My 1965 Ford F-100 Custom Cab – Restoration Part 2

We’re back to my delayed follow up on the restoration process I did on my 1965 Ford F-100. As the picture shows, it is now 2012 and I have a big side yard to set up a tent and work on the long bed.

Some have said, after reading Part 1 (which covered the cab’s restoration), that I could no longer carry anything. Well, to be honest, since I knew I was sticking a tonneau cover, I could leave the bottom of the bed as is. So I simply prepped to paint over the bed rail and the rear supports you see above. The bed and sides were left as they were, and I was able to throw stuff in there.

I moved the bed back about 4 feet so I could access the front of the bed and also the back of the cab. This enabled me to paint the back of the cab, which I couldn’t reach previously.

This was interesting; when I removed all the paint, I wondered where was the green? The white is filler, and the bed sides had tons of it. For what reason I couldn’t see.

Here the bed can be seen primed and ready for paint. Before that, however, there is the tailgate…

Interestingly a fair amount of surface rust spots on the outside, but the backside looked great. Anyway, I stripped off all paint, dealt with any residual bits of rust and then primed. To paint this, I hung it by two hooks on the outside edge so I could spray it at face level, which worked well.

I sprayed three medium coats of PPG Concept Single Stage. Of course done in two stages, being a two tone bed. Wimbledon White first and then Holy Green as per Ford.

 

To be accurate, I wanted the finish to exhibit slight orange peel as that is how it would have come from the plant. Nothing came with a mirror finish, which many try to achieve. So I use my Air Advantage with 1500 Clear Coat discs to make the initial cut. Once done, I pulled out my 6″ block and started to refine the scratch using 2000, 2500, 3000, and 5000 grit paper till I was satisfied.

Now I put a wool pad onto my 6″ Makita polisher and use Wizards Mystic Cut. That done, I pull out my Makita 6″ forced orbital and orange to blue foam pads, along with Sure Finish Polishing Compound, to remove swirl marks. This was on the bed and not the tailgate. Not getting into the nooks of a tailgate with a 6″ pad. That is why I took my time with the gate and painted in the early evening when temperatures were in the low 70’s.  That allowed me to use medium reducers. Consequently the tailgate came out great. However, one trick…

How does one do the letters? Some suggested decals which I rejected outright. An F100 Guru, called NumberDummy, said they were rolled on. If you look close at an original tailgate, you can see the edges are not perfectly defined. So my task was to find a roller. Also while the truck uses Wimbledon White, the letters are done in Colonial White, which I needed mixed. I discounted using a paintbrush. I then tried a 1 1/2″ brayer, but its hard surface couldn’t deal with subtle surface undulations. After trying several applications and then wiping the paint off, I went looking again. Somewhere I found a 1″ soft foam roller and it worked perfectly. So with the bed back in place and all buttoned up, it was almost time to take her out. But wait…

Oh no… Making my checks of the engine, before firing up after several months, I find 7 quarts on my dipstick? Water! Where did that come from? So out came the engine. I never did find the exact reason. You can see the valley was very clean for an unknown mileage 360. The main bearings showed obvious wear. Removing the pistons, I found one of the pins was loose and gouged the cylinder wall. That cylinder needed a sleeve.

So the engine needed a rebuild. I had a 390 crank and rods. Can you guess where I went? The engine went from a low compression 360 to a 9.5:1 compression 390. Everything was done top to bottom. Bores only needed .20 over. Crank was fine. Deck was fine as typical of an FE as was the alignment of the mains. The rotating assembly balanced.

All in place come 2013. Now the fun part starts. Can anyone guess? It is the initial start up and breaking in the cam. However, on adding coolant I saw a leak. Since the valve covers were off, I saw it through the cylinder head running down the valley. Needless to say, that intake was off and on several times before I could fill and was a pain. The engine, itself, started immediately. Yet 10 minutes in, it blew a ton of water out of the radiator where I had a thermometer. Stopped the engine to investigate air pockets and the like. Replaced lost coolant and re-start was fine. Stock camshaft survived.

As for the truck, with a more powerful 390 and a 3.25 rear, it can really move off the line quickly. At idle, even with a stock muffler, there is the unmistakable sound of a big V8.

Many know that afterwards, a double master cylinder was added and the front suspension was completely replaced. The truck rides very quiet. There are no sounds from the suspension even when going over speed bumps. Of course, wind noise is considerable but that is half the fun of it, as is the truck’s stiff ride.

My original front bumper had two minor kinks in it from the PO hitting the two end corners on something. That caused kinks right where the bumper’s two bolts attach to the frame’s ears. Very common. I eventually found a good unmarred core on eBay for not much.  Most important, it was a 65-66 core as that bumper was only available for two years.  The replacement, from 67 onward, is not correct as the ends are not curved as on the 65-66. All it needed was re-chroming handled by Tri-City Plating in Tennessee. Not cheap, but it was excellent quality.

That dinged front bumper was bought by someone from my F100 forum to use temporarily, as mine was much nicer.  He recently called me about swapping a nice 1966 battery tray assembly for NOS door pockets with new white vinyl and zippers. Good trade.