The 360M and 390M engines always confused the hell outta me trying to figure out which one I was looking at. I ended up swapping the 390 outta my ole 77 F250 highboy (4" additional lift on 37" super swampers) for a .030" over 429 and never looked back. Great progress btw.

 

fantastic build brother! that truck is going to look bad *** when your done!

 

I finally finished welding away at the bed seem on the passenger side so I got out my grinder and went at it smoothing all the welds then pulled out the metal filler and went to town spreading it on.








It's a great product that I've used on other projects and it holds up very well and is very metal like once it hardens. Also a very good way to smooth out spot welds on sheet metal.






Almost looks like metal to.




had a spot of rust that was a little worse then I first thought so I cut it out and welded in a patch.







The ruffed in body work is done around the seem, so that should do for now. I kinda find myself bouncing around on this project but it keeps it interesting for now....

 

Just read the tread. That's badass what ur doing a lot of work bit it'll be worth it! Looking great so far keep it up and good luck with your build!

 

Lookin great man!

 

Sweet build man, what are your plans for the exterior..color, wheels (if any), etc?

 

I was going to go with a candy apple green and white but I think I'm going to go with candy apple red and white. but I'm sure it will change a few more times before I'm ready for paint. lol As for the wheels the price was right on these 16 x 10 's real cheep ($130.00 for all 4) so I will run them until I can find ones I like better. Thinking about 17" old school cragar style wheels.



The wheels I got for $130



And the cragar ones I'm thinking about.

 

Not been able to work on it much but I did get some work in today (sorry no new pic's yet) I pulled the front end apart for what feels like the hundredth time Glad there’s not much to these old trucks, makes mock-up a lot easier. I cut out the Lincoln motor mounts that I had welded in (not in the correct location) going to try to use 73 460 truck mounts because the 2002 frame is the same width as the 67-72 frames in the front. I also pulled the steering shaft off of the 02 cab, it has a nice slip shaft with knuckles at each end. It's a little long but looks like it can be easily modified, so that should really tighten up the steering for the truck combined with the 02’s steering box. Anyway just a quick update, hope to have pic's soon of the steering and engine progress....

 

Ok so here are the pic's as promised... I got the 460 engine mounts onto the engine and then lowered it into the truck and it looks to be a very close fit for being 30 years apart. With some modifications I think I can make them work.

Drivers side:







Passenger side:





The passenger side is sitting a little low so it's a bit off. I will have to build a spacer to lift it up on that side. Also will need to build a platform for the lower part to sit on as each side is hanging out with nothing to sit on.




As for the steering shaft I was able to get that cut down to a workable size. The stock length was 33" fully extended and just over 24" completely compressed, and the distance from the steering box to the bottom of the steering column was 22". So to make it work I chopped it down.


The top linkage is from the 77 Lincoln, the center part is the steering column shaft from the 02 and the lower slip shaft is also from the 02




I cut the welds that held the lower shaft in the tube and then slid them apart.






I then chopped 5" off the shaft, cleaned it up and then slid it back together.




After that I marked the other end and then cut it of and also made relief cuts to the one end.






with an additional 5" marked I cut it off and also pressed the relief cuts together so that the small end would slid into the tube end. Then just welded it up.
















Did a test fit to see how it looked.

 

No clearance problems that I can see yet. So next I will need to cut the end off of the 72 steering column shaft and using the Lincoln shaft and the other part of the 02's steering linkage I should be able to connect it all up. Because the Lincoln round end fits over the 72's steering shaft and the 02's square end fits in the Lincoln’s other side.