'65 F100 SWB - yes another Crown Vic swap

[Blanger]

Final assembly (part 20.50)

Sunday we put the carpet back in and I started in wiring up the radio and testing its operation, the radio is a Boss brand and is a pretty nice radio for the $100 it cost on Amazon, but it has a few things that are different than the radio I put in the uni, the backup camera even though it is powered at the rear back up light circuit the radio had to have a connection to the backup light switch so it knew when the camera was on, the radio in the uni auto-detects the input and automatically switches, this one relies on that circuit to switch....no big deal. It does have a micro SD slot along with a front USB port both of which can house tunes.

The console will have to come back out to be covered but everything just unplugs from the back of the radio so that won't be a issue, I'll have to make a new faceplate since I cracked it trying to get the plastic to conform to a curve, one side did fine but the other cracked as soon as I tightened the screws down, for the console and radio this is just its mock-up phase so no harm.

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The wife decided it was time to do the door art and went about drawing it out on the doors with the help of a vinyl mask she made, just like the uni removing the mask pulled some of the paint off the doors but unlike the uni this time it was the primer that was on the truck when we bought it that had no bond and it removed paint all the way down to the original green factory paint. we are deciding if we will leave it as is or sand the doors down to the green paint in that area and redo them. I really don't understand (I guess I do) why people would apply primer without sanding the original paint to open it up so the primer has a chance to bond, just spraying it on top of paint really does nothing but add that color it has no bond at all. And yes we could have sanded the entire truck down to that original paint but we didn't so it's really our fault for not knowing what was under the gray primer.

I'm not bitching, just pointing out that if you're just going to primer a vehicle a little prep would go a long way, I'd assume if your applying primer it is because you have the plan to paint....which without that prep will never last long at all, in our case it's not a big deal, we just need to decide if we can live with the green paint poking through or not.






My wife is getting really good at this free-hand painting it only took her about 4 hours to do both doors....



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Jon

[SteveCanup]

The green paint showing through gives it a bit of a patina look. Either way the truck looks great!

[Blanger]

The green paint showing through gives it a bit of a patina look. Either way the truck looks great!

I agree Steve, but I'm kinda' on the fence, the method we planned on using to age the paint doesn't really require us to remove any paint to expose what is underneath, but we are still debating what we'll do, it's really up to my wife...its her truck.

Jon

[snoracer]

The green paint showing through gives it a bit of a patina look. Either way the truck looks great!

I agree with Steve. I actually thought that that was part of your aging process. I'm a little worried though, about whether or not some more of the prior paint work might let go and take all of your paint work off along with it. I sure hope that won't happen,

[Blanger]

I actually thought that that was part of your aging process. I'm a little worried though, about whether or not some more of the prior paint work might let go and take all of your paint work off along with it. I sure hope that won't happen,

Tim,

I know what you mean but on the other hand we want to give it a patina, the green paint doesn't bother me but does bother my wife because she is a perfectionist, that's a really good trait to have but it makes you conflicted at times because what you imagine and what you want are sometimes not the same. We (I'm) (are) really conflicted with the paint on the '65 because going down the road the truck looks really slick, it's so much different than the '62 uni which looks cool slammed on the ground, it is truly a ugly truck in some regards but is cool looking also.

The '65 could stay just the way it is and I'd be happy letting it age on it's own which it will do pretty quick sitting out in the weather but we both want the truck to look cool but not pretty, right now it looks pretty, I know it's a difficult concept to wrap your head around which on this truck we are somewhat conflicted, most folks what the exterior to be slick, nice and shiny, because that is traditionally what people do, we are breaking that cycle on theses trucks (at least for us) because we don't want to worry about chips, scrapes, or dings, we have had and own nice shiny vehicles but the truth is when they come out of the garage you worry, heck I even worry about being around them in the garage because we invested a lot of effort in the bodywork and paint, that's what we are trying to avoid....that constant worry about it staying nice.

And again it's conflicting for both of us, the '65 looks good just the way it is, in a lot of ways too good for our purposes as a daily driver, we both find ourselves trying to protect the paint which is at times laughable, we both realize that we want it to look worse in some ways but we do want to keep the cool factor as much as possible.....

In the end it is up to my wife and if I have to guess she will want to sand the doors off to the green paint and build it back out, then redo the door art, like I said she is a perfectionist, as for the rest of the truck if our paint flakes off so be it because it will just be more patina as far as I'm concern. lol

Jon

[snoracer]

we are breaking that cycle on theses trucks (at least for us) because we don't want to worry about chips, scrapes, or dings, we have had and own nice shiny vehicles but the truth is when they come out of the garage you worry, heck I even worry about being around them in the garage because we invested a lot of effort in the bodywork and paint, that's what we are trying to avoid....that constant worry about it staying nice.

Jon - I couldn't agree more !! Not to mention the extremely high cost of the paint and materials, and body shop labor. Shops around here are between $50 and $60 per hour. It's really gotten out of hand. I think that might have a lot to do with why "patina" is so popular right now. Most people just can't afford a really nice paint job. Wow, and to think that I used to make my living doing restorations and high end paint jobs.

[Blanger]

Most people just can't afford a really nice paint job.

Tim,

I had a guy yesterday show me a picture of a '65 or '66 Chevy wagon that someone made into a Impala SS clone (they never made a Impala SS wagon in the '60s that I know of) anyway it was a big block 4 speed car that he said had a $15k two tone green paint job, granted it was a nice car but I doubt I'll have much more than that in building 3 trucks, I'd never find fault in what anyone chooses to spend their money on, it is after all their money and God knows we spent a lot on our Camaro, but we wanted to have a cool vehicle that could sit out in the weather, that we could rely on it starting, was safe to drive, and cheap to operate. The trucks check each and every box and then some, the '62 uni is starting to get noticed just sitting in our driveway....

Funny story: I'm sure you noticed looking at our pictures that we have security cameras up around the property, so last Monday I'm in the shop working on the '65 and I hear a car and go look at the cameras, a car had pulled into the driveway and two people got out and were heading towards the '62, so I go out and about the same time my wife comes out of her shop behind the house to see what is going on, it was two girls who wanted to get a picture of one of them leaning on the '62.... they should have asked, but we were cool about it, it surprised me that teenage girls think the '62 is cool enough to want a picture standing by it....I'm sure it's on Facebook by now...lol So I'm guessing that nice shiny paint isn't always a factor in people thinking a vehicle is cool?

Jon

[SteveCanup]

Jon,
My wife and I were at the local truck stop/gas station Tuesday in my '64. Stopped to get gas. It has been rainy and snowing here and my truck was, in my opinion, nasty. Anyway, I'm at the tailgate pumping in gas and a young lady, in her early 20's, stopped her big Ryder truck right in the middle of the driveway into the station and got out and came over...she was exclaiming, "Nice Truck! I hope that you don't have a Chevy engine in it!" "Can I take a picture?" She scared my wife to death (actually, just startled her). She took about 4-5 pics...one of them she bent down low in front of the truck to get the pic....jumped back into the Ryder truck she was driving and left....

Kinda made my day!

That's what makes this fun!

[Blanger]

a young lady, in her early 20's,

LOL.... I guess there are a few young people that care about more things other than what pronoun you use to talk to them....

Kinda made my day!

That's what makes this fun!

Yes it does!

Jon

[Blanger]

Final assembly (part 20.75)

While the wife was doing the door art I thought I'd work on the front bumper, when we tore down the '65 I thought about cutting off the front of the frame where the bumper bolted on, then thought that that might screw someone up if they were going to use the frame for another slick so I didn't cut the end of the frame off. Then I thought that we could just buy a pair of the bumper mounts like the uni used that I modified but it looks like no one sells them as far as we could find.

So I had to make my own, the RM frame a lot wider than the slicks frame was so I'm not real sure just how much help the frame ends from the '65 would have been other than using the mounting flange to bolt up the bumper then fabricating the rest.

Someone had already notched the valance so I really didn't need to cut it to move the bumper back towards the grill.




With those notches the bumper moves back far enough to look ok.....



I just need to fabra-cobble a couple mounts that will allow me to bolt the bumper to and weld the other end to the RM frame.




Not the prettiest thing I've made but is functional, the rectangle tube fits into the RM frame and will be welded to the frame, there is enough slop in the mounting bolts to move the bumper up and down and side to side a little, so I just need to be reasonably close when I weld to the frame.

Of course this isn't as strong as being mounted to the slicks frame like the bumper was originally but will be plenty strong enough to take a slow hit to something without folding up or falling off which is all we are looking for.

The '65s bumper did have a couple bends that I was able to heat with a torch and beat out with a 4 pound hammer, nothing too serious but one in the passenger mount area that came right out with a little heat and persuasion and a couple around the edge where people had attached a chain/hook to in the past.

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Jon

[Blanger]

Shake down (Week 3)

You know.... I really feel like we did a better job on the '65, sure we still have or had a few screw-ups the most recent being the brake booster which I've decided to replace with a new unit, and this time I'll just cut the push rod while it's still attached to the booster keeping it cool with a wet rag while I weld it back together. Since it has to come out again to be replaced I'm going to use that opportunity to also lower it on the firewall a few inches because while it has a good position height-wise from the firewall it is a couple inches too high from the floor. We have this issue for a few reasons, one being the differences between the CV and RM donors, the other being because of the differences between the '62 and '65 cab floors. I had measurements from the '62 that didn't really translate to the '65 because of the difference in floor height because I used measurements on the firewall when I should have actually measured the pedal assembly and called it good enough....but I didn't. lol

So to solve this issue I'm going to use a aluminum plate (or steel) to mount the booster to the firewall, this will allow me to lower the booster and pedal assembly on the firewall and cover the old holes I'm using now without having to weld those holes up and start over with all the wiring and steering column in the way...... using that donor firewall is looking better and better all the time.

But in the "big picture" it's not really a big deal, yeah I have to redo it and like I did on the uni I could just cut the pedal, lengthen it and weld it back together but I really don't want to do that on this truck because it has turned out to be a lot nicer than we thought it would be, so I'll take the extra time to make it as right as I can.

The '65 is really going to turn out to be a nice truck in just about every aspect, part of that is that we started with a nicer truck sheet metal-wise, part of it is the experience we learned from doing the '62, and part of it is the Roadmaster chassis which has a softer ride than the CV P71, other things like incorporating the RM instrument cluster in the slicks dash not only give the old truck a more modern look but makes it also look custom in a lot of ways, the two-tone paint and colors we selected are spot on and even though it's a rattle-can paint job the desired effect the wife and I both wanted was achieved and really exceeded, yes it's a good 10'er which is all we really wanted but going down the street it looks like a million dollars from that point of view...so much better than we hoped for.

When people tell you it's "bad ass" you know you did something right.... lol

I had about 45 minute conversation with a customer the other day about the '65, he had that look in his eye that I see from time to time talking to people about the chassis swap and what is involved along with the benefits, I could tell he got it, and the wheels were turning in his head thinking he'd like to build one. It's interesting talking to people who understand what you have done, and when they have questions that make sense and are questions relating to the build along the lines of gathering information either for the knowledge or just to better grasp what is involved to decide if they could do the same thing.

I've found over the last year talking to people about both trucks that the questions they have are divided into two types, one being the I'd like to do it myself and the questions are about the process of the build, and the other is the type of yeah I think that's cool but way too much work and the questions are about the finished product as in how it runs, drives or rides. It's funny how you can tell just in the questions which side of the fence the person is on.

But you know, I've never had a negative comment, not a single one even with the '62 uni and how bad it looks sheet metal-wise, you see looks on people's faces, you know they wouldn't own or drive the uni but still think it's a cool old truck and I attribute that to it being slammed on the ground with nice wheels....everyone can appreciate nice wheels even if they are attached to a rolling junk pile.. lol

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Have a great weekend.

Jon

[Blanger]

Final assembly (part 21)

So we started Saturday pulling the brake booster and modifying the push rod one the new unit, I cut the pushrod by about 1/2" which is about a 1/4" more than I had cut from the old push rod, welding it back together while still in the booster wasn't a issue and went as planned.



That lowered the brake pedal towards the firewall in just about the perfect position, last week I had planned to lower the booster on the firewall to bring the pedal closer to the floor but looking at the firewall and the proximity of the booster to the steering column I couldn't lower it enough to make much of a difference......so I had to cut the brake pedal and lengthen it, easy enough to do with the pedal assembly out laying on the work bench.



I had already made the plate to cover the existing holes in the firewall....



This isn't really what I wanted to do but was happy I could cut it high enough on the pedal to keep the basic couture of the pedal and lower it in a area that was basically straight.

The new booster had to be painted....



After the booster and pedal assembly were reinstalled the pedal now sits in a much more comfortable position which will make the truck safer to drive.

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With that taken care of I moved on to get the bumper sorted out and the brackets welded to the RM frame ends.




Then removed the bumper and painted it to match the grill...



Once the paint had dried a few hours we installed the bumper...



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Tomorrow I'll cover what we got accomplished on Sunday.

Jon

[SteveCanup]

I was thinking..."That last pic the license plate says 'Ugh-Lay'...but it should say 'Pret-Tay'..." lol....
The truck is looking great!

[Blanger]

I was thinking..."That last pic the license plate says 'Ugh-Lay'...but it should say 'Pret-Tay'..." lol....
The truck is looking great!

LOL.... thanks Steve, it's going to get Ugh-Lay, I promise!

[Blanger]

Final assembly (21.5)

Saturday while I was doing the brakes and bumper, my wife was changing the trucks hair style....lol

We joked that it went from a blonde to a red head, this paint makes the two tone a lot like the factory two tone that Ford put on the trucks, honestly I like it both ways, she likes it better which is all that matters.

Old look.....



New look...



And yes as you can see in the picture above we installed the bed cover also. This is from here:

https://www.extang.com/p-36829-blackmax.html

And was $269 from Summit which had the best price along with free shipping. There really isn't a lot of choices for bed covers for slicks, but there does seem to be one or two choices for each type of bed including Flare Side bed trucks.







This was about the easiest bed cover I've ever installed, all of the rails snapped together , it uses very well made aluminum clamps to mount it to the inside of the bed rails, the bows are spring loaded and remove easily, they have two positions that either increases or decreases the pressure on the vinyl top (summer - winter, so they say) the snaps are plastic, replaceable, and slide along the aluminum top rail.... it's not a bad design, seems to be pretty water tight having a thick rubber gasket in the bottom of the aluminum rails that seals against the top of the bed rails. It can be removed in just a few minutes by rolling up the cover, removing 6 allen head bolts at the clamps removing them and lifting the frame off the bed.

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So you remember that my wife is a perfectionist?

She sanded off the door art, sanded the doors down to the original green paint and opened that up, primer'd the area and repainted the doors, then redid the door art....as you can see we are not scared to screw up nor or we too proud to not share what we have done and the reasons behind it, on the door the bottom line was she wasn't happy with how it looked so she did it over.

When the exterior of the truck gets aged most of you will be scratching your heads as to why we are particular about something that is going to get aged or even why we might age a perfectly nice looking rattle can paint job, it's that we know it wasn't right by our standards, good enough?...yes but when you look at something every day and say to yourself I should have done this or that...because, reasons... then you might just s well fix it while you have the chance....no regrets that way.

She will also be driving the truck to make deliveries for her business and in doing so it will get picked at by her customers and in that regard she needs to maintain a certain level of craftsmanship because they will know we built the truck and any artwork is her doing. It's why we have tried to stay away from putting any type of vinyl on the trucks, in theory if we chose to do all the necessary prep work we could just wrap the trucks, but to do that you have to get the surface right to the point that it is ready to apply paint and again you have something that you are going to protect the finish which neither of us want.







This is a little different than how it was the first time and is trimmed in teal green, looks pretty good and no Ford original green paint showing through from the mask being pulled off.

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Tomorrow I'll move over to the flare side build for a post, I spent most of Monday on that project.

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Jon

[shipwrecked]

Looks great!

[unibody madness]

Now that you have the cover installed could you please get exact measurements. I would love to put one of these on my unibody and the pockets may be an issue. Thanks

[Blanger]

Looks great!

Thank you April, it looks good in pictures but is still a 10'er but we are very happy with how it is turning out.

Jon

[SteveCanup]

I concur...that truck looks great! Mine is the same as far as the bodywork and paint. I am remodeling the house next door for my widowed dad to move into...I have hauled a ton of lumber in mine. I want to be able to use the truck and then wash it and take it to the cruise-in on Saturday night.

Yesterday I had a guy stop by the house we're remodeling (it's a gut remodel) and I was on the back of the property piling old material on the burn pile. A new Cadillac Escalade pulled into the drive, right in front of my truck. I initially thought it was the building inspector (pucker moment...we're not ready for an inspection). The vehicle was large and white and looked 'official.' Turned out to be a local insurance adjuster who was driving by and turned around to come back just to look at my truck. He had just purchased a '66 F-100 and wanted to know how I had lowered mine. We talked for quite a while....(to my relief...He's not the inspector...lol). He had been to all the local cruise-ins in his mid-60's Chevy which I remember seeing. It was probably a $20,000+ build with the shiny paint that sits in a garage and is never driven. He said he had been a 'die-hard' Chevy man up to this point. But liked the mid-60's Ford truck body style. To my surprise he really liked my truck...gave it a thorough looking over. So...they don't have to be perfect to be able to enjoy them...and get attention.

And did I mention? I was glad he was not the building inspector.....lol....

[Blanger]

Now that you have the cover installed could you please get exact measurements. I would love to put one of these on my unibody and the pockets may be an issue. Thanks

Sure, but it will be the weekend before I get a chance when we have it back in the shop, but when we did the '62 uni of ours we looked at a bunch of different bed covers trying to find something that would fit it we wound up buying this: http://www.crafteccovers.com/1961-63-Fo ... p_126.html

The reason is that the way the back of the cab and bed meet on a unibody it is curved instead of square corners like any other bed, the cover we bought does fit that couture while providing a square corner for the frame of the bed cover, the stake holes wouldn't or shouldn't be a issue with the extang cover since the frame rails for it are wide enough to cover them, but the cover we used on the uni do not cover all of the stake pockets because it fits flush with the top of the bed. Having said that if you were not opposed to creating a filler panel for the area where the cab and bed come together either bed cover would work, in fact I suspect that any modern bed cover that shared the overall dimensions with a slick would work with a little persuasion.... the biggest issue would be how it was attached to the bed, the extang cover we put on the '65 had really nice clamps that fit in a extruded channel on the bed cover rails then another piece wrapped under the bed rail and a allen bolt tightened them together, this cover would mount the same on a short bed uni but would probably have a area in the corners where the cab and bed meet that would be open, if I had to guess from memory the hole would be around say 1" wide x 2-3" long that's probably way over stating the area but would be closer than saying it will cover that area...lol

I'll get the measurements this weekend and post them here.

Jon