sounds almost identically optioned to my 77, mine is just a Ranger though. Ironically, mine is an Oregon truck too... significantly farther east in Indiana. No rust, and 69k on the clock now, but she's been used hard. I'm going to end up replacing all of the front sheetmetal and possibly reskinning the doors. I just found a source for full door skins tonight. I'll also be replacing the tripod mirrors with a set if OEM jr west coast mirrors I picked up a while back.

 

I believe it lacks the wiring split at the back of the cab for the camper wiring, and the factory camper tie downs.

These are the tie downs on my parts truck.

 

Doing a little cosmetic work to the old girl. Painted the spare tire door as it was already in primer and have attempted to restore one of the rear hubcaps. Used Nason Ful-Thane2.8 urethane mixed up to Ford Cinnamon Glow paint code and turned out pretty decent.

The hubcap is an extra wide example unique to the Dana 70 srw axle. Turned out okay but I may do further polishing to make it nicer. Looks good from 5 feet so I should probably be happy with it but mostly I wanted to figure out best way to paint the insert areas. I got it figured out now so next one should be easier and turn out nicer!!!

 

Lookin good!! I have a couple of the original hubcaps...been toying with the idea of repainting them but I no longer have the original wheels. I have aluminum ones now.

 

Nice work! Keep the pics and updates coming!

 

Thanks! I really wanted to keep the Ford super single steel rear wheels and hubcaps as I love the factory original look. A local parts store managed to somehow locate two new rear tires in the original 33x12.5-16.5 tire size which are not easy to find these days. They are Radial TSL Swampers which wasn't my first choice but they were literally the only tires in that size that were available. I had to pay a premium for them but it was worth it to me. Surprisingly, they actually balanced out with very little weight and ride really nice. The truck now has a bit of a "pulling truck" look to it with the longer wheel base and those aggressive tires on the rear but I'm okay with that.

My plan B if I couldn't locate 16.5 tires for the rear, was to go with aluminum wheels pretty much identical to what you have on your truck. I think those look really good too! If you still have your original rear hubcaps for the Dana 70, hang on to them as they are extremely rare and impossible to replace.

 

That cinnamon glow is really close to the 75 ginger glow I'm using. It seems to have a little bigger flaking in it? Looks great. Keep updating your progress.

 

Yes, the colors are really close. I think the cinnamon glow has more metal flake and maybe a touch more silver in it too. I went with a single stage urethane because I didn't want the glossy look of clear coat hoping it would match the original paint better. Well, to look at it, you would think I used base-clear. Not that I am complaining. Just means I have to get busy and machine polish the rest of the truck : )

I want to try and preserve as much of the original paint as possible because its in such nice shape. I plan on removing the dent side trim from the box and re-finish the top of the box sides, then re-do the tail gate and the drivers side fender that appears to have been painted with a rattle can.

That being said, I love how the new paint turned out and am wondering if I would be better off to just go ahead and re-paint the entire truck now....

 

Ahhh, the dreaded Might As Wells! Be careful with that; I think the truck is pretty darn nice as-is.

 

The truck looks great! I really dig the hubcaps too. I’m glad you were able to locate some up there.

 

Thanks, and yes it's pretty easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of "I might as well" and I've been there before. After some thought, I am going to stick with the original plan and just touch up the areas that need it and try to preserve the original paint where possible. Fortunately "patina" is all the rage and is way cheaper than a complete re-paint : )

 

Thanks, its slowly coming along.

As luck would have it, when I parked my truck in town a while back, I was approached by a fellow who is also a fan of the old Fords and in fact is one of the moderators on the Ford Truck Fanatics site. We got talking about my truck and he noticed I was missing a front hubcap. Said he had exactly what I needed hanging on the wall of his garage. Really interesting guy and gave me a great deal on a minty hubcap.

I was gonna try to find a nice pair but I realize now that they aren't so easy to come by anymore. Now that I've invested in a semi-decent polisher, I am going to clean up and restore the rest of the set. They are all pretty straight other small dings and the paint worn off.

That stainless is tough metal but I am getting better at re-finishing. I polished another rear hubcap but hit it with DA sander and 400 grit first. It seems if you take off that initial oxidation with sandpaper first, they really polish up nice. Gonna attack the remaining front hubcap today but going to go all out and get some 600 grit and maybe 1000 grit first to see how nice I can get this one, Of course then I will have to go back and re-do the very first hubcap I attempted.... Its definitely a learning process.

 

Excellent plan!

 

Actively fighting this right now. Started with a functional radio desire. Might as well do new speakers. Might as well do new door panels as one of mine is MIA. Might as well reskin the doors and deaden them. Might as well do new carpet. Alternator upgrade would be nice, then I could amplify those new speakers, I have these west coast mirrors to install... not to mention the bodywork can of worms reskinning the doors would bring on... it's a never ending cycle.

 

My current exhaust is a dual system that uses glass packs but the tail pipes are rusted off and the rest of the system is pretty sad looking.

Went into town today to get a quote on new exhaust. It would seem nobody in town does custom bending anymore. Yet another lost art.
One shop told me they had a guy who was just okay with a pipe bender but a complete system from manifolds back would cost minimum $1200 bucks but likely more…. Ouch!!! I’ve decided that much like everything else on these old Ford trucks, I’m just gonna have to build my own system.

Debating on whether to go with headers and build a dual system or just source a new “Y” pipe and build a single system which would be much simpler…. It’s not a race truck so I don’t need a dual system but that being said, I am a gear head and love the sound of headers and a nice dual system.

it’s a 460 engine so headers are not cheap but then again nothing is cheap anymore. Any suggestions from those who have also been down this road?