1966 F100 Short/Fleet Full Stock Resto Build Thread

[theastronaut]

We bodyworked the doors, firewall, and kick panels and got them shot with PPG K36 high build. Also seam sealed the door jambs, inside the cab, the firewall, and the drip rails.





Masked any stamped numbers to preserve the details.




Kick panels primed and seam sealed.






Seam sealed with Fusor 122 self leveling seam sealer. Flows out almost glass smooth.






Roof seam.






Inside of doors didn't need much, only had a few ripples across the bottoms.





Shot with K36.

[Low Elco]

Man, you guys do nice work! Good blocking tips, too. Do you dry block to 320?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Man, you guys do nice work! Good blocking tips, too. Do you dry block to 320?

Thanks! We go up to 180 when dry blocking.

[theastronaut]

We blasted the vent frames and shot them with epoxy, then high build.




Door jambs masked, ready to shoot with high build.








Sprayed with K36.




Starting to work the pan graft areas underneath. This is where a rotisserie is really handy!






Roof skimmed and blocked, ready for Slick Sand.




If you've been wondering about how much filler stays on the panel, this is what was blocked off just the center section of the roof, not the sides. This was also with a fan blowing, so this isn't all that was blocked off. Doesn't take much to make a mess of the shop when dry blocking!

[theastronaut]

Shot the roof with Slick Sand last night, and the floor bottom with K36.

[theastronaut]

Starting the radio patch panel.




Shaped to fit the contour of the dash.




Cut line scribed.




Fitted and tacked in place.




Fully welded and smoothed.






Leveled the cab, then leveled the face plate mount to mark the holes that need to be drilled.




Radio mounted.




Made a support brace from 1/8" plate.




Picked up the fenders, hood, splash, and grill panel from the blaster.




This one needs a bit of work!

[MP&C]

A lot of detail work going on there, looks awesome. Truck will be brand new and ready for another 50 years!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by MP&C

A lot of detail work going on there, looks awesome. Truck will be brand new and ready for another 50 years!

Thanks Robert, means a lot coming from you! Been watching your '55 topic, VERY nice work you do!!

[theastronaut]

After lunch I bolted up the glove box door to check its fit. I remembered it being pretty bad before we dissassembled the truck. The top right corner was overlapping it's jamb if I adjusted it up enough so the bottom edge was flush.







Cut lines laid out.




After cutting it still wouldn't shut all the way. The hinge brace was hitting the jamb, so I had to reshape those areas for better clearance.




Fitting flush now.




1/8" welding rod will fill in the gap.




Right edge still needs trimming.




The ash tray fit worst than the glove box door, with no way to adjust it from the factory.




The hinge rod is crooked...




The inner hinge bracket fit the dash so tightly that it couldn't be adjusted outward.




After trimming the edges of the bracket to allow ample adjustment.




Starting to reshape the edges to fit flush.




Fits level now after reworking the hinge rod. Gaps still need to be tightened up with welding rods.




Way closer than it was, ran out of time to finish them today.






Before dissassembly.

[theastronaut]

Been slacking on posting pics, here's where we're at.

Doors installed and aligned.




Skim coated across the panel gaps. After blocking the panels will be dead flush.




Frame wrapped with moving blankets, macking paper, and stretch wrap to protect from overspray.






Cab back on frame so we can install and align/fit the front clip.

[theastronaut]

Got most of the kinks worked out of the front clip.


The hinge bottoms were hitting the pinchweld and wouldn't let us adjust the hood down far enough.




After:




The radiator support was too high, so the fender didn't fit right and the hood ran uphill.




The fender also didn't fit the shape of the door edge, so we had to flatten it.




After standing on it with the inner brace supported top and bottom.




Hood adjusted/bent to fit flush with the cowl.




The fender to filler panel fit was horrible, paint would have chipped as soon as the bolts were snugged up.






After straightening the gap out.






Driver side fender gap. Needs to be opened up a hair at the top.




Hood damage.




Bumper slots in the filler panel didn't line up, even though the bumper fit perfectly with the holes in the frame horns.




Fender and filler panel corners stuck out past the hood edge.




After cutting and reshaping.






Frame/engine protected from welding splatter with a fiberglass blanket.




Found some pinholes in the hood edge so we cut it out.






New piece welded in.

[plainred65]

Very interesting as always, amazing to see your extreme attention to detail.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Ford... Quality is Job 1...

I recently watched this video on mustang assembly, it's unbelievable to watch how the fender and hood are literally just slapped on and bolted down @ 2:18 and 2:50:

1965 Ford Mustang Production Fließband - YouTube

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by plainred65

Very interesting as always, amazing to see your extreme attention to detail.

Thanks plainred!!

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Ford... Quality is Job 1...

I recently watched this video on mustang assembly, it's unbelievable to watch how the fender and hood are literally just slapped on and bolted down @ 2:18 and 2:50:

1965 Ford Mustang Production Fließband - YouTube

That's pretty bad!!

[theastronaut]

The front fender edges had some bumps where they meet up with the bumper filler panel.







Cut, flattened, welded, and smoothed.






The splash panel still didn't fit up well.






Started straightening the fender and hood.






Primed the back of the cab with Slick Sand.




Steering box is back from being rebuild by Red Head Gear.




At some point the battery had exploded and etched/rusted the hood skin. The soda blasting didn't take it off, and sand blasting would warp the skin. We coated the area with Naval Jelly, covered it in plastic, and let it soak overnight. That got most of the rust out. We scrubbed the rest with steel bristle brushes and let it soak more.






Most of the rust gone.






After more soaking, neutralizing the acid with baking soda, then washing with PPG DX579 and DX520. The rust is gone and the acid is neutralized so there shouldn't be problems later on.




Top of hood washed with DX579/520.




Checking the fender fit before skimming across the gap.

[Russell Ashley]

Your attention to small details is amazing. I would love to see this truck when you finish it.

"I recently watched this video on mustang assembly, it's unbelievable to watch how the fender and hood are literally just slapped on and bolted down"

That's how cars were built in the sixties, and the funny thing is, we didn't notice the mis-matched panels and wide gaps back then.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Your attention to small details is amazing. I would love to see this truck when you finish it.

"I recently watched this video on mustang assembly, it's unbelievable to watch how the fender and hood are literally just slapped on and bolted down"

That's how cars were built in the sixties, and the funny thing is, we didn't notice the mis-matched panels and wide gaps back then.

Come over and check it out!!

[theastronaut]

With the metalwork smoothed out and the panels aligned, we skimmed all the panels together then blocked them together. This way they're all exactly flush.




Hood shot with PPG DPLF epoxy.




After all the rough bodywork was done we shot it with Slick Sand.









Even gaps.





Hood corner fit, starts to poke out around the curve so to match the front panel to hood edge fit.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

With the metalwork smoothed out and the panels aligned, we skimmed all the panels together then blocked them together. This way they're all exactly flush.

I've seen this before mudding over gaps, but what I've yet to see or hear or read. How do you sand it w/o it chipping apart when removing the filled void?
Hope this question makes sence.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

I've seen this before mudding over gaps, but what I've yet to see or hear or read. How do you sand it w/o it chipping apart when removing the filled void?
Hope this question makes sence.

I have a 1/8" bit I use with a straight shaft grinder to open the seam back up. We do that before sanding, no problems with chipping in the edges that way.

[NONHOG]

Yikes! that looks menacing!
Its clear your a busy man but here is a thought. Video of the next time you do that "skim over gap" and add it to your sanding thread?

Maybe others will chime in?

Back to your Ford! Which is looking awesome!

[duallyjams]

This is one of those threads that you can go back over it again and again and always pick up something new.

[darkhorse970]

I just found this one, VERY nice work, as always! Im along for the ride.

[Low Elco]

Great work. Love the metal detail you guys put into it. That's the small things that make that unnoticable big difference in the end.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Yikes! that looks menacing!
Its clear your a busy man but here is a thought. Video of the next time you do that "skim over gap" and add it to your sanding thread?

Maybe others will chime in?

Back to your Ford! Which is looking awesome!

Thanks! We're way past that stage on the F100, so it'll have to be the next project before I can get shoot a vid of that.

Originally Posted by duallyjams

This is one of those threads that you can go back over it again and again and always pick up something new.

Thanks James!

Originally Posted by darkhorse970

I just found this one, VERY nice work, as always! Im along for the ride.

Glad you like it!

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Great work. Love the metal detail you guys put into it. That's the small things that make that unnoticable big difference in the end.

Thanks!