1968 Ford Farm truck Resurrection

[nuke1]

Hey Gang!A few years ago I was approached to start this build on the 68 Ford truck. The owner Steve and his wife have had this truck for some time now. HTey are the scond owners of this 50 000 mile al original truck. The truck use to belong to steves dads neighbour. Steve and his brother grew up riding around in this truck from time to time. The original owner just putted around the farm in this truck, however his wife tore around in this truck from what I was told. When the estate went up for sale, Steve could not let this truck go. So they bought it with the intentions of rebuilding it. Fast forward a few years and His nephew started some of the work on it under my guidance and got a fair amount done. I was suppose to start this build a couple of years ago and just the way things have been I never got around to it. So I would like to thank Steve and his wife for being very understanding, and I just want to tell them that I am sorry for the delay. and now that the stars have aligned we can finally progress on this build and get it all done.
The ideas behind this truck was to have a a great cruiser with a bit of Hot rod in her veins. Nothing too rank for drivetrain, just a reliable truck that can drive anywhere and go anywhere. Fuel injected and comfortable. But attend some car shows with steve's cousin also. (more on hat in a minute). Now that we had some ideas down it was time to find the driveline. Well with Steve's nephews help (Luke) they found a 2005 P71 crown vic with 180kms on it. the perfect drivelin transplant. but wait it also comes with that front suspension that almost bolts into these trucks, so now we have a reliable drivetrains and a comportable ride plus the added benefits of the large disc brakes and lowered ride height.
However we could not use the rear differential as it was too wide, so I sourced a 2008 Ford ranger FX4 rear differential that has the 4:10 gears, Locker and 31 splines. Perfect for a hot rod of this nature. Now btn Luke and Steve they disassembled the entire truck and got to work on the frame, they managed to get the front suspension all in and then sent the frame off for powdercoating. Next Luke tried his hand at some tin welding and modifying. He did ok for his first time at this.
looking over the truck there is barely any rust, couple of little spots on it and that is about it, barely any dents on it. It is a beautiful ride. The idea so far on this truck is to rechrome the front bumper and grile. Make it a very clean ride. The truck will get buckets inside, original trim added to the outside, all new lenses around it, Air conditioning, tilt, Dakota digital gauges, plus a slew of other things.
Anyways onto the truck and pictures, more to follow!!!

[nuke1]

few More pics from when I got it home

[nuke1]

Some more

[nuke1]

The rest, and the last is a hint as to who Steves cousin is.

[nuke1]

So the other week I brought the engine to a die hard Ford mechanic, he is currenlty going through it righ now and I should recieve some of the parts off of it this wek so that I can start blasting and cleaning it all up. I alos brought the transmission to a expert trans guy (Randy, he just did the trans in Tylers 58) that is tearing it down for a inpsection and to make sure everything will be good for the future. While it is apart I have the case right now so I can clean it all up and get it painted before asembly. The trans was in decent shape, but needs a few things. So as of now, that is where we are at, I hope you all enjoyed the pics so far and there will be more to come.

[flashed]

Looks pretty solid to start with ,good luck.

[nuke1]

Transmisssion is all blasted and I got it painted this morning, now time to get put back together.

[chevyrestoguy]

I'm a hard-core Chevy truck guy, but there's something about the late '60s/early '70s Ford trucks that I really like. Well, everything except the crappy Twin I-Beam front suspension. For years, you never saw them hot-rodded because there was very limited aftermarket support for things like the suspension. You saw lots of custom 4x4 Fords, but never a lowered one. That's why I really like them when they're lowered correctly and have the right wheels and tires. They look really cool and unique.

Another thing about that generation of F-100 trucks....I don't know who designed the door latches on those trucks, but whoever it was, he was a genius. You can go up to ANY Ford of that era in a wrecking yard and the doors close and latch perfectly with just the push of your finger. That was an excellent design.

[BMERDOC]

Always had a soft spot for these guys. Following along to watch you do your thing.

[NONHOG]

Must have update......feeling weak, help!

[djjsc]

Think it was the '67 thru '72 F100 that made the "Built Ford Tough" reputation. 'Tween Dad, brother & myself we had 5 of them @ different times. No matter what we asked of them never a complaint, just got the job done. The 6 cyl '67 Merc had 80 bags of fertilizer on it one spring; that's 4,000 lbs alone!!! This '68 has very little rust; we'll see what a chev guy will do. Good luck James!

[Clyde65]

That truck in a LWB model was a twin of one I road in and "steered" with my grand dads help way back. I too like the body likes of the 67-70 ford trucks! Ill be watching!

[theastronaut]

I'm in!! My granddad bought a black '69 Ranger short bed and it's still in the family, only vehicle he ever bought new. Hope to get it out of the barn one day and freshen it up!

[68panelman]

Yea I'm sorry, I like all makes an models of all trucks, But when a FORD is in a "67-72 Chevy Gmc Forum", Someones slacking or somethings wrong here. not being bias, but don't think this is the appropriate place for a build thread. Maybe it's a little slap in the face?, Sure I'm gunna here it for this, but that's my 2 cents.

[flashed]

That is why it is in the alternate tinkering area .

[68panelman]

Originally Posted by flashed

That is why it is in the alternate tinkering area .

I know that^^^, Still seems like the enemy brand of truck.

[ERASER5]

I may have this truck's dyslexic brother.... '86 Ford! The rusty hulk says "Your rust is puny! My rust is HUGE!" Wish I had so little rust. Gonna have to subscribe.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by 68panelman

I know that^^^, Still seems like the enemy brand of truck.

Complaining about alternate brand of truck in alternate tinkerings?
Don't get it.

"If you don't have anything nice to say........................"

nuke1 PLEASE keep the posts coming!

[67ChevyRedneck]

There shouldn't be any GM truck build threads in this area. NONE. GM cars yes, trucks, none. So if you don't want to see a non GM truck build, this area of the board is not for you. There are also Mopar and some "foreign" brand builds in here as well. Some of them are very well done vehicles.

James has done some AMAZING work in this area of the forum (69 Camaro, completely rotten 67/68 Camaro brought back to life, and started a Chevelle/modern GTO hybrid thread), and I can't wait to see what's in store for this one. Follow along and be amazed, no matter what, it's another classic coming back to life.

[theastronaut]

I'm glad the forum has an alternate tinkerings section for stuff like this. Beats joining another forum with people you don't know! The F100 build I posted here has more views and comments than it does on another F100 only forum even though it's a Ford. And that's exactly why I posted it here; friendly people who appreciate the effort that goes into restoring old cars or trucks no matter the brand.

Besides, if nobody rebuilt Fords, eventually there would be none around for us Chevy guys to compare our trucks to. Then we couldn't be better than them.

[95stepside]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

I'm glad the forum has an alternate tinkerings section for stuff like this. Beats joining another forum with people you don't know! The F100 build I posted here has more views and comments than it does on another F100 only forum even though it's a Ford. And that's exactly why I posted it here; friendly people who appreciate the effort that goes into restoring old cars or trucks no matter the brand.

Besides, if nobody rebuilt Fords, eventually there would be none around for us Chevy guys to compare our trucks to. Then we couldn't be better than them.

I guess I'm the odd ball here then, I only followed the f100 build on FTE...

And that's my contribution to this thread hijack, carry on

[nuke1]

Hey guys, I am finally back here, sorry for the tardines. Life lately got in the way of multiple things. I was suppose to have the engine back a while ago but the engine guy had some serious things that came into life so it is what it is. He is finished the engine and dropping it off tis week sometime, so that will be nice, get that all piainted up and then we can start some assembly on the frame!!! cant wait. I am so excited to be doing this FORD!!!! love the body lines of the truck and just the overal looks of it. definetly one of my favs.

Thanks guys for standing up for me, that means alot. It may be a ford, but I believe that no matter what you build, that everything has a place. I am not a brand specific guy, sure i drive mostly chev, but thats because I know them. However I have owned ford, dodge, toyota, nissan, everything. All have some good and some bad. At the end of the day, they are just a piece of metal and plastic that we fall in love with for some reason, but they make us feel whole. be it a bowtie, oval, or even a ram. Lets just enjoy them.

[Zoomin]

Well, I was kinda hoping to see an LS9 going in this, but hey I guess it's going to be a sweet ride anyway. Funny how many fords you see running Chevy engines.

Always love seeing your work, I'm tuned in.

[68 Four on the Floor]

Awesome!

[nuke1]

And I am back again. Over the last year my life has been flipped upside down and back again. I went from running one of the largest bodyshops in the city to nothing. It has been quite the year, I have no complaints other than my home life took a bit of a toll because of it. As of a month ago I was no longer working and me and the wife decided to try and make me doing vehicles a full time gig, So out of this was born "FUL THROTTLE CONCEPTS". My new company. I am currently in the process of finding a building and everything else that goes with it. That just means i can finally focus on what I love doing and make money at it. And this is where Steve's truck comes into play. |TIME TO GET IT DONE!! I feel horrible about how this has come down and steve knows it. |But i was trying to balance too many things. I am more focused now than ever and want to make this all work. So on to some pics!

I set up the frame and the rear suspenion in the shop. started looking through all the parts that we had here for it and realized that there was quite a few missing and broke from removal of the original engine. It was cheaper for me to get another car and cut it up to replace the parts that we needed. The 68 truck here is one that a friends shop did real quick. While doing this the rear suspension still had the original 250 leaf springs and would need lots of proper mock up time and lowering kit plus shi=ocks. I phoned steve and discussed with him the possiblility of a RIDETECH rear triangulated 4 link with RQ coilovers and explained the handling and ride differences that it would make complared to this sustem. After all a person wants to be able to enjoy their ride in both style and comfort. He agreed to it and now it is on its way. We discussed several other things and came to an agreement on where to go. This truck is going to be an amazing ride everyday and go anywhere doing it in style.