We've had this truck sitting on the back burner for a few years, just waiting for an opportunity to live again!
A little history: this truck is an amalgamation of trucks. The frame appears to be from a later model highboy ('76ish with an open knuckle front axle). It has a 390 with an AC compressor, but no sign of AC ever having been installed in the F250 cab (note its a 2x4 not an F26).
There's not a panel on the truck that doesn't have significant amounts of rust/holes/missing chunks/Flintstone floors and a seat that tries to molest anyone that sits on it . The truck was "undriveable" when we bought it (clutch just needed adjusted). So with all that in mind, Ilene was not nor will ever be a "show stopper" or "correct numbers matching" vehicle. Our goal with Ilene is to get her on the road, reliable and ready to do pickup stuff!
The day we hauled it home:
Along the way, I picked up a '67 F250 (which has a running 352/360/390) for parts (grill & badges). I had planned to use its body, until last week when I found a much cleaner (i.e. two quarter size rust spots) '70 F100. The '67:
Since I'm a big fan of modern power plants, and unfortunately Ford is not well supported in the aftermarket or where it is (Coyote, Voodoo, Godzilla) extremely expensive, Ilene is getting a 5.3L and 4L80E for power. I have the same set up in my '70 F100 CrownVic swap and it's been a phenomenal combo (16mpg town/21mpg interstate) .
You're not an LS fan or fan of anything but a Ford in a Ford? Give me a Godzilla and I'll happily install it! But for fuel economy and the current budget, LS it is! Once a Godzilla and 10R140 are "LS cheap" we'll repower again. I eagerly look forward to that day.
While gathering parts, stumbled across a set of 17s with 35s on them... everyone claims 35s fit and clear on highboys, these rub the fenders when turning... a lot... hopefully new springs resolve that, if not, it'll be getting smaller tires.
The body donor F100 was previously converted into a trailer, so this week I played bed swap, putting the rusted out '68 bed on the trailer frame to be sold
I also managed to pull the keeper parts off the '67 this week and swap the front clip off the body donor '70 back on to it, giving me a 1967-ty that will need to soon find elsewhere to reside.
The donor body now sits and waits until I can get the mechanical part of this project done...
Next up will be finishing the disassembly of the '68 body, pulling the 390 and starting on mounting the LS. From there it'll be a Saginaw powersteering mod, rebuilding the axles (while adding limited slip front and rear) and new springs... I just need some more days off! Hopefully, that'll happen next week!
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