Still a great looking truck! The first thing I noticed was the lines on the bed didn't line up. First thought was some bad cab mounts, but bed mounts might be a easier fix. Looks like it will be a fun project! I never drove a vehicle with the 460, bet it is a beast Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I just finished dinner and my Friday sized glass of bourbon, you're killing me covey! All and all that's a worthwhile restoration! With the campershell, lights and some slick paint! Hoss.
That's so much better than you described it. You are in for some good times! And we will "NEED" pictures!!!!!
Yeah I can find a lot to complain about but considering their nature and how hard they are to come by these days...I'm absolutely tickled pink with it. Doubt it'll ever see a camper shell, it'll probably have a gooseneck ball in the bed for a livestock trailer and a smallish camper. May try to take it to CO on an elk hunt at some point.
I'm going to try to find a bed with the integrated tool box, LMC truck doesn't seem to sell new ones. If need be I'll take this one apart and buy new panels for it and just build a new bed for it. Don't know how they go this one so torqued and beat up, hasn't been wrecked and the frame on the truck looks great but they sure bent the crap out of the bed cross supports. Looks like someone put a new tailgate on it but it doesn't have the latch on it. Top of the bed rails are rusted through in a few spots anyway, faster, cheaper and easier to build a new one.
Maybe do some research and see if any newer model trucks suspension is comparable. Then maybe find a wrecked one in a junk yard and swap it out. Make it easier to find parts and give it a more modern and smooth ride. Don't know if that would take to much away from what the truck is though. Or if you could find a newer model frame with all components on it and install your cab and bed on it. Sorry if I'm dreaming to big, it's always easier to spend someone else's money! Lol Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I'm not going to worry about keeping it 100% stock (I don't think). I'll keep any of the stock parts from it but I want it to be comfortable to ride in, that's why I am willing to look at bagging it. I don't think there's any alternative that's got as wide a range of performance as air bags. That may be one of the last things to happen though, lol. The only expense I'm going to spare on this project is what I can't afford to make happen and I have enough old crap sitting around to sell off to afford quite a bit. My labor is basically free and these trucks are simple enough I can take them apart and put them back together easy enough. No ECU, very little electronics at all and carbed. As long as they get spark and have gas (and everything is mechanically okay) they just go.
my best buddy in HS had the same truck but it was a standard (short?) bed. Lucky to get 10mpg. Wide open you could literally watch the gas gauge drop. While the 460 is a beast the gearing really limited the top end. If I had to guess it came stock with 4.88s or mayyyybe 4.10s but I think it topped out at 85mph. Not sure if you knew about this site; but if not here you go: http://fordification.net/tech/vin.htm you're welcome.
I love this website- not always the best prices but it's great for finding applications and then you can scour the net for a better price elsewhere. https://www.carid.com/1979-ford-f-2...model[DriveTypeName][]=4WD+(Four+Wheel+Drive)
Don't know positively but like someone else said may be able to get some parts from newer trucks. I know when we redid mine, was a 80, anything from 80-96 or 97 worked. Only thing changed during those years was the front clip of truck body wise. But I would suspect alot of the chassis and mechanical parts are probably the same. I never had to go older but most manufacturers around that time used the same stuff for what seemed like forever. Something else to consider for anything motor wise Ford's 400 was also a big block so if you can find anything with that it would work. Again not positive but pretty sure Chevy and dodge were both small blocks. Ran into that problem when had to drop new engine in, the one I had was a 400 so my only options were another 400 or a 460. Coulda looked around and probably got the parts but was easier goin with what had. Sounds like you have a pretty solid start tho. Body doesnt look terrible, i replaced every thing but the hood and cab ha. And what's wrong with glass packs, i had headers and glass pack true duels in mine. For a 17 year old kid it was great, besides the unwanted attention, but now that I'm older it would be annoying haha. There's a guy around here that has a truck almost identical to that one. He dropped a cummins in it tho. Either looks fun. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Yep, thanks for the link to that site. Come to find out Ford didn't offer any 460's in 4wd pickups nor 390's. So apparently it is NOT a numbers matching truck (I was never told it was, just my assumption) I'd never researched to see what was optioned on those trucks. I just assumed they offered a 460 in a 4wd, learn something new every day. This truck was built in KC and was number 8410 of 9000. Originally raven black 4wd with a C6 and a 400 engine with red vinyl interior. So it's been engine swapped, if I read the codes correctly. I thought about doing the same thing with a decent one I found a couple days ago. So what this means is I no longer have any reservations about keeping it stock, lol. It originally had a 4:10 Dana 60 rear in it. I assume it still does. gvw 8400 Good to know, I'm a little disappointed but it doesn't really hurt anything. I looked at several that I was tempted to buy and swap engines or transmissions or both or convert from 2wd to 4wd. Dad's old green truck was 100% stock but it was a 79 F-250 with a c6 and 400 engine and a single cab. That's what I was originally looking for but finding exactly what you want at this point is about like winning the lottery.
sorry, yes my buddy's was not 4wd. And still got about 10mpg, lol. And while it may not be "exactly" like your old man's; I don't know anyone who ever regretted buying an extended cab. I know plenty of people who regretted buying a single cab.
Yeah after I got to thinking about it, I kinda wanted a full crew cab...couldn't find one of those either, lol. 10MPG...about what the V10's always got in the later model Fords and my 6.2 2016 gasser doesn't do a hell of a lot better. My 6.2 pulling a load is probably around 6mpg, lol. I used a full tank of gas driving over to the 79 truck today and pulling it back home about a 180 mile round trip. It didn't use much going over but coming back that poor gauge looked like I had a hole in a fuel line. Part of the road was a hilly, curvy SOB.
There is a 1968 International Pick up on e-bay and it is killing me to not buy that truck. So beautiful and original, thing is it makes no sense to buy it, we are seriously pondering moving south and I won't have room for that many toys.
Not really, figures a guy that would shoot a deer on a fence line would be a john deere guy. Someone sure parked a nice truck next to your crappy green combine though.
Well we were super cold all day today like everyone else but I still managed to get a little work done on the 79. I got the seat out and the old carpet, rubber pads and multiple floor mats out of it. Apparently the theory was the more crap they could lay over the holes, the less old junk could fall through the floor pans to the ground. That must not have been secure enough because they had pieced together some "custom" floor plates out of 1/8th inch steel plate and laid it over the holes, lol. I bet they literally spent more on floor mats and rubber sheet than the new weld in floor pans cost and cost for a welder to put them in. Really bad (normal) rot out on both sides of the center hump but the center hump and most of the floor pan is surprisingly good. There's a lot of rot right in the back of the cab floor. I can't find any patch panels for that area oddly enough. I guess I'll have to buy some proper gauge steel and fab it in unless I find a better source of floor pans. Too cold to fiddle bumble with the tranny linkages, save that for a warmer day. I'll probably end up pulling the steering wheel off, feels like some of the internals are busted to me. I'm not that familiar with what all is in there. I have a full library of shop manuals coming in this week to help me figure out what's going on in there before I rip it apart. I checked the bed out, got the latchless tailgate open. The tailgate is amazingly straight and solid....may be the one piece of this thing that doesn't get replaced, lol. I got the old crappy drop in liner pulled out of it, didn't take much. The cab end of the bed isn't too bad, both sides are totally roached. They had literally welded crossbraces down from the top corners of the tailgate pillars to the floor of the bed to keep the sides from flopping around. The front left side of the bed that can be seen sagging in the pics from yesterday...the bottom cross braces weren't "bent" from anything happening like a wreck or weight....they are just literally so rusted out that only one bolt is holding the bed on. The floor itself isn't rotted out that bad but those cross braces are gone in spots so there's nothing there to act as proper spacing which makes the body lines all wonky. Found a good bed in Arkansas for $300 with an integrated tool box on the left side. Problem is it's in arkansas and it also only has one fuel tank port. Thinking about buying it and cutting the left side off and replacing it with a new assembly from LMC to get the dual fuel ports. Be into it total for about $700, all new parts from LMC for the bed would run about $1500. Can't get a new right panel with the integrated tool box... Or I can forget the tool box and buy all new parts, drive to KC to LMC truck and pick up the parts. and weld them all together. I came across a 79 supercab F-150 today that is like new on Marketplace for $3500. I'm considering buying it for a donor body. It has all the trim, complete and nice interior. It's a 2wd 1/2 ton so pretty useless to me as it sits. They have different frames but everything else is interchangeable. Swap that body, front clip and bed on my F-250 4wd frame and have a usable truck. That's a crap load of work...and not cheap and leaves me with a lot of crap, lol. Body I have though on mine is pretty far gone so a lot of work either way. I think the donor truck is the quickest and cleanest way to recreating the truck in that video I posted though. Donor truck isn't equipped with dual fuel tanks or the tool box though so that doesn't completely solve my problems, just with the cab. Piece at a time I guess, lol. Kind of tentatively giving myself a $10K budget with a $5K over budget cushion but obviously I'd like to try to do it as cheap as possible. I can do some pretty cool stuff with power upgrades if I can build a drivable truck cheap enough and save a nice chunk of that budget for engine and tranny upgrades.
Haven't done much to my 79 truck but I did get the shifting fixed today. Turns out the main linkage bracket was bent and the swivel rod that shifts the tranny was loose on one end. Bent the bracket back straight and problems were all solved. I bought a new Mig welder today and some air tools for the body work. Ordered the patch panels yesterday that were available. Someone had put an electric pair of cooling fans on the radiator and the controller was not functioning correctly so I picked up a new one today. I know the fans work fine because I hooked them up directly and they blew my hat off. The bed is about ready to be taken off as well. Nothing $1500 won't fix, lol.
