I have this posted over at FTE, but I thought I'd get a bit more help with the fabrication side of things here, so I wanted to dump the build thread here as well just in case.

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Hi everyone from sunny Aus. :flipoff2:

Well we finally bit the bullet and decided to do something about the GF's 2wd, LWB f100.

SWB 4x4 are getting bloody rare around these parts. so we bought a SWB 4x4 donor off ebay.

Big plan. Hopfuly it all comes together without too many dramas.

New truck is a 77 4x4 short wheel base. Comes with a 351 and 4speed. It's a bit more complete than these pics showed since after we paid (very little) for it the owner asked what we wanted him to do with all the panels. If we had of known there was more body with it we might have paid more.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/Bkn9hQQBWkKGrHqEOKiUEslw-G3oBLYWJG5.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/Bkn-VwBmkKGrHqMOKiMEsnDHCSkBLYWLI2v.jpg

The 302 2wd long wheel base she has now that we'll be using as the donor. It's a great truck, but it oversized for what she needs, and simply can't keep up with my chev FJ40 when we're out destroying the environment.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0261.jpg

We were looking to do a small lift of the cab to fit he 33s, but I've been told since that they should fit without any work (can i get clarrification?). Then i'll make up a flat tray for her. Something like these I think, but with some kind of rear wheel arch/mud flap setup. We are still arguing about the tray style (tube vs box). Time will tell I guess.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0282small.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/9457b151.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMGA0464.jpg

Pics from the first depot as the owners got it ready for shipping. Panels are in alot better condition than I imagined so I had hoped that I might be able to use this cab and keep the LWB in tact.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0525.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0526.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0527.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0528.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0529.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0530.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0531.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0532.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0533.jpg

Well a weekend's worth and it's about ready to start recieving donor parts.

Striping the wiring, lines, hoses etc...
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060343.jpg

Passenger panel has no bog so it will be getting painted and used instead of the slightly repaired black one. The rest of the metal work just wasn't as good as we'd hoped, so its back to using the black F100's metal. Also the 4x4 trans cover to save from having to cut the xfer case lever hole out.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060345.jpg

Sits level and the spings feel great, if a little ridged.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060346.jpg

Not much worth saving in the interior unfortunatly.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060347.jpg

The de-cabbing process. The PO just bolted the front guards on for transport so they didn't like being lifted too much lol. I couldn't bothered taking them all off for it just o be scrapped anyway.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060348.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060350.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060352.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060353.jpg

It's going to sit there until I know that I don't need anything else from it.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3070005.jpg

Just before firing up the 351. Started instantly, no smoke or misses and sounds the goods.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3060355.jpg

Then we just spent a bit of time on the wire-wheels cleaning up the chasis abit before a coat of black Killrust.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3070001.jpg
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3070003.jpg
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3070004.jpg

Next up is to hang the exhaust and weld in a bit of chasis bracing as these things seem to twist like a slinky. Then we start moving parts over from the black F100.

This brings me to now, and the reason I wanted to post here on Pirate. With the bracing should I be focusing on boxing the rails or more bracing the chasis to itself? When these twist is it the rails themselves twisting or moving indipendent of eachother? Bare in mind I'm not building an elite crawler, just a tough truck for the GF.

i love old fords keep it the ford tractor blue:smokin:

Colours not decided yet. I imagine to speed things up we'll leave it black initially. But the GF's keen on something a little flashier. She liked this one we found, not sure myself though lol

http://liveimages.carsales.com.au/private/carpoint/7148692.jpg

Pirate rule #1: TOGTFO of said girlfriend.

#2 we need more of an idea of the terrain you are going to take this on. The stock frame should be fine if you are doing dirt roads. Sounds like you arn't going to be doing anything extreme, you could box the frame a bit and stiffen some cross members if you are bored I guess.

Good cal on the terrain thing. I guess this is the main type of areas it will be going on any regular basis.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/Ashley%20Falls%20310110/P1310270.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/Ashley%20Falls%20310110/P1310302.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/ZOMBIE%20Misc/P1240224.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/ZOMBIE%20Misc/P1240230.jpg

I have seen several Fords at truck shows in the past that were Orange, they were bright but looked good. If you want a truck to stand out thats a good color to do it. That truck will clear 33X12.5X15's fine on stock suspension. 35's or 36's will require some minor fender trimming at the lower front fender. Certainly is odd seeing the dash/steering on the opposite side. I have owned probably 30 of these trucks and around here it is about impossible to find them in the condition yours is in.

whoa. do all you crazy aussi's wrench in flip flops?

Third pic down, where did the hood come from? I reaaly like it!

Hood is a custom job. The scoop was fused in from a 70 series Landcruiser that a mate wrote off. Was a fair bit more work that I originally wanted but it ended up looking quite good. The lines matched nicely.

Header, we call hem thongs or Aussie safety boots. ;)

Cool build! keep the pics comin' :smokin:

If you put a cage in it that should stiffen up the frame plenty. If you connect the cage to the frame anyway.
You have to keep the steering wheel!

a good blue can be flashy and good looking, i had a 69 FJ40 the was stock new baby blue.....it stood out but looked mint! Im gunna paint my 79 crewcab 08 supeduty grey and 04 dodge sand in a factory two tone

Well another weekends worth of work done.

Got the fuel tank cleaned up, painted and installed. Moved the good rear brakes from the LWB to the SWB. Then spent the rest of the arvo.night swapping the cab over.

A few things in the cab swap slowed me right down though. Since the steering setups are so different, I had to salvage the shafts and tube from the old cab. It took a while as all the bolts were rusted to buggery.

The second hickup came just as I was lowering the cab onto the 4x4 chasis, and I noticed there was section of heavy bracing in front for the crossmember that was going to prevent the radiator (and therefore the cab) from sitting where it was supposed to. A combination of raising the radiator slightly, a oxy (until it ran out) and a 9inch sorted it fairly quickly and the cab droped right on. It was a bit of a pian adjusting it the 45mm it need to line the bolt holes up but eventually it was all on and bolted up.

After hooking the 'new' steering column up and bolting it all in place I called it a night.

Some pics.

Not sure what I was doing here. I think i was removing the old hand brake.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140012.jpg

Running the strap under the whole cab like this just wasn't working for us and wouldn't pick the rear ofthe cab up.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140016.jpg

So it was back to the old wraping the roof style. No damage so it wasw all good.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140019.jpg

Making ita family affair I decided that the GF's littel brother should be the one to cut the big ass brace out.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140021.jpg

...Then he got the shits and got his old man to hit it with the oxy. much faster. Until it ran out and he had to go back to grinding lol
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140022.jpg

All down and bolted in.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3140023.jpg

Thanks it for the weekend. Now ill spend the arvos hooking stuff up and start on the tray.

whoa. do all you crazy aussi's wrench in flip flops?

Aussies are a fuckin crazy bunch for sure...(every party with a bunch of Australian sailors? They do weird things like shove rolled up newspapers up their asses and light them on fire)

They aren't the only ones who do the flip flop thing.

Pretty much all the local kine in Hawaii wrench, wheel, work, go to church and everything else in "slippahs" (pidgin for what mainlanders call "flip flops")

Just a small update this arvo.

Decided that the 33s were a little too girly. So we have decided to lift the cab as originally planned and fit in some 35s.

This is the cab at the standard hight.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3160026.jpg

These are the lifting blocks we machined up for the lift. A little overkill but i wanted to play on the lathe :)
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3160029.jpg

The GF spent the day cleaning up the cab. She got the floor all sanded and painted and fit the dash and speedo cable back up. The bench seat is prept and being sent to Darwin to be re-spung and upholstered.

Work has also begun on the tray. We have been given the bed off a retired landcruiser firefighting unit to use as a base.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/P3160035.jpg

All the important clearences and measurments are spot on. We just need to spend a bit of time clearing the bar work and tanks off, and make up a flare arrangment for the rear tires as the tray is a bit narrow for the 35s. Hopefully it turns out looking alright. If not, we scrap it and start from scratch as planned.

Thanks it for the weekend. Now ill spend the arvos hooking stuff up and start on the tray.

huh... :confused:

huh... :confused:

Haha. Must have had a few dramas thinking and typing at the same time.

That was it for the weekend. Now ill spend the afternoons hooking stuff up and get started on the tray.

Body is lifted. And the front 35s are fitted up and fit great.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0546.jpg

Finally starting to look like a 4x4.

mkay, thought it "auzzy" lingo or something...

Pirate rule #1: TOGTFO of said girlfriend.

waiting.. any pic should be fine..

ditto on the hood too!

Spent to day hacking at the tray and fitting the rear 35s.

Still more to go. This is how we ended up this arvo mocked up. Will still come down about another 5cm. Also all the box bar work will be going and replaced with a decent roll-bar.

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0552.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac302/droopzanonymous/F-100/IMG_0555.jpg

That thing dosent look as bad as I expected when I was ready thought....just cut some of the bars off....

And god damn I would be missing toes if I worked in flip flops all the time.....