'71 F-100 Rehab

[Bullitt74]

Congratulations on sticking with your project, and some good scores with the parts you were able to scrounge!

Ensure to make note of the year your donor doors are from, as the anti-rattlers are different starting in the 1971 year.

[hfdco4]

Gem did you find out if the Crank can be salvaged? You are making great headway too!

[grems4ever]

I haven’t chased that rabbit down the hole yet. I’m waiting to see what shape the old engine is in before I go any further with it. It’s supposed to be the original umolested engine, but signs are it’s been apart at least once so who knows what is lurking under the OEM valve covers.

[grems4ever]

Finally snagged some 12 gauge sheet cut-offs for .23/lb to start attempting to patch up the front cab mounts I picked up earlier.

Update - it’s not 12ga but still thick enough to patch up the cab mounts.

[grems4ever]

The engine is out and sitting on my engine stand. When I pulled the flywheel off, I discovered that the block had an X and an I scratched into the cylinder bank castings. Having read that the X may refer to a higher nickel content in the block, I decided to find the casting number out of curiosity to see if it told me anything, but it doesn't have one. Some time searching the Internet gave me some answers...

According to multiple sources, my engine is built around a service block based on the fact that it has no casting number. I found only one reference to an I block in a discussion of the service replacement blocks. I could not confirm that the X refers to a higher nickel content, but there seems to be a notion that they may be more desirable. I pulled the center freeze plug and did the drill bit test. I found a 14/64" bit shank fit snugly between the bore castings. Everything I find on that seems to say that the block was cast with the casting molds used for the 428, some 361,391 and 406 blocks. While the floor of the water jacket has a number cast into it, its 352 instead of the magic 428.

So what do I now know that I didn't before? I should have a block that will easily handle a 0.030 overbore without any trouble. Any further judgements will have to wait until after I can measure the bore & stroke.

[grems4ever]

I finally got some time to work on the truck this weekend.

After cleaning things up and moving parts to the workshop for storage, I sat down with front section of the driver's side cab mount to see if I can rehab it.

Got the rot cut out...




For my next trick, I will attempt to cut and fit the replacement metal. This will either be pretty cool or a complete disaster. Either way it'll be one heck of a learning experience...

[hfdco4]

Great start Gem! Can't wait to see your progress.

[popeyes71]

Cool, I'm sure it will be great!

[grems4ever]

Cool, I'm sure it will be great!

It’ll either be great or a disaster but no matter which way it comes out it will be epic.

[grems4ever]

Cool, I'm sure it will be great!

It’ll either be great or a disaster but no matter which way it comes out it will be epic.

No disaster yet, but I'm not done with it yet.





Hopefully I can get the welder dialed in better, adjust the fit in a couple of places, and final weld it tomorrow.

[jzjames]

Hey!
All it take is “can do” attitude. Right?

[grems4ever]

Absolutely!

Many moons ago, I don’t think I would have ever tried to do this. Nowadays I don’t let something as trivial as having never done it before stop me.

[grems4ever]

I cleaned the gaps up and the final fit is shaping up pretty good. It was just a little too cold and windy to try welding it up so that's going to have to wait. Now to figure out just how I'm going to fix this...





I'm thinking that I'm probably going to have to fab up the replacement section before cutting the rot out just so I can make sure I get the angles right. It's going to be far trickier that's for sure.

[popeyes71]

Hey, the other mount is turning out great! I like your determination! If the other mount proves to be to challenging, you can get an exact reproduction from Dennis Carpenter.

[grems4ever]

That is the bottom part of the mount I’m working on. I don’t think it will be that terrible, I just need to take the time to figure it out.