Hey folks, new guy here. My Grandfather bought a Ford F100 brand new back in 1974. When he died about 20 years ago my Grandmother parked it in the yard and there it has sat since then. My dad and uncles all learned to drive in that truck and I've always wanted to do something with it. I hated seeing it waste away. I recently finished rebuilding an 84 Chevy C10 and when my grandmother saw that I actually did it, she asked me if I wanted the Ford. Naturally I said heck yes.

So here is what I have to work with.

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A dead tree fell on the bed at one point and bent it, but luckily the frame is still solid.

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The FE 360 it came with originally was seized up and from what I've been told, it was a dog anyway. I was able to find a 302 out of a 1997 Ford Explorer in a junk yard that I got for $250. The motor was clean as a whistle and only had 12,000 miles on it.

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I'll be converting it to a Carburetor V-belt set up. After a little clean up and some paint, it is starting to look pretty nice.

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I also managed to find a 1978 F100 to use as a parts truck. I paid $300 for it. It looks like the parts truck will have all the body parts I'll need to make the truck good as new.

I'll update this as I go along and let you guys know how its going.

 

Nice project!
with the GT40-4 bar heads, that 302 should scoot that f 100 right along!
don't forget to change the water pump back to the v belt style water pump, the serpentine style pumps run in reverse rotation.

 

Bedsides look pretty good. I think you could cut off the "rollpan" on the back and swap in a straight one.

I have to ask, how did they bend it like that?

 

The bed damage happened from a tree falling on it. It had a camper on the back too, but that got destroyed by the tree. I already purchased a parts truck with a straight bed with no rust to replace it with. The only thing I don't like about it is the new bed has gas cap doors where the old one had the metal screw caps on the bed itself. I prefer the screw caps to the doors.

 

1973/76 Stylesides have exposed fuel caps. 1977/79 Stylesides have fuel doors. The filler necks are different between the two.

 

That is unfortunate. I wish there was a way to salvage that part, but even without the bed being bent, it is also rusted through. My grandpa had a drop in plastic bed liner so over the years water has settled between the liner and the bed itself.

 

I found an FMX transmission, but I don't know anything about them. How would it compare to a c6 or c4?

 

You've got a nice project there..

 

FMX introduced in 1968 Ford/Merc Passenger Cars. The only Ford trucks it was installed in were 1973/77 F350's with 300 I-6.