Feburary 23, 1996. This is what it started out as, a 1980 Ford F-150 4x4. My first vehicle. It came with a 351M V-8, T-18 4-spd transmission, 31" tires, and not that much rust.

The interior was not in the best shape, the driver's side floor pan was giving out. I fixed that with a piece of tin. The seat was worn out and needed more padding, but it was bearable, the truck got me where I wanted to go!

A little flat black paint will make a big difference in how a multi-colored truck appears!

November 1996. This is the donor frame from a 2wd 1983 F-150, shortbox.

Whoa! Where did the sheetmetal go? It's all back behind the camera in the corner. I wish I would have had a torch for the cab mounts.

Yeah, this used to be my truck, no turning back now! This is not fun to do in an unheated shed with dirt floors and no electricity in the middle of December in Wisconsin!

The drivetrain is just a little greasy after the 99K miles. Everything works fine, the only thing I did was clean them up, and put a new clutch in her. The motor could use a carb tuneup, other than that it is plenty strong.

This is why I decided to go through this in the first place, a crack on the passenger side of the frame, just behind the cab. Look at how bad the rust attacked the front part of the crossmember.

This is the rear of the old frame, where did that last crossmember go? Damn! Good thing the box and bumper held that together.

Good old Ford 9" with 4.10:1 gears.

Feburary 1997. It was getting too cold over in the shed so I moved it up into the barn. Here I had a solid floor and electricity, and the hay helped insulate the heat from the cows downstairs. Here are the all new brakes, along with new springs. The old ones had a cracked leaf in each side.

I should have sandblasted and undercoated the frame. Instead I wire brushed it, I thought the rustconverter and paint would work good, and it turned out alright. I still need to undercoat it though.

The rear spring hangers are a little narrower on the 2wd, but can be made to accept the 4wd springs. The front suspension is straightforward, I used the brackets off the old truck for the axle pivots.

I had to use the old transmission crossmember, and engine mounts from the old frame too. I replaced all of the body, transmission, and suspension bushings with new ones from Energy Suspension Bushings. I had to order the transmission ones through the Ford dealer though. That is why I only have one arm!

Hey! There I am using the KLI one-ton to transport my cab from Trucks and Such (Gotham, WI). It is a 1986 cab from Texas, I saw the registration in all of the trash on the floor. I took out the dash, heating, and brake booster parts because I knew the old ones worked. I did have to put my old steering column bracket on so I would have a place to attach the clutch. That is my Friend Jamie helping me, thanks bud!

Yes, my truck is starting to come back together again! I should have just driven it like this!

I tore everything off the new cab so I could put the parts from my old cab on instead. The transmission cover had to be used from the old truck too, the new cab used to have a Diesel with an automatic.

There are the HAVAC ducts from the old cab, I had to use these cause the new cab used to have air conditioning. I didn't need air that bad, I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding missing parts, and recharging the system.

The gutted old cab, stripped of brake booster, steering column, wiper motor, and heater housing.

Now it looks like a truck again! Even though the fender is just proped up, I could see I was going to get it all back together. But there is still tons of stuff left to do. Check those colors on the box! I should have painted it those colors, J/K! That's the old dash there on the floor, I just disconnected all of the harnesses and pulled them all through the firewall, install in reverse order.

Yeah I know it looks pretty ugly, but it is getting there.

The old dash installed into the new cab, looks good does it not?

Now I can drive it around a little, everything is hooked up, just need to attach the doors and fenders.

All of the sheet metal is on now and needs to be aligned. There is my $150 car that let me do this, and not have to be without a vehicle! Like the temporary exhaust? :)

Here it is sitting outside waiting for me to take it to get the dual exaust put on.

Wow! Paint makes it look done, along with the 33x12.5R15 General Grabber AT's. Thats a good eye ya got there! The 2" front superlift coils make room for 33"'s, but you need to get an alignment. March 1998.

Turned out pretty good didn't it! I have something to be proud of, but I know I can still do a lot better job next time.

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