1969 highboy boxwood green

[Lone Ranger]

We'll Ive been using this site for a number of years so I figured I would start my own thread. When I read everyone else's thread I enjoy the pics, so I'll put in as many as I can without boring you guys. I bought this truck in Minnesota and I think the guy said he got it from an older gentleman from Oregon. Now I have very minimal tools and a small garage and plan on doing everything by myself. I'm up for the challenge and learning experience. This truck ended up being in excellent mechanical condition but quite poor physical condition. A good cleaning and fresh paint all over and she'll be cherry. Super excited about the straight 69 grille and only paying a thousand. Came with brand new 8 ply load E tires still with the rubber fingers all over them- probably a thousand dollars worth of rubber


Trailering back to Michigan

Finally home. Totally stock truck Low pinion dana 44 up front 60 in the back. Dana 24 divorced transfer case. Manual shift 4 speed(a requirement for me) straight 6 300 motor(like to one day switch to 5.9 cummins or built 390.) straight 6 runs so good I hate to pull it out, I'll probably run it till it dies(I'll probably die first). Manual steering is very tight and responsive on this truck( my 72 had power steering and felt like driving a boat)This truck I was told came with a motor home on the back and the old guy lived in it for three years. Somebody did instal the delay wiper( which is nice, but I could live without)

[Lone Ranger]

A little bit of backstory- I had been looking for a 1969 ranger for a few years and when my 72 f100 4x4 came available I jumped on it and worked on it for over a year. When I found this 69 I had to jump on it. So I decided to sell my 72 and build up this 69. I was super sad but I made a decent profit from it and knew I wouldn't be content till I had my own highboy. When looking at these two trucks side by side it is amazing the differences between the two. I wish I would have taken side by side pics but the f250 is twice the truck as the f100 I was shocked.


Ordered up the ranger emblem off eBay and had it on the way for later. Also got all the lights working.

[Lone Ranger]

Pulled the dogdish hubcaps flat bed and started cleaning everywhere.



The frame had some wicked rust slag all over it which freaked me out but once I power washed it and wire wheeled the entire rear of the frame it was smooth and shiny. Wire wheeling sucks I was picking wire out of my clothes for days.

[Lone Ranger]

After researching por 15 vs rust bullet I decided to go with rust bullet because there is much less metal prep involved and there is no need to top coat it. It paints on nice and covers really well, the second coat makes it very metallic and you can "see into it" lays out nice and flat and fills crevices good too.


After over an hour of painting and only getting this far I decided to get the spray gun out.



2-3 coats of rust bullet and 2-3 coats of rustoleum gloss black with hardener should keep the rust at bay awhile.

[GOODOLEBOY84]

looks great...I would love to have a f250 4x4 bump!

[Lone Ranger]

Thanks, I say you should get one! They are becoming more and more popular so they're gonna start getting harder to find. I'm quite a bit further along I'm just uploading the pictures when I get a chance.
Next I started on the front disassembly.




As you can see it was pretty rusty, lots of broken body bolts and grinding. I wasn't too worried about the rust on body panels, I planned on buying new body panels and saving tons of time.

[Lone Ranger]

I wanted to do all of this as quick as possible because I wanted to drive it so bad. I decided to leave the cab and motor/ drivetrain on. I knew if I pulled the cab it would be a lot longer till I could sit behind the wheel. Once I got the front clip off I began wire wheeling again, the rest of the frame, the firewall, bottom of the cab and anywhere else I could squeeze my grinder. I hate wire wheeling!!! The firewall was all flaky rust so I was pretty nervous. A light brass wire wheel cleaned it right up and I was fortunate to find no holes. Cleaned degreased and shot with 2 coats rust bullet and 2 coats rustoleum gloss black with hardener.

[Lone Ranger]

Then I decided to get some shocks and wheels on her.


There that's better


I liked how it looked with the outer rings on so I polished them up and clicked them on.

[Lone Ranger]

I got the engine all cleaned and degreased and painted high temp ford blue and black.

My truck sat like this for a probably a month due to my crazy work schedule. Just long enough for a wasps nest to magically appear in one of my motor mounts. After 4 wasp stings the battle was over. Although they put up a good fight they were no match for brake cleaner. It was on this day I decided to continue the restoration.
I started getting the radiator cleaned up and out and saw that it was brass colored on the top of it so I sanded and sanded and sanded and got all the paint off it and painted it up.


I had to order some inner fender hangers. Then I put new galvanized inner fenders on that I painted black. Inner fenders were 190$ I think off eBay, and I already had a brand new one that came with the truck. I also had to buy a new core support I think it was 250$ delivered. My radiator didn't quite want to fit in it so I had to drill holes and rig it to fit.

[Lone Ranger]

Cleaned up my transfer case and painted it red oxide primer with a few coats of clear on top of it. Even got a little paint brush out and touched up the engine the best I could.

Cleaned up the hood hinges. They were really rusty but I wire brushed them with xylol and they looked almost new. Then shot them with rustoleum black. I also sprung them and painted all the missed spots. I don't know if you guys have ever released them when they're not connected to anything but it is scary, they snap back with a vengeance.


Then began sanding and body work. Just on the cab and hood because my fenders were shot. Found some galvanized fenders already in primer on eBay for 140$ each. Saves time on body work.
I did this for probably 25+ hours seemed
Like weeks till I couldn't do it anymore and decided to shoot it.


I couldn't decide on a color and raked my brain for weeks. I knew I loved the color of my old truck and despite ridicule decided on boxwood green... Again

[SeapineF37]

Great work! Looking good

[GOODOLEBOY84]

I have a 68 sport custom and 72 ranger but no 4x4 bump, my 77 is 4x4 though, nice work on the truck looking great!

[Lone Ranger]

I don't know if anyone else has this issue; but I'm posting using my phone and a few times I go to hit submit and my phone shuts down my browser and I lose everything I wrote... Infuriating but here goes again.
Thanks for all the positive feed back guys!
Well I went to paint my truck and everything went wrong. A beautiful still, sunny day decided to become cold and windy; a very nice paint gun decided it wanted to start dripping paint out the tip of the gun and my air compressor decided to spray water out the gun as well. I had to leave the cab half painted and gun full of paint to run to town and get a air drier. I managed to make it look good by spraying more and more coats. The hood and lower grill valiance had to be sanded back down and re sprayed later tho.



Then I waited as long as I possibly could before I started peeling back the tape(maybe two hours) I let everything get good and hard for a few days and started reassembly.



Also picked up a old 1969 Montana license plate( I grew up out there and in Michigan you only need a rear plate)

[Lone Ranger]

Drove around a few days with no hood and it was a good thing I did too. I started cleaning up all the wires in the engine compartment taped a bunch together and put the plastic wrap on them(lizard skin?) Everything looked great tucked out of the way and clean. While driving I looked down into the engine bay an saw a reflection off the head of a new carriage bolt holding the radiator on. The reflection was fire! Quick pulled over and shut it off. Spread all the wires away from each other and got it home watching for fire. Turns out the previous owner hooked up the alternator wrong and the ground wire was making serious heat. When I taped it up and wrapped it in plastic it couldn't dissipate fast enough. Hooked it up the right way and dang if it didn't run even better than before! I also changed all the vacumme lines around so they were right too. Now the engine starts in a millisecond even on the coldest days.
Then I painted the door panels the same color as the wheels( off white almond color) and got the hood and lower valiance repainted and installed.



I know I'm missing a piece of hood trim but I took it off somewhere in my garage for paint and couldn't for the life of me find it( ended up getting one off eBay for a stupid amount)

[67mann]

Nice work...nice truck