Nick's 1977 F-150

[nick]

**I copy and pasted this thread from the old forum**

The Story Of The Camo Truck

I hope you got time, cause this is gonna be a long read :wink:


I bought it all stock and was gonna "restore" it. After getting it muddy a couple of times I said screw that and started building it up for wheeling

Started off just rebuild broken stuff like body mounts and stuff. Added a set of 31 in Thornbirds that I basically got for free after recalling my Firestone tires through my work. Then threw a 2in body lift on it and soon after a 2 1/2in suspension lift. Next came a Detroit Locker in the rear. That's about when I joined Damage and really started wheeling. That is also when I started taking pics of the truck :lol:

This is the only pic of it on 31's that I have on my computer. And to clarify I'm pulling Joe out. He's not pulling me out :lol:


So after making a couple of trips to McCaslin's I finally managed to take on some carnage. I somehow rammed a "stick" (more like a tree) straight through my radiator. From there I decided to do a rear radiator set up. That was probably where I got the itch to constantly modify and work on my truck.

Next thing I got was a set of 35in tires cause those 31s weren't cutting it anymore.





Next to happen was the chain in my old NP203 t-case started making very scary noises. So I decided to do a "simple" 205 swap. The swap didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped for and I ended up having to take the dunes trip that year with the truck only having 2wd. It was no big deal thought cause Tony had also swapped some 5.13 gears in my axles for me just prior to the trip. He also installed a front locker for me, though that wasn't used on this first trip.
I had this happen a couple of times -

But other than that the truck worked great in 2wd...well...until I tried to follow Darin through a water hole on the beach -

Now, I had filled that old 351M with water 3 or 4 times before but this time proved to be the one that destroyed my bearings. It still ran but it sounded like a broken diesel. I changed the oil back at camp and I was hoping to blow it up that weekend. Unfortunately my carb had differant plans. It kept dying on me. After removing the top of carb for inspection, I found about 1/4in of mud sitting in the bottom of the float bowl and I was unable to clean it out good enough to run so on to the trailer it went.

Now's where the fun begins. 8) I figured why replace that wimpy 351 with another 351 when I could swap in a 460? And I just so happened to know somebody that had a 460 they were trying to sell. So one weekend Joe and I headed over to Jimmy's house and proceeded to cut the 460 out of Jimmy's sweet blue van. After replacing several gaskets, adding a Holly 770cfm Truck Avenger, and spending way more time than I should have getting pulleys to line up, it was time to drop in the 460. But wait, if I'm dropping in a "new" motor why not rebuild the tranny? And if I'm gonna rebuild the tranny, why not build it up a little? So my tranny made a trip to work with me where it was rebuilt by our tranny tech. (what, did you think I would trust myself to do it?). Since he had it apart I decided to have him add a TCI reverse manual valve body as well as some extra forward clutchs. He also swapped in the correct length output shaft and housing so I could correctly swap on that 205 t-case that started this whole mess. So now I had everything ready to go except for one thing, headers. I decided I needed the most badass headers I could find so that's what I got. I bolted it all together and into the truck it went.




Now came the problem that my headers were so badass, my tires didn't clear them while turning even on flat ground. So what did I do to fix this? Lift it.


And of course I can't just put a simple lift kit on it. I have to use some super soft springs and long ass goofy arms. So what did I end up with? This -

Aren't spring supposed to be straight?


So next was a little trip over to Reuben's where I almost got everything sorted out -



After getting the truck back to my homebase, I also had to notch out my crossmember to clear the d-shaft -


As well as build some radius arm mounts -


With the help of Reuben I got the truck "drivable". Even though my caster angle was HORRIBLE, the springs still bowed, and my c-bushing didn't sit quit right I still decided to take the truck to Attica where it actually did alright-



However the following weekend Me, Joe, and a group of our friends headed to to McCaslin's. There things started off good -


But ended in this -

You're looking at a broken axle and u-joint (no big deal) and the radius arm came off the c-bushings (big deal).
So once again, on to the trailer it went to go home for some well needed wrenching.

To fix the problems with caster and the c-bushings I had to cut the factory tabs off the axle. This meant removing the whole axle, performing a lot of grinding and cutting of welds, reinstalling the axle, tacking the tabs in again, removing the axle again, welding everything together, then finally reinstalling. I did all of this in the gravel behind my friends shop. It was not fun. I wish I would have taken some more pictures but this is the only one I got -

That's what happens when you try to talk to Mike on the phone and move an entire Dana 44 at the same time. Bye-bye finger nail.

So with the caster and c-bushing problem fixed I found out what was causing my coil bow and got that taken care of as well. It turns out I just had to drill a couple of holes so the spring bucket could be mounted to actually hold the spring correctly. Here's a pic of the completely finish coil mounts Reuben made for me-


One last thing I had to build was a new lower track bar mount due to after moving the c-bushing tabs on the axle the stock mount no longer lined up. The new mount I made also allowed me to get rid of the Mickey Mouse drop mount I had on the frame.


With all the new suspension and drivetrain stuff done I decided I need some new paint -


But before I could even finish painting it Jimmy calls me and talks me into going to Dresser -




Then I finished painting it, took it on a few more trips, and then finally got to show off what all that suspension work got me at our Meet and Greet -


Now over this past winter I have added a few things. Mostly little odds and ends. The 3 main things were a strong rear tow point -



And the dovetailed bed and 36in IROK's -

[nick]

Here are some more various pics -


Trailer tie downs -



Rear mounted radiator and hoses -

[nick]

I did the poor man's scanner trick and took some pics of some old pics -

Before -



After -



Stock with my little bro in the back -


The Camo truck was born


Recalled the Firestones and got a set of 31in T-birds



Added a 2in body lift


Added a 2 1/2in Suspension lift and rear radiator


Flexing it up.

I still think it looked pretty badass with the 31's on it.

[nick]

Couple more -

Me and my little bro on the day I bought the truck


First trip to McCaslin

[nick]

Mudflaps for street driving

[nick]

Started narrowing the front -









It's kinda turning out to be a bigger pain in the butt than I thought it would be however that may just be because I'm reusing my bent and smashed grill shell. I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do about the plastic parts of the grill. Next week I'm gonna start the hood which is gonna be the most difficult and time consuming part of the job.

[nick]

Got some good progress done to my truck lately.

Narrowed one of my extra hoods as a test project to figure out exactly where I need to cut and to get an idea of what the truck will look like when I'm done -




Once I figure out basically where to cut and how much to cut out, I started cutting up the better of all my hoods -

First I cut out all the bracing -


Then marked my cuts with masking tape so I had an easy line to follow with the cut-off wheel -


Then cut -


And weld back together -


This week I will take it to my work where one of the body shop guys is gonna do all the final welding for me and then all I have to do is grind and bondo the seams and mount hinges and hood pins. And I may make filler strips for the back corners of the hood where it is too short due to the sides being at an angle. There is also a hole in the center of the hood that has to be patched due to some previous owner welding some bracket to the middle of the hood to tie down his canoe. All and all I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I also snapped a couple of pics of the new cab I'll be swapping on to the truck -

[nick]

Finally got some pics of the finished hood minus final paint -

[nick]

Some pics of the 9in skid plate I built -

[nick]

Cage time 8)

















And it's far from done of course...

[nick]

I got most of the engine area wiring removed now and the seats, gauges, and rear glass are out. I'm in the process of pulling out the dash and the birds nest under there.

[nick]

Well, Joe and I finished off the removal process today -

[nick]

Well, Joe came down to the shop this morning and gave me a hand. I finally got the freaking cab set on the frame.

[nick]

I finally got the stupid thing inside with Joe's help. Pushing a truck with 36in tires and a spooled rearend is not easy. I got my own little corner in the shop and I've been gathering up my own tools to keep there so I'll be able to work on it at a little bit everynight.

[nick]

Bilstein 5125's 14in of travel 8)



On my way to having a solid drivetrain



Making room for the 10.25 -



And soon it will be time to start using up this -