Pics of my '77 beater

[ford141]

I have a thread on the buildup of my '77 F150 posted on the other forum, but I figured I'd put one up over here since this place definately needs more content. Ask any questions you would like, post comments, but most of all, ENJOY!

Here is the '79 right after I brought it. I got it from a buddy of mine for $500 because he blew up his 680hp Eagle Talon and needed money to fix it.

The list of issues with this truck was about a mile long, but I drove it home under its own power, so what do you expect for $500. The major issues are 2 dead cylinders in the 351M (burnt valves), nonexistent floorboards, and a rusted and collapsing front spring cup. The first issue that I dealt with was fixing the front spring cup to make it safe to drive on the road. This is where the plot thickens. It just so happens that I had a set of 3/4 ton axles out of a 78 F250 (D44HD/D60) with 4.10 gears that I got for free. Since I really wanted a 3/4 ton, and the gears would help out with turning the 35's, I decided to swap the axles in while I was at it. This involved gutting the front axle, installing the 4.10 ring and pinion, 3/4 ton hubs and brakes, as well as replacing all bushings. While I had it apart, I also installed 2" lift springs to compliment the 2" lifted spring buckets for a total of 4" of lift. The rear was simply a bolt-in deal once I found the right-length driveshaft at the boneyard.

The reason for starting all this madness: busted spring cup.

The mess

Continued below...

 

[TexasNomad]

Wow nice truck man! great color on it too

 

[Skandocious]

Damn nice build. Can't wait to see more progress.

The sight of that arched spring makes me cringe, lol.

 

[DNFXDLI]

Nice truck, that coil musta been an ouch!

 

[MikeWire]

Nice - looks like a good runner and a good project.

 

[ford141]

Continueing on... While I think that nonfunctional hoodscoops are kind ghey, I kinda liked the look of the one that came on this truck (Boss 429 style) except for the fact that it was black and looked out of place on a blue hood. So I got bored one night and taped off the center of the hood and painted it satin black. I think it makes the scoop look like it belongs.

Test-fitting the 3/4 ton hubs with the 36" Goodyear Wrangler military tires.

Another big benefit to this swap is to gain the larger brakes and 2piston calipers used on the 3/4 tons. This truck would barely hold itself on a hill with the 35's and stock brakes before, now it locks up the 36's at will.

Front done, out for a test-drive through the field

I didn't take any pics of the rearend swap, but there wasn't much to see. I just removed the old U-bolts (snapped them off) and dropped the 9" out and slid the D60 under. The truck already has highboy blocks in the rear, combined with an additional 1" block, and 2 extra leaves per pack. Maybe 4" total lift, give or take an inch.

How it sits today:

By all rights, this is actually Luke's truck. He is the biggest 4-legged Ford Fanatic you will ever see. He absolutely LOVES this truck, as is proud to pose by it any day. He won't let me even drive it across the yard without riding shotgun.

So that's about it for now. Future plans are many, including swapping the cab for a rust-free one that I recently acquired (on trade for a parts truck), pulling the sick 351M/C6/NP203 in favor of a 460/4spd/NP205 combo that I have laying around. Eventually I will paint the whole thing, but that will just be a rattle can job with Krylon from walmart. The last few pics show the color that I will be using: Oxford blue satin. Enjoy.

P.S. I forgot to mention the best part. I have about $1300 in this thing total right now, including the original purchase price, and $200 for a parts truck.

 

[Bloodhound]

It looks like a nice wheeling rig.

 

[Blue Bomber]

why not cut a hole under the scoop?

 

[ford141]

why not cut a hole under the scoop?

I could, and at some point I might. At this point, however, I really couldn't see the point. This thing makes *maybe* 80hp on a good day, and it really isn't starved for air, so I couldn't see the point in spending time sawzalling the hood up when I really need to focus on fixing holes (in the floors). Plus, the previous owner painted the valve covers himself, and never reinstalled the breathers, so I figured if I cut a hole in the hood, that would be a direct route for water to run right down into the heads. I don't care enough to install new breathers (this M is on death row ).

 

[TexasNomad]

Kick ass for a beater dude..

 

[TheRoadVirus]

Gorgeous. I love all-purpose trucks like that.

 

[countryboytn]

That's a SWEET lookin' truck! I'd be proud to own it!



I'm actually on the look out for a project like this, but ain't found nothing yet.

 

[TexasNomad]

Why cant you cut the hoop and make it a functioning scoop

 

[1973 F-100 4x4]

Nice project truck!
Looking forward to seeing it when finished.

 

[1977 EXPLORER]

Good looking truck

 

[Dirky]

Nice truck! I love what you've done with it so far.

 

[ford141]

Why cant you cut the hoop and make it a functioning scoop

Like I said on the last page when BlueBomber asked the same thing, this thing aint so high-horsepower drag car where fresh air is a great benefit. This thing will barely break 50mph on the highway right now due to the almost dead 351M. I've been beating the crap outta this motor expecting it to completely die someday, but it keeps puttering along. And a hole in the hood would just allow water to run right into the open holes in the valve covers where the breathers used to be...

This week's project for the beater was to swap the stock '77 "y" style steering setup for the "T" style 78-79 steering setup from the parts truck. All of the joints were tight on the steering linkage from the parts truck, so it didn't cost me anything to convert. Now handles much better, bumpsteer is greatly reduced. Eventually I will build some new steering linkage using DOM and 1-ton Chebby tie-rod ends, but this will work for now. Next is the motor swap...

 

[klatt_89]

Pretty sweet project truck!

 

[ford141]

I tinkered with the truck a little over the weekend. Its bitter cold here in PA now (highs ~10 during the day) and the heater blower motor hasn't worked since I bought it, so I pulled the blower out of my parts truck and threw it in. The truck also had a cheap mechanical choke retrofit kit on it which was broke, so I fixed it up, oiled the cable, and adjusted it. Both of these makes the truck much more pleasant to run in the cold, which is a good thing since my '05 F150 is having fuel pump issues and I'm using the '77 as my primary driver. It's pretty bad when the $500 '77 F150 is more reliable than the $38,000 '05 F150... Gotta love these trucks!

 

[LEB Ben]

Glad you got tinkering and fixing the ol' girl up. Looks like a good rebuild. As far as being more reliable than newer stuff...I agree 100%. I prefer to stay as mechanical as possible, I hate having to work on computer operated vehicles. Call me lazy, but I think working on these ol dentsides is really easy and troubleshoot like a dream.