Author Topic: a young man's pickup truck, 77F250 (Read 8481 times)

Northerndave

Hi guys, HD has been good enough to hang a business banner on the forums here for me so I thought I'd throw out some viewing material that can hopefully provide some entertainment/enjoyment for forum browsers.

I'll do my best to lay out the story of one 1977 F250, past to present day. It will take a little while but hopefully it will be interesting for some.

I knew a nice lady from a previous job I had held, she was quite talented, very intelligent and very funny. I didn't know it back then but she had in her possession one very nice clean 1977 F250 4x4 pickup truck. It was some years back that I was helping out with a local car show when she brought this truck to the show and asked if she could slide it in there someplace and hang a for sale sign on it. We agreed, she brought the old truck in and it was on display at our show with a for sale sign in the windshield.

I took a serious interest in the truck myself.

I learned from talking to her that it was her father's truck. She told me that she remembered when she was young she went with her father to a ford dealer in Denver Colorado where he purchased this truck new off the lot.

I ended up buying the truck from her.

This is what it looked like back then.

She had this old bellevue winch, witch pre dates the Warn winch.

That was how I purchased it.

Specs:

1977 F250
For you "highboy" enthusiasts, yes, this is a 77 highboy. It's a first half of the production year 77. Late 77 brought huge changes which are known as the beginning of the "lowboys".

engine 351M
trans 4 spd manual
transfer case divorced NP205
Dana 60 rear, HD dana 44, open knuckle disc brake axle up front. 4.10:1 gears

She didn't run real good... My priority was to go after mechanicals first, make it run nice and be mechanically dependable.

Northerndave

Northerndave

Well, I went after some basic tune up stuff, got it running the best I could with carb work, ignition tune up etc. Then I put these wheels and tires on the old girl.

Then this dual exhaust kit showed up..

Then I let this little boy drive it once....

And damn it if I didn't kind of lose the truck after that moment. lol.

Northerndave

The old girl still wasn't running awesome.

I did a compression test, dry test and wet test, this pointed towards a valve issue on multiple cylinders.

I pulled the heads and found the seats pounded plenty deep, lots of carbon from leaky stem seals.... I had a little work to do.

Well, I wasn't going to toss a bunch of money into her. It was just my hunting and wood hauling truck. I had a spare set of heads for this engine which had much nicer valve seats. I decided to freshen up my spare heads for this engine.

I cleaned everything up and did an old fashioned hand lap on each valve and seat.

Before and after.

The guides were good, no chipped or bent valves so I just cleaned everything really good, lapped the valves, installed new stem seals and valve springs.

before and after valves

Northerndave

new seals and springs being installed

Fresh top end, ready for installation.

This was my old shop.

That's a lot of blue, lol. Chevy guys, shield your eyes! hahaha

Northerndave

After all that, she ran so nice. Super smooth, great starter cold or hot, it became my daily driver for a couple of years.

Alright, that's all for today. The story continues, later.

Northerndave

I did have some fun with the old truck before I gave it to my oldest son when he turned 16

glenn57

damn kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Northerndave

Fast forward a couple of years now and we have a boy that's driven the truck for 2 years without wrecking it. He's proven his driving skills and his care for the truck.

The last lake of the woods ice trip before the truck goes under the knife:

(and yes, I did plow all that crap with that old yellow pickup) lol

Northerndave

Caution, work zone ahead. It gets very... worky from here forward.

I promised the kid we would make the truck pretty before he graduates from high school.

Late winter of his Junior year we cleared a spot in the shop schedule for his truck. It was a thrash, a 40 day thrash. I had to get it done fast so I could get back to work on customer projects.

My son's girlfriend was a year ahead of him in high school, his junior year was her senior year. So, suddenly I was pressed with having this truck all beautiful before her senior prom.

Northerndave

Tear down process.

The original owner had moved the factory bumper outwards to make room for the big cable controlled winch.

Northerndave

We decided to remove the old winch and tuck the bumper back to it's factory location. We carefully cut the welded on frame extension from the truck.

The boy is doing some demo work up in the bed of the truck.

Special spot weld cutting drill

Northerndave

We drill through the panel we are removing but try not to drill through the metal that it's sandwiched to.

Then we split the panels.

We are installing new outer bedside panels so Nathan is "roughing off" the old panels. This is when the bulk of the panel is cut off, leaving just the factory spot welded edges to strip apart.

Here's one of the new bed sides.

Northerndave

Body is being sanded to bare metal.

more bed work.

The truck previously had a goose neck ball installed so I had some holes to patch up to bring it back to a regular ribbed floor bed.

Added some D ring tie points at all 4 corners for dirt bikes, atv's etc.

We threw a set of 8 lug rollers on for the rest of the job.

Glass is out, doors are off.

Northerndave

Doors are gutted for total refurb.

Bed is inverted for some more work.

Epoxy coated prior to attaching the new bed sides and outer wheel houses.

This Colorado truck was so nice, the only floor work I had to do was this small patch near the floor mounted dimmer switch.

Northerndave

re-covering the old seat.

A couple of springs were welded before putting this all back together.

Epoxy coating the floor to prevent future rust issues from the top side.

Some tailgate work.

Northerndave

We media blasted the frame, rear axle, springs, bottom of cab etc, then black epoxy coated.

Some original rear bumper refurb

Test fitting new bed sides, measuring and marking for placement.

Northerndave

Drilling for panel welds.

Plug welds, mig welded.

Northerndave

New outer wheel houses are next.

You have to be careful fitting these so you don't buckle your panel.

There we have it, once again a solid, totally rust free box.

Northerndave

This picture makes no sense at all.... Must have been a saturday.... at someone else's shop....

Northerndave

I refurbished these original grill inserts, they had minor blemishes that I fixed with body filler, then I base coated them with a metallic silver, I did the headlight areas with a black base, then shot the entire inserts with a matte finish clear for a subtle but hopefully classy look.

now for some exterior trim studs. These trucks originally came with these nail head looking studs that the exterior body molding clips would lock onto. When you buy new exterior panels such as doors, fenders, bed sides, they don't come with these studs. So, If you want to run trim, you either have to screw your molding clips on, pop rivet them or duplicate the factory by installing new trim studs in the correct locations.

it's a resistance weld process.

Northerndave

Rear bumper got the same silver with matte clear that I used on grill inserts.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150401_101950020_zpsre4nmdnx.jpg

There's a lot of pre-prime body work that I didn't show. Even brand new bedsides need bodywork.

Northerndave

I average about 3 rounds of prime/block before I'm ready for the sealer and color package.

On this truck, since the 35" tires hang out a little, we decided to apply a stone guard along the bottom of the panels. This is a softer coating with a heavy orange peel that gets color and clear applied over it. It just absorbs rock and gravel chips a little better this way.

I shot the center panel of this end gate in silver base, then applied masking to the FORD letters.

Northerndave

Base and clear.

Inside of the bed just got primer because I'm doing a spray in bedliner in there.

I spared you guys tons of blocking, sanding and dent work photos for this tailgate. It was a mess when I started with it. lol

Northerndave

This is pre cut and buff, I have some orange peel and urethane wave in there, lol. But I went with a high solids clear and piled it on heavy with the intent of leveling and buffing.