65 F100 - SA to SA?

[dirtbike]

Good day guys,

I have been a member here for a long time but my last visit was in 2009!

I currently own a '65 F100 that is in South Africa and I have since moved over to Adelaide, Australia. I have owned the vehicle for about 11yrs of which 75% of it was in storage. I recently returned home for a holiday and popped down to the storage park and after standing for 5 years, it took about 10mins to get the old girl fired up.

It is currently fitted with a 351C, C4 tranny which I got from a Fairlane donor vehicle. So to cut a long story short, as I mentioned I now live in Australia. So I am thinking about shipping the vehicle over from South Africa. I am trying to weigh up if it is going to be a worthy exercise. I got a quote of around $3500 to ship it over in a container. Now the truck is far from perfect and needs some TLC. I have been looking around here in Oz at the prices of these trucks and they are a fair bit more expensive than $3500, and if I had to sell it there I would only get around $5000 for it. So I am trying to decide if I should sell the truck in South Africa and take the money and look for something here or ship mine over.

Here is a pic of the truck before I left South Africa a couple of years ago...

[Alan Mclennan]

G`day Dirtbike!, from what I can see she is in fairly decent shape, and considering you already own her the 3 and a half grand would be a good investment in a classy ride and, I`m sure you could get at least 8 or 9 grand for her if you sell her.
So what brings you to our shores, and Adelaide of all places?, it is a nice place but very hot these days if last summer was any indication!!!............Oh and welcome back to Slicks!

[Leeroy]

Welcome from this side of Aus! (Victoria... BRRRR cold!!)

3500 is good. Pretty standard shipping these days.

I'm with Alan, I paid that for my last one!!! (dirtbike- I bought it from Alan though! )

Rust is always the issue with these things and the steering wheel being RHD and all. If the bed was in GOOD shape (aka rustfree) I would consider paying something close to that much money for a bed alone. I paid $1000 for my last one (blue one in the sig) and then spent 3k on repairs + tailgate!
As a bonus yours is already RHD. I say bring er over.... but I am bias!

[dirtbike]

Good day guys,

Nice to hear there are a couple of fellow 60's F100 guys from Australia around on here.
Rust is not to bad that I am aware of (might be some lurking), there is some above the drivers side channel, the front right fender was repaired before but other than that she is still pretty solid. And of course the rear tailgate is rotten away but in general the bed is still in good shape. The biggest problem is that the bed is slightly different at the back on these South African built F100's to the American/Australian ones. The tailgate looks completely different. The good thing it has been in a underground storage area for the last 8 years where it is completely dry all the time.

It will take a few months before she hits the water, it is not easy trying to organise things when you are on the other side of the world. But luckily my brother is also a motorhead and is going to get it running good enough to be driven in and out of the container safely and easily when he gets time between all his Escort projects he has going

Always wanted to do a resto on it since I bought it many many years ago, would be a waste just to sell it now after keeping it wrapped up for all these years.

[dirtbike]

So what brings you to our shores, and Adelaide of all places?, it is a nice place but very hot these days if last summer was any indication!!!............Oh and welcome back to Slicks!

Are you also in Adelaide? I am a fridgie so lots of work here!

I paid $1000 for my last one (blue one in the sig) and then spent 3k on repairs + tailgate!

Love the white and blue combo, that has always been the colour scheme I wanted for mine. Would love to see some more pics!

[Leeroy]

Love the white and blue combo, that has always been the colour scheme I wanted for mine. Would love to see some more pics!

There's plenty on the forum. Build thread is here: viewtopic.php?t=18585
Sold it late last year, but bought another one from Alan this year to re-do as a bit of a toy!

So whats the plan for yours?

C'mon you must have one!!!!

[dirtbike]

Ahh thanks for link, will take a look.

My plans...

mmm, don't want to upset the purists Nah, prob go Jag front end for comfort and lower ride and then notch the rails at the rear. But I will need to look more into this, not sure how difficult it will be to get it through licencing etc. They seem to be full of crap here in SA. I picked up another 351C last week that I plan on rebuilding, nothing fancy. I just want a nice comfortable cruiser. That has always been the plan but always had other things getting in the way.

[dirtbike]

This is my website I made about 10yrs ago, I cant beleive it is still up and running.. Got some more pics.

http://www.f100.1965.8m.com/

[Alan Mclennan]

Nah Dirt, i`m up here in Penrith west for Sydney, only a 16 hour drive in one go, done it twice and it nearly killed me. I`m a Plumber so I know all about you Fridgie guys! .
with your front end swap I think I`d go with an EL Falcon front end swap rather than a Jag, a guy in Melbourne sells a kit to do it or he will do it for you!

http://www.thepickupplace.com.au/chassi ... parts.html

Look up my build in projects under Beryls rebuild, boy thats a long way back!! heres the link

http://slick60s.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=9039

[dirtbike]

I have seen the suspension kits from 'The Pickup Place' but they seem rather pricey. I am not 100% sure what exactly the kit consists of, and if it would be a easier install. From what I have seen you can get a front Jag clip and with some minor mods get it to fit for a fair bit cheaper.
Had a quick look through your build thread and the suspension setup does look great from Pickup place and must give a nice ride. And BTW your truck looks great, your chassis setup is impressive. Did you have any troubles getting a engineering certificate? That is my biggest worry about doing suspension upgrades.

Got another question. I picked up a 351C for a great price and started stripping it down, after I took the intake manifold off I noticed this -



Is that normal? Looks pretty rough and like something went through there...

Also found this on the head gasket -

[Alan Mclennan]

No it doesn`t look the best does it!, maybe the dizzy got dizzy and threw a leg out of bed, or extra oil for the cam and it looks like number 8 was trying to share some of the oil with #7! . The heads are good tho arent they .

I haven`t had her engineered yet, but have spoken to an Engineer and his main concern was the weight difference between a F100 and a EL Falcon, so I checked it out, the F100 Tare weight is 1680 KG`s and a EL Falcon wagon is 1600 KG`s so with the up graded coil over shock`s and being a Plumber I can`t see a problem !

[dirtbike]

Turns out that is normal on the block apparently oil return! Not very pretty. Looks like they forgot about it when they manufactured the block so they just got somebody to punch holes there..
I picked up the engine minus carb for $200. Guy was told by his mechanic that it has low compression on two cylinders so he got a complete reconditioned engine instead. Everything looks pretty decent so far besides the head gasket. Just hoping the block checks out ok once I have stripped it down and get it dipped and checked.
That is my biggest concern about doing mods to the chassis. They seem to be pretty strict about the whole thing.

[Leeroy]

seem to be pretty strict about the whole thing.

Welcome to Australia.... And if you think they are consistent between states or even checkers.... Think again!!!!
No body seemed to care about a Clevo being in the blue slick, even know it was built in Australia 9years after the slick was built! But the new owner took it to brissy and there was all sorts of kerfuffel.

Have a guy who WILL ceritify it before you get started, at least that way you can build to his specs.

[Alan Mclennan]

Bloody Banana Benders!!!, they came with a V8 for crying out loud!

[dirtbike]

Good day guys,

I can't believe it has been over 2 years since I started this topic.

Well I ended up getting my truck over from South Africa. Everything went smooth and it cost me around $4000 all up.

We also since moved from Adelaide to Brisbane, so the truck made another trip!! It has done some serious mileage with all the traveling.

Anyways, about 2 months ago I took it in to a hot rod shop to get the Jag front end installed and they lowered the rear (did not notch the chassis). Thought I would get it professionally done due to strict rules and getting engineers certificate etc and I don't think I would have ever got around to doing it myself. It ended up costing me an absolute fortune and really annoyed with myself but what's done is done. Lesson learnt!!

I still need to do a complete rewire, find some decent wheels, relocate the fuel tank and then when finances allow get it resprayed. I hate the colour!!

This is what it currently looks like -





Still needs a ton of work!

[Alan Mclennan]

Good to see you and the old girl are re united, some of these so called hot rod shops are deadest rip offs...did the jag front end narrow the track a bit, or is it the offset of the wheels making it look like it...I ended up checking my pic`s for that oil return, and it does look like a Friday afternoon job they did on it, here`s a pic of beryl's clevo at the engine builders...

[dirtbike]

Yes the Jag front end has a slightly narrower track but the offset of the rims make it look a lot worse. Those rims are the original Jag rims. When finances permit I will get some new rims. I did take it for a quick drive unregistered and it drives so much better than before. Also nice to have power steering.

I couldn't believe what that oil return looked like when I took the intake manifold off. I ended up selling the engine that I was going to rebuild (the one in the pics) before moving to Brisbane.

[jamesdfo]

Dirtbike: Truck is lookin good!
Any chance you could post a pic from the back, I'm interested in seeing how different the tailgate is. (as you mentioned waaaaaay back)

Alan: I went to have a look @ The Pickup Place webpage, and it says they're closing??

This was posted in large type on the homepage

"We have decided to close the workshop and part's supply side of the business.Everything here must
be sold.Chassis component's & pick up bed's will still be available via website."

[Alan Mclennan]

Yeah I had seen that James, not a big market down here, plus they were very proud of their stuff!

[dirtbike]

Rear end -



Slightly different to the American and Australian style.