1954 Ford F100/F250 4x4 Tow Vehicle

[p71towny]

KEWL!

[Fordman75]

Here's today's progress.

Pulled the F600 fender off and dug the Flamed F100 fenders out of the garage. I bolted them to the cab and bolted the hood latch panel to them. The F100 fenders look like they will work but I will definately have to move the cab farther forward. The front lip of the wheel well is actually on the tires.







I pulled the fenders back off and slid the cab back to make it easier to work on the engine and transmission.

Can you say goodbye 400?






I dug out a SBF V8 bellhousing and bolted it onto the transmission.

[Lincolnmania]

nice!

[Freshmeat]

It's looking good, man. Keep up the progress and the updates.

[P72Ford]

about the worse thing I've had happen with either a T-18 or NP 435 is the synchro's wear making it a little harder to shift. The shifters can get sloppy and the one in my 87 will pop out of 3rd gear under engine braking. But it's got 260,000 miles on the original transmission so it's earned it's minor issues.

I want to say the '77 Louisville had 320,000 miles on it when my Dad unloaded that truck. The trasnmission had never been taken out, and he didn;t have any issues with it. The transmission always got a real workout too. For the first 200K miles, while it was powered by the 391, you used to really have to work it over on hills, with downshifting and whatnot. After the 391, it got a 428, and made damn near twice the power.

In addition to the 6.68 first gear, the truck had an electronically shifted two speed axle. A 6.68 first gear in axle 1 makes for low speed, but great torque multiplication.

My dad has had more issues with the transmissions behind his diesels (a Clark 5 spd/ w/ 2 spd axle, a straight spicer 5spd, and now a Spicer 7spd) than he ever had with the NP435.

Progress looks good; and that thing will be totally gnarly with DRW!

[gabegt90]

looking great ted can't wait to see updates

[Fordman75]

Been a while since I posted any updates. I've been busy trying to raise some more cash for some parts for it.

Today I removed the 78 cab mounts/brackets & crossmember from the frame. And I bolted the front clip together. It gives you more of an idea of what it'll look like.

Here's the front clip. The V8 emblem on the grill will be replaced with the star emblem they ran on the 6 cylinder trucks.






Moved the cab back forward. I will be installing the front clip so I can finally get the final positioning done on the cab and start on the floor and firewall work so I can mount it.

[Fordman75]

It's starting to finally look like a truck again. My youngest brother stopped by and gave me a hand lifting the front clip into place. Big surprise the openings in the valance didn't fit over the frame and bumper brackets. And the grill teeth were hitting the top of the frame rails. So I had to remove the grill and valance.

I broke out the sawzall and cut out the opening for a little clearance around the bellhousing.



After that was done I was able to get the cab really close to the position it will be mounted in.

Right now the front of the cab and the front clip are sitting a little too high. I 'm going to need to do some cutting/trimming on the inner fender panels and the front frame horns to get it down.





The passenger side fender is pretty messed up. I knew it had a dent but the whole fender is just twisted out of shape. It doesn't fit the cab well, the hood gap is all messed up. I can bolt the valance to it. And it has some pretty bad rusted areas. I'm thinking about trying to find a better F600 fender and just replace it. :roll:



I was going to paint the truck a bright Ford blue. But the more I look at it the more it's screaming for a black paint job. It seems like the more parts I put on it the more it's developing a bad attitude! :lol: :evil:

I also scored a couple cool birthday presents. I got a couple more Autometer SportComp gauges I need for the 54!

[grandpaslincoln]

Lookin good dude

[nitroracer]

Lookin more like a truck again.

Keeping the long wheel base?

[Fordman75]

Lookin more like a truck again.

Keeping the long wheel base?

Thanks.

Yep, I need the long wheel base for towing the heavy loads.

[Fordman75]

Been busy trying to make some cash but today I found a couple cans of spray paint I've had for a long time. So I decided to do some painting. The blue is just some Plastikote old Ford blue engine enamel. The black is some gloss black ACE hardware rust stop paint. I did zero prep work on this. I just wanted to get an idea of how each color would look on the truck.

I like them both but the blue really seems to make the truck pop. Which do you guys like?

[grandpaslincoln]

I like the blue.

[theredlineboss]

I'd go with the blue.

[Nathan in MI]

I'd go with both just to screw with people's heads. Drive down the street one way, turn around and come back the other direction..."Hey, I thought that truck was blue...wait a minute..."