1987 F250 cab swap. How?

[Cruiseomatic]

New guy here. Got an '87 F250 Ex-cab LB and need a new cab. For a Texas truck, This one is gone. All along the rear wall and floor joint is gone, above the highbeam switch part of the cab mount is also gone. Also, Above the drip rail has 2 holes, And all along the cowl tub is also gone. Yeah. I have pics. AND, The 6.9 might not even run. This went from a quick get it running and drive to restoration really fast. How do you upload pics? But the frame and suspension is solid.

 

[DNFXDLI]

Welcome to the site!
Here is a link for a step by step guide for posting pics with the gallery here.

http://www.fordtruckfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38238

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Alright. Got it figured out. Lotta work though. Heres the truck:

The floor above highbeam switch. Got most of the rot cut out but there's more underside.

Rear Floor:

Haven't even started the engine yet.

Cowl damage:

Hole in roof:

Here is the engine when I got it:

Battery Cables:

Air intake:

 

[Beach66Bum]

Welcome to FTF.

 

[Fellro]

The looks of that intake does not bode well. Does the motor at least spin?

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Spins fine actually.

 

[Fellro]

If it spins good then there is a fair chance it will be ok.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

With no GPs, I threw a cheap wal-mart battery on it just to see. It damn near spun out of the engine bay! Found a couple new cabs to replace this one with. Just, Don't know how or where to start. Going this Friday to look at them. They're priced from $130 up to $500. My core support is also gone at the mounts from burning batteries....i just dread all the work of pulling the front clip and everything...I don't even know if the motorcraft reman 6.9 even runs.

 

[Fellro]

I don't know where you are located, but I think I happen to have two good diesel front clips for that year group.

You can use other year group cabs as well, but for simple plug and play you have to stay 87-91.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

I'm in SE Houston,TX. The mounting ears are shot on mine from when the batteries burst or caught fire and just DESTROYED my battery trays and core support. I wasn't there when it happened but I wish I was. Finding replacement core supports is kinda hard with no fab skills because I have a diesel WITH a/c. If I can find a good rust free cab and core support, i'll be so happy I won't care if the engine doesn't run, lol.

 

[Fellro]

Both of these are a/c, but I am pretty sure that the a/c part doesn't matter any more by 87, it just has to be diesel. The cab will also already be pretty much set up for a/c, in that you just unbolt the non-air box and bolt on the evaporator case box. You of course have to also swap the wiring and such, but the basic hard parts are an easy change. Prior to 87 had more troubles with those variations.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

What am doing is just taking everything out of my old cab and putting it in the new one. Now how I do the VIN is hush hush but there is a VERY obvious way around it but no one can seem to figure it out. When i'm done, it'll be like it never happened. But if you're willing to let go of one of the core supports, PM me and we'll talk.

 

[Fellro]

I will have to eyeball them and be sure they are as good as I remember. One of the trucks is nearing the end of useful parts, so it needs to go away. Hopefully it has a good support yet. I don't have a use for the core supports myself, as my diesels are 84-6.

I don't know how the VIN stuff works there, but around here it is actually pretty simple to do it legally, just have to get it inspected and validated so they know there aren't any stolen parts on it.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

The VIN is only in 3 places on the cab. Dash, Door sticker, and partial on a steel tag in the engine bay attached by a SCREW! Simply unscrew the tag, pull off the door sticker, and put old dash in new cab, paint tag to match new cab and screw on, apply old sticker to new cab. No one would know. Why do all that work they do, kill any value of the truck, and according to my insurance agent, jack up my rates because it is more likely to be involved in a wreck because it is "rebuilt" and more "prone to failure" I don't know. The vin is also partially implanted on the chassis and on a tag screwed to the box. And alot of boneyards either throw out the titles once the truck hits the yard or it gets lost so good luck trying to get one anyway. VINs and title laws can get really confusing. Especially in TX. In TX, To my knowledge, they title the vehicle as a whole. Not just one body panel. But, VIN tampering is a felony. Do it at your own risk. I think where the show two titles for one car and get a new state issued vin is where you have two cars and rob one for multiple parts for the other but those parts have VINs on them. You know, Glass, Powertrain, Body panels, Etc... I think even the rims now have it etched into them. BTW, I DO NOT CONDONE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY! I had to say that just in case some idiot gets an idea....

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Went to a boneyard yesterday looking for a cab.....Ouch.

Cleanest and best one:

Two other possibilities:

Couldn't close the door on this one:

And the bent rocker panel prevented me from closing any of them. Either way, All the driver doors were gone. Just passenger.

I was there as they were closing so I snapped these real quick. Today or saturday I'm going back to this one and 2 other yards. Even the ol' lady wants to go with me. And she is GOOD at finding crap, Lol.

I did however score these for $30:

Should clean up real nice after the propane torch melts the other FUBAR'd lead terminals off. The main was REAL bad.

The air cleaner and cables look better in person. It was getting late so I called it a night.
Also found buncha CC trucks of this era and about four I6 300s that have just been abandoned....

 

[DNFXDLI]

Nice finds! Why not just cut the cable off by the lead terminal?...unless of course that would make them too short.

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Didn't need to cut them. Just a little heat and they came off. A yard 200 miles away has one that they claim has just roof surface rust and the other said it's rust free. Both are sending pictures Monday. The roof rust is being blamed on the gray paint used. I dunno.

 

[DNFXDLI]

I misunderstood....I thought you were meaning to melt the lead off the cable...

 

[Cruiseomatic]

No you understood right. I did melt them off. A propane torch on high and 3 minutes and they start to bubble, 5 minutes they're very soft and at that point, hit the cable on cement and ka boom. They break apart. Leather gloves and eye pro are a must since it can pop at you and the heat of the cable. It's basically very heavy solder. Clean up on cement is easy since it will not stick
Just a paint scrapper and you're good.

 

[DNFXDLI]

Oh...it doesn't overheat and oxidize the copper or melt the insulation?