Restoration on a 67

[Disbet]

Hi. My Grandpa had a 1967 Ford truck. He passed away in 1998. I've always wanted to restore a vehicle and liked this truck. This one hasn't been driven since 1998 or 1999, and the rear-end is out of it. He put a new engine in it in 1997, along with several other new parts. The interior looks to be in decent shape as well. There is no rust. Any idea on a rough estimate of hours and/or cash it would take to fix it up? It needs a paint job, but my uncle has a sprayer I could use. I would do the work myself, so it would take some time for me to learn about it.

[ford4x4fun]

First Off

As far as time or money it all depends on what you want to do with it. I have been working on mine for years, and have somewhere in the $ amount of 8,000 dollars. A lot of that has been paying people to do stuff, they jacked it up, I do it again but on my own. I also bought a parts truck, and recovered a little of my money selling the parts I didn't need anymore. But before I did all this work my truck was a decent driver and still turned heads. I had it up and on the road for somewhere in the 700 dollar range. Hope this helps!

[robroy]

Good day Disbet,

I agree with what Ford4x4Fun's saying here.

The amount of time and money invested in a truck can vary wildly depending on what the desired end result is. It sounds like you're starting with a truck that's in good condition. If you happen to have any photos of the truck, that would tell us a lot more about the condition it's in.

One cost that must be thought of too is the cost of tools. If this is your first serious car project, you'll probably wind up buying many tools for it, and they can seriously add up (thousands), especially if you're buying quality tools. Of course you get to use those tools for decades (at least) so their cost gets spread over a long period of time, but there's the initial investment.

Guys with high performance engines and drivetrains, and show-quality body work and paint, can easily spend several years and over $50,000, including the cost of quality tools, even if they do a lot of the work on their own.

Other guys manage to build trucks in a year or two with improved performance over stock, and very nice looking, driver-quality bodies and paint for $10,000 or $15,000.

A few guys spend less (I think) and get very nice results, but those tend to be highly skilled, driven guys who make a major time investment. Mistakes can be very expensive and these types of guys seem to have made their expensive mistakes many years ago, and they don't repeat them.

So my guess on the money range would be $3,000 to $50,000, and a time range would be one to five years. It might seem like a lot of time and money right now, but you'd be surprised at how much of each it takes to complete each part of the truck. A lot of fixing up a truck is detail work, and you can really go nuts focusing on even a single component. I work pretty slowly but just as an example, I spent three or four weeks just getting my after-market motor mounts adjusted and locked down. Of course I was working full-time during most of that too, but that's probably a standard condition most of us cannot avoid.

If you haven't already seen it, I think you'd enjoy this book very much. It has a whole chapter on planning your project, including the time and money investment required to reach various results:

"HOW TO RESTORE YOUR FORD PICKUP," by Tom Brownell (ISBN 0-87938-726-2).



Robroy

[Disbet]

Thanks. I will definitely check out that book. I should be able to use my uncle or husband's tools. Between the two of them I think they have everything. I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I'd like it to be road worthy, painted and nice to drive. I don't necessarily want a show truck

[Ranchero50]

Welcome to the site. 'Restoration' can be tricky. What I recommend to folks is fold a sheet of paper lengthwise to make two columns, on one side at the top write 'NEED' and at the other side write 'WANT'. Then sit down with the old truck and fill out the columns. Get behind the wheel and make some motor noises. Ask yourself if power steering and power brakes are needed or wanted. AC is the same.

Get the engine running and swap in a rear from another truck with the same spring perch width. Get it running, then moving and see what does and doesn't work. Cost is a fickle thing. This site is a huge resource for getting the old trucks running well and the biggest benefit of working on these truck is they are very simple to work on compared to the newer stuff.

Jamie

[PhantomoftheBumpside]

Welcome to the site Disbet!

A 1967 is a very special, one year only, vehicle. Made even more special by the fact that it was left you by your Grandfather. I would absolutely choose restoration over any non-safety related modification. Of course, in your case, I would also keep all of your Grandfather's modifications over restoration, as well as try to determine what his next step was with the rear.

Rebuilding and refurbishing what is already there can save you lots of money, if not time, but the time you are spending will also bring you closer to your keep sake truck and your Grandfather's memory.

Careful cleaning and polishing, careful prep work where required, and careful rebuilding. What a great way to remember your Grandfather.

[69rangerf100]

My bump was my dad's 1969 F100 Ranger. i started doing the resto-mod back in 2007. between working 56 hours a week 3 kids and school full time i work on it when i can i have roughly spent so far about 4500. the big ticket items that i have done so far is a cab that was not totally rusted out, 73 f100 disk swap, new suspension, chassis restored, painless wiring harness, engine rebuild with new heads that have oversized intake and exhuast valves, f600 dash cluster, power steering w/ the rare 3spd power steering column, a/c. i figure i still have about another 5000-7500 left to finish, which includes the paint job and the replacement body panels

[3 Speed]

I found my 67 on the side of the road in 2009, got it for $1700 and spent about $500 to get it lubed up, running lights working, belt and hoses, etc., plus about $200 for new tires.

Since then, maybe another $300 for fuel pump, odds and ends, maintenance, rubber floor mats, a clutch rod, SeaFoam (!), gas cap.

So what do I have today? A good old truck that cranks every time, runs great on the road, tolerable before you get to the road. Still have not had time to stop the rain leaking into the cab on one side, or sand and prime the rust spots, or replace the windshield washer pump, or straighten out the carb.

Gives me something to look forward too!

Listen to the guys on this forum, do what YOU want with the truck, think about your grandfather everytime you sit behind the wheel.

ENJOY!

[keebob61]

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[Disbet]

Positive the rear end is out. My uncle took out the rear axle to use in his truck, and so there is no rear axle for this truck. My uncle won't fit it. I don't know how he got it to fit in his truck.