Diary of a Restore (Thread)

I see Pic 2 in a separate post and then Pic 3 in another post.

Hey Gary,

Just want to make sure I know what you are saying—by same paint, you mean 6D?

IF so, I am considering it.  That would take a complete stripping of the cab, which I may do, but not immediately.  There’s all sorts of other considerations including the interior molding, which, would also need repainted.  I suppose, I could add the headliner, and paint just the molding in Saddle, then replace the carpet and seat upholstery and leave the rest underneath as original?

Incidentally, I hear there is an after market bracket FORD made for the firewall reinforcement of the clutch area, as it cracked on these 1980 Fords.  Mine has not that I can tell, but something to think about for the future.  If I strip the cab, that needs go on as a preventative.  Anyone know of this?

Firewall cracking only came with the hydraulic clutch master cylinder.
That happened in '83 for the 460 & IDI, and 1984 for the 302/351/4.9.

Your 400 has a mechanical clutch and no firewall cracking issues.

Jim is right - as always.  The firewall wasn't designed for the pressures the hydraulic clutches put on it and many of them cracked.  So Ford came out with a TSB and two different braces - one for firewalls that were flexing and one for firewalls that were badly cracked.  But the mechanical linkage doesn't cause a problem so you are good with the firewall.

On the paint,  I'd shoot the inside and outside with the same color and then paint the interior trim with SEM to match.  That's what my paint/body man did on Dad's truck since we had to change cabs.

I see your truck was built about a month before mine.  And I see yours is also the 9100 GVWR.  Would you be willing to share a photo of your rear spring pack with the aux spring or springs?  I have not been able to identify what I have in the Ford master parts catalog and my suspicion is that mine is not factory and leafs have been added.

Jim and Gary, Thank you for ALL the info and assistance.  I did not think about the hydraulic v. my mechanical.  

Carl:  You want me to shoot some pice of the rear end?  Yes?  If so, will get to it tomorrow, and upload for you.

Thought I would update. The last couple days have been in prep, and that means mostly sanding, applying a thin layer of bondo, sand, thin lay….you get the idea. I hate sanding. It is tedious to match up all the lines. I start off with grits in this order: 60>100/120>150>220 to smooth out the lines and feather in the bondo to the rest of the good metal. Everything is smooth. I should have very little to do to these places now. So, the scuffing up the outside and minor bondo on some of it to repair the previous work is all that’s left.

At any rate, my sheet metal work is DONE! I say for now because, the bed I now realize is only a temporary fix. At some point, I will have to replace the entire floor of the bed by buying that lengthy center piece, and using what I have left over for the rest. The reason? My welds to my new metal took quite well. But when I tried to weld the new pieces to the original bed floor, they would NOT take. The metal was as clean as I could get it, but years of rust have made this an impossible task. Thing is, even though rust has taken a lot out of the bed floor, the stuff I did not cut out remains structurally solid. The Ospho will give me more life in the existing floor. So what did I do? Self-taping screws. I know, I hate it. Looks Bush League to me, but, until I replace it, it will have to do for now. With the screws, everything is solid. I know this will be revisited though.

Pics of my outside body work, and light bondo follow. Oh, I also had a sticky choke. I thought for a while it was my Holley carb…silly me. It was the manual choke cable the previous owners put in…a Dorman I think. It was sticking. Now everything is butter.

Enjoy!

Excellent!  The body work looks really good.  

My only thought on the bed is to use pop rivets instead of screws as it might look better.  Or maybe less bad?  But if you are going to redo it some time anyway maybe it doesn't matter.

As for the choke cable, what do you expect - it says Holley.  

Gary Lewis wrote

Excellent!  The body work looks really good.  

My only thought on the bed is to use pop rivets instead of screws as it might look better.  Or maybe less bad?  But if you are going to redo it some time anyway maybe it doesn't matter.

As for the choke cable, what do you expect - it says Holley. 

Be nice! Of course, I don’t have my Holley’s anymore.

I was nice.  I could have shown the picture of the toilet in my shop that has a Holley sticker on it, but I won't even mention it.  

Gary,

I never thought of pop rivets!  Ugh!

I used a flathead phillips screw like the ones Ford used for the dash, etc.  They sit fairly flat.  Will get a pic for you.

As for the Holley.  I could not be happier.  The carb was essentially plug and play.  I never had to do a thing.  The orginal carb, which I still have, would not even allow idle, and the choke was a converted electric to manual.  

I spent a bit for the Holley, but the tech guys were superb in their service, and did not try to oversell me something that would be overkill.  Pricey yes, but the carbs just work.

I do hear that two guys left Holley and started their own company.  Cannot remember the name, but the carbs they sell are about $100 cheaper and I hear are the same quality.  

Not the rear end directly but the rear springs (both main and auxiliary).  I can almost see it from your first photo today.  It looks like 5 main springs and 1 aux spring but I'd like to see the arrangement (where everything is placed).  Also, how wide is your aux spring?

This is what the spring pack looks like on my truck.  5 main springs and 4 auxiliary springs.  I don't think this arrangement is factory and I am curious if the blocks are even in the right place.  My aux springs are 3" wide.



I was told the farmer who owned it before the guy that I bought it from had some sort of field sprayer in the back so maybe he had the springs beefed up to hold it.  Just trying to figure out what factory looked like.  Thanks for any photos you can provide.

Carl,

I will get right on this tomorrow, and upload a few pics for you likely in the afternoon.  I will measure the width for you as well.

Cheers!

Gary,

So what brand of Carb do you favor?

And here is a pic of the springs--3"

I had way too many problems with the Holley on my brand new 1969 Super Bee to ever like them.  Leaking bowl gaskets, blown power valves, etc.  My preference is for a carb that holds gasoline in with metal rather than a gasket or fabric.

I like the Carter/Edelbrock carbs.  I grew up on Carters, so when Edelbrock picked up the manufacturing rights to the Carters that was my go-to carb.

Kind of a lull in the action today. Some minor sanding of the inside bed, and a little bit of seam sealer, some bondo glass on a few seams (it's stronger so I opted for that). More sanding. Removed my home-made lift from the bed to get it cleaned out for the shoot--still thinking by Friday.

Most of the day today was spent on the interior. Since the previous owners put in a JVC modern radio, which hardly worked, was not supported (it hung in the dash), and the speakers in the doors did not work either. So, I opted to go with a classic looking radio. This is what I got. It arrived yesterday.




Fitting the radio turned out to be a chore, for one, where the heck do you put the back support? I never liked finding such places because there is no easy solution to this, especially since the back of the dash is all Air related, and plastic. While searching for a spot, I noticed the floor air assembly was loose, and so unscrewed it, cleaned it up, and added insulation around the point it contacts the air assembly so It would direct more air to the feet and not leak.

Back to the radio--thankfully the original faceplate was there, but it was cut. So, I cut a piece and tried to fit it back to as close to original I could get.



Here is the two pieces welded.



My welder is acting up a bit as the trigger seems less responsive. So I missed a couple times. But, the welds took, and I ground it down a little before drilling the holes for the tuner, etc.

I will wrap the back support to this plate and screw/tap it directly so the radio can come out as one unit, at least that's the plan. I like ease in these situations since reaching behind anything in this area between the dash/plenum/firewall is difficult if not impossible. I have to rewire for the new radio plugs. Since I do not like to waste space, I got a stereo speaker for the center dash where the mono speaker used to be (it was long removed by previous owners, and they ripped up the dash I have in the process it seems). On the plus side, I have the original "wood" grain dash that was thrown in when I purchased the truck. That will go back on.

Wiper motor arrived today. That will go on tomorrow with the new parts for the arms. Nice to be putting things back ON.

dont worry . im a holley fan also. i really like the factory HO 4barrels. i have the 80457 on my baby bronco and its great.

About the carb arguments, I read all (I think) the different discussions on the Forum (btw this one is excellent https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Carburetors-Gary-s-Musings-tp768p760.html).
I was seriously ambivalent, and Gary almost   convinced me to go on Edelbrock side.

I finally chose the Dark Side of The Force , mainly for the following reasons:
- The Eddy’s «out of the box» quality seduced me at first, but I have to admit that I can turn on a friend with vast experience on different carbs brands, owner and pilot of a 1968 Mustang, who can play for me with various adjustments, if required;
- The «fuel pressure sensitivity» afraid me a bit, I enjoy my mechanical fuel pump and prefered to keep it simple without adding any external devices, such as a pressure regulator;
- I understood (am I right?) that fuel entrance of the Eddy is on the passenger side, requiring some modifications to the fuel line;
- My friend explained me that, if you ever want or need to modify the carb qualities, it is much simpler with a Holley (Eddy’s alterations seems to be more touchy, parts less easy to obtain, for example metering rods and jets, needle/seats, etc.)
Following my friend’s opinion, this kind of modifications are much easier on a Holley;
- Holley has a laxative effect on Gary (for proof his toilet’s logo) , so I just can strongly encourage a brand that offers such health benefits for our friend Gary.


So no hard feelings, huh, Gary?

I like that radio!  Looks great.  

And Jeff, no hard feelings about the carb.  I hear Holleys have gotten a whole lot better from back in '69, but that one was so bad that I don't want another one.  (On the other hand, I'm not running a carb at all now and loving it.)

Gary Lewis wrote

On the other hand, I'm not running a carb at all now and loving it.

I love this strategy.


The debate is therefore closed!