Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Drawing #1

NAILED IT!

or...
Make one of each.

 

Bed sides cut down instantly gives me a mental picture of a tow truck...but without the rigging/boom.
Your truck, your vision..have fun.

 

Well, I guess you are asking, so I must say I don't like the cut down box... But it would be different, you surely wouldn't have "just another pickup"! Glad you got your clutch working good. I love your build.

 

I reckon that's the thing about custom stuff. A lot of differing opinions and a lot different ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes. My son doesn't like the idea either. But, if we were all the same, the world would be a pretty boring place.

The way I see it, there is no loss. The bed just needs too much metal work to save. If I end up not liking it, I can try to find another complete bed.
But, I'm gonna do it. It's the kind of fab that I am really comfortable with, and it won't be some half assed, cobbed up piece of crap when it's finished as so many of these types of projects are. This bed already has the side tool box on one side and a step pocket on the other. I'll retain those.

And, it's not an original idear either. I have an old acquaintance here in town with a '40 Ford pick up that has been done that way. The rear fenders tuck underneath and are flat on top. He's been driving that truck for 30 years or more, and I have always admired it. That musta planted the seed in my mind.

 

That tool box on the should make a good place to store the 'short irons' to satisfy @Bandit Billy

 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Decades ago, when I was building dragsters, one piece alum nose cones were in vogue. I called Davey Uyehara and asked questions about how he was doing nose cones. The jest of the conversation was that his shop didn't have failures, only prototypes. He was one of the best. Mike, if you don't like it, you know what to do. Creativity is stifled by those that can't share the vision.

 

Agreed. It's gonna happen. Some will like it, some won't. The most important thing is that I like it. We've discussed outside the box projects before. Some of us can see the finished product in our minds eye, before a nickel is spent or any cuts are made.
What I see is stylistically different that just putting on a flatbed, farm truck style, (which was part of my original plan), with the function of a flatbed with a few extra features. And it will solve more challenges than it will create, I think.
Not long after getting the truck, after the initial inspection, I thought I might be able to save the bed, and decided to just replace the floor.
We all know how stuff like this goes. Once you get into it, you find more worms, and then more worms.
First things first though. I have to go to the metal store and get the material. The schematic is in my head.
Fortunately from what I've read, steel prices have come down some. It'll be what it will be.

 

Custom means it won't be a belly button truck. If you don't like it - go find another bed like you said. Cutting up something good is a different matter. I'm looking for a buggered up grill to replace my good one because I want to do the Econoline headlight trick. I found one and it's nicer than my grill and I can't do it because someone might need a good grill. If I could find one that's already screwed up, or anything that's screwed up, I'd cut it up in a heart beat.

 

Dang. Couldn't find a good grill locally, so I "fixed" my buggered up grill. Probably TOO buggered up for what you want to do. It was missing front teeth. Why they were cut out remains a mystery. Even so, there's that distance thing.

 

I have been following your build.your bed doesn't look to bad for this part of the country.had to raise the floor to clear the rearend center. it was a lot of work but very happy with the results . other option would be new stepside bed and fenders kind of pricy but not bad for a new back half of a truck

 

That bed looks great Tim. The truck itself is bad to the bone, and killer stance!
Kinda what I had envisioned for the bed. If we were just talking the bed floor, that's the way I would have gone.
The tops of the bed rails are rusted through in some spots. The seam that joins the bottom quarter panel to the bed tops is rotten too.

All I can ask is to reserve judgement till this modification is semi complete. I may hate it myself.
Doubt it. But I might!

 

Alright! Update time.
Since the last update, I have the windshield glass installed. I found a local company that not only specialized in doing classic vehicle glass, but also had new glass, so I just had them install it. I was cleaning the original windshield, and it was pitted a bit, had a wiper scratch on one side and a star chip. The lamination was also brown and bubbling on the edges.
I also got the inside of the doors finish painted and got the weatherstrip glued on.
The interior floor, back wall underside of the roof and inside the doors has been covered with the "Amazon Special" dyna mat equivelent. The door closes with a nice "Chunk" sound now instead of the empty beer can resonance.
The "BigThing" was getting the metal for my bed project. I have the four outer corner mounts made, and the basic structure stuck together and laid on top of those.
It really brings into sharper focus how loose the factory specs are. I have the main rectangle tacked solidly and dead-nuts square. With that set up on the mounting brackets, and a string line run down both sides of the body to square it up with the truck body, the rear axle is not centered within the new frame structure by about 3/4"
That's not all that uncommon. The rear-end in my drag race VW was off too, and so was my '70 Challenger "back in the day." But the biggest discrepancy is the body itself, It's about a 1/2" off to the opposite side of the where the axle is, making that discrepancy even worse.
So, I reckon I could plumb-bob square to the frame which seems to be pretty square corner to corner in the back. If I do that, the bed will be visibly out of alignment with the body. If I square the bed to the body, then the back wheels won't be centered within the bed framework.
I never actually check the body alignment to the frame before, and the mount biscuits were good, so I wasn't gonna mess with it.
I doubt anyone will even notice or care, but this does however, present me with a semi-OCD conundrum....Fix it or fudge it.

 

Your conundrum highlights why two seemingly identical cars with the same powertrain will perform differently.

 

Precisely. Also why a motor that puts out 500hp on the dyno can barely run a 12 second quarter mile once installed into a car!

I've had a couple hours to think it over, and I've decided to fudge it. Bringing the body back into alignment creates a whole long list of other stuff that would become problematic to deal with. Steering column to steering box alignment. Door gaps that would be affected because the core support would no long be aligned with the body, among other things. All that stuff is aligned as good as it ever was and will get right now.
So a little here, a little there, and it will be good enough for a daily driver.

 

^^^
If that doesn't make you nuts, maybe you're already there. With age and twisted frames, I have yet to find anything that was square and perpendicular. If you always park on unlevel surfaces, nobody will notice.

 

Here's the first mock-up of the fender panel in place. I'm pretty happy with it. The big rectangular hole in front of the fender arch is a bolt in tool box. Not deep enough for even short irons i'm afraid. But there will be enough storage area under the bed floor for a few golf bags!
The top third of the tail light opening got cut off. I'll graft in the top of the opening back in and modify the existing housings to fit.
To attach the fender panels, I think I'm gonna use riv-nuts with stainless button head allens along the top edge. Put some foam weather strip along the bottom, and a vinyl "U" channel edge trim for the top of the panel. Four support struts for the bottom edge made from 1/2" stainless tube, which I have on hand.
Now that the basic structure is partially welded and is solid, I'll take the whole she-bang off for finish welding and details such as stake pockets corner tie-down bosses, etc.

 

I really like the look of the wood board sides, fills a better gap that tubing, blends it all together much better in my eye.

 

Mike, what is your tail light plan?

 

I've been looking at the existing tail lights. It looks like I can use the buckets, as the reflector section would still be all there by cutting the unused third off. Later models used this area for the back-up light. So basically, cut a third off, switch 'em side to side, graft the top of the body part that is the surround, and make a trim bezel from flat aluminum plate.
At least, that's the plan!

 

I actually like that height on the side panel. The steel tubing would work good with a steel panel between two side rails, like @Marty Strode is doing for his '40 Ford.

 

I have a good grill and hood off of a big truck. F500 I know Fenders are different but I've been told the hood and grill are the same as the F100. Its a '62 model. FYI

 

Sounds like the frame on your truck was hit at one time in the last 50 years. It has propably gone "Diamond" it is common on newer trucks that have been hit,one frame rail is back some from the other side,doesnt take much to throw out the box and cab.It is easily fixed with a frame bench,I used to do them all the time when i had my bench.when you get it aligned they should be able to show you whats out of kilter,it may dog track when going down the road.Good looking truck you have there. Harvey

 

Thanks Harvey. I'll have it looked at when I take it in for alignment. I did do measurement diagonally between the bed bolts front left to rear right, and front right to rear left. It was about 1/8" difference.

Oldwood, I would be interested in that grille and hood if you were closer. The shipping cost on something like that would put it out of range I' afraid. Thanks though.

 

1/8 is fine,we always tried to get them to 1/8 difference,it was always the last 1/8 that was the hardest to pull.you could pull the frame 6 inches and it was the last little bit that would take the longest.Have you checked to see if your cab is centered on the mounts,it may be something simple like that,see if you can measure from a edge or lip to the actual rail,try 2 spots one front and one rear and compare side to side,should be easy to tell.harvey

 

When I built my Willys coupe the frame was out of level by 5/16". I took it to a frame shop and they had to jack it 5 inches in the opposite direction to get rid of that 5/16".

 

That's probably where the discrepancy is. Measuring from bottom seam at the rear of the cab to the frame rail is 3/4" difference side to side. The cab mounts were fairly fresh it seemed, so I left the cab in situ on the frame. Never thought to measure it before this.
If I were to correct that, all off a sudden like, door to fender gaps open or close, the steering shaft to steering box alignment goes out of whack.
Not worth monkeying with to me. This will by no means be a show contender.
I have the bed frame fully welded now, and have it adjusted to where there is about 3/8" difference side to side, and about the same fender lip to tire sidewall. Sighting down the sides, it doesn't show.
Close enough!
Thanks guys!

 

Looks like my tail light plan is gonna work out. I've been mentally chewing on this for a while now.
The top third of the tail light opening got sectioned off when I cut down the fender panels. The tail light housing itself only uses about two-thirds of its total length for the actual tail/brake lights.
I cut the top part of the tail light surround out of the top of the fender, and making a few cuts here and there, and adding in a chunk into the middle, I was able to make the tail light surround fairly smooth. Since my existing tail light lens are fairly rough, I didn't hesitate for a second to cut one of those up too. Behold! I think it'll get the job done without looking hokey.

 

Bed is done for the most part. Burned lots of TIG rod, and used up most of the 155 cubic foot argon tank. Included were the tail light housings, which were cut down with the open section capped off and new bulb fittings welded in.
The framework has been primed, and nutserts installed to mount the fenders with stainless button head allen screws. I ran a foam weatherstrip along the bottom edge of the side rails and used seam sealer for the top edge.
The "tailgate" (which is no longer a "gate'") is temporary. It has a recessed surround for the fuel fill. It'll work for now, and will serve as a model for the final version. For that, I'm going to use new sheet steel. The old tailgate which was cut apart to make this one is bumpy, rusty and has a lot of bondo.
This is all aesthetics, and I'll get to it in due time, along with enclosing the area beneath the bed flooring for storage.
The immediate goal is to get it to where it can be driven. And it is now much closer to that goal. Rear lights, brake lights and turn signals are operational! Today was the first time I was actually able to test the turn signals on the complete re-wire.
The decking will be next. My original idear of 1" x 6" oak planks are STUPID expensive. Plan B is to use Oak plywood. I'll rout grooves into it and use stainless bed strips so it has the appearance and about one third the cost. I'll have to seal the edges really good to keep it from delaminating. More on that later.

 

You're doing fine. 2 questions: Are you going to fab a roll pan, are you going to make a trap door for the fuel filler?

 

Yep. 'Ventually. I think the thing to do would be to make a forming template, and take to a truck body shop that can bend a couple breaks, and roll the bottom to match my body lines. Then the fuel filler and license plate will be in a recess, with the plate on a hinge and spring. The license plate will be the "trap door".
But I'm also gonna make a bumper from some 2" x 4" box tubing I have on hand. This would also be a structural member for the trailer hitch receiver. So maybe, just maybe, the bumper/hitch can be directly behind the roll pan.