My 72 F100 " Slow Ride " update * 3 - 7 - 09 *

[AlleyCat]

Got a few more of the things I worked on over the winter installed.

Here's a before.


Here's an after. I had these door panels from a 70 F100 Ranger XLT I scrapped about 20 years ago.They aren't perfect but made a nice upgrade.I found a Mopar trim color that is a very close match to my interior.


The holes for the trim are different from 70 to 72 so I had to drill some holes for the clips to clear.

My favorite interior upgrade.


I have a lace on cover to install yet.I also want to buy a repop horn ring but it has to wait until other things are done.I cleaned up the best horn button I had then painted over the oval with Ford engine blue.When it dried I scraped the paint off the ridges.

[69twotone]

Clay that steering wheel looks great. Did you paint it?

[AlleyCat]

Yes I did.It had a couple small cracks that I repaired with JB weld.After that I scuffed it with heavy steel wool and used a conversion coating to make paint stick.After that I primered then painted it.I used #0000 steel wool to scuff it between coats.It was all done with rattle cans.I can post the paint info if you like.

[seattle67]

I can post the paint info if you like.

Please do!

Looks great, very nice job

[67mann]

Looks good clay

[AlleyCat]

The weather is finally starting to warm up around here so it's time to get some stuff done. Over the winter I bought all new seat belts. Since I wanted to clean up the surface rust on the floor and repaint it anyway I decided to pull the seat, gas tank and floor mat. Floor is still solid.



I got the surface rust and loose paint off with a cup brush on an angle grinder then gave it a coat of Rustoleum primer. I also tapped the holes for the upper seat belt anchor bolts.



I also found the line sheet. It's pretty sad but it's still there.



Tomorrow I'm gonna give the floor a second coat of primer then let it sit a couple of days. After it's painted I plan to install some sound insulation before the seat goes back in.

More to come.

[1971ford]

I like your project, it must be nice having such a clean original truck so you can just tear stuff apart and install some upgrades and have it driving again in a day. Because when you take it to the frame like me, you get severe bumpside driving withdrawls.. i have to take it out on the '71

[Joshpow]

Nice truck. It is shaping up nicely. I like the originality you are taking with your truck. The fact that you got a "theme" to stick with is great. Hope to see it get better in near future updates.

[AlleyCat]

Thanks guys.

Josh when I bought this truck I picked it over pretty well and knew what I was getting. The big stuff is all good it just needs a whole bunch of small stuff. Since it was a good original my theme is a jazzy pickup from the bump era. There weren't a lot of toys available at the time so owners did little things to make their truck a bit different from the next person's rig.

[AlleyCat]

Since my regular job has me cut back to 40 hours and my moonlight gigs are slow I've got more free time. Not so good for the wallet but I'm making progress on a couple of this year's projects. Over the last week the cab floor got 2 coats of primer and 2 more of paint. I was off today and was busy bumpin. First up I dropped the headliner and evicted the mouse. Little bugger was trashing the joint. Then I installed foam insulation on the back wall of the cab, in the roof and the front part of the floor. Got the gas tank back in and hooked up. I figured it was time to replace the fuel fill hose so it got done with the tank. Cleaned up the floor mat and put it back in along with regluing the door gaskets. The door sill plates got some steel wool and lots of elbow grease then reinstalled. Since the headliner is down I installed the harness for a cargo light. I need to do some work under the dash so the seat isn't going back in for awhile yet. I'll post some more pics soon.

[drytoast]

Look'n Good. keep up the good work.

[rjewkes]

what extra wiring did you need for the cargo lamp?

[AlleyCat]

Made some more progress. Seat belt upgrade was more hassle than I thought but after several test fits and removing/reinstalling the gas tank again I'm happy with the result.



As an extra safety measure ( I tend to over build things ) I managed to get jamb nuts on the upper mounting bolts.

The dash is also back together. I pulled the wiper linkage and made new gaskets for where the shafts go thru the cowl. Also fixed the siezed heater valve cable, mounted the cargo light switch, converted to intermittant wipers, installed a lighter in place of the fuel gauge switch, added a tach and straightened out some hacked up wiring. I still have a couple of little things to finish but I hope to get the seat back in this afternoon.



I've got some work to do out in the boiler room before it gets sent out for exhaust.

More to come.

[Thunderfoot]

Looking good also looks like you been working on your back some under the dash (light under there)
What are you going to do with the fuel switch, you getting rid of the second tank?
Wish my truck was as shinny as yours, and that the upper seat belt mount was on the side instead of the back
Also, what brand of tach did you use?

[AlleyCat]

Looking good also looks like you been working on your back some under the dash (light under there)
What are you going to do with the fuel switch, you getting rid of the second tank?
Wish my truck was as shinny as yours, and that the upper seat belt mount was on the side instead of the back
Also, what brand of tach did you use?

Yeah I had to hang a good light to work. My next round of glasses will be bifocals and holding a Maglite in my yap like a cigar gets old after awhile.

I deleted the second tank last year. Eventually the cab tank will get replaced with one under the rear of the bed. I'm going to sell the fuel switch and the tank selector valve. If you're interested shoot me a p/m. If not I'll post them in the classified forum.

I used a Sunpro Super Tach II. I had a couple of them back in dancing days and they worked good. Not race car quality but fairly accurate and easy to read.