1961 Ford F100 Stepside

[Davidhud29]

Well I sold my Dodge and bought this. Found it on Craigslist in Huntsville AL. Body is in great shape. Hood has a bad spot right in front that needs some metal filling, the floor boards have some rust through but not too bad at all. Definitely a better choice than the old rust bucket 57 I was looking at and thinking of trading for. Oh and this is running an automatic with floor shift 3 speed and a 460 in it. I will be on the look for a 4 speed. 3 speed and 460 might be fun til about 50 mph but after that its bye bye gasoline. Not that I'm exactly driving a hybrid but with the 3 speed it's kinda ridiculous on the mpg. There's a few things that need some fixing. Fuel gauge doesn't work, brake lights, turn signals, wipers, speedo. There is a clank in the front end in turns. Makes me nervous. I know he told me he replaced the brakes. Which are still drums. I will be looking into a swap to disk asap. Makes me wonder if something is loose. He wasn't the sharpest knife in the box. He told me it didn't come with turn signals or brake lights from the factory, they were added on later. Many other things he said made me realize he aint not so brite. For example he says he cross threaded the oil pan drain bolt and the only way to fix it is buy another oil pan. Umm what about over sized oil plugs? Or take the pan off weld a nut on it and new bolt? Which makes me nervous about the whole truck. I did register it in my name today so that's one thing not to worry about now. Not sure where this truck will end up. Paint for sure. I don't like the 50 series tires in back. There wide enough 295's but to short to me. Tranny like I said, button up elec., etc.. Oh by the way I scored this sucker for $1000 plus $250 to tow it from Al to Tn.

 

[Davidhud29]

 

[Davidhud29]

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

much better than the one you were looking at

 

[Sam_Fear]

Nice looking Slick. Check the rust out behind the light buckets and front cab corners/mounts. Usual places they rust bad and get cobbled together. I don't care for the rears much either.

If it steers good and solid, that clunk might be a bad spring bushing? Disc kit is a must - even without a booster, it makes a huge safety difference.

 

[PORTnPOLISH]

Sweet! I have a 62 that I am building. My rust is only real bad on the drivers and passenger cab floor by your feet. Up front is solid though.

 

[Davidhud29]

First things first. Been out of town and just got back to this yesterday. It wont start. When it was first started it fired right up. Then for the test drive it wouldn't start. Tapped the relay and it fired. Now I get no power when the key is turned on. Charged the battery. Still no go. The guy re wired some ignition stuff stating it was for anti theft purposes. You have to turn the key "on", then pop the hood and touch a wire from the starter to the small terminal on the front right side of relay. Starter has solenoid built onto it. So many years of people rewiring stuff and the motor swap has me confused as to what's what. I pulled the ignition switch to see what was going on behind it. Some wires are put together and some are cut. The switch is so worn out the little pin that holds it in place, wont anymore. Does anyone have a basic diagram to wire this thing up and get it running? With out a switch? With the other wiring elec. issues I probably need to just install a whole new harness. But I don't have the funds to do that right now. I do have a harness for the hot rod project that I could use I guess. I just wasn't planning on (completely) redoing the elec. or anything else to much until the hot rod was done. Then I could go through this and fix it up nicer. So much for my good deal I thought I got. Any way any help as always is appreciated. Oh did I mention I HATE WIRING!!!! I would rather do anything else on a car.[

 

[Sam_Fear]

Here is the wiring diagram for the 64 F100-750. Not exactly the same, but fairly close. http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/tOCMP/wiring/1964F100/index.htm

 

[Davidhud29]

Well I changed the rear wheels. Swapped with the Ranger wheels. Still didn't get the wiring figured. But rigged it up for now any way. Gas gauge doesn't seem to work so I'll need that replaced. Installed (myself) new Flowmaster 40 series mufflers and pipes. I think I would have been happier with 10 series but to late now. Needs all suspension redone.
My first real drive with it and I started having problems with the tranny not going into gear. The seal fell out of the back. Closer inspection revealed the drive shaft was 2 1/2 inches too short. So I pulled the one from my old donor van and cut it down (myself) to proper length. It did NOT want to go back in. But it did anyway. Still leaks some but it'll do for now.
With the exhaust on it I can hear the motor better while driving. Which revealed lifters tapping away. Motor is pretty smokey to. Not terrible but enough to notice it needs rebuilt. Steering is pretty tight though. Still not decided on color yet. There's always black. It's rough driving in this ol girl. But I guess that's why there called rat rods and not show cars.

Yanked out the carpet and revealed fiberglass "repairs" and more rust than I originally thought. Isn't there always?

 

[Davidhud29]

 

[Bonehead]

I sure do like the looks of that!

 

[Davidhud29]

Spent the day painting. All brush and roller. Watcha think?

 

[hflhfl]

That s a lot beter paint scheme and color choice ! Rims look great what she look like up close ?

 

[Sam_Fear]

Looks better! LMC has the patch panels for the steps, floor pans, and such. If you need front cab supports, I think Carolina Classics has the 'good ones'.

What's wrong with the wiring?

 

[lowbuckrats]

Cool truck. I love that body-style. Keep up the good work...

 

[Davidhud29]

Looks better! LMC has the patch panels for the steps, floor pans, and such. If you need front cab supports, I think Carolina Classics has the 'good ones'.

What's wrong with the wiring?

My dad turned me onto LMC already but thank you. Carolina Classics is a new one. I definitely need some panels. They are worse than they look in the pic.s But they aren't real cheap either. Not on my budget any way. The wiring has been cut a spiced and re wired etc. so many times by the time you got it all figured out you could rewire the whole truck. It's ok for now. Need to get the fuel gauge working and I'll be ok. Turn signals don't work but the lever is gone and the piece that holds it in is destroyed so that's more than just a little wiring. Who uses there turn signals any way? My main concerns are fuel gauge, fine tuning so it runs better, and getting rid of the 'ol drum brakes. Has a Holley carb. but it's worn out and needs rebuilt. Diaphrams are leaky, etc.

 

[Davidhud29]

That s a lot beter paint scheme and color choice ! Rims look great what she look like up close ?

I have painted professionally (houses, buildings) for years. But it was still done with a brush and roller. I have a sprayer but I just didn't want to get it out an mess with it. So up close the finish isn't as smooth as it would have been with a sprayer. But it's just an 'ol rat truck and I was trying to get rid of that gold and make it look a little more pleasing to the eye. It already has like three paint jobs on it. And the last time it was painted it looks like they sanded first with 40 grit paper or something. Or maybe they were old brush strokes under the paint. Either way the gold finish was not very good any way. At least now the colors are better.
My dad said he knew a guy back in high school who brush painted his car with latex house paint. I bet that looked great.
I did recently see on t.v. where a nice old car was being painted with some new latex automotive paint. I believe it was from PPG. Oil base paints are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Had to look it up to make sure:http://www.carolina-classics.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=1114&category=0

Not cheap, but better than what LMC, etc. sells. As for the other patches, I think they're all about the same.

There is also Dennis Carpenter.

As for wiring, I did mine from scratch. A few spools of wire and some connectors. There's nothing too complicated in a Slick.

 

[Davidhud29]

SOLD

 

[Sam_Fear]

Good. Now you can get back to work on the Ranger!