PaPa's 69 F100 Explorer Coyote 10R80 swap

[Venomous duck]

This is my 69 F100 Explorer. It came from Ford with a 302 (that's 5.0 for you kiddie's), manual 3 speed 303 transmission, 9 inch open differential with 3.25 gears. The Explorer package for 69 includes; Bright Grille, Body Side Moldings, Bright Hub Caps with red centers (like DC reproduces) Bright Drip Rail Moldings, Chrome Bumper Bars, Simulated Vinyl Roof, and Red Shetland Plaid Seat Upholstery, Western Jr. Swing lock Mirrors, Bed Box Rails, and Glove Box Explorer Emblem. Other niceties include Flex-O-Matic Rear Springs (which was part of the Explorer Package in 68), AM Radio, Cigarette Lighter (today known as 12 volt power outlet), Two Speed Wipers, and Dealer Installed Economy Air Conditioning. Feel free to skip forward if you don't care about the history of this truck.
My Grandfather owned and operated a Ford Dealership from the early 60's till the mid 70's. It was located in a small (at the time) town of Atoka in SE Oklahoma. He took this as his personal vehicle and as far as I am aware the only new vehicle he ever owned. He had a small cattle ranch on which he used the truck to haul hay, and pull a livestock trailer as well as being his daily driver. He survived a massive heart attack in 1981 but was no longer able to drive so the truck passed to my father. In 1988 the truck was stolen by some "undocumented thieves." It was recovered some months later in a South Texas Boarder town. When it returned to our family the bedrails were gone and in their place was a camper shell. It also sported an interesting new floor shifter that you will see later. My father continued to drive and maintain the truck until he passed away in 2001. It was passed on to me with a promise to my mother that I would fix it up. I drove it home and put it in one corner of my shop. For about the first year I would drive it up and down the street once a month until the battery died. Being a convenient place for storage the bed filled with stuff. I continued to start it every now and then until I grew tired of having to jump start it. And so it sat gathering dust. Finally in the summer of 2017 I was able to get started.

[The Bandit]

Man your truck looks to be in really great shape still Thanks for telling us the history of it!
Welcome from NC!!

Chris

[sargentrs]

from Georgia! Great truck, great story and great legacy! My truck was also stolen in March of 2005 and recovered in May 2006. I see that as something that was meant to be.

[Venomous duck]

Thanks guys, I feel very fortunate to not only have it but that is in the condition that it is in. She is not perfect but a very solid truck.

[Venomous duck]

This is how she was entombed for last decade and a half. I cleaned her out, put in fresh gas and a new battery. With very little trouble she fired up. She ran a little rough but would idle. I then discovered the clutch disk was stuck to the flywheel and would not go into gear while running. I jacked up the rear axle and placed it on jack stands. I then started it in gear. I got the real wheels turning at pretty good speed and hit the brakes hard. I repeated this least 20 times before it finally broke loose. I then discovered the LF brake was locked up solid. I welded a 10 foot i beam to an old rim. I then bolted it to the spindle/drum. Using a floor jack under the bar I was able to get it to break loose. I worked it up and down until it moved freely. I was finally able to drive it. My father installed brand new tires on the original steel wheels. They still had like new tread but they must have flat spotted because it vibrated like it had square wheels. I guess it really isn't good to let them sit.

[Venomous duck]

At the start of this project I simply wanted to get the truck in a reliable condition. The first thing I did was to address an exhaust leak that I believed to be a cracked exhaust manifold on the passenger side. As it turns out it was broken in half. I happened to have a pair of exhaust manifolds from a 68 mustang. With the possible exception of the casting numbers they were identical. I then removed the tires and original wheels and installed some wheels that were originally on my 95 F150 along with some new tires. I then pulled the carb for a rebuild.

[Venomous duck]

Carb kits are not as easy to find these days but still available. After rebuilding she purred like a kitten.

[Venomous duck]

Next I cleaned the engine bay, replaced the hoses and charged the air conditioning. The air conditioner blows 38 degrees but with so many air leaks, untinted windows and no insulation it is never real comfortable. I plan to address these issues.

[Venomous duck]

Here is a look at the interior. Notice the Texmex shifter in the floor. My racing buddies would call it the Lightning Rods after the famous Hurst shifter. I always thought of it as more of a suicide shifter. It does however work. The left rod is low and Reverse, the right rod is intermediate and high. With the right rod in the center or neutral the left rod is moved all the way forward for low or all the way back for reverse. In order to drive it you will shift the left rod all the way forward for low, when ready to shift into 2nd you pull the left rod to center which is neutral then pull the second rod straight back, when ready for high you simply push the same rod forward. It sounds funky but actually worked just fine once you got use to bending forward and over to the right. It was also a good theft device. My father drove it this was for more than a decade, of course the manifold has been broken since the early 80's. He really wasn't a motorhead. As long as it do the job he would use it.

[jzjames]

Hey, nice!. That a.c. under the dash looks cool. Definitely get that working good!
How did you get your carb body all shiney?
When I did mine 2100 I soaked the body in vinegar for a couple days - - all nice and shiney.

[Venomous duck]

I used a fresh five gallon bucket of Berrymans Chem Dip. I did not soak it too long. It had never been rebuilt before so maybe that had something to do with it. It came out better than I had hoped.

[Venomous duck]

The seat was in pretty sad condition. I want something nice to sit on. In the interest of time and money I decided on replacing the upholstery with the upscale ranger seat cover. I did not call SMS to see if they have any of the original material. This would have necessitated a professional trim shop and more money. I now regret that decision. I plan to check into doing this at a later date. With that being said I am happy with the way it turned out. I have never done a seat cover before. It was difficult. The hardest part was installing the seat button/emblems. The backing has to be soldered onto the pins and is very tricky. One other issue was that the upper seat cover was not stitched all the way down on the sides. I will have to take it back off and sew it up before it goes back into the truck. UPDATE: I contacted SMS. They sent some samples and they are an exact match for the original. They will also make a complete seat cover set. This way I won't need a trim shop. It's not cheap but I may do this in the near future. If so then I will post pics when complete.

[Venomous duck]

You can see in this picture where the seat cover seam is not sewn completely. I don't know if this is just a one off error or they are all this way.

[Venomous duck]

Next on the list is to address the brake issue. After unlocking the left front brake drum it would pull hard to the left when braking. I attempted to fix this by turning the front drums and replacing the shoes. I turned the drum as far as I dared. As you can see it is still rusted. After it was reassembled and driven the pedal was spongy with very poor braking. I am sure this is because I turned the drums so far that the contour of the shoes no longer matches the drum resulting in a very small contact patch. The solution of course is a disc brake conversion.

[Venomous duck]

This is my 75 F150 Ranger XLT Trailer Special. I used this as my daily driver for many years until I bought my 95 F150 4x4 in 2001. It has been parked ever since. I always loved this truck but it has a lot of cancer and is not a good candidate for restoration. It is however a perfect parts truck. It will give up its brakes, 390, power steering, C6 transmission, delay wipers and who knows what else.