Charles Buzbee's 1957 Ford F100

Owner
Charles AKA Darkman

Description
In the summer of 2000 a friend gave me a 57 F100. It had 272 3 spd and was in fairly original condition. The brakes did not work and the engine ran rough. My son was originally going to do rebuild it but understandably he grew tired of all work and no play. I'm doing a safety/restomod restoration. Mostly subtle mods except for a IFS which I see as a safety issue (brakes and Suspension). I have bought a Mustang IFS front suspension but have not decided on whose IFS kit I will use. I'm building a 245hp 312 from a 57 Fairlane and I am installing the Ford McCulloch supercharger kit. The 3 spd is being replaced by a FordO/CruiseO/FMX hybrid. I will be able to use the factory motor and transmission mounts and will be using all the factory 272 decals. The exterior and interior will remain basically stock except that the truck will be lowered and raked but not a weed scooper. I hope to add a Custom Cab chrome grill and windshield trim if I can find it. The biggest mod I wish to make is redoing the bed rear with a smooth look.

To date:
02-2002 I have stripped the front of my 57 down to the frame and axle. The 312 has been torn down and awaits machining. The Mustang IFS has been stripped and hopefully we will start boxing the frame next.

07-2003 The front frame rails are boxed and the cab is off. All the 57 suspension is off. I have started sandblasting the frame and will be POR15'ing it soon. I plan to install the Mus IFS in Jan 2004

10-2003 Still sandblasting but I did strip the rear end out and start working on dropping the rear. I settled on one inch extended rear shackles and three inch raised front spring hanger. I have one front hanger built and almost through with a shackle. It is a shame that I'm only doing it once since the hard part is the engineering. The leaf springs are torn apart and will be blasted soon. Once they are refinished and reassembled it will be the first part ready for replacement. I still need the poly spring bushings but I have the spring eye bushing ready to install. Remember we are restoring at the speed of a slow sick snail.

02-2004 Big step forward but STILL SANDBLASTING. The IFS cross member is installed. I have one side of the rear completed. I have located a powder coater and will have the front suspension parts done. We also boxed the ear frame section that goes over the axle. This is where the damaged section was and it has been repaired very satisfactorily. I'm ready to finish sandblasting and do the POR15 but as normal there is a problem. I can't find the POR15. I'm ready to order the poly bushings and will do it this week.

06-2006 What can I say. Three hurricanes, a tropical storm, and numerous personal health and family issues brings me half way through year 2006. So here is the lack of update. I have to do all my frame sandblasting over. I never did find the POR-15 that i was looking for in February of 2004. I'm too young to be losing my mind and I'm pretty sure I think I bought it. Since I can't find the POR-15 I did the next logical thing. I changed my mind and ordered Zero Rust paint along with a HVLP paint gun. I also purchased a gallon of Pickle X along with a gallon of Dupont's Pre Cleano. It is the consensus of some people that do this stuff for a living that those three products make a bullet proof finish for the frame. It is also the consensus of some of the people that I am a complete fool. I believe that some of the people are right but I'm not sure which ones that is. There is a some other non work progress. I have purchased the poly graphite front suspension bushings, new ball joints, tie rod ends, front bearings, and grease seals for the Mus II suspension. To compliment that I have had the upper and lower control arms, control arm spindle crossshafts, spindles, springs, and strut rods powder coated. I have purchased new 11" Granada rotors and the 99' - 01' Mustang twin piston aluminum calipers.

07-2006 I had the nuts bolts and washers powder coated last month and discovered that the PC is so thick a wrench no longer fits. ARRGHH!!!!!!!!!!! Also I am tinkering with adapting the aluminum twin piston caliper too the Mus II spindle. It doesn't look like it will be too hard but it definately is not a cake walk. The earlier thought I had of adapting another caliper bracket that uses a Chevy caliper will not work. The ears of the Mustang caliper are too close to the mounting points on the old bracket. This will be solved by rotating the caliper on the new bracket. My present plans are to continue working on the caliper adapter while I finish the rear spring hangers and shackles. I have finished the drivers side so all I have to do is mirror image the passenger side. After the rear suspension is finished I'll have the parts powder coated and then start on the 70' Mustang gas tank install.

7-11-06

07/14/06
I am currently adapting the 99-01 Mustang twin piston aluminum caliper to the Mus II spindle. My work so far has consisted of mocking it up by attaching a piece of angle iron to an engine stand and mounting the spindle to the angle by either the lower ball joint hole or the tie rod end hole. Using the latter hole I decided to install the lower control arm to check for caliper interference. To my surprise I had interference with the rotor touching the very tip of the lower control arm. The contact occurred on the inner circumference of the rotor face about 1/4" into to path that the pads squeeze. Hope that is clear. This totally blindsided me as it is pretty much accepted that there is no interference there. Gdubstub and others (reading previous posts) I know that you at one time had the stock II lower arms on your frame. Did you have this problem? As far as I know a spacer is used only when using GM rotors. I had the control arm in a near level position in relation to the spindle being plumb. That should be where the suspension sets on a fully built truck or car for that matter. Can anyone running this setup look and see how close the tip of the lower control arm comes to your rotor? Has anyone else encountered this or heard of it?

There is a possibility that my problem may lie in the powder coating that is inside the spindle ball joint taper. I haven't cleaned it out yet since I'm just mocking up to build the caliper bracket. I really can't see that cleaning the taper would allow the ball joint to seat that much further into the spindle BUT maybe it would. It appears to be nearly fully seated. The nuts they did for me has so much powder on it that a wrench no longer fits!!! Does any body know the taper on the ball joints. Would using a taper reamer be the eaisest way to remove the powder coat?

07/15/06
I looked at a Chassis Engineering caliper bracket installation manual and under #2 it states that some Mus II lower control arms may have to be bent to fix interference issues with the rotor. If there is a slight chance that something will not fit it is a guarantee when I'm working on it. LOL I'll price the tapers and probably remove the PC too.


07/17/06
I have been studying the NAPA catalogs and have found two rotors that interest me. The first is a 70-73 Mustang. It is only logical that it should fit as Ford didn't deliberately go out of it's way to reengineer the 74 on items they didn't have too. Same bearings and seal and only a little taller than the Granada rotor BUT it is 11 1/4" AND it is thicker than the Granada which is a plus as the 99' caliper was for a 1" thick rotor. The 70-73 Mustang is .944 where the Granada is .888 inches thick. I checked it tonight and it fits the spindle with no problems But it still barely hits the lower control arm. The larger inner diameter of the rotor face did help BUT I still need a little more clearance.

The second is from a 70' Thunderbird and again it has the same bearings and seal BUT it is 11 3/4" and (the bad part)I believe it will require sinking the outer race. I do believe that if it fits the spindle it will not hit the lower control arm. At this point I do not know the thickness yet. I will try to get one tomorrow and check it.

I have one wild card. A 12 1/8 inch rotor off of a 97-02 Ford Expediton. The height is perfect and will not require sinking the outer bearing. It has the same outer bearing but a different inner one. I don't know what the difference is yet. With all that said one person said he tried to duplicate what I'm doing (from Woody's Fairlane site) and it simply wouldn't work due too interference between the caliper and the control arms both upper and lower. I believe that the larger the rotor the better my chances are of adapting the caliper without interference.

07/25/06
Here are the most recent developments.

The 11 1/4" 70 Mustang bolts up but still hits the lower control arm even after I did some delicate massaging of the tip of the lower control arm. The primary reason for this is the increased thickness of the rotor which is a plus but in this situation it becomes a negative due to the clearance issues. After consideration I will not use this rotor. Minimal gain and I never really did figure out how to gain the clearance needed. Possibly an inner bearing spacer that is used on the Mus II spindle when running the GM rotor would solve the problem but it may space the grease seal to far out.

The 12 1/8" Expedition rotor while it is the same height, it does not have the same bearing spacing and the inner bearing would require a special but available bearing. The outer bearing would have to be sunk and I have not been able to find a grease seal that would fit. I'm sure that the grease seal could be addressed by a press in adapter to the rear of the rotor. It probably would require machining to the rotor but if you have to sink the outer you could get it done all at the same time. The final straw here is the 5 x 135 mm bolt pattern. It would probably require a special rear axle to have a matching bolt pattern. A plus is that the rotor would give you the same track width as the Granada rotor. It also has a Big problem that it shares with the Thunderbird rotor and I will address in the next section. Due to the excessive adaptation needed I will not use this rotor.

The 11 3/4" 70-71 Thunderbird rotor is the top contender. It bolts up and uses the OEM bearings and seals. There is STILL some minor clearance issues but I believe they are resolvable. Tonight I need to check were the oils seal rides on the spindle. It looks a little close so I'll check it and report. It will require the outer bearing to be sunk apx. 1/4" and originally I was hesitant to do that but now this project has pissed me off and I realize that I will never drive this truck enough to wear out a rotor so I'm going to continue to concentrate on this rotor and treat it as a Money Pit. Now there is one big problem with it. It is apx 1.15" thick and the 99-01 Mustang caliper was designed for a one inch thick rotor. My solution to this is to mill whatever is required, probably .075, off of each pad. I now that will make them not last as long but I believe I have addressed that. I'll get three sets done at the same time and probably pass them on to whoever inherits this project after I leave this world. No I'm not dying but let's face it I have been working on it for about five years and I still haven't painted the frame and I'm no spring chicken. I think that I can make a jig and do the pads with a router table after all it is just a high speed mill that is up side down and they do make carbide bits for them. I'll try it with an old pad first and see.

07/30/06
Last week I contacted a NHRA licensed top fuel/funny car builder. He said it would be no problem to sink the bearing and that he would do it for about $25 per rotor. I checked the grease seal contact area on the spindle. It does not ride exactly where the OEM Mus II grease seal did but is moved out about an 1/8". It appears to ride in an area that will be fine. If I wanted I could place a .100 shim under the seal to move it inboard to the original location. All in all I feel that the 70-71 Thunderbird is a good choice if you feel you need a little extra brake. While it does require some modification it is not chartering new ground as street rodders have done this modification for years, not necessarily to this rotor, but to other hubs and rotors. It looks like I am close to solving the rotor issue. I'll try to get one machined this week and report back But first I need to make a decision as to how far to sink the bearing. That is the next step. Of course this is just my first step as I still need to build a caliper adapter and check for interference with the suspension. And so it goes forward or as I like to say "Restomodding at the Speed of a Slow Sick Snail"

08/26/06
I haven't quit but I have been a bit tied up lately. I did use the 70 Thunderbird rotor and I did get the bearing sunk for $25. I have installed the rotor and measured runout at .0035. Exceptable but on the edge. Interestingly enough I mounted a new Granada rotor and it had the same runout which is the Ford MAX runout allowed. The difference in the two rotors is the extra 3/4" in diameter. The width of the pad surface is the same which means that the inner open diameter is also 3/4" larger which gives more clearance with the lower control arm. I am now working on milling the pads down a bit which is necessary due to the extra thickness of the Thunderbird rotor over the Granada and the 99-01 Mustang rotor. I consulted with a licensened NHRA top fuel and Funny car builder and he assured me that milling the pads would be fine. I need to remove .075. And so the restomod continues.

This is my ride, and I'd like to edit it.