Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 1978 F-150 shot box 4x4- New project

OK Kids....I'm a long way off from paint but I need to start looking at colors. I have a bunch I'm thinking about, but it's going to be a driver for the lake and the camp.

OD Green/Desert Sand was going to be one, but Northern Dave stole my thunder on that.

Ford now has a real nice deep green metallic that would look good w/tan.

or to stay with the 70's theme, dark green/w the minty green in the trim.

and light blue w/white in the trim.

For some reason I can't get the light blue/white combo out of my head. But it's a hunting truck.

Chevy Orange

Naw... I want it to run.

Orange/white wouldn't be bad either. I had a 73 that was orange and black and rust. That was a fun truck. It looked like hell and power like crazy. Had a 390/4v/auto. It was full time 4x4 so it was a gas monster.

that sounds like a nice color combo- I know the green you're talking about, and it's a helluva nice color.
I've had no luck in locating you another short box. They're getting really hard to find.
Jim

You're not kidding. I'm going to fix the one that is on it. My dad who is helping me every step of the way with this thing is the body man. He was convinced we needed one, and now is changing his tune a bit, after he saw how much I tried to find one.

It was painted 12 years ago and isn't horrible, so we're going to go with it.

The better cab has been moved inside and is ready for me to start on it when I get a chance. Be a month or so. I'm going to give it my best shot, and he's going to be around to "correct" me. It's been a long, long, time since I did any kind of body work. 10 years at least.

+1, and I'm staring at having to do cab corners on my '78, again.
I love the truck however, and I'll be buried with it, so I just keep fixing and it keeps running. Kinda like my guns,
"from my cold, dead, hands". It got a nice coat of wax last night- looks good (from about 50 feet)
I have so much old stuff that I won't part with; my wife says she's going to hire an excavation company to bury me. A big enough hole and she said she won't have to worry about selling it all.....

I had a shorty 77 I drove for about 10 years, it was one tough truck. 4x4 351M 4 sp with gr low, 4.10 or 4.11 gears, ltd slip. It would pull. Yours is gonna be a good one.

Mine has 3.55 ratio, but with the granny low, it'll pull what I need it to. They guy I bought it from claimed 14-15 mpg. I can eaisly live with that. I've never had an old truck get milage like that, so I'd welcome it.

That was one thing about that truck, the mileage sucked big time. Mine didn't get anything near that. But then my gearing, wheels and tires were different.

I ordered that thing new from the factory. That was back when I thought a truck was supposed to be a "TRUCK". It had very few options and no creature comforts. No AC, no radio, it did have PS and PB, ltd slip, the engine was an option, and the gearing. Basic truck. Oh and the mirrors the outside swing in mirrors were an option, and believe it or not the bumper. Back then they didn't come with a bumper. Times have changed. The nice thing about that truck, back then most every 4wd had a solid front axle and leaf springs, ford the year before went to those coil springs which had too much play or give, mushy in the woods. It also sat low in the front, kinda like it was always headed down hill, I replaced the front shocks with some rear shocks that had coil springs around them, gave about an inch or so of lift and fixed the mushy front end.

Good luck.

Oh, and the 77's did look the best.

The one on the bottom...

Well with the 4.10's that'll kill the mileage right there. This truck had 33x12.50's on it, but he kept them. I'm going to run 33x9.50's or 33x10.50's.

Well, when it's done, it'll look like a 77 because that is the grill that's going in it. That is the only difference on the looks. The 78-79's had a much nice front suspension.

I had a 1979 bronco with that EXACT paint/decal scheme. I just showed to my wife and she said "O God, that's your bronco".

I'm putting those wheels on the 78 too.

I'd kill for a new truck with the highbeam switch on the floor. Pard had one in his "uncle Jesse" truck - wired to his ignition. Hop in, hit the high beams and that thing would fire over.

I liked the round headlight in the sq boxes IIRC. As I recall that was the only difference. That and the front bars in the grill? Also IIRC my side marker and parking lights were a placed a little differently. Maybe I'm thinking about the 76, seems like it and the 77 were clones except for the color of the parking/blinkers and the headlight shape. I can't remember for sure.

Round head lights in the square was a 78. That's what I have now. Some 78's had the square lights, like a 79. I like the 73-77 grills. 73-75 had a slightly different grill insert(s) than the 76-77's did. The blinker lights were different too.

My '78 has the squares- I have a complete set of round lights, pans, and trim for it as well but prefer the looks of the front end with the square headlights. My grill is black rather than argent as well- the bumper is chrome (need to be rechromed), and I'm considering going black with that as well. The outside mirrors were chrome and I replaced them with aftermarket flat blacks. In my effort to de-chrome the truck, the only thing I haven't addressed yet is the front end aluminum trim that surrounds the grill, headlight trims, etc. I'm considering leaving that as-is.
I think the dark grey metallic on the truck (late '80's Ford truck color) looks good with things blacked-out rather than a bunch of glaring chrome. I have a removable roof-mount light bar that is black as well, and all the KC's are black too. Quick disco harness to take it on and off, I don't use it but for hunting and off-roading. I have dual alternator- dual battery setup that I made up but haven't installed yet- the lights and winch are pretty tough on a single alternator/battery setup.
I love tinkering with this thing.....been at it now for 26 years. Horrible gas mileage, but it's far from stock. It actually got slightly better fuel mileage when I had a 460 in it for a while (if you could keep your foot out of it),

I like yours with the chrome bumper, but I like the blacked out too. I also like the trim, around the grill polished. It isn't too gaudy. But you start adding chrom step tubes, chrome roll bar, chrome fuel caps etc... you get the point. I like it to a point.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet with mine. I really like the looks of the winch bumpers, but really don't have a need for a winch.

I was thinking black winch type bumper for the front, black for the back. Mine will be an all purpose hunting/fishing truck, so I don't have much use for the chrome anything at this point. I may get the "race track" trim for it, but it's crazy expensive, and tough to find for a short box.

When I do another one of these trucks, it's going to be a standard box. MUCH easier to find parts for.

I really miss the iron from the 70's.