Time and budget estimate for project

[david85]

Power and fuel economy are easy to do, but you will need to turbocharge the engine and swap to a 5-speed transmission. Might also want to pull the engine and inspect the internals while you're at it. Head studs on a 6.9 never hurt either (don't boost over 10 PSI without studs - especially if towing heavy). Cost depends on how much you can do yourself. Body work often requires more than one consecutive day of work due to working time of various protective primers, sealers, and topcoats.

Are you in the rust belt?

If you seriously expect a truck to last another 30 years, a frame off is the only way to really go. You need to completely dismantle the truck down to the bare cab shell (completely gutted interior), and possibly have the rust sandblasted off. POR-15 or other rust converters will never work as well as a good media blasting. Once you have clean metal and a good layer of epoxy sealer down, then you can start the real body work. Anything else, and the rust will come through in a year or two.

I TIG welded all my patch steel but some guys get a small, cheap buzzbox and start learning how to weld while restoring a panel. It usually doesn't end well, with porosity, warping and copious amounts of filler to cover it up. Pinholes will usually rust from the inside out. Unless you're welding something structural, I would actually recommend panel-bond due to better corrosion protection.

Also, realize that even though 1980s trucks had a reputation for rusting out, they actually used a decent amount of galvanized steel. This coating cannot be replaced once you've blasted all the rust away (A competent media blaster will know how to try and spare healthy areas, however). Any scratch in the paint underneath will quickly allow rust to spread faster than when the truck was new. A good quality gravel guard or even bed lining product followed by a yearly under-oiling (NH oil, Fluid Film, etc) is the only way to prevent the underside from rusting out again.

The one good thing is your truck is a regular cab. I had to restore an extended cab, and they are not forgiving if you get it wrong.

You can check out the "tin bashing" thread down on the paint and body forum for some detailed writeups on how I did the body work on my truck. I didn't keep good track of my costs, but I'm probably in the hole for somewhere between 6-9k CAD.

 

[pafixitman]

 

[onetonjohn]

I agree. Power train and suspension come first. I would like to strip and paint a lot of parts to prevent rust while I'm in there. That truck posted above doesn't look like the same truck. Paint is really nice. How is the interior? As nice as the outside?

I'm going to read through the threads you pointed me to and formulate a better plan. Only down side is that some of these things take a really long time to read (I read slow).

 

[laserjock]

I just read though (the first few pages) the Big Red build thread. Great read. I like how the goals were set out early. I also really enjoyed the step by step details about the build and how every system was gone through. I got me thinking of my project and what I'd like to do.

1986 F350 (6.9) 4x4 project goals:
Reliable and mechanically sound enough to be daily driver.
MPG target of 17MPG.
Rust abatement throughout the truck so it lasts another 30 years.
Able to pull 10K trailer up hill at 50MPH (is the possible?).
If that's not possible, it needs to be able to do 60 up hill unloaded (currently does 45) If this isn't possible, I"m starting with another truck.
Able to accelerate to highway speeds on the on ramp.
Solid and last for years (don't want to do it twice).
Drive well, and interior clean and comfortable (so that my wife can drive it and not complain).

Are these realistic?

My plan was to do frame off and fix as I go similar to Big Red build.

Although not a professional mechanic, I am a fairly competent mechanic (just slow) and have a small home shop where I can do the work. My questions are:

If I spend one day a week working on this, with some running errands during the week, what is a reasonable completion goal?

How much money do you think it will take all told? I"m currently just spending few hundred here and there - but don't really have a handle on how much it's going to be long term.

Based on the Big Red build, it looks like you start with the frame and build up from there. This sound right? Any advice on the order would be appreciated (I've never done a large scale project like this before).

I’m glad you have enjoyed the thread. It takes a lot of effort to document the process like this. To be honest, the build thread isn’t for you guys to like or not (no offense). It’s a mechanism for me to have solid documentation of what I’ve done and also helps serve as a motivating tool. It irritates me when my build falls off the front page because I know I’m not making progress. There’s a lot of nuance to my work that may be lost on some but not capturing it in some manner would lead me to a lot of head scratching when a few years up the road I try to remember why or how I did something. I refer back to it pretty often now as people ask questions or if I’m working on something and I don’t quite remember what I did. I’ve been through damn near every nut and bolt on the thing except the long block and the trans. Once I did the math, it made no sense for me to buy all the measuring tools to go through the rotating assembly on something that had ridiculously low compression. I knew there was going to be a fair amount of machine work and it became apparent that once I paid to have it done, I might as well order a long block with a warranty. Justin has said multiple times he doesn’t know how promar does them at that price. Volume discounting I guess. Anyway, if you read further, I did a custom add on turbo in a way nobody else has done. Unfortunately I ended up reversing the cam and spring upgrade because of piston clearance issues (promar didn’t clay it with the cam). So in the end I have a stock studded IDI with a bigger pump and turbo. Nothing real fancy on that front but it should be dead reliable.

To the OP, here are some things I wish someone had told me and/or I had listened too. I found this forum too late. I had pretty much already bought the truck and paid way too much for it. The best advice I can give you to save you time and money is to start with a clean solid truck. This was my big mistake. If you start with a truck that “only has a little rust” it is always much worse than you think. You would be time and money ahead to go out west and get a clean truck to start with. It may cost you $1k in plane tickets and maybe $1k to ship it but I’m telling you it’s money ahead. Probably 75% of my build time and expense revolves around rust repair and abatement. If you’ll notice I’m over 4 years in and I’m still not done. Go search for the cleanest nicest truck you can afford to start with. Next thing is yes, spend money on the drive train over the pretty stuff. I’ll make one more addition there. COMFORT! If it’s not comfortable, you won’t enjoy driving it and your passengers won’t want to ride in it. Put good seats in it (stock or upgrades) and do the work to sound deaden it a bit. Put good shocks on it and consider the RSK to run the super duty springs up front. I probably should have done that but I didn’t want the extra lift.

The general rule of thumb I use is take the amount of time and money I think it will take and double the money and triple the time. That gets you to a starting point that is likely in the same area code that you will get to. I get one day a week to work on my stuff (if I’m lucky) and like you I’m a fair general mechanic but slow. Some things take a lot of research for me but generally there’s nothing I won’t tackle at some level.

I hope that helps.

 

[onetonjohn]

This is very helpful! Thanks. I think I'll double my time budget. I also only have 1 day a week for this project at best. I"m really glad I can run my plan by the forum before I start. I want to make sure I don't end up with a torn apart truck that never runs again that I need to sell at a huge loss to "clean up the yard"

 

[towcat]

Thanks for all the input. I'm thinking around 500 a month for 2 years puts me at 12K. That's a lot compared to what the trucks worth, but a fraction of a new truck. I"m going to check out some of these builds you're pointing out, and then I'll take another pass at what I'd like to do.

don't know if this helps you or not, but I will be stripping down the 1 ton reg cab truck for parts later this summer. i will be non-oping the vin and title. it is a bricknose, imho the interiors are more durable in a brick, but the cab and frame has no rust issues. I will be harvesting the powertrain, suspension, front clip and bed.

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[onetonjohn]

I think your parts truck might be nicer than my project. I'm gonna keep my eyes open for a bull nose that clean like that. The ones I see are hammered.

 

[catbird7]

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I agree. Power train and suspension come first. I would like to strip and paint a lot of parts to prevent rust while I'm in there. That truck posted above doesn't look like the same truck. Paint is really nice. How is the interior? As nice as the outside?

Interior was completely refurbished. Here's before & after.

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[onetonjohn]

That's what I'm talking about! Very nice looking truck for a year and 10k.