81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

Looking good!

Thanks guys on the truck paint job.

Will someone take me in if the wife throws me out of the house
I put a hurting on the credit card the other night as I cant really put anything back on till I got some things.
The weather gasket set, door handle gaskets, lock set with gaskets as I don't think I have the keys for the ones I pulled, hood fender bumpers, gas door rubber bumpers to name a few things.

I also picked up paint striper to use on the wheels and other odds & ends at the big box hard ware store the same day I ordered the parts and that was over $125, total think was close to $500.
So who will take me in
Dave ----

Dave - Come to the show and I can at least buy you lunch.  Maybe you could sleep in the shop?  

Got a little something done on the truck today.
Went thru my parts bins looking for parts and sorting them out. Parts I still need to install that I have 2 of go into a set of bins and parts I am not going to use at this time go in other bins.
I was looking for wiper motors & linkages and was pretty sure I was going to use the setup from my parts truck.

After a quick look of the 2 I did go with the parts truck setup then looked to see how it gets installed as I had the linkage still hooked to the motor.

Once that was figured out I cleaned it and gave the linkage & motor a coat of dark silver paint and let it dry.
I then taped up the stickers on the radiator support and prepped it for paint before a grille goes in.

With the paint drying I moved on to the bumpers as I wanted to mount them to get them out of the way.
1 of the parts I was also looking for were the lights for the front bumper, best to install them with bumper on a stand than working from under the truck.
Mounted the bumpers front & rear and cleaned up the plastic fillers that go on the front edge of the fenders by the head lights and installed them.

Being the wiper paint was dry I started to install the linkage and motor. That little clip can be the death of me and then with out even trying it popped on! I checked it 3 time with a light to make sure and it was!

I then went looking for the foam weather strip I picked up a long time ago for the cowl vent and for the life of me could not find it?

Other parts I found were the shocks so I installed the rears, took all of 5 min. with out the bed in place and the old ones gone a long time ago.
I have to pull the front tires to do the fronts and when I do I will strip the paint from them just did not feel up to it today.

Started to close up shop because I could not find the foam strip and boom there it was on a stool!
So I put that on the cowl, found and cleaned the radio ant and screwed that to the cowl and the fun began

First I could not figure how the ant wire got run? I even took it out to the parts cab as that is what it came off of.
Found where it went in on the parts cab and what you know my truck had a hole there also!

Got the wire started and moving the cowl around to fit it and I cant get the right side to fit down?
The ant base was holding it up and in doing so put the first nick in the paint but it is in place.
I could not find the screws for the cowl and being 90* in the garage and soaked from sweat it was time to call it a day.

Guess what I found when I went to close the garage door? On the table I used to hold the grilles & head light doors is a bag marked "cowl & wiper screws!
I need to clean & paint the heads before I put them in but I have them.

This brings up a question?
When you install the cowl to hood seal do you use the same screws that hold the cowl to hold the seal?
I have the garage door seal I picked up the other day and it looks like it does use the same screws.
I also need to find some washers so maybe I will get little longer screws and large washers.

Does not show the lights in the bumper to good

Don't know what is up with that ant?
Dave ----

It is really looking like a truck, Dave!  

I like the bumper.  The lights look good, like they were meant to be there.

On the cowl seal, I think you do use the screws that hold the cowl to the firewall, but I can check Big Blue tomorrow to see how I did it.  However, my garage door seal came with plastic washers, so you might consider using those.

FuzzFace2 wrote

When you install the cowl to hood seal do you use the same screws that hold the cowl to hold the seal?

Yes.

FuzzFace2 wrote

Don't know what is up with that ant?

It looks like you installed the base backward, which I'd have said is impossible because it's keyed to only fit 1 way.

Gary Lewis wrote

It is really looking like a truck, Dave!  

I like the bumper.  The lights look good, like they were meant to be there.

On the cowl seal, I think you do use the screws that hold the cowl to the firewall, but I can check Big Blue tomorrow to see how I did it.  However, my garage door seal came with plastic washers, so you might consider using those.

Yep getting there.
I am on stand by for work so hope to get out and get a little more done.

I don't know if my cheap door seal has them fancy washers you talk of. May hit the hardware store to see what they have but may also need longer screws with this seal.
Dave ----

You know it is going to be a nasty day when you walk out the door at 6am and the humidity just hits you.

I started the day by using spray on paint remover on the grille, head light doors and the chrome strips that came off my truck as they were painted black. It had to come off to see what shape they were in.
Well the paint came off the chrome strips real nice, also came off the chrome parts of the doors but the painted part of the doors and grille it took paint and soften the plastic.

Once I got the paint off the chrome part of the door I could see they were junk unless you paint them again as the chrome had been worn off in areas. Where the plastic got soft and the grille I think they can be sanded and sprayed painted to look good again.

Then moved on to look into the radio ant. and why it was pointing off to the side?
Well the plastic base has a pin that fits into a hole on the fender but what I did not see yesterday was the ant. base also has a slot that a fin on the plastic fits into. Once I got that all lined up the ant. now points up right.

With that out of the way I started looking for the screws for the cowl and pull out the garage door seal to install. My seal did have the plastic washers so I pulled the nails out and put the screws in.
I screwed the vent down to the fire wall by the glass, helps to not have the glass in yet, and the 2 end screws in the engine bay side.
The other screws across the cowl / fire wall also hold the cowl seal in place and we now got that checked off the list.

I then polished the best chrome strips for the grille and did the same to the 2 head light doors that all came off the parts truck. The doors should be replaced because they are showing their age but I just don't have the money for them at this time.

I wanted to make sure everything for the grille & doors lined up and I had all the screws so I installed them. I will pull the grille & doors when my plastic repair kit refills comes in as the grille has some cracks & broken tab and 1 of the doors also has a broken tab.
Once they are fixed I will paint the light area of the 2 doors and the grille a dark silver metal flake.

Just about this time FedEx showed up with the rubber weather strip kit, did not think I would show up till the end of the week. Besides the plastic repair kit refills coming I have an LMC order on it's way.

I also want to pick up something like Dynamat for the 2 doors. I looked in Lowes the other day for stiff guys call "peel & stick" think it is used as a sealer on roofs? I want to take out the drum noise of the doors and now is the time before I put the insides of the doors back together.

12pm this is what the truck looked like before I closed up shop

Dave ----

Very nice work!

Good progress, Dave.  

I think it is Peel & Seal, and there are two versions at Lowes:

• 6" x 25"

• 3' x 33.5'

On the cowl seal/weatherstrip, did you put glue behind it?  If not it is very likely to leak.  Mine did.  And RTV doesn't do it.  Blackjack at Lowes does.

Gary Lewis wrote

Good progress, Dave.  

I think it is Peel & Seal, and there are two versions at Lowes:

• 6" x 25"

• 3' x 33.5'

On the cowl seal/weatherstrip, did you put glue behind it?  If not it is very likely to leak.  Mine did.  And RTV doesn't do it.  Blackjack at Lowes does.

Glue? I don't remember reading anything about glue?
So no glue but I am not to worried there is nothing back there for water to hurt but I may but some black weather strip glue for the other weather seals and put a little on this hood seal.

I will have to give another look for that peel and seal at Lowes maybe on the way home from work tomorrow, up at 3am so have to see how I feel.
Dave ----

I just looked and I don't have it in the writeup.  But it needs to be there to really seal.  I used Blackjack from Lowes, on Jim's advice, and it worked well.

Gary Lewis wrote

I just looked and I don't have it in the writeup.  But it needs to be there to really seal.  

There was some kind of adhesive foam strip behind the seal from the factory on my truck. I just peeled it off not too long ago. It's about 1/2" wide and looks like it was probably 1/8" thick when new?

Thanks guys it's on the to do list at some point.
Dave ----

Dave,

Came across this truck while searching for other stuff and naturally thought of you;).

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ctd/d/mcalester-1985-ford-f150-she-runs-as/6959271901.html

Nice!  But it isn't far from me.  

$9995?  Is that the norm down south?

It looks in better shape than mine was when I got it.
Wonder how much they would come down on price?
What is with the right door wood panel? It looks like it had a crank but looks to have electric windows.
Dave ----

Was thinking the same thing - the only logical conclusion is that he picked up a hitchhiking Wolverine (or possibly Shredder) on a hot day. After that he switched to electric...

(Sorry, lame joke but was watching X-Men to get my wife up to speed for Dark Phoenix...  )