My names ethan and have been working on this 78 f-150 since 2001. I drive a 97 taurus daily that I am wanting to replace with a turbo coupe. I'm also good friends with crystal so I thought I'd get on here to do some research. So heres a few pics
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/Picture001.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/Picture006.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/Picture003.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/P1010039-1.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/P1010078.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/P1010047.jpg)
This truck is roughly 530 whp and runs 12.62@110 mph on motor. Haven't sprayed it yet:D
Hey dude good to see you on here, Im sure you know who I am.
great lookin truck... there are some things i think is old as altezza's %cou%ghsupra&cpughtailshavkhavk... excuse me..but since it's been worked on siunce 1990, it looks 17 years old in the modifications, but ... it looks good for 17 years. the three things that stand out to me is the color mismatch of the hood, the bed looks too wide for the cab, and you still havnt shaved or relocated the tailgate handle (and the radioactive nopi emblem which covers the C notch.) if you were to sell it... someone would have a cherry. (just dont sell the engien with it)
well maybe if you see what it started as you will put a little more sense to all of your points.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/1-1.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/2.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/3.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/4.jpg)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Fordguy545/6.jpg)
The bed is one of my mistakes during the rebuilding of the bed. Entire new bed floor and bulkhead that unfortunately didn't follow the original contour of the cab. The radioactive symbol has no relation to nopi, it has a relation to the Nuclear power plant that is about 6 miles from me and had planned to start a car club named Radioactive customs, but have kinda lost interest in that. The tailgate IS shaved, just I took the time to use the old handle instead of trying to make it work on an actuator or something. I had to MAKE the pocket that it is in so that I could still use it. IF I cant get the tailgate open, I cant get the tonneu cover open so one way or another the tailgate HAD to open.
all i can say is WOW thats SWEET!!!
welcome!
Good looking long bed!
id almost trade my bird for it :eek:
is it already that time of the month to get rid of another car? :hick:
Nice truck!! I have a few myself, though mine sit a couple feet higher. Anyhow, as a suggestion, and no need to take my word for it, but if you realign the hood so it sits even with the fender, and raise the front of the box to even out the dentside with the cab, it might keep the nitpickers at bay. I say this only cuz silver is a color that shows everything with the shadows it creates.
Just ignore Autocat, he's apparently been eating sour grapes and it makes him act like a dick.
The truck looks great! You've put a lot of work into saving a truck I would have junked and it looks like it was well worth the effort.
Aughtta haul a lot Frito's. You can just deliver them here. :D
Great looking truck.You did some really nice work.Two thumbs up.AND IT'S A FORD !!! Sweeeeeeet.
somehow that doesn;t look like a very even trade:beatyoass:lol
I've tried a long time to get that hood to fit right, and it just wont. The cab on the drivers side is pushed together a bit so nothing on the front will line up square anyways. I didn't realize it was crushed until after I did all kinds of work to it. Also, this was the very first paintjob I ever did, so I think it looks pretty good myself. The only stripes in the silver that I have are in the center of the tonneu cover and those are hard to notice. That paintjob took me 9 months.
And yes I do remember you bhazzard. Probably because you look almost identical to your brother;)
Dude, its a Ford, what else is there to say? I think it looks sweet and I don't really go for the low stuff, but jeez man, I would have sped that thing rather than fix it. You did a GREAT job. You gots talent!
:birdsmily:
What size of engine is that, or at least was it? My friend has a 74 F100, just redone, he is rebuilding the 390 into a 428 CJ. Not so much liking the supra lights or laying frame with a fullsize, but hey its still a cool ass truck. Welcome and enjoy your stay.
its a 460 stroked to 545 ci. Its enough to get the 5100# truck to move at least:D
LOL yeah id have to have some boot:birdsmily:
Umm... your rear plate bracket is crooked and there's rust on the master cylinder. You should junk it and start over.
J/K :hick:
I really like that truck. I've always liked the 78-79's - is that a '79 Grille? I thought the 78's had round headlamps (but I am definitely not an authority on the subject). It's not very often you see a full custom job using modern ideas (laying frame) on a late 70's Ford truck. You've done a great job, and I can only imagine the job you could do to a fox 'Bird :D
What did you do with the front suspension? Is it still the twin I-beam?
My only criticism with those tail lights is that you used two red and one amber lens on each side. You should've used red for all three and then installed one of my sequencers :D
[/shameless plug]
Yes the truck is still on twin I beams, but I used the 3" dropped beams from chassis tech. Those were a pretty penny:punchballs:
The taillights are factory toyota supra taillights, but mounted upside down. I had them apart to clean them once, but was not feasable to move the lenses around. I did manage to wire it so I could use the ambers as turnsignals instead of the reds.
Hey man the friggin fit on the panels o' them old things was probably never that good anyway! (Or at least it wasn't for long, if you buy a truck and USE it like a truck, you ain't keepin' it nice!!!!)
Honestly I didnt notice any of the imperfections pointed out, even the bed, until mentioned. Just looking at the pics first impression I thought "Oh cool lowrider 70s ford truck!!!"
545 ci!!!!!!!!????????????? WOW absolutely nuts. Careful with the right foot there!!!!! :evilgrin:
^^why, its only 8.9L and gets 8.5 mpg on 93 octane:hick:
Wow that is a sweet truck i love those years (73-79)
whoa guys (im only on page one) im sorry im such an opinionated person when it comes to truck body modifications. ie tailights, seen it a billion times like frenched caddi tails or vette tails. the supra tails fit that bill. and i knew the truck went from wreckage to riches. i mean i was not trying to be a dick and say "your truck sucks" b/c In my humble opinion, body mods heavily outweight engine and drivetrain mods. i mean yeh, its got 500rwhp. but im more interested in the bed, and the drop/cnotch andTHANKY YOU for posting the pics of the boxed frame b/c that shiznit looks tight. so does the truck today. i'm not ganna say it'd be a feature b/c of lil problems here and there, but i'd defnatly say its worth a mention in a mag somewhere. and sorry for thinkin the radioactive symble was for nopi, im just so used to seeing that on badges and stickers around here (where there IS NO NPP) im givin you much props man, i guess i came off the wrong way. its was like "this doesnt look right, this is kinda played out but other than that ****IN SWEET" so... the million dollar question... do you se up the anoying little reflecters in the middle of the road?
Edit: the reason i was pointing out such things is only b/c i guess im getting closer and closer to doing body work (the welding part anyway which at home would need some filler etc), and im ganna build a ser myself, have wanted to before i was ever interested in cars. why? b/c i always thought of doing what 545 did puting about 500hp+ in a truck b/c trucks can be made LIGHT. easier to hang a body on any chassis out there. (plus the craftman truck series trucks look bad ass)
14 years old lookin at truckin and mini truckin mags way before i got the nopi or street tuner or super chevy etc. my first choice was always spoert trucks and mini trucks..
Don't forget the rear plate is tilted! LOL that is a nice truck I would drive it.
^^^haha yeah ive seen that a few times (mostly in the tailgate). first thought is "oops lost a bolt" then i see the indentation:hick:
ive seen it on a chevy blazer almost at the top of the hatch, at a 45 degree angle. it looked stupid, now that looks right on this truck! and man THATS a hell of a engine!
that's a really nice truck you got there. because of the fact that it looks like you have a clue of what you're doing, i'll go ahead and approve your request to buy a turbocoupe. you have my blessing.
heh the reason i didnt point out the licence plate b/c like you've all said... its done in taste (where other guys hack and weld those frenched in pieces in the most retarded places and angles. if i were to do a cabbed truck (i'd rather take a s10 blazer) i'd get that plexi glass rear window that has a prefabbed bucket for the plate. thats the best licence plate mod except for draggin the rear so bad it bends the plate upward. heh.. turbo ranger, send me a PM about your truck, i've seen it around with your sig, just noticed its boosted.
yes I can drag it, but all our reflectors in ohio are protected by a nice little metal surround, and I havent driven down the center of the road to pick them off,lol
lol wtf? they must do it alot around your area. in ga they're sitting ducks. get a pick of you draggin with 20 foot sparks :D hell make a video where you go from draggin to a wheel stand? ahaha
^yeah well the reason the reflectors are like that is because in the winter time, you constantly hear thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, and look out the window and there goes a snowplow down the road. Thats why these are like that. They use them to know where the snowplow is on the road without breaking all of them. I'd love to start picking off some of them, but I know that it wont work, and as I hit them, the truck will go slamming back into the ground again. Just ask crystal how hard it hits. I bounced her off my seat:D
LMAO, yep, the frame dragging was rough...
Here's his truck at the strip earlier this summer http://media.putfile.com/Ethan--Dragway-42-42807
^^ I love that video, you can hear where it actually decides to hook:mad: