Where to start on a restore?

I'm sure there's a good guide/post out here somewhere on a good path to take on a restore, but I'm struggling to find it. We have a mid 70's Ford F100. It sat outside in AZ for 30 or so years. It's solid, but needs a complete restore. My wife and I want to take this restore on and do as much as we can ourselves. Probably just farming out the painting. We just have no idea where to start the process. Can anyone point me in a good direction to start?

Brakes
Steering
Drivetrain

Get it running and driving first, drive it for a little while to make sure you fit in it and that you don't absolutely hate it. Then start taking it apart to restore.

We had a customer, pining for the TR6 that he had in college. We found him one, bought it for him, had him come to the shop to test it out.

It didn't drive like his new M3, was cramped, heater sucked, generally operated like a British car.

The memories were way better than actually having it.

He had us sell the car and bought something he liked a lot better.

Don't put a lot of money, time and effort into a project you'll hate when it's done.

Both answers are great so far.

My addition is what you are trying to do. Come up with a plan.

1. get it stopping/running/safe.

2. see if you like it.

3. figure out how deep you want the rabbit hole.

4. 1.5x rabbit hole=safe bet. 

5. enjoy.

In reply to ShawnG :

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I drove a wagoneer recently that was the same year I drove in college and loved. It was no fun as an adult. AC was weak, steering was vague, and the experience was something I wouldn't want to live with. 

Know you like it before you restore it. Things like AC and modern brakes are a big thing that cost good money to retrofit.

Also, look at the overall cost vs buying one already done. That is a big thing. A quality paint job is not cheap and interior work adds up quick. A solid grade 2 for an F100 is not that expensive. Hagerty is showing it in the 35-45K range based on the trim with short box regular cab big blocks in the 45K range and the small block short beds closer to the 35K range. 

In reply to bmw88rider :

Yup. I used to see the bills we gave to customers. 

Chrome bill, $11k

Paint, $20k a gallon of quality paint is $300 now. Block sanding takes time.

Leather interior, $20k (all-cow headliners aren't cheap).

This was on award winning restorations but doing it half-assed costs almost as much.

1.)  Make it run.

2.)  Make it safe.

3.)  Make it pretty.

When I did my '52 Dodge, I was all over the place; one day on a fender, one day on the bed, OY!  My friend Greg was a body man, now an auto insurance investigator; he suggested one thing at a time.  Do a fender 100%, set it aside.  Do the hood, set it aside, next thing you know there's progress.

Peter Egan once said: "What have you done for your project today?"  Even if it's only a phone call, once it slips to the back of the garage you're on a slippery slope ......

Most of what I would say has already been said, but I will add this: once you have made the "is it worth it vs. buying a nice one" and "will I really like it" decisions, start with rust repair. The first car I put together, I restored everything else first because I hate doing bodywork. The result was a car that was mechanically great but was worth nothing, looked pretty gross, and was generally depressing for me to look at. I ended up getting discouraged enough that I tried to sell it....and couldn't for any halfway reasonable amount of money. Had to part it out. 

Fixing rust and damage first gets you "over the hump" and really ensures you have a solid, worthwhile base to work with. I'm not saying do all the paint and everything first, just make it solid.

Thanks for all the insight so far. This truck belonged to her parents when she was a child, so we're absolutely in on getting it back to shape from when she was a child. It's currently the 3rd vehicle for us, so it'll eventually just be a occasional fun weather driver. It's going to take some pondering on the order of operations. We know the ride and handling will be poor in comparison to a modern vehicle. That's fine for what it'll be and what it means to her. I'm hoping we can get going on it as the infamous R63 thread i've been rereading has motivated me that we can take the project on. 

Have a great day!

Lots of pictures , maybe even video , maybe get a project camera with SD card 

take notes when you take something apart , tag it  and make notes of what goes where , wiring etc and put in clear plastic bags , 

if this is going to be a years long project you are going to forget things !

Good luck

In reply to arehm :

That's cool it is a family piece. Don't let nostalgia lead you to bad financial decisions. Honestly if the body is AZ clean, then patina and a clear is a quick way to preserve the body till you want to do the whole repaint. I find a weathered truck that is not rusty better looking than a repaint. 

Mechanicals first to get it running and driving then slowly work from there based off what annoys you the most. 

The first step is to try and talk yourself out of doing it. Automotive restorations are a lot like deciding to have a kid; no logical reason to do so, and yet we do.

Humor aside a car restoration is a "project" and like all projects you need to start at the end. Decide what you want to have at the end and then go back and backfill the task and budget list to get there. Don't just think that you know and start in on it, write it down  and post it on the shop beer fridge or other shop altar. Its easy to forget what you set out to do when in the heat of battle.

Calendar time is the killer. It is easy to launch into a project but keeping the momentum/focus over years of time is hard. It takes 1000 hours of your free time and spread over week-ends that is calendar years. A lot of life happens in the middle.

A full blown restoration of anything is going to eat many thousands of dollars and leave you way upside down when you sell at any point. A well bought finished vehicle might cost you a chunk of change up front, but chances are you will get most of your money back when you sell; so free truck.

Post some pics of what you have to start with  and what you want to end up with and I am sure that the enablers here can help you put a plan together.

Edit:

The advice of driving the truck before you start is good advice.  I seldom like what I build. 

Loved the whole process of building this truck. A few miles was enough to convince me that I would never be comfortable

This one was beautiful. Everything done in house including paint and snake quick. Got a lot of attention. Not for me. Two laps of the block and away it went.

The Bugeye was my first restoration starting with no skills and no tools. I taught me a lot and one of the things it taught me was that your first restoration teaches you how to do the next one properly! So off it went.

My '66 Datsun was a California car with two resprays before I got it.  I would joke a paint chip was 1/4" deep with the many layers of paint and bondo.  Not a show car but I had a lot of fun driving it.  

Life was busy so I sold it to a body guy that wanted a cool car for his wife as she worked for a Nissan parts warehouse in the Chicago area.  He drove it home and immediately tore it apart to restore it back to the original color/interior.  Barely drove the car. 

Fifteen years later he's not finished and offers it to me but I didn't have the cash.  Then it went to an auction site.  The buyer ended up getting the wife a Mustang convertible and never drove the roadster.  (You can see it next to the garage)

My plan is to enjoy my Z this summer and not work on it for years before I drive it. 

Blue was the 3 layers of paint - white is the restoration project. 
 

Have you checked the Classic Motorsports website? The link is at the bottom of the page. They've done some pretty thorough restorations, and the project car logbooks might give you a pretty good idea of the flow of a project without being too lengthy. They're editorialized posts, so they don't ramble as much as a build thread might. The Typhoon is particularly good.

Check out this page from Classic Motorsports.

https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/?topic=13&keyword=&filter=Search

Restore?

  Well that really depends, partly based on how bad it currently is and how good you plan it to be?  How much time and money do you really want to spend on it?

    Yes you really should determine how much you will really like the vehicle when done.  Like others have said, I am sure there are many stories out there of finished projects that were sold at a great loss.

     I did a lot of work on a Maserati Biturbo, fixed or improved a lot of stuff.  Bought tools and relearned or developed some skills, so it can be considered a positive experience, but it was sold soon after it was good enough to really use.  It was basically replaced with a Mini Cooper.  The Mini Cooper is not as special, but parts are a simpler issue, it is good fun and kind of practical, only car I have ever had with heated seats. 

     When I was done with that Biturbo, I am sure it ran better than when new, much better.  But I just wasn't really sure what to do with it, with the Mini, it's different, the Mini is great fun and it can be replaced.

    The current car market is great, anything you get attached to, there are at least a dozen options.

I'll add that getting it running and driving first is probably the best bet.  That way, you can enjoy it while restoring it. It's a truck, so it's OK that it may not look pretty at first.  If you're looking on what to start on first, maybe watch a few "first start from a barn" type of videos.  Do the fluids, ignition, etc on the engine and see if it'll even run.  Once you have it running, move to the transmission and figure out if it'll move.  Next would be the brakes so you can stop it once it's running.  If the motor runs but needs a rebuild, you can look for a different motor to rebuild over time and eventually swap in, and still be able to enjoy the truck.  Or, swap a good used motor and restore the original if numbers matching is important.

From there, decide on if you want to start inside and move out.  Maybe do the interior first, getting the cabin nice while you're still driving it and do the outer later.  Or, start from the bottom and go up.  Once the running gear is sorted, work the suspension, chassis, etc.  Then maybe the bed, then the doors, then the front.  Eventually getting to the inside.

Money can be a big factor.  So, keep an eye on when you'll need something and plan for buying it.  Don't buy a bunch of stuff ahead of time that you may not use for a while.  For example, if the tires are shot, maybe look at a used set just to get it driving. 

Finally, you may decide that having a good running truck that's not pretty is appealing.  I have a buddy with a number of VW buses.  All of them run like swiss watches and he drives them all over the country.  But, he hates bodywork, so they're all rusted, patina'd and multicolored.  There's some appeal to that and I could see a similar thing applied to the truck.  Kinda like keep the scars and dents it earned from her parents, but still being a reliable nice truck to drive.

-Rob

How about some pictures of this sweet ride?

Here are some photos. It's very solid. Any rust you see is light surface. Sorry for the photo delay. We always seem to have more life happening than spare time. Open to any additional suggestions. I'm liking the idea of make it roll, make it start, make it stop, fix all other bits involved with moving. Also many thanks to all who have commented. I appreciate your time. 

   I would give the bed a heavy coat of por-15, then a good coat of some sort of bed liner, to preserve it.

    Paint, it's a old truck, you can make it look a lot better, without spending a bunch of money.  I would look at the paints that summit sells, sold by the quart, if they have something similar to the original blue, you could buy one quart, work one panel at a time.  Doing a complete "proper" paint job, is a huge job, but over a weekend you could repair/prep/paint one panel.  If the results are good, the improvement will encourage more progress.

    Looks like a good project learn how to do stuff.

 We always seem to have more life happening than spare time. 

Going to go back to what I said before. Start at the end by deciding what you want this to be when you are done. We are full of good ideas but they are not yours.

Because a "restoration" in the classic sense is going to eat 1000+ hours and 50k of your budget, I would consider not going there.

If you want a cool truck to drive that gets a lot of attention, I would look at leaving the body alone as much as possible. Focus on drivetrain, brakes and tires. 

I am not a huge fan of "Rolling restorations" as you learn to hate the car before it has a chance. Make a long list of what it needs to be safe and reliable and do that before you start driving it.

"We always seem to have more life happening than spare time."

Big red flag to me........this means it will never get done or probably even started - by you at least.

The truck looks great as it is, send it to a shop and have it gone thru mechanically - getting it running and driving, then see if you want to go further. Me - I would leave the outside alone......

That just looks like a good, honest truck.

Wash it, wax it so the rust slows down a whole lot, get it running and safe and drive the whee out of it.

I preface this with the knowledge most of what I am about to say is the same as what has alrteady been said:

I agree, leave the outside alone. Maybe use some Sweet Patina on the outside. But get it running and driving, then decide how to proceed. Remember, this is an old truck. It will drive and ride like an old truck. The twin I beam suspension has its pros and cons. They used it up until I believe 96, so it isn't a terrible design, but it won't handle like a newer truck. a LOT of people swap out the front suspension with a Crown Vic front end, but that is pretty involved.  Does it have power steering and power brakes? if not, that upgrade would be high on the list. I plan to upgrade my 77 F150 to a hydroboost setup. There isn't an OD in it, that could also be an issue, depending on what you want to do.

I will also 100% agree with after it is running and driveable, and if you decide to keep it, to decide what you want the finished outcome to be. Do you want to use it like a truck, weekend projects etc. or just a nice old truck to enjoy? Do you want it as original as possible, or do you mind doing upgrades to make it safer and more usable, or will that ruin the nostalgia? How you feel NOW may not be what you end up deciding on once its running. Unfortunately, for some, the memories are better then the realities. Then again, maybe just having it, despite all its "shortcomings" compared to a modern vehicle will be enough

Make a list of what YOU see it needs, then look at LMC truck, NPD, Classic industries etc and look at prices of parts. It looks fairly straight. But door window weather striping will mostly likely baked. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, look into a way to secure the hood!!!!! it is TOO easy to break into these trucks, jump the solenoid, and drive off with it! I could break into most and start them with just a butter knife 

Thank you for the pictures.

There is a F150 running around town where I Iive. They just red Scotched Brighted it and cleared it. Bare metal,red paint and rust all shinny and new looking. Sounds and looks nice. It drove right past me the other day and did not snap a picture of it.