1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[Gary Lewis]

Cory - When you get to looking at materials for the bed you might think about the weight.  My brother built a bench for our mother and used Trex.  When he got done it took two people to pick it up.  

[FuzzFace2]

I loved the little jig he made for the broken fender bolts.

Once the cab goes back on the frame and looking more like a truck again gives you good feeling.
Then the nose so it looks like  CC truck and then the bed even if no tail gate.
Each one of them steps is what made me feel good.

I know what ever you do or come up with on the bed will look great.
Dave ----

[Rembrant]

Nothing too exciting to report here, but I'm still been putting a lot of hours into the old 80/95 project! I'm finally finished working on the crossmembers. I went a little patch crazy with them, but I wanted to remove any doubt in my mind, so as they say "grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't!"

I added a 1/8" x 2" flat bar (24" long) across the top of my cab rear crossmember. It probably didn't need it, but I figured that since it's holding up the cab and the gas tank, I'd make sure it's good and strong. After removing all of the rust, the crossmember was a little thinner than it was originally.



Had to patch a couple thin spots in the brackets for the 2nd crossmember.




And here they are after sitting over night with a treatment of rust converter! Nice and black looking.



I have since primed them and will be painting them tomorrow. Along with a bag of grade-8 bolts and nuts, they should be good and strong once re-installed.

I yanked the 5.0L engine out of the frame yesterday. What a lump. I've listed it for sale. I'd like to keep it, and I don't mind if I do. However I don't have much storage space, and I could put the money towards other things that I need.



I started this afternoon rebuilding the RH engine mount bracket for the 300. It is really rusted out...and it's odd too, because the driver's side is in great condition. Anyway, I ran out of zip cut disks and Mrs. Rembrant wanted to go out for dinner, so that was the end of it.



I also removed the hitch from the 1995 chassis, cleaned it up and splashed some paint on it to freshen it up. I was going to keep this also, but listed it for sale to put the money towards parts that I need way more than a hitch. It went pretty quick...a guy is coming to pick it up tomorrow.



In any case, I'm in good shape right now. I have a lot A LOT of work to do yet, but some big headaches are over with now, and I can carry on with the needle scaler and cup wheel;). Hoping to have the frame all painted and cleaned up by the end of Sept so I can set the cab on it.

So I need to order up some rubber cab mounts and floor pan repair panels, as well as a set of rear leaf rear hangers and shackles.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Looking good Cory!  

You're not concerned about water getting in between the 2" strap and the crossmember?
(I have no idea)

It looks like you had another beautiful day in Nove Scotia!  

[Gary Lewis]

That's a LOT of GOOD work!  Well done, Cory!  

And the reinforcements look substantial.  

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

You're not concerned about water getting in between the 2" strap and the crossmember?
(I have no idea)

I’m not concerned about it, no. I’m going to be undercoating the frame on this truck so it will creep in between the strap and the crossmember. That’s one of reasons I left lots of gaps between welds and on the ends. It’s probably not 100% ideal, but it’ll be good enough for this old truck.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, you're definitely all in on this old truck!

If the frame turns out as well as that hitch, it's an amazing transformation.  

[grumpin]

Looking good!

[FuzzFace2]

I am happy I did not have to deal with that rust on my truck or I would have walked away when looking at it.
Keep up the great work
Dave ----

[old55pete]

Cory, just a heads up, My dad used to say that the difference between a good weld and a bad weld is about ten minutes of grinding.

[salans7]

Looks good Cory!

[Rembrant]

Thanks Gents!

I had a less productive day today, but I did get my rusted out engine perch all welded up. It's not pretty, but it's good and strong. This truck is not meant to be a "pretty" truck anyway...leaving this one a bit rough so I can use it;).





I could have ground the welds some more, but I said screw it, it will work fine for what I'm doing and hopefully I'll find a better one later on sometime.

Oh, maybe I'll grind it some more tomorrow...lol.

[FuzzFace2]

Looks good from my house
I was going to say once installed you wont see it but that is for the 300 and you will see it LOL
If it  works then why mess with it after it is in? yes I am lazy LOL
Dave ----

[Rembrant]

FuzzFace2 wrote

If it  works then why mess with it after it is in? yes I am lazy LOL
Dave ----

Oh I know...lol. Maybe I'll grind it some more, but it actually looks better in person than in the pics...lol.
I'll just spray some rustproofing over it..ha.

Sometimes you just have to know when to stop with these trucks. I look at my '84 all the time and think, I could spend another $5000 on the truck and not increase the street value by a single cent...lol.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, that's a problem I have - knowing where to stop.

But your welding is looking good!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Looks great, Cory!

It's all this getting your ducks in a row that takes time.
But progress is GOOD!  👍

[Rembrant]

Not much new to report here as I ended up working on our daily driver's this past weekend, but some new parts arrived yesterday from RockAuto. New rear leaf rear hangers and shackles as well as new Moog bushings for the front eyelets of the rear leafs. Will be good to get these parts installed and taken care of.



I still have a lot of work to do on the frame, at least another couple weekends, but hopefully paint after that and then I'll place the cab on.

More cutting, more welding, more grinding...lol.

[Gary Lewis]

It is a good feeling when you have things cleaned and painted and just have to bolt on the new components.  So satisfying!

If you only have a couple of weekends of work left to do you are really doing well.  This thing will be a fun project for the almost-here winter.  

[Rembrant]

I don't know if I mentioned it previously or not, but this 1980 F150 does not have a certification label, and I was curious what the paint codes were that were on it. It was painted at some point, so I didn't even know if they were original colors or not. The reason it is/was important to me is that I don't plan on painting the truck right away, and maybe never...but I did want to touch it up and paint parts/sections of it....so I did need the actual codes.



This Bronco popped up for sale on Facebook this morning, also an early 1980 model, and even though it's badly faded, it sure looks like it was the same colors...







Luckily they posted a picture of the certification label...god love them! I love it when sellers do that.




Anyway, simple minds...simple pleasures, but I'll be trying the 3D and 3B paints to see how they match up.

PS: Not sure if any of you Facebookers saw the ad...the boys were arguing endlessly over the selling price, but for anybody that cared about the small details...the truck has a couple neat factory features. H22 Axle code (Front and rear factory limited slip diffs), factory fog lights and factory fog light switch in the bezel, etc.

[1986F150Six]

Cool!