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

The welder is an old Miller wire feed unit. It is my dad's and I don't have the model # but I could get it, if you need it.

With coaching from northern_dave and my Pa, I spot welded every few inches 3-4" apart or so, and kept going around until it was secured down well enough to hold. Once we get the floors all patched up, I'll weld (or try at least) a bead around the edges where to connect the spots.

The area where the factory floor pans go is really pretty easy. It gave a false sense of skill. They fit nicely and were easy to tack in place. The pieces I had to make, mostly yesterday didn't like to be tacked. I had to bend and shape them, mostly with a hammer, vice, and tin cutting tools, and didn't have a precise fit. Once they were tacked, and I had to persuade an area into place, they'd pop out. My dad, then decided to use some brass welding rod. That held like no other and could take a pounding. We teamed up, he'd braze them tin in, and I'd cut and shape it. Once we got a system down, it went a lot faster.

I'm kinda chomping at the bit to finish, I need to get that truck out on the road.

It will probably end up getting sold in a year or two because I'd like to build an old gen 1 Bronco.

No need to get the number from the welder, however I appreciate that. I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are done. Are you going to do a solid color, or blue and white like you were thinking?

It will be a solid color on the body and a the roof will be white. I'm thinking a burnt orange or something along those lines.

If you can see the hood, it's a orange-ish copper. I'm really starting to like that.

Made good progress this week.

Floors in and rust proofed.





Started in on the drivers side box side. The first pic is pass. side, but it looked about like this, maybe not quite as good.



Wheel arch tacked on




Seam welded around the whole replacement panel and welds ground down so the fiberglass can go on.


First coat of glass put on by my dad and hand sanded by me. My dad did the the flat work with the DA sander...he got the better end of the deal. The supervison decided to try his hand at it too.
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After two coats of body filler, and many hours of block sanding in 3 directions, straight across, left diagnol, then right diagnol, the primer was put on for now. Not ready for the good primer/sealer, this was put on so it can get parked back outside without rusting the bare metal.

Looks great. 3 generations in on it eh? Good stuff man.

Thanks. The little guy wouldn't let me out the door to work on the "monster truck" without taking him along.

Hopefully, he'll pick up some stuff along the way and know so he can do the next one.

Progress is being made! Looks good Tom!

I'm not an expert but that looks like really good work.

Thanks Rooster. I'm no expert either. I'm pretty new to this welding stuff and the rust proofing covers a lot of it up.

My dad welded on the wheel arches, I wasn't brave or skilled enough to tackle that yet. I'll stick to the floors and other areas that can be covered up with seats and carpet.

Gave 'er another shot this weekend and made some progress.

Started with this.


Put on the new wheel arch. My welds are improving. They hold but are not cosmetically very good. I'm open to constructive critism on that. Hell, I encourage it.




Little pieces are tougher than they should be.

The rest of the "arch" below this and to the rear of the box is going to be fully replaced on the next session. I don't have the parts on hand yet. It was a lot worse that originally though. I was going to patch it, but once it was tore into, it was pretty obvious that it needed to be competly cut out and replaced.

On and ready for the fiberglass.


The glass was put on by my dad, then showed me how to "rake" the high areas. I then was given the tast to as he put it..."sand like a mofo."


Sanded and ready for body filler.
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Pa mixing up and laying down the mud.
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Several coats later...until next time.
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I'll tackle the rusted out area behind the pass. side wheel arch next time. And maybe, just maybe if i'm lucky enough the drives side cab corner. That should be the last of the major metal work that will need to be completed. I'm sure there will be a few spots that pop up when stripping paint off.

Lookin Good Tom!

she lookin good mon.

I'm guessing this wasn't a Texas or Arizona truck.

Keep the updates coming, I enjoy the whole process.

Haha...nope. It was a WI truck. Mechanically, it's a good truck. One small snafu this weekend but nothing major. The body is/was shot, however. Really, if I looked it over more carefully, I wouldn't have bought it. It was pretty much a POS. I wanted to learn how to work on this stuff and I'm getting a lesson. The biggest one is, not to buy one in this kind of shape anymore.

I had $1K in my pocket when I went to look at it. He had an asking price of $1200. I got it for $800. Not counting my time, I have $1425 invested into it. I probably have to spend about $700-1000 more for painting supplies and exhaust.

I plan to drive it for a year or so when it's done and sell it. I'm going to replace it with a truck in better condition that I'll make to my specs, when finished. I plan to keep the next one until my son graduates HS and if he plays his cards right... he can drive it to his grad party because it will be his.

Nice work Tom. There's nothing more satisfying than standing back when a project is done and knowing you did it with your own hands. In this case, (and even better) a family project. Dentsides rule.
Jim

You're making good progress, that's good. I like older trucks as much as I like older cars. I'm building a car now. A truck might be make next!

In 2010 we rebuilt the drive train in my '78 Camaro. I had the machine work done on my block and I built a mild small block 385 stroker. I had the TH350 rebuilt by a guy here in town who's about the best around building high performance and heavy duty automatic transmission. Finally I had the rear end completely rebuilt, all new bearings, seals, a new Yukon Duragrip Posi Unit with 3.42 gears. The body and interior work is next.

However, I had back surgery early spring 2011 so I haven't done anything to it since the fall of 2010. It's nice to see other guys doing good things to their projects. Makes me want to work on mine that much more lol.

Good job, NYH1!

Thanks. I also have a 1955 F-100 that will get the same treatment when this one is done. That truck isn't in nearly the crappy shape this one is in, but it does need a refresh.

There is a lot to do. It was restored in 1979. I got the truck in 1995. I (we) pulled the original 239 Y-block and put in a 292 or 312 (never did find out) from a 1957 Ford Ranchero. Now it has a 351W/C-6 from a late 60's mustang.



I have the interior from a 2005 Chevy Avalanch that will get put in it. I'm on the fence as to wheter or not to keep the steering column or get an after market. I'm getting a Lokar shifter for the floor and new carpet. New running boards and re-routing the exhaust out the back through what will be a roll pan instead of a bumper.

Front disc breaks are on deck as well as lowering it a few inches.

Lots to do on that one too.

You guys have too much winter...

No kidding! I believe if I was faced with a rusty rig like that, I would part it out, then import one from the south-western states that needed no rust repair. Buy hey, that is me. You are a better man in this regard than I!

Case in point: my "survivor" 1960 GMC 3/4T 4x4, zero rust, original paint, and 57,000 miles. They're out here in the west! Easy resto's!!