I'm gonna start out this thread by showing you my big ugly 1981 F150 and some before and after pics.





Engine when I bought it,a mess.

Engine bay now



I have put all new vacume hoses and pcv valves and rebuilt the carb and added new air breather.
new plugs and wires and replaced the valve cover gaskets and cleaned the valved covers.



I have trimmed the moth holes out of the rear fenders and I'm gonna put flares on them.
As of yesterday I am replacing the steering gear box,This is a first for me,I've got it half done and am waiting for the ground to dry out.
More pics tommorow.

looks great daddue, gotta love those straight sixes. how does the truck run? how many miles does it have? looks good, keep up the good work.

The engine and tranny are great,had alot fluid-oil and water leaks but I got those,I'm in the process of replacing the gear box because it leaks out the pitman arm bearing like a siv.
There are alot of wires running to hell if you know what I mean. I even found some inside phone wiring going to places like the heater switch and fuel pump. Oh yeah got those fixed first.
The odometer says 49 k and it works so I can't tell you if it's turned over yet,most likely it has.
I can tell the rearend has beened replaced because the E-brake has been unhooked and the speedo is about 25 mi. off(checked with my GPS).
The frame is straight as an arrow and just a little surface rust. No cracks or metal moth holes in it.
the interior is a mess. No cracks in the glass.

daddue, sounds like you have a really solid powertrain. the truck looks pretty good too. it looks like it shouldn't take too much to have yourself an awesome and rock solid truck for years to come. the tires look really good too. have you priced fender flares? i almost fell out of my chair when i saw how much bushwacker wants for them new. afterall, they're just pieces of plastic. i need them for my '95 but i think im just gonna go the whole 9 yards with the rust repair panels and paint. 95f350xl used rhino liner there and it looks great! looks like bushwacker's fender flares.

Hey I never thought of that Dreo, that gives me even more options. I've even played with the idea of making fiber glass molds,I've seen it done before and they look like factory work.(factory add ons that is.)
Oh, by the way I saw your truck and I like it too.
Thanks, daddue11

Flares are expensive! At least the bushwacker ones are. If you have access to a MIG, welding in patch panels is not that bad.

I have a mig welder,Where would you get the patch panels from ?

LMC truck has them. There are actually a lot of suppliers out there.

I think even J.C.Whitney has them. (laughing)

Cut out 3" past the rusted part, clean in there as good as you can, spray with "weld through primer" (if you can't get to the back side later), remove paint from the newly cut edges, mark the patch panel to the cut, trim patch panel, remove paint from edges of patch panel, tack weld about every 4" to 6", let cool, repeat, repeat, repeat, until it is welded solid.

If you do not let it cool between each round of tacks...it will warp.

Then go from there.

I pulled the old steering gear box out this morning,it was leaking like a siv,now I have to wait till Tue. for the new one to come in,then I can tell more about the steering overall.
I've got the confidence now to fix it all by myself,I aint gonna pay another penny to get ripped by shade tree mechies that charge like the ford house does.

daddue11 said:

I pulled the old steering gear box out this morning,it was leaking like a siv,now I have to wait till Tue. for the new one to come in,then I can tell more about the steering overall.
I've got the confidence now to fix it all by myself,I aint gonna pay another penny to get ripped by shade tree mechies that charge like the ford house does.

Click to expand...

That is what this site is for. There are close to (just a guess) 100 ford techs on board. Then the rest of us "shade tree mechanics". We will help in any way possible.


EDIT: You are doing it in the correct order. Fix the safety issues first (steering, etc.). The rust isn't hurting anything but looks.

we are here to help you any way we can!. nice looking project youve got there!

I hope that I didn't offend anyone by my remarks.
what I meant by shade tree mechies were ones that charge like a Pro, but,screw your vehicle up like a real Amature.Y'all have been great here.

I know that. I didn't mean it that way. LOL The term to me means somone like me who literally works on his vehicles out in the driveway under a tree.

What is the FTF folding team?

We let a software run in the backgroud of our computers that is "folding proteins". It helps with cancer research at "stanford".

Here is a link to the thread that explains it a little. If you have questions about it, post them in there and they will help answer them.

http://www.fordtruckfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28&highlight=folding

I thought it would affect my computer when I am working, but it goes to sleep. It only runs when the computer is not in use.

You got that engine bay looking good. I like that body style. Here is my truck with the Herculiner Fender Flares lol. Not bad for 90 bucks.

Geeze-o-pete Chris, your truck looks grrrreat!!! I can't believe that's how you did your fenders...

Thanks Man. Didnt feel like spendin 400 for the bushwacker ones. And I like the ones with the scews. Pocket style. So I was like what can a cheepo come up with. That was it lol. Got rid of the rust, covers up the new metal and bondo. I have to redo them some day. They have now faided. Ill redo when I do my bed and rails.

That does look good. Nice fix.

It don't look good it looks WOW!! GREAT job sir.