1971 Ford F100-Garrett M.
This was my father’s truck. He bought it in 1982 with the original 302 engine and C6 transmission sitting in the bed. It was blown up.
He had a 351C and C4 from a wrecked Torino that he dropped in and drove it for 12 years and put over 100,000 additional miles on it before he parked it in 1995 when he bought a brand new ford ranger.
The truck sat for the next 17 years, being started every few years, until January of 2013 when it was given to me as a high school graduation gift. My first vehicle.
Long story short, I rebuilt the entire engine with my own hands (of course adding some power). It has the Edelbrock power package consisting of a 600cfm performer carb, performer dual-plane intake manifold, and performer-plus camshaft. I also opted for 3/8″ diameter .080″ wall 1-piece chromoly pushrods from COMP cams, as well as heavier COMP valve springs to be sure that there was no valve float with the high-lifting camshaft.
I had trouble finding headers that would fit my Cleveland engine in the 67-72 truck. So I was stuck running the factory log manifolds. But after extensive research, I caught a rumor that mustang headers might fit. So I took a chance and bought a set of long tube headers from hedman headers, spec’d for a 71-73 mustang with the 351Cleveland engine. I had to trim the front crossmember down on both sides, and I built a custom transmission support that the exhaust pipes run THROUGH! But the headers fit without so much as a tweak to them.
After installing the headers, I bought 20ft of 2-1/2″ aluminized tubing and two thrush glasspack mufflers, and I welded up my own custom exhaust pipes, exactly how I wanted them! I must have done good because I get compliments all the time of how “strong” it sounds!
Although the C4 transmission worked flawlessly, it left me needing another gear. So, I bought a remanufactured AOD 4-speed overdrive transmission from a local transmission shop and swapped it out in the course of a weekend. It worked great and was an easy conversion. But, with a 3.00 axle gear ratio, and 31″ tires, I found OD to be a bit on the tall side. I could never drive fast enough to get the engine going. So I swapped out the 9inch 3rd member with one that I rebuilt and setup with 4.11 gears and a billet Yukon traction-loc. That fixed my gearing problem! (And the pathetic one-wheel-peels into traffic!)
This truck is my daily driver and do-everything pickup. I take it off-roading in the deserts and mountains of Arizona, use it for hauling and towing, and have even taken it drag racing… There are many other smaller things I’ve added or modified either out of necessity or for convenience for modern life.
Budget? Who knows. I stopped counting when I passed five thousand dollars….
