What have I gotten myself into

[72 f100]

Background
Sometimes in life, you have to give a little to get a lot. My wife for years has wanted to buy a Jeep Wrangler. (I don't get it, but anyway). We both have a descent commute and had discussed getting something more economical. We could save a little money and maybe in a few years get her the jeep she wants. In 2012, we got rid of her car and bought one of those dam hybrids. It is hard to argue when it gets 45mpg all day long. Although the fuel saving was substantial my wife continued to drop hints about the jeep. She has really taken one for the team over the years when it comes to vehicles, and I really felt bad. Not being able to get your wife what she wants and deserves is never a good feeling. My motorcycle project had been complete for some time and I was itching to start something else. That something else was going to have to wait; it really was the wife’s turn. Several months had passed, Santa did not bring her a jeep for Christmas and we had not hit the lottery. Nevertheless, we were sticking to our plan. Then one day I had a brilliant idea! HONEY DO I HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU....... Out of the goodness of my heart, and because of all you do, I will take one for the team. (Just a slight bit of sarcasm) I will sell my truck, and we can go buy your Jeep. The Jeep payment will be less than my truck payment thus we will save even more money. AND since I have a longer commute, I will drive the hybrid to work. She knows me well and immediately asked WHATS THE CATCH? THERES ALWAYS A CATCH!! I explained that getting rid of the truck limits what side work I will be able to do, and we really used the bed almost every weekend for one thing or another. Therefore, I will go buy an older truck that needs a little work and use that as my weekend vehicle. To my surprise, she said yes. Little did I know that I would have to go from Virginia to New York City to buy the Jeep that had everything she wanted. However, that is what we did and she is happy so I am happy. We set a budget for my truck and the hunt was on for the f100.

[72 f100]

June/July/August 2013
I was not having any luck in my area, people were asking stupid money, or the trucks were too far-gone or did not have the options I wanted. Two months had passed and I was looking in other states and was beginning to wonder if I was going to find what I wanted or come up with a different plan. Then one day just 30 miles from my house, this little red and white beauty popped up for sale. She had most of the things I wanted, except for power brakes. I figured I would just deal with that issue at a later date. So I worked out a deal with the owner and brought home this 72 f100.
This is what I was able to figure out through talking to the previous owner and my inspection of the bump. The original owner had the vehicle up until the late 90’s. The truck appears to have had a major body and paint overhaul about 15 years ago, I believe from the original owner. I could see a few tapelines; the paint color was not the original ford red. There were small signs of rust starting to show up but no major rust in the normal areas. Small spots in the bed, tailgate, the seam sealer had shrinkage in some areas, and a spot or two on the doors. The roof, hood, cowl, top of the motor, and the wiring harness were in bad shape. The previous owner had a fire start when the truck backfired through the carburetor, and he did not know how to put out the fire. The PO eventually got the fire put out, but not before the damage was done. The firewall, hood, top of the motor, and inside of the cowl were torched pretty good. The truck sat for a few months while he figured out what he was going to do with her. He had a mechanic do some minor repairs to get the truck back on the road. New carb, fuel pump, and some shade tree wiring fixes to the harness. He never addressed any of the damage that was done to the body panels from the fire and rust eventually set in. He lost interest and the vehicle sat for several years. It supposedly had less than 70,000 miles when he parked it (I don't think so) but that is what the title says. He decided to sell instead of letting her rott. Through my inspection, I found the exhaust manifold on the passenger side was cracked and the brakes had seen better days. The rag joint was completely worn out along with a few other front end parts. All in all not a bad repair list (mechanically speaking) from what I had been l looking at over the past few months. The biggest expense I figured would be the roof, wiring harness and the hood. This was going to be a truck for the weekend, side jobs and so forth, it didn’t have to be perfect.. This is a picture when we brought her home in Aug 2013.

[72 f100]

September 2013
Well life has been busy this month and I have not been able to mess with the old girl too much. I was able to order headers (to replace the broken exhaust manifold) and a new exhaust. I did clean up the carb and did a tune up. I got all the lights to work, except for some of the dash lights. I repaired the inner fender well under the battery with a patch panel. I had found Fordification last month and had been reading everything I could on the web site.

[72 f100]

October 2013
This month I focused on getting the mechanicals fixed to make sure she was safe, I did not have any break downs while I was on the road. I wanted to start doing side work again to fill my play money jar back up. While putting the exhaust on I noticed that a few bolts were missing out of the trans cross member, and the speedo cable was broken. A few other repairs but nothing major so I thoughtI pulled the drain plug on the oil pan and I found water. It was not a lot, so I tried to stay positive and tell myself it is just condensation from sitting so long, not to worry. Just to play it safe I did a leak down test, pressure test, and compression test to see if I could find anything. The compression was extremely low, 90 psi but pretty even across to board. Everything else checked out fine. The gremlins were starting to wake up in the old girl. My friend welded up the exhaust, I did a few other repairs to the steering and breaks with little expense and off we go. I was excited to finally get her on the road. My wife was also because I was taking up her spot in the garage. While out running around one Saturday, she started running hot, missing and acting up. I was not too far from home so I let her cool down, added some water to the radiator and we took it slow and easy, limping home. The coolant was a little low, but not even close enough to make her over heat. Therefore, I started to check the normal stuff. The fan clutch was good. I pulled the thermostat out and put it in a pan of hot water and it opened and closed within range. I pulled the drain plug and found more water, this time there was coolant as well. One thing led to another and it made more sense to pull the motor and take a harder look at the internals. Besides, having the motor out makes it easier to work on the firewall and address the damage done by the fire the PO had.

[sargentrs]

Water in the oil, running hot but not losing much coolant, thermostat and water pump functioning. I'm thinking head gasket.

[72 f100]

I thought so as well but could not find any signs of a bad head gasket. The motor is apart but I haven't sent the block or the heads to the machine shop yet. When I do I will be sure to post on here.

[72 f100]

November 2013
Well the motor is apart and it is not looking good. The bearings are toast, and there is about 2 inches of sludge in the bottom of the oil pan. I found a lot of sludge in the top of the heads as well. The head gasket did not look like it was leaking, The mystery will remain unsolved for the time being. The coolant was getting into the oil pan from somewhere so I will just have the machine shop look and see what they find. Its looking like the truck has 170,000 not 70,000 like the PO had said. Now I need to make a decision on what I am going to do. Junk yard motor, rebuild the motor, or dive in deeper and just tear the truck down and start over. Remember earlier I was talking about that “ itch for a project”. I went ahead and took the front clip off; I figured while I figure things out with the motor I could fix the firewall and give the engine compartment a face lift. I found rust under the cowl that had gone through to the back side of the dash and found that the seam behind the firewall had some rust as well. The inside of the cowl was worse than I had hoped. The fins on the cowl were rusting from underneath and were very brittle. This area could get a lot worse if it was not addressed now. I made the decision to dive in, I now had my project. (What did I get myself into) .

[72 f100]

A few more pictures of the above described.

[72 f100]

a few more pics

[72 f100]

December 2013
This month was slow at work and I was able to do a lot of research, planning, and more tear down. I have settled into the idea that this is going to be a long process. I just have to make sure that I have room to run when I tell the wife that she is not getting her parking spot back in the garage for a while. With limited space in my garage, I had to become creative with storage, but it has worked out pretty well so far. The front clip is off, windshield and back glass are out. The dash pad is removed along with the wiring harness at the firewall, and the instrument panel has been removed and redone. As I dig into the metal work on the cab I am very surprised at how well things really are. The front cab supports are in great shape and the floors have no rust. My major issue is the cowl, roof and firewall. I decided the best course of action would be to remove the fins on the cowl, do the rust repair and replace them with a patch. The cowl had mice nests in both sides by the fresh air vents in the kick panels. The stuff was so packed that the drain holes were blocked. I have caught it in time, as there is just a minimal amount if rust on the back side of the kick panel. I removed the vents and cleaned up as much as I could. I felt like I needed more access to that area, especially up around the antenna and windshield frame. I took a hole saw bit and cut a hole into the outside of the fresh air vent area. I will have no problem getting my hands and tools up inside to repair all the seams and any rust that I find. When I am done, I will make a patch panel that is removable so I can access that area by simply removing the fender. I am sanding down the firewall and prepping it for por 15. The paint on the roof was so bad I had to strip it down to bare metal. In the process, I found a few pin holes and some pitting. The drip rail had some rust under the chrome cover and the seam sealer was starting to fail. I have begun removing as much seam sealer as I can and will be prepping everything to receive some por 15 as well. The front window frame has a few spots that have started to pit, but the rear window frame is in perfect shape. I plan to spray some type of internal frame coating inside the roof and window frame to treat the areas that I cannot see. I want to get this thing in primer as soon as I can. Christmas and New Year’s cut my time short this month so I plan to finish the cab next month.

[72 f100]

and a few more pics.

Ok I am now pretty much caught up to date. Thanks to everyone that has offered the great advice, I know enuff to get me in trouble sometimes. I'm glad this group is here to bail me out. stay tuned....

[jimmy828]

it's amazing what one can find once the investigation begins. Those hidden nasty things that need attention.

[72 f100]

Nothing a little time, patience, and a lot of money can't handle

[Manny]

Hmmmm looks like the snow ball effect..... I will just do this little thing here. But that bolt over there, and this wire right here.......... Next the bump is a bare chassis on jack stands... That is what you got yourself into. However its one of the best things you can ever do!!! Looks good with what you got going there. Fire repair is tough from everybody I have ever talked to. Something tells me the current owner will carry a extinguisher in the truck with him when it gets running!

[72 f100]

You must be able to read my mind Manny. And I actually brought an extinguisher with me the day I brought it home.
Im having fun with it and that's what matters.