Pro Touring/Autocross 68 F100

[79 Camaro]

I had a 67 Nova painted with SEM hot rod satin black. The painter said it was a pain to spray to get even coverage. It was a single stage paint. The cool thing was you didn't have to ever wax the car. Just wash and dry. Spot cleaning with Windex.

[Frank ZX]

I had a 67 Nova painted with SEM hot rod satin black. The painter said it was a pain to spray to get even coverage. It was a single stage paint. The cool thing was you didn't have to ever wax the car. Just wash and dry. Spot cleaning with Windex.

I painted my hood with SEM Hot Rod black! This Summit brand satin is identical or atleast it looks to be identical.
Well, my paint job does have a texture. I think I had a couple issues with too much air pressure and holding the gun too far away. Oh well, it was a expensive less but I don't give up easily.
I'll sand it down and spray it again tomorrow.

[79 Camaro]

Mine had some orange peel but not too bad. The cool thing is that I had more positive comments on that paint job than any of my other cars I've done that had really great lazer straight paint jobs.

You know how most people would not actually touch a really nice paint job? So many people would walk up and touch the satin black paint job. Don't know why they just did.

[Frank ZX]

Waiting on the No Limit Engineering chassis and the supercharger (gonna be white).
I got to figure out where to cut the hole for the steering column. I'm thinking higher than the factory location?

[Frank ZX]

I was just informed the valve covers have to be painted white. The supercharger is going to be blue with white stars. Stay tuned;)
The NEW intake is red.

[Frank ZX]

I made a little more progress. I'm working on the steering column now. I moved it up and over a couple inches.
I have the master cylinders almost done.
I painted the valve covers white.
Jason Etter from Department of Boost said he had the supercharger airbrushed yesterday. I can't wait to see it.

[SonomaZ]

That is going to be one heckuva patriotic engine.
I can hear the bald eagles from here.
'MURICA!!

[Frank ZX]

That is going to be one heckuva patriotic engine.
I can hear the bald eagles from here.
'MURICA!!

This whole build has changed up numerous times. The engine colors weren't the original plan but Department of Boost has helped me out alot. Jason suggested the colors and he's supplying the TVS so I'm gonna rock it! Lol

[Frank ZX]

Pedal placement is extremely critical to to me. I've centered the pedals and steering column up but I feel I'm missing a important detail. I'm all ears if someone has any suggestions.

[Sbeck09]

Pedal placement is extremely critical to to me. I've centered the pedals and steering column up but I feel I'm missing a important detail. I'm all ears if someone has any suggestions.

What do you feel like you're missing when you sit in there? I'd make sure that it's easy to Heel-Toe and also verify that you like the height from the floor before locking it down permanently.

From my keyboard it's looking fantastic. And I do like the white valve covers better than red for some reason. Can't wait to see that airbrush job!

[Frank ZX]

Maybe their at the correct height. Where I had the gas pedal and where I'm holding it in the picture is about 5 inches higher than it was.
The pedals are about 3 inches shorter.
The gas pedal is drive by wire and very short throw. The gas pedal doesnt pivot on the pad like some vehicles.
I need to mount it at a angle, off the top or fabricate a stop.

[Frank ZX]

The floor area where the seats mount are a challenge to mount my Corbeau seats. I'm fixing this issue with a new cab crossmember and a flat area.

[Sbeck09]

The floor area where the seats mount are a challenge to mount my Corbeau seats. I'm fixing this issue with a new cab crossmember and a flat area.

Good bit of extra work, but I'm sure well worth it in the end. You making custom seat mounts straight to the floor?

[RobNoLimit]

As we watch Franklin's Effe is going through a huge makeover, I thought I would share the anatomy of the chassis with you. 67-72 Ford are coming on strong, so to keep up with demand, we added these to our lineup last year. After gathering info and buying two trucks, we went though the development stages and into a short run for the first chassis. This is our second short run (5 chassis each) and we only see one or two minor tweeks. (cosmetic). The geometry we got. sometimes there are improvements to be made in rail shape and porting to help with production and assembly.

Rails start in flat form. We use blocking spacers to hold the rail panels parallel. The blocking also adds considerable rigidity to the rail. It is about 250% stronger in 'twist' than a hollow fabricated rail. Then the second panel is added. We have a squaring fixture for this, so that the two panels are aligned and held parallel. Also done in the squaring fixture is the 'banding' process. This is where the top and bottom of the rails is added and tacked. The banded rails then go into a welding fixture that presses the rails flat during the welding process, and finally, it's off to the grinding room to be ground and finish sanded.

[RobNoLimit]

Building a production chassis is not that hard. - But getting to the production point is a mountain to climb for sure. Each piece fits into the chassis fixture and is located with pin holes, clamp locations and spreader bars. The fixture carts are first leveled and locked down, then the corresponding stands are bolted in place. And finally, we can start to add in the chassis components. Most of our chassis are built with "three piece rails". Front, Mid, and Rear. The front and rear are fabricated rails, and the mid rail if rectangle tubing. In this case, 2" x 6" x .188" wall. Believe it or not, we can keep a three piece rail assembly much straighter than a one piece rail. Our goal is to have a finished chassis be +/- .030" at any point. The seam from the mid rails to the front or rear is an overlap on three sides, and a butt weld on the inside. Adding dimension to the weld joint makes it a stronger section than the surrounding rails.

[RobNoLimit]

The X-member goes in next. It is assembled like an erector set, and then drops into the chassis. The X incorporates the Trans mount plat (added later) and is ported for exhaust, as well as fuel and brake lines. Our fixtures also hold in the Rear four bar mounts, cab and core support mounts and front bumper stubs. While in the fixture, things like the Panhard rod chassis mount, Upper Coil-Over mounts and fuel line tabs are also added. One all of the parts are in, there are two rounds of measuring and tightening bolts and clamps. We use a sign-off sheet for every chassis, for each check measurement. And Finally, it gets welded. About 80% of all assembly welding will be done in the fixture before the chassis is pulled. Then it will be flipped over and the bottom side will be finished.

I'll post up some more in the 2019. It's looking like an awesome New Year for this F-100.

[Sbeck09]

This is really fascinating. Thank you for sharing this process Rob! I have always thought the rails were done as one long square tube on each side, not a fabricated piece. Very interesting.

Frank, didn't think it was possible, but now I'm even more jealous and missing my '69.

[2ndroundko]

This is going to be an amazing build. looks like your spending the money where it matters let the guy with the 10k paint job admire your diy tailgate lol.

[Frank ZX]

The X-member goes in next. It is assembled like an erector set, and then drops into the chassis. The X incorporates the Trans mount plat (added later) and is ported for exhaust, as well as fuel and brake lines. Our fixtures also hold in the Rear four bar mounts, cab and core support mounts and front bumper stubs. While in the fixture, things like the Panhard rod chassis mount, Upper Coil-Over mounts and fuel line tabs are also added. One all of the parts are in, there are two rounds of measuring and tightening bolts and clamps. We use a sign-off sheet for every chassis, for each check measurement. And Finally, it gets welded. About 80% of all assembly welding will be done in the fixture before the chassis is pulled. Then it will be flipped over and the bottom side will be finished.

I'll post up some more in the 2019. It's looking like an awesome New Year for this F-100.

This is great news!!! I have the trailer hooked up to my truck ready to pick it up. Lol
I probably can't sleep tonight or tomorrow night for the excitement. I can't wait to pick it up

[Frank ZX]

I haven't been on here in nearly a week. Kinda bummed out my truck isn't ready but now that Rob has shared pictures of the progress, I feel alot better!!
I painted the truck 3 times and it still hasn't turned out like I'd like. I've literally went through a gallon of paint on the cab and enough sandpaper to sand 10 cars. I have a cheap set of FinishLine spray guns and the paint just doesn't look good. I can't get enough paint to come out of the gun. I have adjusted the air pressure from 10psi to 50psi. The paint guns just don't work good. I'm going to buy a better spray gun tomorrow and try again.
I ended up stripping the cab down 100%. I filled the cowl panel and a few more holes in the firewall including the holes where the headlight harness passes thru. I also welded bolts to the firewall to attach the Ford Racing drive by wire gas pedal. That all turned out pretty good.
The other issue I'm having is the Ford Racing control pack.
The fan circuit has a 70 amp relay and a 40 amp fuse. Originally I installed a Ford Performance GT500 upgrade electric fan. Long story short, the fan draws over 70 amps on startup. That burned the circuit board and melted the fan relay to the printed circuit board. Dunne Rite Performance makes the control packs for Ford. Dunne hasn't been heard from and the printed circuit board isn't available but Hopefully Ray at F.P. has found me a new board. In the mean time I unsolidered the relay and soldered wires to the board and Installed a remotely located relay. The relay pigtail was $90!!! from Napa. It has 2 huge pins and 2 normal pins. I found the housing and terminals on Ebay for $36. Cheapest I could find.
I got a Kicker compact sub for Christmas. It weighs 9lbs compared to the 40lb sub and box that was in there.
I welded brackets to mount the sub vertically between the seats.
The floor is done. It only lowered it about 3/4" but its relatively flat now and the cab crossmember is now square tube and ultimately it saved a pound or 2.
I also filled a hole in the dash where the pervious owner drilled a hole.
I'm done rambling now. Lol