1972 Styleside SWB Parts Hauler

[tylerb43]

Good progress, and a good looking little truck, keep it up!

[Maximus]

Had a couple hours free up yesterday so I pulled out my bench and mocked in the Roll-A-Long seat, it has its own cutsom base that the two split benches attach to, to save time I just mounted that frame to the original tracks but I think it sits a little too high, I will probably have to remove the sliders and customize some brackets to the original floor locations before I call this one done but for now they are in the truck.
I am amazed with how comfortable this seat is, its got good lumbar support and very pleased with the seat overall. Eventually I will probably have it reupholstered to the creme "Parchment" color the rest of my interior is but for now its not a priority.

[Maximus]

not a ton of progress, just been waiting for a good donor truck to show up at the local junkyard to get a power disc bracket. A good donor showed up so I snagged the parts. Got the original bracket and booster core from a 1970 f100, and ordered up a rebuilt booster.
Hopefully I will get the new disc brakes plumbed up with the proper master cylinder and new booster soon.
I also saw a power steering gear box in decent shape on the '70 so I grabbed it while i was there. If i can locate a 3-speed column for a power steering truck I will convert this thing over, but im having trouble locating the correct column.
Will post pics when my master cylinder show up and I get them installed on the truck!

[Maximus]

Well, as im sure everyone has experienced one small project turned into a couple more costly projects... my quick brake upgrade has snowballed into a full power steering conversion as well. Thanks to flyboy71 I got my hands on an original power steering 3OTT column so the steering conversion is in full swing. I got a 80's pump and brackets (had to space the pump back to my 2 groove) a 1979 high pressure line that i am hopefull will blend the '71 steering box to the 80's pump, grabbed a '70 brake booster with adjustable pushrod, and 79 master cylinder to go with my 79 front discs and combination valve. The truck will be going under the knife in the next week or two depending on when I can line up the time. I did manage to get the pump brackets/pump mounted this weekend as it wont be in the way of the steering gear removal...

Re-manufactured Pump Installed:


PS Steering box degreased and painted black:


Re-manufactured 1970 Brake Booster painted black (i have the booster-to-firewall brackets painted up, just not shown):


Re-manufactured 1979 Master Cylinder painted black and ready to be bench bled:


factory power steering three speed manual column:

[Maximus]

Got moving on the power steering conversion, got the column out, manual gearbox out and new power steering gearbox in. Now I just have to cleanup the column when it arrives in the mail, paint it black and toss it in. then the breaks begin, need to plumb in the comb. valve and run new lines to fit the new routing.

Here are photos of the manual steering removal and PS gearbox install.

[Maximus]

Got my power steering column, rebuilt it and installed it. finished plumbing the power steering pump, replaced my harmonic balancer with one with the 3rd pulley groove for the steering pump. In case someone else is in the same boat and using the later pump/bracket, the later pump was used on the 78-79 trucks so I got my high pressure line for a 1979 300 I6 with power steering and it fit like a glove. Power steering is all up and running, now onto the breaks...




The only disappointment is that shifting into 1st/reverse on the column shifter is sticky. It was similar (but not this bad) with the manual column so I am starting to think that its the transmission? because i greased the crap out of the shift tubes and it all seemed to move very smooth before installing in the truck.
Has anyone else with a 3spd had trouble shifting ?

[Maximus]

Figured out the shifter! turns out I was too much of a chicken on the shifter collar bolts/nuts, they were soo tiny i didnt want to crank down on them, but I left them too loose and the collar was wobbling left/right taking just a little too much pull out of the shifter.
After I torqued the two collar nuts tight the shift collar play disappeared, and low-and-behold the shifter was able to smoothly shift into 1st/reverse.
I am relieved that this resolved the problem, as I was seriously considering just ripping the whole 3spd out for an automatic, but I really wanted to retain the 3-on-the-tree.
Now I need to focus on the brake lines...

[Maximus]

Brake lines squared away, trucks road-worthy again. Took it around the block and the power steering and power disc breaks work great! now I need to focus on my hesitating 1bbl carb and malfunctioning electric brake controller (brake lights being stuck on at random times... will probably remove the controller)

After I got it ready for the road I rinsed off the dirt buildup from 8 months of sitting in my yard

[Maximus]

Now that it steers well and stops well its time to disable it again!
pulled the intake and poorly running 1bbl off, repainted the header and slapped in the offey.
Has anyone ran the offenhauser intake with hedman headers? it looks like I am going to have to add washers to the header side of the bolting flange because the intake thickness and header flange thickness are different...
Anyways, I am also ordering a gasket kit for my 390CFM holley and see how that whole things going to go...

Lastly,
I grew tired of how original my truck is, and how unoriginal this bench seat I picked up is so I took my original bench to the upholstery shop for some new foam/vinyl, the interior will be refreshed back in its original parchment glory...

Here are some shots of the intake removal/reinstall...

[Maximus]

good news and bad...
I pulled my 8007 Holley 390cfm carburetor apart, blew out the passages and threw on some gaskets and a accelerator pump diaphragm and threw it on the intake.

The good news is the carb works well, and the throttle response is AMAZING!!! I mean, my 1BBL was pretty limited because it would choke out under a quick throttle but this thing revs up QUICK! its super responsive and revs quicker and smoother than my 289 in my 65 mustang!

The bad news relates to what I already knew, which is the header leaks due to the different thicknesses between the intake and header flange with the "sharing" style intake/exhaust bolts. I also used a felpro gasket because I didn't want to wait for a header gasket to ship, and that isn't working out either, so I will be pulling the intake back off, getting the right gasket and reinstalling, but not until I measure the two flanges and tack weld some washers to the header flange to thicken up those bolt points and allow for an equal pressure between the intake and exhaust.

I have never seen how smooth and quick a properly running 1bbl can rev but I am blown away by how responsive this engine is with the intake/carb! Even with the horrible exhaust leak I was grinning ear to ear.

Also ripped my Roll-A-Long seat back out in anticipation of my reupholstered original bench, pics of that will come when it is finished, to help on the cost I told the upholsterer to take his time, and as its one of almost a dozen projects I have I don't have any issues waiting a couple weeks for the seat, it also helps me relax about having to mail-order the header gasket since nobody stocks a header gasket for these engines...

More to come!

[Maximus]

Just got back from the upholstery shop with new padding and a new set of skin. Vinyl selected is a factory ford color parchment to match up to my interior.
these seats just look so good when refinished! now i just have to figure out how to keep it clean!! it helps that I have a cummins to do any real work, so this truck is pretty much a weekend toy...

[Maximus]

Seat back in its place of origin

[Biblethumpncop]

A beautiful sight and awesome build!

[Maximus]

I have spent the last month troubleshooting my new intake/carb setup. First I struggled with the 390CFM Holley (turns out i had a vacuum leak under the heat plate that I had to fix to get the edelbrock running right so the Holly would probably be fine if I switch back), but I had already switched to an edelbrock 500cfm. It runs great down the road, its just a little sensitive on the throttle, and is a bit of a pain when cold, but I think that will be the same regardless of what carb i run. Luckily when I bought my used Offenhauser manifold it came with the modified thunderbird heat carb plate so I have that in place and plan on routing the coolant through it to assist in warming the carb up when cold...

I was also able to finally find a front grill and strait bumper for my F100. My '72 front end was a little tired and I never really liked the look of the 1972 grill, however I love the egg-crate look of the '70. Lucky me, I found a strait bumper and a great grill valance for my project. The grill inserts have taken some damage but the grill shell is excellent!
The grill is in storage while I search out a pair of undamaged inserts (without forking out the $120 for the pair of DC Repops) but the bumper went strait on my truck.
Dont have any photos of the bumper on my truck but heres a shot of the bumper and grill on the parts vehicle in the yard I pulled it from, as well as a photo of my Offenhauser with the Edelbrock on it.
Enjoy...
New Carb/Intake

Parts truck, I have this entire front end off of this truck

[Maximus]

Got some time to throw the new '70 grill on my truck. Nothing personal against the '72, I just love the "less is more" attitude of simple grills. The grill frame is in great shape, and one of the inserts is great. the paint faded off of the headlight covers but I might be okay with just leaving them bare, and one insert will need to be replaced, but I am on the hunt for another grill insert.