1960 Ford F100 Custom Cab

2026-09-27T19:22:49.568-07:00

I've not posted in a while, but have still been busy. I'm looking for a few parts...

I am looking for a 1957 or 1958 Ford F100 Hood in decent shape, minimal dents or rust. Not worried if has the badges/emblems.

I am also looking for at least a drivers door and possibly a passenger door for a 1957 -1960 Ford F100 Not worried about hardware or glass.

Please be in the southern California area, willing to go as far as Vegas or Eastern Arizona.

I have quite a few 1960 Parts for trade, see below.

1960 Hood with badges/emblems. No noticeable dents or rust. Was originally white but got repainted at some point to a darker red color.

1960 Upper grille chrome with headlight buckets and bezels. I'll include a full set of LED headlights as well.

1960 Lower grille aluminum - this is intact but dented and bent. My truck had an adventurous life before I got it.

1957-1960 Chrome dash bezel

1957-1960 ABS dash bezel that fits 3-3/8 speedo and 2-1/16 gauges

Complete Big Job C900 gauge cluster that includes a 100 mph speedo, 4k mechanical tach and a vacuum gauge. It has excellent chrome and paint.

Bead roller dies... Print them!

2019-01-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

So what if you need a unique die profile that you will only use once? Why not print them!

Today I designed and printed some custom bead roller dies that I will need to fab my tailgate on my F100. It only took numerous tries to both design the right profile, but also to get the print settings right to make a part strong enough to shape metal. Plus, it forces me to learn something new, which is generally a good thing, as long as it's something I want to learn or so my bosses have told me. For me, I will only need those dies once, so it was a better deal to buy an inexpensive 3d printer and get some free software that it would be to have a custom set of dies made. Plus I can make another set relatively quickly if needed to include any new shapes.

The profile shows v11 on it. That is the 11th version (after I started keeping track). I had a profile gauge that I was using, but it could not get tight inside radius accurately, so I ended using the tried and true method of creating a cardboard template and then making the digital version to print.

The small circle was the 4th or 5th try to get the inner profile correct for my bead roller shafts.

The two profiles are to create the body side profile on my truck to extend on to the tailgate I have envisioned.

I used the Creality Ender 3D pro with Hatchbox white PLA to print my dies.

Raising the bed floor 2 inches

2017-12-12T20:38:00.001-08:00

So I have begun to do the work to raise the bed floor two inches. The original bed floor and wheel wells had suffered a truck's life and needed to be replaced. Not to mention at some point in the trucks life it had a tool box in it and to make it fit they had bashed the wheel wells in to make it fit.

I started by removing the bed floor and wheel wells and then set about fitting some 16 gauge steel trailer fenders. The bed floor will be replaced with Auto Metal Direct panels. Basically I got some two inch square tubing and welded a length across the front of the bed on top of the original cross member and across the back.

Below are some pics of the progress so far. I got the bed braced up before I got all the big pieces out of the way and have begun to mock up the new wheel wells. They will be widened several inched to accommodate a much larger tire and wheel combo.

I will add more pics as I progress through this portion of the project. Enjoy!

Outer cab corner finished!

2017-10-03T20:20:00.001-07:00

So here it is finished... Not the easiest thing I have done, nor the nicest. But it is all steel and fairly close the passenger side.

Outer cab corner repairs

2017-08-27T18:29:00.002-07:00

So I got off to an early start this morning and decided to fix the passenger side outer cab corner... the easy one!

This is after I had fixed the inner cab corner. Some time with card board to make some templates and then a little simple bead rolling got it looking like new. Unfortunately my welder died during this and that's why it looks like unfinished welds on the right side.

Three months later I got my welder back and it seems to be working like new. I decided do this repair using several pieces because I don't have the skills to make in a single piece. I tried to hammer form the corner in one piece and it took quite a bit of time and effort to see that I still need to work on these skills.

Here is it finished.

I started on the drivers side also... I knew this one was going to be significantly more difficult because it had more damage.

I got part of it done using the same techniques I used on the passenger side.

Neither side is perfect, but is all metal.

I still have the actual corner piece left on the drivers side and I be working on that soon.

Have a good one!

Drivers side inner Cab Corner repair

2017-05-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

So here is where I started.

I cut out all the rusted metal back into the good metal a little ways both inside and out and this was what was left, for now...

Right now I am just working on the inner cab corners and these are the easy ones comparatively.

I made a template on some poster board to include the channels on the back that I am guessing are drains.

I cut some cold rolled 18 gauge steel to match my template although just a little larger to make a precise fit.

I used my bead roller with the 1/8" step dies to create the channels. Below is a rusted piece that I used to see
where they went. Turned out well I think.

Here is my bead roller. It started life as HF unit I got with a 25% coupon. I have modified it to strengthen it. The single biggest change that was made for the better was getting rid of the hand crank that came with it and put the wheel on it. The wheel was the bottom off an old chair. It makes rolling a pattern so much easier.

Here is the easy part of the inner fender. I also fininshed the other half, but don't have any pics right now. I'll add it later.

Here is the inner completed.

Have a good one!

1960 F100 Radiator Support

2017-02-17T13:28:00.002-08:00

So I completely disassembled my front clip and from what I could see when it was on the truck it looked good. I was really hoping that the radiator support was in good shape too. I was wrong!

Here are some pics once I got it removed. Great googly moogly!

I removed the bottom in order to clean out the rust and check the sheet metal. It was good with just surface rust, so I cleaned it, coated it with a rust preventative spray and then painted it inside and out. I prefer VHT products, both their Rust Converter and Roll bar and Chassis Paint.

Before anything was taken apart, I made templates out of card board for the missing/rusted pieces and cut them out of 18 gauge steel.

I removed a the two horizontal braces because the radiator I plan on using was a little wider that the original radiator and would not fit. So I have about a dozen small holes to fill on each side.

Repairing rust is dirty work, but it must be done! There were parts of the support that had what looked to be some type of coating on it. The only way to get it off was to scrape it off with a scraper / single edge razor.

I'll post a few more sometime later. It is currently mocked up on the truck right now.

I love my Fabricator 211i welder! It makes me a better welder and I need all the help I can get!

But a quote by AvE (ArduinoversersEvil) on YouTube sums it up! "A grinder and paint, makes me the welder I ain't!"

Got the engine running...

2016-08-22T17:45:00.001-07:00

for a little more motivation. It was idling a bit high in this video. Still have some tuning to do.

Sounds pretty nice... Trick Flow Specialties Stage 1 through JBA headers, Magnaflow X-pipe and Thrush welded mufflers.

Needed some motivation...

2015-09-26T19:24:00.002-07:00

So I put the body back on the frame to get a feel for how it looked.

I think it looks great, it has the stance I was going for. This got me pumped up to go and start working on some other stuff. I ended up removing the triangulated four link and went back with leafs. The packaging of the setup in the frame wasn't quite right so I reverted back. So to keep the truck behaving properly, I will build a torque arm for it. I already got some of the pieces I needed to start.

I got a Currie Johnny Joint for the front of the arm where it will attach to a shackle. I also got a few high misalignment spacers. These will allow the joint to take up the movement of rear axle without binding as it articulates, plus I get the added benefit of them reducing the diameter of the rod end from 3/4" to 1/2". I also picked up some threaded rod ends and some universal threaded rod end bushings. I'll post some pics once I get the DOM tubing to build it.

Front clip mock up with new wheels and tires

2014-08-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the front end mocked up with B/G Rod Works Gasser Gun Metal Wheel in 5x4 3/4 bolt pattern with 225/55-17 General Altimax tires. The front end has the springs out to get ready for air bags, but I have blocks of wood in place to hold it at ride height.

I haven't mocked up the rear yet, but they will be 255/60-17 General Altimax tires as well on the same 17X8 B/G Rod Works Gasser Gun Metal Wheels. I will need to get new axles with the correct bolt pattern and then I can mount the rear disc brake conversion kit and the wheels. My hope is that it will have a slight rake if my calculation are correct and look nice when the air is out.

Here is some images of the front cab corner / cab brace rot

2014-07-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pic of the drivers side front. This one was easily the worst of the two.

Here is the Passenger side...not as bad.

Here is the fuel filler. I plan to weld in a piece for this.

Here is a hole in the upper driver's side of the bed. It looks like it could have been for an antenna, or possibly a fuel tank in the bed. (there was a fuel diverter valve in the cab.)

Here are the rear cab corners... again the drivers side is the worst by far. I think the damage was compounded by a failed repair attempt via duct tape and fiber glass.

I have one more small piece of the passenger side floor to replace and then I'll get some more pics of the repair posted.

Til next time.

Slow progress, but progress none the less...

2014-03-08T21:15:00.001-08:00

I have been working on the rear suspension getting the triangulated 4 link installed and set up correctly. I would have killed to have a plasma cutter like the one below. (Yes, it is on my Amazon Wish list).

But for now, I am burning through 4.5" Metal Cut off wheels cutting plate to box the frame, and they get expensive pretty quickly. I found a 50 Pack on Amazon which equates to about 55 cents each. Much better price than the local home stores or even HF. Free shipping to boot. They are working good for me. I also love their I primarily use a Black and Decker angle grinder to do my cutting. It is rock solid and I really like the trigger switch.

I think my goal is something along the lines of a mild pro-touring sort of truck.

I built a new work bench using the 2x4 Basics kit. It turned out really well and is surprisingly solid.

Have a good one.

Taking a break for a couple of weeks.

2013-11-15T22:00:00.002-08:00

At least until I heal up some.

Around the 2005 time frame there was a Bone Marrow recruitment drive on the base where I work, so my friend and I decided to go down and register. I have to admit that I had some selfish desires for registering. Back then the only way to register was via a blood sample and my friend had an aversion to needles. So there was probably a little friendly schadenfreude happening there, but all for a good cause.

Fast forward about eight or so years later and I get an interesting email from the C.W.Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program. I was completely shocked when I was told that I was a possible match among several other donors for an international recipient that had Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They had asked if I still wanted to participate and if I did, there would be some more blood tests required in order to perform further HLA (human leukocyte antigen) typing. I did more blood tests and yet even more blood tests and it was determined that I was the best possible match and should donate.

Here are a few interesting statistics from Be the Match.

Donation statistics

· 1 in 40 registry members will be called for additional testing. Additional testing can be used to narrow the list of potential donors and determine the best possible match for a patient.

· 1 in 300 will be selected as the best possible donor for a patient. These potential donors will have an information session with their donor center representative to learn more about the donation process. Due to changes in the patient's condition, not all donors who are selected as the best match will donate.

· 1 in 540 members will actually donate.

During the process I was assigned a Donation Coordinator. She was the one that did all the work in the back ground to make this happen. She set up all the tests, scheduled the travel, answered all my questions, and acted as liaison with the hospital.

Several weeks before the actual donation, I was asked to provide an autologous blood donation. Basically I was asked to donate blood to myself so that it could be used to replace the blood volume lost during the procedure. I was told that this would also lead to a quicker recovery. The blood donation was what was called a double red. In this type of donation, your blood is separated and you take out two units of red blood cells, while the plasma and platelets are returned to your blood stream. This was done on an apheresis machine and only took about 40 minutes.

It was around this time that you are asked to confirm your desire to be a donor. The reason being that if you agree, the recipient will begin to receive high dosages of chemotherapy in order to prepare their body for the transplant. If you were to back out after this point, it would mean that the recipient could possibly pass away.

Depending on needs of the recipient, there is the possibility that they will need either bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). The amount required is also determined by the patients needs. I got the request for a marrow donation of what I was told was 1.5L. I don't like to think about that too much since all I can envision is a mostly full two liter bottle of soda.

Since I am no longer active duty military, they had me go to Scripps Green Hospital Blood and Marrow Transplant Center in La Jolla to donate. The procedure only took a few hours and had I been with a travel companion I would have been able to go back to the hotel the same day. However I was travelling alone so as a precaution, I was kept overnight which turned out well since I needed additional medication for nausea that was caused by the anesthesia. I cannot thank all the doctors and nurses and staff involved in my donation enough. They were attentive and caring. They made me feel very welcome.

There are no costs to the donor involved in any part the process at all. As I understand it, it is all paid by the recipients insurance. Due to my unique location, there wasn't a direct flight to San Diego. Only one that had a layover in Phoenix, or LAX. Considering I live within 150 miles of San Diego that seemed a bit much. I asked my donation Coordinator if there were alternatives to the flight and she said that there is a contracted driving service that they used. I was very fortunate that the driving service was used, and the driver, Bruce was an excellent travel companion. For my stay I was placed in the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines for four days due to its location next to the hospital. The Bell Desk provides a courtesy shuttle service to the front door of the hospital and back.

If you want to join the registry and are a Depart of Defense employee or military, please contact the DoD Marrow Donor Program. As a civil service employee you are entitled to paid leave when either donating bone marrow or an organ. My leave was recorded as Administrative Leave along with the documentation from the program stating that I was selected to be a donor along with the dates of donation.

Here are the leave references.

5 U.S.C CHAPTER 63, SECTION 6327: ABSENCE IN CONNECTION WITH SERVING AS A BONE‐MARROW OR ORGAN DONOR(a) An employee in or under an Executive agency is entitled to leave without loss of or reduction in pay, leave to which otherwise entitled, credit for time or service, or performance or efficiency rating, for the time necessary to permit such employee to serve as a bone-marrow or organ donor. (b) An employee may, in any calendar year, use - (1) not to exceed 7 days of leave under this section to serve as a bone-marrow donor; and (2) not to exceed 30 days of leave under this section to serve as an organ donor. (c) The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations for the administration of this section.

DoD Financial Management Regulation Volume 8, Chapter 5September 2008CHAPTER 5, BONE MARROW OR ORGAN DONOR LEAVE (paragraph 0506)0506 BONE MARROW OR ORGAN DONOR LEAVE. Title 5, U.S.C., section 6327 provides up to 7 days of paid excused leave in a calendar year (in addition to sick or annual leave) to serve as a bone marrow donor or up to 30 days of excused leave in a calendar year to serve as an organ donor.

If you are not military or employed by the DoD, simply go to Be the Match to register.

As far as pain goes, honestly I have ended up causing myself physical pain much worse by accident that what I have experienced so far as a donor. I have not needed any narcotic pain meds, only over the counter Tylenol.

Mostly, just walking around stiff and sore, I would equate it to having fell hard on your butt several times attempting to ice skate. Just an achy lower back or hip sort of pain. Again these are my feelings, your results may vary.

I sincerely wish the recipient of my marrow a quick recovery and that they may soon be spending quality time with family and friends. Please know that you are in my thoughts.

So now a little about my feelings on why I did it.

At its most basic level, it is simply the right thing to do, and whatever pain I have during this process, it pales in comparison to the loss of a loved one that could have been saved by the donation.

If the tables were turned, I would certainly hope that if it were a member of my family in need, someone would have the intestinal fortitude to come forward and donate and be a part of something much bigger than themselves.

Here are a few links to check out.

Be The Match: lots of good info here on the process for both donors and recipients.

C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program: all the info you will need if you are in the military or a civilian employee.

US Dept of Health and Human Services: Good info here as well.

Check out a free Amazon Prime Trial Membership...

Got a few more parts

2013-11-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

I realized that the motor mounts and more specifically the cross member I purchased initially would not work since I have slightly notched the frame to sit the Jaguar front cross-member a tad (one inch) lower and it would have hit the cross member. It also created a few other issues as well. The rear sump oil pan I had planned on using now had interference issues with the rack and pinion (Jaguar cross members use a rear mount rack and pinion). So I got a front sump oil pan and new motor mounts.

The mounts I chose to use were the Speedway Motors Weld-In units. They fit very well with one small exception. On the 89' 5.0L block I have, the drivers side mount needed a small notch to clear a water jacket drain plug. (I'll post some pics later).

Here are a pic of the mounts.

Once I get everything welded in, I'll take some more pics. The mounts are built very well out of 1/4" steel with very good welds. I am very happy with the purchase. I had considered building my own, but after getting the steel and the urethane, it just made more sense to buy some. It appears that these use a Mustang II lower control arm bushing as the isolator. I guess I'll figure that detail out when they need to be replaced.

Here is the oil pan, pick-up, and bolts I used. I chose the chrome oil pan because the plain steel was almost as much and I would have had to paint it.

The next purchases I need are somewhat more expensive. I need a good compressor that has the capacity to do some blasting as well as run a paint gun in the future. It looks like most of the ones I have been looking at are in the $1000 area.

I also need to get a Argon/CO2 bottle since I am tired of the cleanup involved in flux-cored welding. I think I will most likely end up buying a bottle that way I can just do an exchange when I need a fill. Right now, I am torn between a 80 cuft bottle and a 125 cuft bottle. Time (and money) will tell.

I end up buying a lot of stuff from Amazon. If you do as well, you might want to consider getting a prime membership. It has quite a few benefits. The one I enjoy the most, is two day free shipping on the majority of things I purchase. Fell free to give it a shot. What do you have to loose with a 30 day free trial?

Have a good one.

Jaguar XJS Front Brake & Suspension parts

2013-08-14T19:43:00.002-07:00

Here is a list of parts that I found on Amazon for the 1985 Jaguar XJS front end that I am using on my truck. I have an Amazon Prime membership (you can try it free for 30 days) which means that most items ship to my door within two days. Plus you can create a virtual garage at Amazon which allows you to verify that the parts you find there fit one of the vehicles in your garage. I have numerous vehicles in my garage because of the Frankenstein aspect of my project.

Although I will not be using the Jag IRS in my project, I may add a list of parts for the same model year rear end. Check back or submit a comment to have items added to the list.

Little Steps (Flipping a ford 9")

2013-08-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well got a little bit more done today. Since I didn't have a space to roll the engine hoist out without blocking all access to my driveway, I got a small extension poured on the driveway. It has finally cured enough to put the truck on it and I thought I would christen it with some dirt and work. My plan was to pull the bed off the truck, and flip the rear axle. So that is what I did.

The flip kit I used was from Performance Online (POL). The kit was specified for 53-56 F-100's as well as some GM trucks with a 2 1/4" spring width. I went and researched the measurements of spring width for my 60' and decided it would fit and it does. It is currently only mocked in, meaning I haven't welded the spring perches in, or measured to center the axle up exactly. Luckily I was able to reuse my axle center pin. I just put clamps on either side of the pin to keep the spring pack from coming apart and unbolted and removed them. Since they weren't damaged, I just flipped them over and inserted them from the top of the spring pack and tightened the nut down. Once I get around to pulling the bed to rebuild the rear suspension, I'll take care of welding the perches in. I also noticed that I have a broken leaf on the drivers side, so I will most likely end up getting new springs for it.

Right now the engine and transmission are still out because I need to fabricate the brackets to attach the Jaguar front end. I did adjust the the front end to center the front wheel in the wheel well. Right now I have some tall tires on the rear end (255/65/16) and some small front tires (185/75/14) on it. Eventually I will need to have the axles drilled for a different bolt pattern which leads to the thought of which brakes do I use on the rear end. Do I convert to rear disc's, have the stock drums re-drilled (and every time I need to replace a drum), or get a newer drum brake kit that has drums with multiple bolt patterns? Not sure yet...

I also bought some more parts like a C-Notch kit from Classic Performance Parts CPP. I'll get this put in next time I have have the bed off and it isn't hot enough that tools left in the sun for five minutes to cause second degree burns. One of these days I will have build a work shop so that I don't have to bake when working on a vehicle.

I am planning to get a 20 or 22 gallon Mustang tank later this month to put under the bed, so I'll add that to the to-do list when the bed is off.

The after pic is crappy because I took it with my iPod which has endured a hard life. The screen is cracked and has melted spots from welding spatter.

Before:

After:

A few parts that make my Hobart Auto Arc 130 Welder work better...

2013-05-11T09:38:00.001-07:00

I have had my welder for a while now and have bought a few items that seem to make it run a little better, or at least make using it easier. Amazon sells the Auto Arc 130 both in a ‘kit’ or by itself.

Some of the items are performance related while others are simply nice to have. If you plan on running a 10 pound spool of wire, you will need the Handler Hub Kit. Also if you plan on doing much welding with flux cored wire, you should use the correct nozzle. From what I understand, it will keep the splatter that is associated with flux cored welding from clogging the gas ports on the gun. The MIG welding gel makes it easier to keep the tip/nozzle clean as well.

It gets very dusty where I live so I thought that a cover would help out and it does. Since the Auto Arc is made by Hobart, they have a cover that fits it well. My kit also came with a fixed shade helmet, but it got tiring flipping the mask up and down when beginning to start a weld, so I got an auto-darkening helmet and I love it! it has adjustable shades via a knob on the side as well as a setting for grinding or welding. That way if you plan on grinding, it doesn’t automatically darken the lens.

My Auto Arc 130 Kit came with a fixed flow regulator and from every thing I had read, it seemed to have a flow rate that was too high for some work and could unnecessarily empty your shielding gas tank too quickly. So I found the Fourney regulator. I included several Victor regulators as well.

Hope this info helps out other Auto Arc owners. I will try and see if I can find some other items and add them here when possible.

Made a little progress today...

2013-03-23T20:09:00.001-07:00

We had a break in the weather in late January, so I headed out to remove some of the suspension mount rivets from the frame. All was going well. I actually had on PPE (personal protective equipment) which for those of you that know me know that generally flip flops and shorts are as close to PPE as I get regardless of what or where I am working.

On to the story. I had used my angle grinder with a cut off wheel to cut an "X" in the head of each of the rivets to speed the removal. I didn't feel like firing up my compressor to use my air hammer so I had a BFH ( 3-Pound Drilling Hammer) and was making pretty good progress. I had on thick gloves and was removing the stock front engine mount brackets. Well the chisel slipped off the rivet head as soon as the hammer touched it and that changed the trajectory of the hammer head so that it attempted to occupy the same space as my thumb. We all know physics, right? Big steel hammer, soft squishy thumb....

This pic was taken within a minute of the hit. Honestly I thought I had mashed it good because I became oddly aware that the glove felt wet. I was pretty sure that I had blown the insides of my thumb out! Must be the old age, because I didn't scream and cuss and throw things, this time! So I was happy when it came out of the glove intact. Needless to say the nail did come off. Luckily, or not, I spent about a month on jury duty so it had time to heal.

On to the progress I made today. I got the old straight axle suspension out and got the frame resting on the Jaguar XJS front suspension. I still need to box the front portion of the frame, build mounts, and adjust the axle centerline. All in all it is looking better.

Best tool purchase I have made in a while.

2013-01-26T19:45:00.001-08:00

I got very tired of using a hand drill to make several repetitive holes in a piece of steel, so I began to think about a drill press. Of course I had dreams of grandeur and wanted a "bigger is better" drill press until I saw what they cost! So then I went down the rabbit hole of how much drill press can I get for a certain amount of money. We all know that there is a crossing point where the item stops being a value based on its short comings either in quality for function. That meant I had to decide what I really needed. I went and looked at the Ryobi 10 inch bench top drill press at Home Depot, mostly because it was convenient and I got to actually get hands on the device. It didn't appear too bad, but when I researched the reviews I came to an entirely different conclusion. Quite honestly, it most likely would have worked for everything I was ever going to do with it, but I thought I'd shop around a little bit for a similar product.

After some online research I found the SKIL 10 inch bench top model and the reviews were pretty good, both at the SKIL tool web site and Amazon. Like the Ryobi ZRDP102L 10"Drill Press with Laser, this one has the laser guide as well. I liked what I had read, so I ordered it. I got it in two days (thank you Amazon Prime)! It was delivered in the OEM box which was more than sufficient protection. It took about half an hour to unpack and assemble. Assembly was easy and no adjustment of the lasers were required, it was dead on out of the box. All I can say is this is an awesome little drill press, my only complaint is that I wish I had bought it sooner.

Got a few more parts

2012-10-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Got some suspension mounts for my Jaguar XJS front end, namely the sub-frame mounts and sway bar bushings..

I didn't want to mock up the front suspension with worn out mounts and Amazon had good prices.

Based on some forum threads, I decided to get some wire wheels to clean the majority of the frame from the 50+ year old under coating.

It all comes down to collecting more and seemingly more parts in hopes of getting enough to finish a small part of the project. Till next time.

Got the suspension out of the XJS!

2012-10-14T13:59:00.003-07:00

Here are the parts I actually bought the car for.

There are several options for mounting this in any given vehicle. Some weld it in solid, but when you do that, you loose some the ride quality that Jaguar engineered into it. Some build brackets and bolt it solid into the frame, but you still end up with a some what harsher ride. The third method is build the pick up points on your frame so that it just bolts in like it did in the car and that is what I plan on doing.

The rear suspension has a 2.88 Power Lock differential in it. Not bad, but I am running a 5 speed OD trans and the gear ratio's are not in my favor, so it's for sale!

I pulled the back cover and verified that it was actually a posi.

Parts, Parts, Parts and More Jaguar Parts

2012-10-05T21:08:00.002-07:00

Well I finally gave up on the thought of keeping the straight axle under the truck. I wanted power steer and power brakes and while converting to power disc brakes is affordable, converting to power steering isn't. So I purchased an 85' Jaguar XJS V12! It appears to be complete, but the interior is shot from having sit in the desert for who knows how long. Finally I get to own a v12 engine, for a short time anyway. It is the 5.3L (326 cubic inch) version and I'll end up selling it as well if I can even though after seeing some YouTube videos, they sound really sweet. I'll end up selling the IRS as well. If all goes well, I'll end up recovering my investment in the car and that will come in handy when I get ready to rebuild the front suspension.

There is a lot of hoses under the hood of this car!

Based on what appears to be a couple of re-paints, this cat has had a rough life, especially with no more miles that it had on it.

I have begun to disassemble the car to get the parts I want from it. Harvesting the tender bits as it were. It looks like all the trim is still in good shape as are the tail light assemblies. Even the TH400 seems to be good, no burnt transmission oil smell at all and the fluid is still pink.

Know anyone that needs some XJS parts???

Got a new book today!

2012-08-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

I have decided that it is time that I learn some body work skills. It is damn certain that my truck needs body work, so it is a bonus for me that I get to try and learn how to do it. I understand that I am no where near competent in this area.

I set about going to different forums and wading through the crap to get the actual nuggets of wisdom that a lot of craftsmen were taking the time to pass on. The one thing that kept coming up was a specific book that most of them stated would lay a good foundation to build off of.

So I went to my default source for buying stuff, Amazon, and got me a copy. I have been leafing through it, trying to gain an understanding of the material presented and it makes sense. The trick now is to actually apply some hands on and try my hands at this. While I do not plan on making it my profession, I do want to be able to say that I did all my own body and metal work on the truck.

There are a few dents that have body structure under them, so I may end up having to get some sort of stud gun to get those taken care of.

I have had my eye on this one, again I found it at Amazon, and it is rated well by the reviewers.

(A quick note about using online reviews to make a purchase decision. Here is my technique. For me, if I am on the fence about a particular product, I will read as many reviews as I can find about that specific product, paying special attention to model/version numbers. You have to realize that some people are not happy with anything and weed those reviews out, also there will be others that I call padding the ballot box. I know you have all seen those, the 'greatest thing since fire' reviews and I get the feeling that perhaps they are perhaps not honest. I generally try and filter out all 'hated it' and 'loved it' reviews and go from there.)

I have also heard about a stud welding adapter for MIG welders and have been trying to find more info on those as well. It would be nice to not have to buy another limited use tool. My concern with the adapter is that most of the stud welders use an incredibly high current (advertised 1000+ amps) for a very short duration to weld the stud on. Where as the MIG guns are designed to have more of sustained output. So I am a little nervous that it may put too much heat into an area. Again more research needed. Also if anyone has any experience with the adapters, please feel free to comment and let me know.

Just ordered a few more parts...

2012-07-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

Slowly but surely, I will get all the parts I need. After listening to the sound clip on Thrush's website, I decided to get the Thrush Fully welded mufflers from Amazon. Love the free shipping and low prices. From what I have read, they sound nice and deep without the resonance that you might get with Flowmaster Mufflers. Once I get them installed (a long way down the road), I'll see if I can get a sound clip of them running on my 302.

I also got a coil. I went with the PerTronix 40011 Flame-Thrower 40,000 Volt 1.5 ohm Coil. This should work well with the Ford Duraspark II ignitiion that I will be running. I will still need to run a ballast resistor from what I understand. It seems that the Duraspark control module will run a coil without a ballast resistor (the original harnesses had a resistor wire) , but the module won't last as long.

AutoArc 130 by Hobart

2012-07-13T08:40:00.001-07:00

In a previous post I had mentioned that I got a small 110 volt welder from Amazon. It is called an AutoArc and is made in the USA by Hobart and uses all Hobart parts. This was important to me since, I was worried that if I needed a replacement part, I want it to be quickly available. Well I have been using the welder for a while now. Mostly just testing on scrap metal I had laying around. The welder is capable (even if I'm not) of great welds. The one thing I did notice right away was the small one pound spool of wire that it came with ran out pretty damn quickly. So I had to get some more wire. I haven't gotten a bottle of gas yet so, I just decided to order some flux cored wire which is adequate for heavier gauge steel. I got the two pack of the two pound spools this time around. I had considered getting the 10 pound spool since I already had the Hobart Hub Kit, but decided to wait until my skills improve.

I do plan on getting a gas bottle and some solid core wire when I start doing sheet metal work on my truck. But for right now, I am still getting the drive line in and set up properly.

More to come as I progress, both on the truck and with my welding.