I spent the entire day working on the F100 with my Father-in-law. We did tons of work and got almost nowhere because we spent much time doing and then undoing and then redoing.
I did, however, learn enormous amounts and made some very valuable contacts.
First, I learned that I’m not the first guy to try this sort of thing around here. Second, I learned that Charlie at Rex Auto Parts is an awesome man, smart and honest, everything you want in your parts guy. In fact, he is the one that let me know that I’m not the first. He has done it himself and he was happy to share some of his hard-earned experience with me. You don’t get that from $7 an hour Autozone morons. Not that you can’t get good parts from Autozone. You can. You just can’t get good advice there. Don’t even try. If you decide to ask an Autozone parts person for auto advice, you are rolling the dice. Trust me on that one. I haven’t asked for advice from one in a decade, but I hear them giving bad advice all the time. Third, I learned that Rick from American Speed Center is also an all around mensch and has done this sort of conversion repeatedly. All sorts of helpful hints from him.
Now, I’m only slightly closer to finishing the truck now than I was at the start of the day. Occasionally it is necessary to take a step back to figure out how to go forward. And Rick and Charlie were just what the doctor ordered.
We buttoned down the front of the truck, so that is done. We installed the newer fuel tank only to find that the filler neck is a different size than the original and that replacing it is ungodly expensive. Charlie also told us about a work around that involves using the old tank. So back in that went.
We decided to put the transmission crossmember and mount in only to find that the crossmember no longer lines up with the holes in the frame. Same engine and transmission basics, but somehow the whole thing is a tad longer. So we tried doing a swap in which we reversed the brackets that hold the motor mounts. They normally set a bit towards the back and we thought that if we swapped the sides it would swing everything towards the front a little. No such luck, they aren’t symmetrical. So back in they went.
So we did lots of work and only made a slight bit of headway. But I met 2 guys that will probably be invaluable assets to me for the rest of this project. That and I will now get all my supplies from Rex Auto Parts. I will pay a little more, but get a much greater value for the money.