kramttocs Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 [Really wish I would have bought this in Manhattan as 'The Manhattan Project' would be a great thread title. I am a sucker for a good book blurb ] I should have started this thread months ago but was always afraid I wouldn't keep up with it and that may still be the case but here goes nothing. I'll skip over the past few years of buying bullnoses as potential projects that never happened (or just not yet I tell myself) but last fall I decided it was time to actually make something happen. As forced motivation I sold my car, started daily driving my 80 1 ton cab/chassis (who needs kidneys?), and began searching for a truck that fit exactly what I was looking for in a starting point. After a couple months or so I found one in/near Camano Island, WA. A mere 2030 miles away from me. Called the seller who agreed to work with me on shipping it and thus bought a 1986 F250 (hd) SuperCab 4x4 460 C6 with the required tan interior, sight unseen. Photos from the craigslist ad: Never having shipped a vehicle before it was pretty enjoyable to watch the carrier pull up with a full size truck on the top deck. Daily drove the truck for the next couple of months and loved it. Did very minor maintenance/improvements to it like a block heater, new aux transmission cooler and a TCI deep pan. The 460 had a rear main leak so I knew I was going to have to pull the motor at some point. I met with a few body shops to get some idea of a full paint job but was happy to drive it as is. Then after a winter rain I noticed the drivers carpet was soaked and I mean wring it out over and over soaked. Took a cup of water, poured it in the cowl and just watched it drain straight into the cab over the parking brake. Removed the cowl, found a bunch of pine needles and under them - a large hole (4 inch long, 1 inch wide). I made plans with a local body restoration shop to get my truck on the agenda and Camano became a fair weather truck. While waiting for the shop to be ready I started gathering parts and making plans for what I wanted to do to the truck while it was down. One thing I've always wanted was a gvod. I really like/want the 460/c6 combo but wanted to reduce the rpm's on the highway. Found a guy selling a pair of bw1345-coupled gvod's and an 86 SuperCab 6.9 truck in Gary's backyard so took Camano for a drive: In February the body shop let me know they were ready so the disassembly began. Gutted the cab, pulled the 460/c6/tcase, removed the rhino liner from the bed (tons of fun there), and loaded her up. The plan was to have the body shop fix the cowl, paint the firewall and then I'd bring the truck back home to install the drivetrain while they worked on the bed and such. While someday I want to rebuild a motor myself, timing wasn't in my favor this time so I dropped the engine and transmission off at shops to be rebuilt. I took this downtime to inspect and swap the GVOD 1345 back half of the case onto my tcase and clean/paint the tcase, gvod, and transmission. Time goes by and sometime in May I got the truck back. Lifted the cab and went to town cleaning up and painting the frame. Por15'd the tanks, underlined them and reinstalled. Decided I wanted the skid plates so pulled them from a parts truck. Stabbed the 460/c6, installed the headers, tcase, and gvod. The body shop had to take care of another restoration for a client so it gave me some time to take care of a few items on my want list that if in a rush I likely wouldn't have be able to. The delay turned out being a blessing in disguise and allowed me to really get to learn about and play around with powdercoating. Rather than list all those nice-to-have sub-projects now, I'll add them as I think about them or during the install process. Last week the body shop was ready for the cab back. While working on the other restoration (a very nice Polara convertible) they took care of the holes in the truck bed from the camper tie downs, in bed trailer plug, and a few other bumps and bruises. Dropped it back off and that brings us to current. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 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! That is cool! Looks like my truck before you got to work getting it painted. I’m curious if you find out if the GVOD is worth it. I too would like to get the RPMs down. Drove my truck the other day and kept the speed around 55-60 and it was nice and peaceful! Good job, nice to see another bullnose getting fixed up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Yes, good job! I like this story, especially because it doesn't seem to be too full of surprises and appears to be headed to a happy ending. And, it looks like the ending is going to involve a big party. SOON! My back yard huh? Next time tell me and I'll meet you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 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! Rembrant - in the same boat. Most people enjoy the forest aspect of the restore but getting down to the tree level you lose some of them. But that's what you guys are for! I can only imagine hearing a noise like that in the dark the first time with your truck Glad it turned out to be nothing major - reminds me in high school when people would put zip ties around others' driveshafts. Instant panic for the driver. Dane - you do have great taste in trucks I've never driven with a gvod before so am excited to see how it works. It will take a long time before I figure it is financially worth it but I agree that it's a much more enjoyable drive at 60 with these trucks so hoping it will allow that threshold to be bumped. I am pretty sure I can set it to manual and keep it completely disengaged in order to provide a decent mpg comparison for others considering it in these trucks. Gary - you hit the nail on the head. Knock on wood but this has been an ideal starting point for an easy restoration. If I end up with another truck parked out in the field I am pretty sure my wife would make me take up residence in one. I wanted to stop by that day as I remember the sign for Skiatook was only something like 7 miles away but the only day he and I could meet was on a Sunday around noon. I also didn't expect the weight of the supercab 6.9 so even with the flat, easy drive of 44 it still took me forever to get home. I was hoping to be able to drive her to the Truck Show but I think it will be a few weeks after before she'll be on the road. Always next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Rembrant - in the same boat. Most people enjoy the forest aspect of the restore but getting down to the tree level you lose some of them. But that's what you guys are for! I can only imagine hearing a noise like that in the dark the first time with your truck Glad it turned out to be nothing major - reminds me in high school when people would put zip ties around others' driveshafts. Instant panic for the driver. Dane - you do have great taste in trucks I've never driven with a gvod before so am excited to see how it works. It will take a long time before I figure it is financially worth it but I agree that it's a much more enjoyable drive at 60 with these trucks so hoping it will allow that threshold to be bumped. I am pretty sure I can set it to manual and keep it completely disengaged in order to provide a decent mpg comparison for others considering it in these trucks. Gary - you hit the nail on the head. Knock on wood but this has been an ideal starting point for an easy restoration. If I end up with another truck parked out in the field I am pretty sure my wife would make me take up residence in one. I wanted to stop by that day as I remember the sign for Skiatook was only something like 7 miles away but the only day he and I could meet was on a Sunday around noon. I also didn't expect the weight of the supercab 6.9 so even with the flat, easy drive of 44 it still took me forever to get home. I was hoping to be able to drive her to the Truck Show but I think it will be a few weeks after before she'll be on the road. Always next year! Yes, it is easy to think "I can do that" when looking at something to restify, but when you get down to the nitty gritty details sometimes the going gets tough. Some times you find an engine that's worn out but you'd planned on using it. Or a bent frame. Or....... So you have to pick your wars, not battles, carefully. Glad you picked one that seems to fit nicely. As for being near Skiatook, you were probably on US75 when you saw the sign. That's not far from here, but when you need to make time it is understandable that you went on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 Yes, it is easy to think "I can do that" when looking at something to restify, but when you get down to the nitty gritty details sometimes the going gets tough. Some times you find an engine that's worn out but you'd planned on using it. Or a bent frame. Or....... So you have to pick your wars, not battles, carefully. Glad you picked one that seems to fit nicely. As for being near Skiatook, you were probably on US75 when you saw the sign. That's not far from here, but when you need to make time it is understandable that you went on. Oh for sure. Easy may not be the right word for any frame off restoration but using it in context to most of the heavily rusted trucks I looked at around here that I was considering, it saved a lot of that work. Sadly, I can't say that I don't own a truck that after prepping the body for removal I found out the frame was bent and welded back together I don't remember exactly where I was - I just remember an very hilly, windy road that had an older building with more wind turbines on the roof than shingles. Mainly I remember thinking that if my brakes failed, I was going through it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Oh for sure. Easy may not be the right word for any frame off restoration but using it in context to most of the heavily rusted trucks I looked at around here that I was considering, it saved a lot of that work. Sadly, I can't say that I don't own a truck that after prepping the body for removal I found out the frame was bent and welded back together I don't remember exactly where I was - I just remember an very hilly, windy road that had an older building with more wind turbines on the roof than shingles. Mainly I remember thinking that if my brakes failed, I was going through it I know EXACTLY where you were - on HW 20 west of Claremore at the bottom of Keetonville Hill. This is the building and here's a link to the map: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 18, 2019 Author Share Posted August 18, 2019 I know EXACTLY where you were - on HW 20 west of Claremore at the bottom of Keetonville Hill. This is the building and here's a link to the map: That's it! Got my carpet delivered yesterday. Debated on what options and if I wanted to put a seperated heat/sound layer down but after checking out prices on Rock Auto, decided to just go the all-in-one route. Can add a dynamat layer later if needed and thickness isn't a problem. This is the Essex with mass backing in caramel. I took it out, laid it flat and it looks really good. Hoping fitment will be just as good but happy with the ACC quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 That's it! Got my carpet delivered yesterday. Debated on what options and if I wanted to put a seperated heat/sound layer down but after checking out prices on Rock Auto, decided to just go the all-in-one route. Can add a dynamat layer later if needed and thickness isn't a problem. This is the Essex with mass backing in caramel. I took it out, laid it flat and it looks really good. Hoping fitment will be just as good but happy with the ACC quality. I've heard/read good things about ACC, and like the idea of the mass backing. Glad you are testing it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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