My F-100, A work in progress

[burkbuilds]

WW, you asked for some pics of my 1981 F-100, so I figured I could at least post what I've done to date, although I haven't really touched the paint yet and it needs to be taken all the way down and re-painted.

I have restored the interior, except the seat. I just can't find that exact vinyl and I've search and I know what it is, just doesn't seem to be available anywhere so far.

I've also got the drive train in pretty good shape. Some chrome do dads and a new Ofenhauser Intake and 4 barrel Edelbrock carb plus new dual exhausts. I need to completely replace everything in the AC system, but that will have to wait for a while.

About the only exterior part I've worked on is the front end. I replaced the front bumper, put new chrome bezels around the headlights and painted the grill.

Well, here's a taste of what I've got done so far.

[Water Warrior 2]

Absolutely beautiful the way it is. If we lived closer together I'd try to talk you out of it. I just mght anyway.
A big 6 with a split exhaust always sounds awesome with the right mufflers. I'd love to drive the truck. Just put the shifter in "D" for dummy and pressure lightly on the skinny pedal. My kind of truck.
Thank you BB for the pics.

[burkbuilds]

Thanks WW, I really enjoy the truck and it does have a nice deep throat sound from the exhaust. Inline 300 6 cylinder, C-6 Automatic Transmission and a Ford 9" rear end. The truck has less than 70,000 miles on it. This one was built the same month and year I graduated from high school. I looked on and off for several years expecting to have to restore an old rustbucket with a couple hundred thousand miles on it, so I was very pleased to find this one. I've got the paper trail back to the original owner, and army guy stationed at Redstone Arsenal for over 20 years. He only put 44,000 or so miles on it and then it was sold to a retired chief of police in a small town in middle Tennessee and he used it to tow his pontoon boat back and forth to the lake for the most part. It had a camper top on it that protected the bed, so no rain ever hit it until I removed that top. It was covered the week after purchase and bolted on, I'm pretty sure I was the first to remove the top.

When I bought the truck a couple of years ago I replaced the brakes, packed the wheel bearings, changed the rear end dope, installed new Universal joints on the drive shaft, flushed the transmission and added a larger chrome pan to it. Then I installed a new radiator, thermostat and hoses, new front shocks, of course I changed the oil and filters but nothing major was wrong with the truck. The inside required a good cleaning, I also pulled the floor vinyl , touched up the paint under the mat and put in a new vinyl floor. Replaced all those little light bulbs in the instrument cluster and painted the door vinyl and installed a dash cover. A little touch up chrome pin striping on some of the dash lettering and that's about it inside. The seat vinyl is in good shape except for a 3-4" tear on the drivers side, but it's 30+ years old and getting brittle. It had an old saddleman cover on the seat when I bought the truck and I put a new one on it. Maybe one day I'll find some NOS vinyl that matches, but if that's the only thing I have to compromise on as far as restoring it to OEM condition then I will be okay with that.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sure sounds like a keeper. I AM ENVIOUS !! A lot too.