Well it all started about 2 months ago when I picked up my first diesel truck. A 97 F-350 XL, cclb, 2dw, auto, with 185,000 miles for $1500. :thumb:
It's far from perfect, but its my baby. I'm planning on tearing it down and rebuilding it with intent to make it my daily driver. Ill try to keep this thread updated as much as possible, but im only 17, and funds are limited so this might take awhile. :doh:
That's looks like a tall task for someone so young, but it will be fun. Will it drive as it sits? What are you plans for the truck, mods or simply building it back to factory?
Thanks for the input guys! Yes, the truck runs and drives. Mechanically the truck is in near perfect shape. The only thing that worries me is the transmission. Out of the two times that I have driven the truck I've noticed that the automatic trans shifts VERY hard. I'd really like to swap to the manual zf5 trans, but I'm not sure if I could handle the job. Pics of the new bed and gutted interior will be up tomorrow. - Adam
Nope, I'm gonna worry about the interior after I get the truck back from getting bodywork and paint. I'm gonna need to buy most of the interior parts new because most of the stuff that came in the truck is trash as you can see in the pics. :doh:
Haha I feel ya! Luckily I haven't had to buy anything new. Everything that I've needed so far I've been able to find on craigslist locally.
I think the only thing that I will be buying BRAND new will be the carpet. :thumb:
As promised here are the pictures of my gutted interior, new (to me) bed and some other goodies, enjoy!
First up, the truck bed. (not installed, just resting on frame)
The missing interior
The doors
The fender
I found some rust preventive paint called por 15 that I'm gonna coat the frame with before I bolt the bed down
That would be awesome, but I don't think it's possible for two reasons: 1. I'm sure they would need alot of fabrication to get them to fit correctly and I have very limited metal fabricating tools. :doh: 2. I think I would have a hard time getting my hands on a decent set.
Looks pretty good so far and dont be afraid to pull out that dash cluster and clean it off, mine was maybe a little dirtier. Good luck with the rig tho
Id love to, but no. I don't think so because the doors I bought are manual and I have no clue how to add a power accessory to something that didn't have it originally. :dunno:
Just read the fuse door and add wires where missing for them, if you pull them from the junk yard and get the harness out of the truck too it should work perfectly. A lot easier than you would think. Hell if you can stop interior like that it should be pretty easy for ya.
alright then, ill probably just stick to manual. I paid $100 for those manual doors and now I'm stuck with em' If I would have known it was that easy to swap for power then I would have bought a set of power doors :doh:
Your Manual doors, and Power doors are identical. Its a matter of swapping internals. Goto a JY and find a beat up, rusted set of power doors so you can get them dirt cheap, and take them and gut the internals, then put them in your nice manual doors. Swapping in power is a matter of plugging the harness in, at least for the front two doors. The rear doors I know nothing about.
We've done about 2 or 3 trucks now. Made them Power locks and windows.
The truck has all the wiring in the dash, just plop a fuse in the fuse block, and run the harness in from the Drivers door to the Kick panel where it taps into the dash harness, and then the Drivers door, across the dash to the passenger door.
Its very simple actually.
Either way, Very nice start! You might as well pull that dash out and clean everything. Flush out the heat/ac vents, and re-seal them, then put sound deadener on the firewall. Youve got it that far apart. lol
That sounds pretty convincing actually, If I can find the parts cheap enough, I'll go for it :woot: Thanks for all the help, I'm almost positive that I'll have more questions for ya
You have to remove the rivets that hold the power stuff on the door. Punch the center pin of the rivet out, then drill the aluminum rivet head. Use 1/4" bolts, or buy new rivets and a rivet gun (not cheap) and rivet them into your manual doors.
It sounds harder than it is.
The hardest part is the wiring, since you have to remove the top of the dash to get the wiring out (8 bolts, remove them, and pull the dash away from the windshield a little to get the harness out)
The harness that runs to the passenger door is part of the drivers door harness, so when you harvest the doors, DONT CUT ANYTHING. The plug is grey, and in the drivers kick panel, then the passengers is grey, and in the passenger kick panel.
Your descriptions are spot on, I just have a hard time visualizing it. :crazy: It looks like I'm making a junkyard trip this weekend. I guess I should form a list. Will any obs power doors work?
92-97 f150-superduty and bronco's. All of it works, back door I'm not sure about either, kause I've yet to take mine apart, but if you only make the front ones power than you can use most any driver door panel for the switches.
Yeah, I think 96+ were the only rear doors that were power, so your better off just leaving the fronts power, unless you find everything you need for the rear.
But, if your only doing the front two, anything 92-96 any cab config. will work. BUT, make sure you get it from one that does NOT have keyless entry. The box will be above the gas pedal, and will say its Keyless Entry. The whole wiring harness is different for those trucks that have it.
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