The 64 FrankenLinken F-100 *DUW*

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Ok, so its been awhile since I've posted here, and I figure it was time to say hey again. As an icebreaker of sorts, I figured I'd start by revealing the monster that has been taking all my time for the last year and a half or so (off and on).




I'll start by showing a pic of her as she is. Hopefully in a couple days I'll have a few more, as she is approaching "finished."


And now the story;

2 years ago, my buddy and I were looking for the next project for our car-club. Preferably something I could drive to the car shows we frequent during the warm months. The only problem being, we are a VERY low budget group, so finding something that was already half "done" wasn't really an option. Then one afternoon, driving down a backroad near our shop, we spotted a rusty old 64 F100 sitting in the grass with a for sale sign on her. We called the number listed, and found that it had no motor, no trans, the rear was locked up, but the chassis and suspension was all there and stock. The interior was a mess, but all the glass was intact. And best of all, it had a clear title!.



This is her the day we brought her home. From this angle she don't look all that bad.


Just a little rough looking


The cab on the day we brought her home


Another cab shot


I fell in love with this instrument cluster.


The end of the first days work

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Next up, was to clean out the cab, and see how bad the floor and mounts were. From under the hood, we could tell the front cab mounts were "questionable" at best.



I started on the Drivers side. It seemed everywhere I hit with the wirebrush, the hole just got bigger. So out came the cut wheel...

http://www.astromonkey.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=35609

The Passenger side wasn't QUITE as bad




And then in with new sheetmetal..



And then brandy-new cab supports from LMC

Driver side...

http://www.astromonkey.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=35639

And passengers

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Sorry for the size of these pics. I didnt realize how huge they would be.

Anyways. So here we are, about a month into the project, the cab has a solid floor, new front cab mounts, and we still don't have a drive line. And here is where the beast got the nickname "FrankenLincoln".

My buddy was on Ebay one afternoon, and so a posting for a 77 MKv with the 460 and a c6, for 800 bucks. Had the 4 wheel disc breaks, and a 9 inch, so we decided to take a trip to Easton to get it. When we get there, the kid who was sellin it, present us with a zip lock bag full of receipts for all the work done to the motor and trans. Parts totaling well over 4 grand!! Its a TCI Streetfighter trans with all the trimmings, almost the entire Edlebrock Performer top end kit, including Intake, roller setup, cam.,,etc. A brandy-new Holley 4160 carb, MSD ignition. I mean this thing was decked out!

And the best part, it still drove. The rear was fixin to take a shite, the gears whined like an old jewish spinster (no offense meant). But she made it home, and we began to hypothesize how we were going to transplant that motor, trans, and rear into the F100.

After about 2 weeks of futzing, a flash of inspiration struck us. And off we flew with tape measures in hand. It turns out, the wheel-track, and frame width of the Lincoln, was only 1 inch wider than that of the trucks. And the length, from firewall to wheel-center, was virtually identical. It was at this time, that we decided that instead of just buying custom crossmembers, motor-mounts, etc, only to have a 460 in a solid axle drum brake truck, that we'ld just go ahead and swap the whole front frame over!

And so this leads me to the next big phase.. known amongst us as.. The Death of a Lincoln...

Nosed in under her own power for the last time.


mmm 460 goodness


Dismantling the front clip. Thats me arguing with 3 year old rusted fender mounts.


I saved what I could, cuz damn she has a slick interior.


This was our "are we sure about this" moment


Out she comes.


It was 93 degrees that day, and we felt like safari hunters who had just bagged an elephant.

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Next up, was the frame separation. And the rather indelicate disposal of the remains of the lincoln.


A nudge towards the executioners axe.. or in this case, SawZall


No Muss, no fuss. Literally took us 5 minutes to do, after an hour and a half spent unhooking every line and hose, etc.


When I showed up the following weekend, my buddy had already begun the destruction of the Linc. This is him. Our proverbial leader.


Rick-shaw anyone?


Now this one I feel I need to explain. After removing the front 2/3rds of the vehicle, we remembered we still wanted to pull the rear out. I suggested setting the rear hunk on jack stands and doing it the civilized way. But as the midday heat set on us, our minds sought a more immdeiate and less strenuous way to get at the rear. So we positioned the back chunk with the open end facing my buddy's Ram pickup, threw the tow-chain up over the Lincs rare, and wrapped it around the bumper. As my friend tensioned the chain, I tilted the body forward so the floor edge dug into the ground.At this point he threw the truck into 4wd, floored the gas, and the entire section of car stood up on its open face, and then crashed down onto its roof. This pic was take immediately afterward. The bumper was torn loose in the process, and lays where it landed.

[HerMajestysMechanic]

If anyone has a way for me to re size these images, I'd be much obliged. These are hosted on our groups website. But I don't think anyone shrunk them down before posting them to our gallery.

[70torino429]

sweet truck and keep up the good work. it sure looks like its coming along.

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Much to my chagrin, we didn't have a camera handy for the next segment. This is where we "z'" the Lincoln's frame and welded it onto the trucks. We then boxed all around the joined arear, for strength. Then it was time for the motor to go back onto its original mounts.



Then, with a little creative modification of the F100's inner fenderwells, we put the front clip back on.


By this time we had also removed the old brakcets and perches for the coil spring setup on the lincolns rear, and welded on perches for the trucks stock leafs.





These last pics were taken 3 months before the first pic in the first post. And lead to another dead area of pics. During the following 3 months, we shortened the front horns and welded in brackets for the bumper/core support. We shortened the steering column, wired in an EZ wire harness, re plumbed the brakes to add a brakelight switch, added dual 2.5" exhaust that exits in front of the rear driverside wheel, and reinstalled the bed. That was last June. Now, 8 months later, we have finished wiring in all the dash components, added a bench seat out of an early 80's chevy pick-up, shortened and refabbed the steering column, added a new floor shifter, and are in the final stages of gettin the truck ready to be inspected. I'm hoping to take some more pics this weekend, to show where its at now. This thing is gonna be a beast.

[87gtVIC]

very nice...a shame you had to destroy that Lincoln, but ....looks like you had fun doing it.

[HerMajestysMechanic]

I had a lot of remorse for what we had to do to that Linc. Trust me. But if you could see the body alone on her, it was was too bad to be worth diving into. Especially in-light of a 64 project truck. Besides, I tell people I'm keeping her spirit alive heh. As for the demolition.. it was way too much fun. A sawzall in the hands of an untrained monkey, can be a retarded amount of entertainment.

[Pirate]

Holy crap, that truck body is hammered with rust. I'm really enjoying seeing the project come along, but I can't help but wonder if I couldn't find a better body to work with, say from a 3/4-ton truck or something....I'm not saying scrap the project, but simply find something needing a lot less bodywork.

[87gtVIC]

body doesn't look horrible from the ice breaker picture in flat black.

[HerMajestysMechanic]

believe it or not, 80% of the rust is only surface. As for the actual holes, anything that can't be cut out and replaced, is being welded shut. I made myself a couple of neat lil copper "wands" that I can use to weld in the open holes. Then just grind, use a skim coat of bondo to shape, and presto, no more rusto. The drivers side fender is pretty beat, but we have the replacement from LMC in the shop. Just haven't had time to install it yet. We already welded in new cab corners. She looks MUCH better now than in most of those pics.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Excellent project! I can't wait to see more. Bet it's a real nice change fromt he ol' straight axle, that's for sure!

[Fordman75]

Looks like a great project. It looks like your 64 was in better shape body wise then my 54 was in when I got it. Looks like you've put a lot of work into the 64! I bet it's going to be a fun ride with the 460!

It looks like I'm not the only one that likes the sawzalls! My favorite past time is cutting up vehicles with my sawzalls.


For the pictures get a photobucket account. That will let you post thumbnails of the pics with links to the fullsize pics. http://www.photobucket.com

[TomO]

Man, I love those wheels on the Lincoln donor car! I haven't seen very many of those. What mounting bolt pattern are they? Guessing 5 on 5?