For a reminder how it left: Ugly.
And now:
Wow! What a difference! Im glad we decided to sand blast it. There is no way it would have reached this level of clean by hand, or with a sander.
Category: Tear down
The deconstruction of a 1973 Ford F250
The frame leaves home…
The frame is completely torn down, and re loaded on the trailer to go get cleaned up at the sand blaster. The front and rear cross members and the spring shackles were removed, and as much dirt/gunk as possible was removed. Should we deport all that Canadian dirt, or just Annex it?
When next we see it it will be all shiny!
Axles? We don’t need no stinking axles!
Time to pull the axles and springs out. The company doing the sand blasting demand that the frame be completely stripped, and we will be changing both anyhow.
Only a few more things before it can be hauled off to be cleaned.
and now we see the frame.
Once the body was off we were on the hunt for the VIN. We need that to prove the vehicle matches the bill of sale to be able to get it titled in the US.
The guy we bought the truck from had at one point tried to paint the frame and axles, with limited success. Much of where he painted is still bubbling from rust underneath. Seems they just painted over it. Hence sand blasting. Start with a newly cleaned frame, and then we will coat it with Herculiner. But first, where is our VIN number?
It was on the right frame rail top side under the cab. No wonder the guy at the border couldn’t find it dad. 😀 This means we will be able to legally title the truck as it was built. a 1973 F250 Highboy 4×4. WOOT!
VIN F26YCR0279
Decoded VIN:
F26YCR0279
Truck Series Code: F250 4 Wheel Drive
Engine Code: V8 – 360cid – 2BBL carb – 1973-76
Assembly Plant: Ontario, Canada
Build Sequence: R0279
And the cab goes bye bye.
Once the cab was broken loose, it was time to get it off the frame, and see what we have to work with.
Time to strip.
After the engine was removed again, it was time to strip the frame down to nothing, so it can be sent out to be sand blasted. 40+ years of gunk? No thank you.
Block test fit
Test fitting the 460 block with the new engine mounts on the 4×4 frame. Without the fenders and radiator, it almost looks small. 😀
First steps
In July my dad began the process of disassembling the truck working on weekends, when he had the time, and desire to work on it. First thing was to strip down the front nose, so we could install and test fit the 460 block with the new mounts/perches.
Home at last.
Pictures of the truck when it arrived home from Canada. Dad and Mom spent most an entire day to go get it, and bring it home. Had a long wait at the border crossing, and with customs trying to match a VIN to the bill of sale, without success. Bringing back into the US. Dad wanted to be sure we did everything right so it can be titled in the US as the truck it is. A 1973 F-250 Highboy, as they are considerably more valuable than trucks without the “highboy” designation. Of course if you read enough about them, highboy is actually a slang term. See this post.
Pulling it out of the weeds
How Dad found it buried in the weeds.
