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

I miss the price of the iron in the 70's.

Yep, I bought mine new ordered from the factory for somewhere in the neighborhood of $4500.00. Them days are long gone.

took a nice ride up to the Janesville, WI area today in my old F150 to pick up an old-but-nice Onan-powered Sears SS16 garden tractor (they're a hobby of mine). It was kind of a cooler day with pockets of rain, but had the windows open just listening to that old M running through its Hooker setup. It's amazing how many thumbs-up you get out on the interstate from the 18-wheelers and newer pickup drivers- I think they remember the ones they used to own.
They are now a very rare sight up here in the north, and I'm glad I've resisted all urges and offers to get rid of mine....

Yer giving me the itch...

When I get back from vacation in July, I'm going to start cranking on mine. Start cleaning the "better" cab, pull the seats, and all the other goodies. Pull the "junk" cab off. Pull the front clip off and put in the new front suspension and bushings.

I don't know if I'll have the cash to get back together for hunting season or not, hope to get it in primer anyway, but that's pretty ambitious I think.

Mine will get new cab floors soon but that might be all it gets this year, we'll see. (the new floors are sitting in a box out in the shop)

I don't remember the floors being too bad in yours. You should paint that the same colors, so I can still have OD. I'm still stuck on light blue/white for some reason.

what floors? we call it the flintstones truck because you can stick your feet down through the floors!! lol!!

been there- when my speedo wasn't working, you could kinda get an idea of how fast you were going by looking down at the pavement through the holes in the floor...
I didn't replace the floors- I change the cab with an Arizona rust free- in the long run I think I came out ahead.

Hmmmm. it sounds like it may be an issue. The other cab I got had OK floors. It has a hole where the driver would put his left foot. Probably from the salt and road gunk. Much much easier to fix.

do you guys know of any good forums for the late 1970's Ford pickups? Also any suppliers that are similar to Year One? It's time to get some work done on my 78 again. If Dave were closer, I'd just trailer it up to him and let him do the body, especially after seeing his work on the Mustang. Also a damn good excuse to go to the Lake of the Woods- something I've wanted to do my entire life....
Jim

Check out LMC trucks

www.lmctruck.com

for your tin & seals like body panels & weatherstriping. For electrical & mechanical use rockauto.com

as far as a forum check these guys out.


http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php

thanks Dave!! exactly what I was looking for!

Jeff's Bronco Graveyard. I bought everything through them so far. Real good stuff. All made in the USA. LMC couldn't tell me where their parts came from other than "all over." You'll like it. It's trucks and Bronco's. Good info.



Pick me up, I'll buy the bait.

Got the floor boards coming soon. Ordered them today from LMC Truck. They were pretty competetive on price too.

Plan was to change cabs on the truck, but cab #2 was not as good as we though once all the grease was cleande off the bottom, and had a dent in nasty spot to fix on the roof. Without digging too deep, the floor is the worst spot on the original cab. That will save time really, since I won't have to switch all the stuff over to the new cab too.

Pics to follow when I get them.

Smart move, that cab swapping aint all it's cracked up to be.

The more I looked at that other cab, the more I saw all the work that I had to do. I'll pull the decent stuff off and scrap her.

So far on the box, it looks like wheel arch's is all I'll have to order. Need to strip it metal to be sure tho.

I received free catalogs from LMC and Bronco Graveyard for the '78 Ford- looks like they have just about everything I need. I ordered up a catalog from LMC for my '88 Suburban and the Excursion as well. Seems like they have pretty good prices and stock. Now if I can just get through all the health issues, I can get some work done.
thanks for the help, guys!
Jim

for me LMC has my sheetmetal, weatherstripping etc and jeffs bronco graveyard has my suspension & traction items like lift kits & lockers. Basic engine rebuild parts/kits I'll order from Northernautomitive or roack auto. Performance goodies like cams, headers, intakes, carbs, exhaust from jegs or summit.

Summit has taken their fair share of my money, especially when I had the go-fast offshore boats. I've always had good luck dealing with them. I've not dealt much with Jegs- they seem to be a repeat of Summit, with like pricing.
I guess I prefer Summit cause I was born a Buckeye, and the drag strip/car show facility at Norwalk, Ohio was renamed and remodeled (it's now quite a showplace) using Summit's name and sponsorship. That place is about 8 miles from my aunt and uncle's farm near Wakeman, Ohio. The Pontiac Nationals are there this weekend; I hope to take my GTO there, if I ever get around to restoring it. I'd be going for a family visit and drool on some Pontiacs if it weren't for this damn kidney stone; surgery next Wednesday.

Jeff's has your suspension needs. Good dudes there. That's where I got my level'r from. Shocks, suspension bushings, and steering stabilizer too.