Rembrant

Thanks for the Pro tip Salans, every little bit helps. On the door gaskets, I was reading elsewhere that they'll be quite difficult when new but will break in over time. I was reading on here about the kit I bought, and another member said the door wouldn't close right with the new door seals (Had to slam the doors to close them apparently), and he thought of adjusting the striker but decided to leave it and within a short time the doors were closing fine (presumably after the seals flattened out a bit?) I think I had some run on sentences there...lol. Sorry.

I've got Friday afternoon/evening penciled in, but I have flexibility; if there's reason to be there earlier or later I can probably do so. Current plan is to leave here early Thursday am and drive as far as I can, at least to West Memphis AR, maybe as far as Little Rock...I'll probably only sustain 65-70mph on the highway. Then up early Friday and straight in to Tulsa. I haven't touched an auto transmission pan in a long long time, but I do remember the mess of that fluid coming out... Kinda like antifreeze...when you're working around that stuff it feels like it never stops coming out...as if there's 20 gallons in there...lol.

Haha...what is the correct term?... Am I supposed to call it something else?

I just went through the box and found a new rear window seal....I didn't even know that was in there, I thought it was just for the doors and door windows.)

Thanks for the info on the rivets Gary, that's great. I have some 1/8" rivets on hand. The seal kit is this one listed below...and I got the part number right here on the Garagemahal. There were a couple other members that installed it with good reviews. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fairchild-Industries-Belt-Weatherstrip-Window-Channel-Door-Seal-Kit-KF1006-13/223328872772?fits=Year%3A1980%7CModel%3AF-150%7CMake%3AFord&epid=251046394&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item33ff702944:g:eZsAAOSwbjNcP6vQ&enc=AQAEAAAB8BPxNw%2BVj6nta7CKEs3N0qWXbER2eXBJ0OPsPalk%2FNvOLZMye9%2FjL%2BUDzdJnDGcZNz7bcFavP5PIJm0SMHJ3pmnfDmTvgxOmHKjPbrrY0r6vKTJ90PKKACso2iUeBCI9jxQODuRkAXgs54h1ecq1gJs2Yywl%2FfkUXgmls58f4CbuJfXKZu7YXxXgzuWeboRRiyfeZjPSFV65yLa5dvzyPFJImtdVN6eHct5%2BtDWhHUdjuLoys82BvgRb2f%2BVZRjMQtAwqXmI7uEwUshDcLdaPDhz397NflAPS%2Fho4UUM5YLqDBJjrA7kd2UHB0Z0JYNL0Obzcm1Vc2eQZk5BLkGn1ti395KTT2fSYq%2FnTFTOxNUxGj%2BNWrYVwA5Y67DJ7gKBWi8nrHWA1Jz%2BilQ8uEa1Z07Zudp2cdkxBBDElpXWy4f2%2F%2Bq%2FogKSqr1N%2B3D5xfntv%2FWmXuuYkw6nwIyY5xwaFpbWJFIGVoQgW4OFR3%2FVcQuQrCG8ZPr7kaa8yLfhLfHZ7JvfIVRjs3fNULqyDLMEMie6MXCp4pELmOZDwPBnU9AXDnpMEj5vxv%2B6fctCA2oxY3Mlv18Lml6OiWE97YrACg2ZPJ7THES%2Fgxh2%2B8UXRGFtICVoLD%2FWoFIK%2Bcdxgud6hgK1vmo7%2BIsHVymhT33w0Gs%3D&checksum=2233288727720f737415accb4f2caa60026d5abf69ed

Yes, I just used a little plastic ice cream container with some warm water in it. The SOS pads do quite a job all on their own...there's not much improvement with the polish after that, but they sure turned out nice for crappy old parts. This old truck is seriously over budget this year, so I have to make do with the bumpers I have for the time being. Truth be told, I don't mind a little bit of patina on the bumpers...it will give the truck some character.

Just the glare from the lighting. That is the charcoal grill. I have been calling it black, it is isn't really... Stopped by the body shop yesterday to see my truck. They cut both cab corners off, and a little work is required behind them...nothing too serious though. The guys are being really good though, and I like that. They're blasting the old rust away and using rust converter where they can. They're going to weld in a new piece just forward of the driver's side cab corner....that curved part that comes down to sit on top of the rocker is a bit crispy. The rockers appear to be pretty good over all. Also need a new piece welded in behind the bottom of the left front fender...the boxed in section directly above where the bottom fender bolt bracket is...there's a few small holes there. Anyway, they are planning to have all of the new steel welded in by the end of the day on Monday, and then it will be getting to the body work on Tuesday. The new panels are already all painted on the inside and edged, so that's going to look nice in the engine bay and around the doors. This truck is going to be way too pretty for me when it's done. Question though for the BTDT crowd... I bought a Fairchild complete door and window seal kit... Do I need any special adhesives or double sided tape or anything for this stuff? Do the door seals just slip on over that lip in the cab or are they supposed to be glued? Any procedural tips and tricks here fellas? What about the inner window seal/gasket that is stapled to the door panel?...How to I stick a new one on there? Anything else I need to know about installing this kit? Tips and tricks?

I spent some time today trying to rehabilitate my bumpers to squeeze another year or two (or many) out of them. They were in pretty rough condition, and partially covered in blue over spray. I scrubbed the backsides of both of them previously and soaked in Ospho to try and settle down the rust. The rear bumper I stuck in the press at work to massage the dents out of it, and that worked reasonably well. So today I scrubbed them down with lacquer thinner and white Scotchbrite pads and that got rid of the over spray. Then a scrub with SOS pads to clean and remove the rust, and then I worked them with some chrome polish and a Mother's Power Ball mini in my cordless drill. It took a while, but they turned out OK for 35 year old crispy parts. I ordered two sets of Chrome bumper bolts from LMC (That's two sets of front bumper bolts, since they appear to be the same for the rear) and they seem to be pretty nice pieces too. I had to drill all four of the front ones out, and I cut all of the rear ones off since they were easier to access when the bumper was removed from the frame.

That thing is a beast!

That's a gorgeous truck Pete! I love it! What is the nickname of this body style? "Slick"? I know the style before it was the "Fridge", and it was followed by the "Bumpside"... PS: What engine is that with the distributor at the rear?...

Great story. I like reading this stuff, and I like seeing what everybody is up to with their trucks. I don't really have anybody in my group of friends or family that's into rebuilding old stuff, so it's nice to see the other projects on here. My truck arrived on an 18 wheeler also, about 10:30 at night, and it was making an awful noise as it was being unloaded (Turned out to be the fan hitting a broken tie rod on the radiator...ting ting ting ting ting...). In any case, it was still pretty exciting!

Hey Quaterwave, How did you mount the new radio/stereo? Did you use a kit of any kind? My truck is also radio delete and installing a radio is on my to-do list. What did you do with the original grey weave dash bezels that you removed?

Another Bull getting some coverage from LMC: https://lmctrucklife.com/2019/05/1981-ford-f150-nathan-k/

And, I can confirm that you'd never in a million years be able to build that truck for that price. Well done Fryeken, and welcome aboard;).

Can you post a link to the Ice Blue ones you purchased? Where did you get the picture of the dash with these lights installed?

Well, I guess because there was no hydraulic master then anyway...but even for the mechanical clutch linkage, the hole was still there on the auto trans cabs but it was plugged or covered no?

Ahhh, ok, didn't know they did that. Interesting!

Well there are a lot of Canadians that end up in Florida! My grandmother bought a place in St. Pete's back in the early 80's, and it was kept in the family right up until just a few years ago. The "kids" (My mom and her brothers and sisters) weren't using it, so they sold it. I bought a '97 Tacoma 4x4 in Florida back in about 2005-2006, and that thing was so nice underneath...the frame was all still black and the little stickers were still there and on the coil springs, etc. At the same time, the frames on those same trucks were breaking up here. Anyway, back to the old rusty F150... I missed the Canadian VIN. Good catch. May very well have been a "snow bird" truck dragged down from the north. The used dealers here used to be (and maybe still are) ruthless. They'd spray a rusty frame in just about anything to make it look good from a distance (and to keep you from looking to close at it). Other little tricks were new rubber pedal pads, a new bed liner to hide all the dents in the bed floor, a new set of cheap tires and a gallon of Armor-All, and on to the lot they'd go!!

I know. It's so common to see trucks like that here, it sticks out like a sore thumb for me. It's very common here to spray black crap (whatever, asphalt spray, black paint, etc) all over a rusty frame to make it look better for sale...

Boy are they asking some big money for this truck... https://www.ebay.com/itm/163814553344 I don't like to pick on people selling a vehicle...we all do put different values on things...but with an asking price of $20,000 there are a couple things a little too hard to look past on this truck... Like the large visible patch on the frame on the outside of the right rear shock mount... And the fact that the left hand rear shock mount appears to be missing... I get starting with a high price, but even in showroom condition, it's still hard to hit half of $20k with a Bullnose.

Well, if you're installing a clutch master in a cab that never had one, you could always install a Bullnose master...that is if you had a small brace and wanted to utilize it. The masters are identical otherwise. The smaller brace would not be a difficult piece to make on your own, but the given the option, the larger one is definitely better. The clutch in my truck was really stiff when I bought it, and it's a factory hydraulic clutched truck. The original trans was a 3spd. When I installed the M5OD with a new master cyl, new line, and new slave...the clutch pedal was just like butter. It has since tightened up a little bit...I assume as the dust and dirt builds up on the clutch splines, but it's still pretty easy.

Just the glare from the lighting. That is the charcoal grill. I have been calling it black, it is isn't really...

My leaf spring rear eye bushings were a pain as well. I ended up having to modify the spring eye. I took it to a spring shop and they squeezed the eye a little tighter (and they had to zip cut a sliver off the end of the spring in order to do this).

Ok, understood. I've only ever heard it called Vapor Barrier I guess, but now that I think of it I actually have a bunch of it as we bought a few rolls last year to put under some rock gardens. Thanks guys.

What is 6mil poly?