mount bolts so they just used a couple bastard grade 5 bolts in place...one of which broke off. I had to extract it from the flywheel. Also, the fingers on the pressure plate were all fucked up for various reasons. The adjustment screws on all three of them were badly worn - one ground completely off. I had to extract two of the three. Here's a few pics:

 

Got my flywheel re-surfaced yesterday and went ahead and ordered a new clutch kit for it. Might as well do it right.

 

Also - the casting number on the block is B9AE. I wonder what the chances of it being a 312 are? Someone obviously went to quite a bit of trouble to fix this truck up at some point. The engine is no doubt 'new' and someone put a passenger car 3.03 transmission in it also. Whoever did all this work knew all the Y-block 'tricks'. I'm betting there's a pretty good chance it's a 312.

 

I am looking for a hood for this pickup - PM me if you have one for sale. Obviously I would prefer one as close to me as possible here in the Waco, TX area, but I will consider all offers on a case by case basis.

 

Got my original bottle cap wheels sandblasted and painted and mounted some 7.00 x 15 tires on them. Looks pretty good. I do have all 4 hubcaps in almost perfect condition. Still need to blast them and paint them.

 

Look at the back of the engine crank. If there are 2 dots on the crank flange it might be a 312. Best to find the casting numbers and check at y-block.com.

 

Here's a slideshow of pics I took today. I picked up that hood today for $100. I think I did pretty good on that deal. It's not perfect, but its far better than the one that was on it and its even nearly the same color with matching patina! What are the odds?

 

very cool, love to see em comin back to life again mines in my avatar

 

mines still got the stock axel just rebuilt everything , she drives too nice to tear apart but when its time im gonna try a crown vic

 

The crown vic setup is something I considered. I even had one ready to donate it's parts. But after I did some measuring I ruled it out. The CVs have a 5 1/2" wider track. Unless you change the rear axle also it'll look pretty silly - even with wide wheels out back.

Edit: My plan now is to leave it mostly stock. I am considering putting an automatic behind the Yblock though.

 

I have a 64 , was a straight axle truck. I put a 65 twin I beam set up in it.
easy to do, cheap to find drops the front end an 1 1/2 as well