Thread: 1964 Ford F100

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Thanks guys. We're pretty happy with the results too.

Unfortunately, for the truck, Nick and his wife have sold their house and are currently "homeless" (staying with her parents) as their new place won't be finished until August. Most of their stuff is in storage, but I got custody of the F100 until then. Its sitting under an RV cover with my VR project.

The good news is that instead of being almost an hour away, the new place is 5 minutes from us. Nick and I are looking forward to having assistance so close.

Before vacating the old house, we were able to rebuild the front and reassemble the rear suspensions, then roll her onto a trailer. While she's here we'll try to get the steering back together.

Truck update:

I have ordered an installed brand new sway bar bushings and end links, reconnected the strut bars with new bushings, new grease in the ball joints and new bearings and rotors. We have reinstalled the old steering pieces to make moving it around easier. I also installed new shocks.

Hopefully only one more week until we will have it back in a garage and not out in the elements. I have started to consider engine options for the truck. I debate between a 5.0 L 302 or the 351.
I went to a pick and pull and found a 66 ford with a 352 and manual transmission. I feel like it could be a good option, but am not very familiar with the 352. This truck also has a solid roof which I am considering cutting off to help fill in the hole where my very stylish sun roof sits. It has the same lines as well as the support piece which run along the under side(mine is cut). Does anyone have any advise on these ford engines or experience working with them and would like to share any pros and cons with me?

Thanks

Nick has been trying to post updates, but for some reason his account has been disabled by admin. Don't know what that's all about. So Nick has asked me to post an update for him.

The truck is still at my place, as Nicks house is not quite finished.

His goal was to get the steering back together so that the move would go smoother than when we brought it here. The old rotors were warped and for some reason had mismatched studs, so he bought replacements along with all new bearings and fastening hardware.

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New sway bar links and bushings.

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Strut rod bushing kit installed.

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As for the steering, all the old components were cleaned up and reinstalled just to get the wheels pointing and rolling in the same direction. New components will be coming down the road.
After greasing all the new ball joints, she's literally ready to roll.

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Now that she's a roller, Nick's turning his attention to engine and transmission choices. His original plan was to build a 400hp 302/5.0 using the method found here: 400 Horsepower 302 - Short Block Assembly - FordMuscle
So we wandered around the local PicknPull and found several Mustang GTs with the right stuff for the build.
Just for fun, we decided to look through the trucks as well. And what did we find? A 1966 F250 complete with a 352 and manual transmission. And as a bonus it has the roof and internal support brace to fill in that god awful sunroof. It's rusted through at the drip rails, but the rest looks to be clean and dent free.

So... does anyone have experience with the the Ford 352? Pros? Cons? Is it worth pulling with the old tranny? I'm not familiar with it at all.

Originally Posted by Fauxre

So... does anyone have experience with the the Ford 352? Pros? Cons? Is it worth pulling with the old tranny? I'm not familiar with it at all.

My 66 F100 had a 352/cruise-o-matic in it when I got it. I drove it that way for 3+ years. It ran decent, lots of torque but always 8mpg. Some love the old FE engines. I was happy to toss mine in favor of a fuel injected 5.0HO/AOD from a '92 Mustang. I more than doubled the gas mileage, raised the horsepower, though it doesn't have as much torque but I don't miss the 352 at all! My 5.0 is basically stock except for the Explorer GT40 intake, 70mm MAF, 65mm throttlebody, and JBA shorty headers. It would be fun to spice it up a little....someday. The curb weight of the shortbed truck is within 200 lbs of the Mustang convertible so, other than different aero-dynamics, performance specs should be comparable.

So, if you're asking for opinions, I'd leave the 352 where it is and move on to your 5.0 idea...or better yet, a Coyote 5.0!!

Also, if your attraction to the 352 is based on some inner desire to make the truck seem more "original", the 352 wasn't available in the Ford trucks until 1965 along with the introduction of twin-i-beam suspension. The V8 offered in '64 was a 292.

I'll echo R2 and his opinion. Either the 5 point oh, or better yet - Coyote!
If you go with the 5 oh, stroke it to 347 for the added torque, it'sa hoot! LOL.

Looks like Nick is back. His original update (#47 above) finally posted today.

Long time since last post. The F100 has been apart for quite sometime. I have made the decision of going with a 347 stroker motor and debating between the TKX or magnum 6 speed. Due to COVID my motor has taken longer than expected to complete so I’m still waiting.

I installed a 4 link rear suspension and have really dived deep into welding and doing everything myself. I ended up finding a a matching roof in a local pick and pull and used it to replace that weird bubble top sun roof. Unfortunately, it was my first major attempt at welding a patch and warped it badly, which lead me to diving deep into body work techniques to fix it. I’m happy to say I think I have brought it back into an acceptable state to move on.

I also moved the gas tank from inside the cab to one in the back of the bed and welded the gas tank hole in the cab.

I’m wondering if anyone has had any success with adding/adapting electrical power steering to the older steering set up without changing to rack and pinion steering? I’d be really interested in hearing what people have done. Thanks for all the advice and I hope to get back to posting more often.8A659861-3F4D-427E-8AFB-7A56425D0AB8.jpgF9FD2E3D-A7CF-4B62-9DEC-19CB992C9F2B.jpg8C2B2186-3DC9-4E40-9B6F-CB1A92EA7B61.jpg0C7BEAB8-C878-4A49-9D30-1971A41D4FBF.jpg2E64C70F-5142-47CE-8FD2-CCF152A094EB.jpg

This is like old home week. LOL... Sorry the motor isn't back yet, but it'll happen I am sure. Looks like you've been very busy anyway, that top must've been a bear to pull off since it was your first. But it seems to be coming together nicely. Thanks for the update and the pics!

The rack will need to be changed, cannot be adapted. Put a manual rack in the wife's 32 truck, was not the right choice.


She's fine with it I'm not a fan.


Jumping back reread the post, cannot delete this.



Seeing you want electric steer ........ so never mind

Nice job saving that frame. It should really have a nice ride with that Lincoln front end.