Base Model F100 Gets 800HP GT500 Swap | Before & After

This was our 1971 F100 short bed. Finally, at that concluding point, GT500 5.2 rated at 760 horse on the factory car. I've tested it out, he's tested it out, and we haven't managed to break the truck yet. So I said, is this possible? Can we do this? Took a couple days and they called back and said, yeah, we think we can do it. I said, it's a lot of fun. So yeah, two years, I didn't think we'd get here. I feel like I shouldn't have encouraged that. My name is Charlie Morris from Brigham, Texas. And man, we ran into Fat Fender a couple of years ago at the Grand National Show. Man, we saw their chassis and we knew we had to put together a truck with them. And just the quality of the builds that we saw that came out of the shop. We came out here, toured the shop several times, the old shop, the new shop. Man, just these guys had their stuff together. So yeah, we figured we needed to do something. And so this was our 1971 F-100 short bed. Originally, it was a straight six, three on the tree, manual brake, manual steering, base of the base truck, no passenger mirrors Jason's mentioned before. And just a bone stock truck sat out West Texas and it survived the rust all these years. And so me and my dad actually drove it to Tennessee two years ago to the F-100 show, put good tires on it, greased everything, new U-joints, drove it out there, made that trip 1,000, 1,200 miles, no problems. And then load it up with Fat Fender. And then they hauled it out here, like I said, about two years ago to do the build on it. We've been coming back and forth every two months to kind of check on the build and see how she's going. Love the way the thing turned out. Like I said, it's a beast. Funniest stories with this truck is getting it loaded up, ready to go to Fat Fender, driving it 1,200 miles from Texas to Tennessee. Yeah, it did great the whole time we did the smoky tour and everything with the show. Well, the last day we got ready to load it up, driving it back to the trailer with Fat Fender, it died. See how we're pulling over on it, it just died. It didn't want to go. It was on its last leg, I guess. It was ready for a resurrection, a revival. Something else, when we first found the truck, we call it the rat truck. The inner fenders were just packed with rat poop. The inner fenders up in the hood here, you've never seen so much. Huge shout out to my buddy Chris. He helped clean it up. He had to vacuum all of it out. So we're real big into Mustangs, Cobras, GT500s. Anything that goes fast looks cool. And I actually wanted a 23 Mustang GT500. They didn't make a 23, they quit making them in 22. And it's like, what's the next best thing? Let's get the crate GT500 motor and build something out of it. And this is the route we went. And I called Roger and said, hey, originally we were talking Coyote with a Whipple. I said, is this possible? Can we do this? Took a couple of days and they called back and said, yeah, we think we can do it. And I think the only major change was some motor mounts and possibly an oil pan. The front runner kit was the big deal. Nobody at the time made a front serpentine kit for this motor. And so I know Fat Fender had to go back and forth on the design changes on it. And they got it dialed in, as you can see in the video. And it doesn't throw a belt, it holds. So GT500 5.2, rated at 760 horse on the factory cars. 6P T56 manual. We've got a Wilwood drift brake set up in the back end that we can slide it around. So it's a lot of fun. So yeah, two years, I didn't think we'd get here. So man, it was a... Man, so I lost my dad last year. I'm getting emotional. So this all kind of started with his dad. His mom died in 2021 from cancer. And the F100 started as a project to try to get him out of the house, do stuff. So the first Grand Nationals got him out of the house. We drove my dad's truck out. That had been sitting for 12 years. That was kind of our thing we did. Yeah. And so got him into going to Tennessee, did that every year. And then he was diagnosed with cancer in July and then passed away in September. And he has actually been up here to see Roger and Jason. And he got to see all through the build. So he's been here several times throughout the build. So yeah, so he would have loved to have been here today. Exactly. So man, the grill, we found a buddy of my dad's up in Lubbock. He had it just laying around. He was a big Ford collector, had a bunch of parts and stuff. I didn't like the plastic inserts of the 71 grill. Now I love the 68 to 69 styles. So that's where the grill came from. Just like he drug it out of the back of the truck. The bumpers, we found them at the Grand National F100 show. And it had just chrome bumpers on it. Man, we wanted something white patina to try to match the build. And luckily we found this was only set at Grand National Show that year. It just sit behind the truck. People try to buy them off of us left and right during the show. So kind of a little story that it was a front and back matching set. So we found this at like a parts swap. Exactly. Yeah, it was F100. Yeah, yeah. The bumpers. Yep. So and then the wheels, CCWs, satin black. It's their stealth package where the bolts, everything are black on them. Man, I've got these same wheels on my 2003 Mustang Cobra Terminator. And so kind of trying to tie the builds together different ways. And so the white with the black contrast, man, you can't beat it. So 20 by 12s on the back. I believe 20 by 9s on the front. Nine and a half. And then, yep. So there's the wheel selection. And then back here in the bed, I wanted to keep a patina look in it. So the actual center sheet metal is all original. The bed was all cut out and raised. Obviously, the tubs are widened. And then I asked Jason, I said, man, can we do a patina to try to match it? And so what you see on the side is actually all original, just a little bit faded in. And they made all the new spots match that as well. It's a pretty cool little turnout. So, yeah. Yeah, you see where they did the wrenches and the washers. Yeah, that was crazy when I saw that. Yeah. But at first, like when I saw this, I couldn't tell that it wasn't patina. That's cool. Until you get up really, really close and you really can look at it. And it's just going to get better with age, too. You know, you haul stuff around. Yeah, it's going to get better and better. Yeah, same deal on the back bumper. Like I said, it came from Tennessee, was part of that matching set. We may end up, if we find something a little better patina, we may go with it. But there ain't no telling the stories that thing has to tell. Battery disconnect. Charlie Morris, but no, no, no connection at all. No, no. Several people have asked us that question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said somebody asked if it was down the line, somebody had a dealership, but no. Yeah. And then on the inside. So typically, Fat Fender, they do the Mustang style seats. I wasn't as big of a fan. I wanted something a little more simple, no electronics in it. And so I believe these are from Snowden. And then Fat Fender did all the wrapping and the shaping on them. Built the custom brackets. And the interior actually matches my Cobra replica. So it's the same double stitching. It's got satin black wheels on it. So once again, just something to tie them all together. With that black and red. Yep, black and red like that. Those belts, too, are crazy. Well, it's the same thing. The Cobra runs in the same style belt. Really? Yeah. OK. So tie everything together. So yeah, Jason wanted me to do a four-point, which the truck probably needs it. You see it sliding around. But yeah, it makes it more fun to drive. Feels amazing. It's done. Like I said, it's been a two-year build process to get it to this point. And I'm elated to have it done, driving. The freaking horsepower of this thing, it's something else. And it's going to go right along, like I said, with our other Mustangs and Cobras and stuff we've got. I'm ready to race them more than anything. It's going to go right along, like I said, with our other Mustangs and Cobras and stuff we've got. I'm ready to race them more than anything. Brittany, she's no slouch driver either. So, man, we'll get them out there and run them and kind of see who's the top dog in the garage now. We're going to need that video. Exactly, exactly. Super excited it's done. Like I said, it's been a process, but now we're here. Yeah, it's one of a kind for sure. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is the only GT500 Predator motor that's in one of these trucks, running, driving, doing burnout. So, yeah, super proud of that and proud of Fat Fender that they were able to make it happen. We are finally at that concluding point where we get to hand the keys back over to him, but we've already given the keys and he's already done some pretty impressive burnout. He's tested out. I've tested out. He's tested out. We haven't managed to break the truck yet, but we're having a lot of fun and we are so blessed to be able to work with you guys. These guys have been so awesome and they've never been afraid of pushing the limits on this truck because I have learned real quickly that that's what he is going to do and you guys are gonna have a lot of fun. And so are you guys excited? We are. Like I said, this thing is something else. Like I said, to go from a straight six to what it was to this, he talked about night and day transformation. It is. And I remember seeing it at the, you know, the Grand National Show and it's just a truck. There's nothing fancy about this at all. Bare bones. Like I said in the video, the guy couldn't afford to buy two mirrors, right? Like just plain Jane, simple. He'd get a lower package. Could not get a lower package, but yet it's about as badass as you can make a truck without the frills, the showy frills, right? This is like so unassuming, so quiet. That's one thing that I loved about it so much in the beginning, like I said, because it was, you don't see them bare bones like that. Radio delete, passenger mirror delete. Right, right, right. Now I'm calling it a 68 because of the grill. We know that this is a little bit later truck. We changed a few things out because we're looking for that, that, that look. Right. And, and so you guys found the bumpers and the grill. They try to get all this. So to create that, just that really bare bone, bare bone of bare bones. Right. And I think the only upgrade it has is the trim right on the front. Right. Yeah. But hey, you know, but at the end of the day, it's super awesome. And we've had a good time building this truck with you because it's a little different than what we normally do. People want to come in and they want to paint them and they want to make them look nice. And, you know, and just have this, you know, show queen that's just, and those are beautiful. And I love those too, but it's kind of fun to do something that's just different. Exactly. And you can drive it. You don't have to worry about the rock chips. Somebody opening it. Drive it. Literally, really just drive it. And that's our plans, you know, the Grand National. So we want to drive it. And my dad's out there, you know, build crews out there, make that 1200 mile trip. So we're looking forward to that. Yeah. Just throw it in the back, strap it down and go. Well, I know it's not cheap and you guys have been committed all the way and you guys have built it, but I don't believe it's going to be back for anything. I think it's, we've proved it. It's, it's ready to go. And that's our goal is to be able to give you a truck that you're going to be happy with. You can drive, you can enjoy it. Something pops up. It's not like, Oh, I take it back to fat fender. They, you know, it's really tried to like push it on ourselves. We push ourselves for a quality that is, you guys are happy with. And so, you know, you try really hard to make the customer happy. And, and, uh, and so hopefully we have the end of the day where it's the hardest part for us. Cause we enjoy driving them, right? Yep. And we know we have to let go eventually. And these days come and y'all's children. Yes. They're just like, like, it's like, well, we've put it up for adoption. Here you go. And I guess it was never meant to be ours, you know? And so, but at the end of the day, we're super excited guys. Thank you very much. Thank you. And of course, you know, we want to watch videos and see videos and we hope to see a lot of good content from you guys and a lot of stories and a lot of good memories. And we really are excited about them. We look forward to seeing all the cool videos and stuff that they can produce themselves. Go follow these guys. He's got a buggy that he just finished. That is insane off the charts. Go follow him. If you want to see more about this truck, him posting about this truck and his buggy. It's awesome. He's got some cool toys and a lot of fun he's going to be having, you know, with that. And so we're very happy. Please follow along. We've got another video where we've pushed limits on this thing and then we've tried to break it. We haven't managed to. We've gone through a set of tires. And I think we've almost gone through another set of tires. He's going to go through more tires than miles, I think, on this thing. And so, but hey, that's what it's meant to be. These are meant to be driven. We build them to be driven and we know he's going to have a good time. Like, subscribe, follow along. You're going to see a lot more content and that's it. We're done. Have a good one.