81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

Rembrant wrote

FuzzFace2 wrote

It must feel good to be this far along finally Dave. You must be (and should be) proud! Man, that is A LOT of work to have done, and to be able to stand back and say that you did all of it is very cool. A tip of the hat to you sir.

Man, I'd be out driving the wheels off that thing. If the wife asks where you're going and when you'll be back, just say you don't know...lol.

Thanks
It does feel good that I can say "I have done all the work" as good or bad as it may be for being done in a garage. I don't think there are many that can say that.

I am just waiting for someone to ask who did the work, like they do at shows, and start picking away at it that I can ask where their car / truck is and who did the work? That is if I don't beat the s*** out of them first

As for the wife and going for a ride, she cant wait to go with me. She keeps coming out to see when "we" are going for a ride.
She has been really good thru out this project, that she did not want me to buy as I have 2 AMC Javelins & Gremlin to work on. Then the time it took, 4 years come next month, and the money I kept putting into it. But her seeing it now looking like new she is happy and cant believe how nice it turned out.

Heading out to garage, home from work already, to see if "we" cant go for that drive
Dave ----

ps; did you see I got the badging on the truck?

FuzzFace2 wrote

ps; did you see I got the badging on the truck?

I see it now! I had to go back and look at my old pics because I was pretty sure my old 1980 Flareside was an F100 Custom. See pic below from 25 years ago...and like yours, you'll notice there's no mirror...lol. There was no mirror on the passenger side when I bought that truck, and there was none on it when I sold it either!



Nice work Dave,

Can wait to see some photos of her out in the wild!

Well we have no grin or smile from the test drive, closer to crying

Home early from work so I hit the garage.
Got the chrome around the windshield, wipers on, pulled the door panels, broke 2 of the clip holders, to get nuts on the mirror bolts. Wife helped with the mirrors and did a great job.

I was going to wait till traffic was less but what the he11 lets go for it.
Not even out the drive and the brake pedal is almost to the floor, master is toast and the booster leaks.
If I don't get both got to get the master but we are still on for the test drive.

Not 200 feet up the road and I cant get it in gear between shifts so had to pull over. I spend to much time in my work truck and I was to shift this the same way, float the gears and you cant really.
So going to have to get use to the way this truck shifts, no big deal.

Speedo does not work so don't know how fast I was going but don't think the speed limit of 55 MPH and the truck wants to dart so toe may still be off? I also found the wheel will not return to center so caster may be off also. I will have to take it to a shop to have it checked.

Get back to the house after about 5 mile run and going to back it into the garage clutch in and BANG!
Clutch pedal to the floor and truck still moving toward a 3 foot drop off back onto the street.
Shut the truck off, remember no brakes, and it came to a stop in the middle of the yard.

Well that Z bar pivot on the block side I fixed twice before broke again!
Well at least it broke down in the yard.

Tomorrow I will order the master and will see what time I get home if I want to deal with that clutch linkage.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

Well that Z bar pivot on the block side I fixed twice before broke again!

Ya know Dave, if only you had a hydraulic clutch, none of this would....hahaha. Sorry, I'm just picking on your because I know you don't like hydraulic clutches!!

On the up side, the brake issues are all easy repairs. I'm not sure about the clutch linkage repairs, but I know you can handle them.

Bummer!  Did you go off the 3' dropoff?????

Hang in there, you'll get these problems sorted, quickly.  

Rembrant wrote

FuzzFace2 wrote

Well that Z bar pivot on the block side I fixed twice before broke again!

Ya know Dave, if only you had a hydraulic clutch, none of this would....hahaha. Sorry, I'm just picking on your because I know you don't like hydraulic clutches!!

On the up side, the brake issues are all easy repairs. I'm not sure about the clutch linkage repairs, but I know you can handle them.

Hydraulic clutch ..... to tell the truth I did give that a though if not for the different pedal set up as I hear they are different. Then the firewall plate and would not have to worry of that pivot breaking again.

I will get after it tomorrow if home early.

Gary Lewis wrote

Bummer!  Did you go off the 3' dropoff?????

Hang in there, you'll get these problems sorted, quickly.  

No did not but it could have gotten ugly if I did.
Truck has to be running for the show Saturday and I got crazy work hours.
Dave ----

Gary Lewis wrote

Hang in there, you'll get these problems sorted, quickly.  

Did someone say onion layers?

Dave did you already post a write up on how you did the fog lights?

Gary had asked how I was going to mount my selective yellow fog lights.

I was hoping for very much what Dave has.
I'm all ears!  🤓

TheScatch wrote

Dave did you already post a write up on how you did the fog lights?

I did not really do a write up it was more of a post in here as part of my project.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Gary had asked how I was going to mount my selective yellow fog lights.

I was hoping for very much what Dave has.
I'm all ears!  🤓

This is the finished product

I wanted driving lights but not mounted on top or below the bumper.
Looking thru LMC site I seen the late 70's truck had a front bumper with the lights in it but not so for the 80's trucks. They sell just the lights as replacements and listed the size.

I then made mock up light size from card board (green in the pictures) and placed them on the bumper to see where they would look the best. The 70's they were to the center but we have the frame / mount that moved them in more and just did not work for me.
Thing is if you move them to the outside of the frame / mount that puts the light on the bumper that is angled back so the lights would be pointing to the outsides and not in front.

So to get them to point straight I had to angle them in the bumper and to make it look right I had to frame it out so you doing see a gap between the light & bumper.
The openings could have been a little bigger to aid in light adjustment.

Here are links of picture when doing this.
http://cars.grantskingdom1.com/index.php/1980-Ford-F100?page=54

http://cars.grantskingdom1.com/index.php/1980-Ford-F100?page=55
Hope that helps.
Dave ----

Ordered the Booster, picked up the master so should have brakes by the weekend ... I hope.

Worked on the clutch linkage.
The ball part of the motor side Z bar pivot broke off from the threaded part, weld never took to the ball part.
I had a 2nd bolt from when this first happened so that was the start of the fix with the ball.
I picked up 2 different size harden dowels and 2 different size roll pins.

Plan was to drill out the center of the bolt and the ball and drive a dowel or pin in to help make it stronger then weld the he11 out of it. pictures to follow later.
So that is what I did, drilled, drive a roll pin in and weld it up. I ground down the weld to make it look good. I need to run a die down the threaded part thing is it is 9/16" and my set only goes up to 1/2" so need to find one some where.
Dave ----

The dowel should strengthen it quite well.  But there is a lot of force on that thing.  I hope it holds.  

Dave, Call LMC and sell them the bumper idea. Ill buy one lol. Heck they already have a rear bumper like this.

I have the booster, master and a little more work on the motor side Z bar clutch pivot but work keeps getting in the way.

I hope after wok I can get something done as I will only have 2 day before the show and it still needs to be washed & a little detailing.

This is starting to turn into one of them TV shows with all the drama of dead lines due and a lot of work still needed!

Welcome to Dave's garage.

This week we have a 1981 Ford F100 Custom Flare Side pick up truck.
We only have 2 days to go thru the truck and we know it needs brakes looked at as it does not stop but we cant get it going because something is wrong with the clutch.

And the catch besides the 2 days, may only have a few hours each day to do any work on it ...... stay tuned!
Dave ----

Gary Lewis wrote

The dowel should strengthen it quite well.  But there is a lot of force on that thing.  I hope it holds.  

You are not the only one that hopes it holds
I needed to clean up the threads on thebolt part and I thought it was 9/16"nc and found it was 5/8"nc as 1 of the garage guys at work on a die to chase the threads.

I still think it needs more work so I bought a tap & die set for large jobs.
It has 1/4" thru 1/2" then has 9/16", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8" and 1"
Will get pictures if I don't get in the zone and forget.

TheScatch wrote

Dave, Call LMC and sell them the bumper idea. Ill buy one lol. Heck they already have a rear bumper like this.

I did see the rear but it will not fit the flair side, it's made for the style side beds.
I also don't think lights would look good in the rear bumper as it is pretty thin.

I also hate this new fad of the LED light bars but short ones may work under the bumper.

When I was working on getting the back up lights working they are pretty bright and maybe just an LED bulb upgrade in the factory type light may be all it needs for more rear light.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

I have the booster, master and a little more work on the motor side Z bar clutch pivot but work keeps getting in the way.

I hope after wok I can get something done as I will only have 2 day before the show and it still needs to be washed & a little detailing.

This is starting to turn into one of them TV shows with all the drama of dead lines due and a lot of work still needed!

Welcome to Dave's garage.

This week we have a 1981 Ford F100 Custom Flare Side pick up truck.
We only have 2 days to go thru the truck and we know it needs brakes looked at as it does not stop but we cant get it going because something is wrong with the clutch.

And the catch besides the 2 days, may only have a few hours each day to do any work on it ...... stay tuned!
Dave ----

That's funny!  Hope you get it done.  They are going to love the truck.  

Oh! How I hate the scripted 'reality', all the fake drama and the stupidity of assembling a bunch of sponsors 'product placement' and calling it "Custom"...   😖

So glad I don't own a tv.

Dave you're resourceful and on a mission.
I can tell you're going to pull it off.

Back to the pivot. I'd made the suggestion that it got modeled up in CAD and subjected to FEA, then the file uploaded to thingyverse or Shapeways.
Then this unobtainable part could be made -stronger- by anyone who needed one.

Porsche is already doing this with parts for their classic cars that don't have the volume demand to warrant making new dies or patterns.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Oh! How I hate the scripted 'reality', all the fake drama and the stupidity of assembling a bunch of sponsors 'product placement' and calling it "Custom"...   😖

So glad I don't own a tv.

Dave you're resourceful and on a mission.
I can tell you're going to pull it off.

Back to the pivot. I'd made the suggestion that it got modeled up in CAD and subjected to FEA, then the file uploaded to thingyverse or Shapeways.
Then this unobtainable part could be made -stronger- by anyone who needed one.

Porsche is already doing this with parts for their classic cars that don't have the volume demand to warrant making new dies or patterns.

Some of that stuff I can't watch because of the BS.
I do have to say some of the guys got skills and would like just to watch in person how they make some of the parts.

On the pivot if this fails I have been thinking of how to make a new one.
Not having a lathe makes it hard to do what I been thinking.
But thinking positive it will not break again.
Dave ----

Who knows, if Ray works a little CAD magic with some iterative FEA you may be able to get one that is stronger (and more organic) than stock, at the click of a mouse.

This would be a boon for all pre-'83 (or '84) owners with the mechanical linkage.

Clutch pivot motor side.
How it looked when I got the truck, years of no bushings did it in.

What it looked like after the first fix.

When it broke the first time.

What it looked like after the 2nd fix along with the 2nd bolt, I cut the head off the 1stbolt and welded the threads to the ball.

So when it broke this time the threaded part broke off from the ball, bad welding.
So I took the 2nd bolt drilled down the center, cut the head off and drilled the center of the ball and drove a roll pin thru it.


Welded up and ground & filed to fit the block. Not pretty but should not break again.

All the parts and put together.


For got to get a picture ofit in place.
Dave ----