1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[Sac79]

Crusty indeed... But I bet it will clean up nice and run like a champ! So what are your plans, did you get inspiration from the Powernation build or did you already have grand plans? Or sticking with stock?

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

I've read about people using grease, bread, wet newspaper, etc to drive the bearing out.  Didn't work for me.  Instead, I used a very small gear puller with the legs turned around.

Good day Gary I am ok with the pilot bearing there is none to removed. I just had to wire wheel the rust out of the hole. What I was curious about was rear main seal removal. I guess I will make a tool like Eric did.

[Rembrant]

Sac79 wrote

Crusty indeed... But I bet it will clean up nice and run like a champ! So what are your plans, did you get inspiration from the Powernation build or did you already have grand plans? Or sticking with stock?

Only plans for now are to make it run lol. If everything going ok maybe I’ll do some upgrades later on but right now just aiming for the bare bones basics!

[Rembrant]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Cory, why you pulling the manifolds?

Sorry Dave I missed this. Main reason is rust which means broken bolts and the stupid intake actually has rust holes in it (exhaust side). I bought another set of manifolds and the intake had already been welded where mine has holes lol. Common issue maybe? So I fixed up the new/used one and rewelded the bad spots (previous welds were not great). Got everything cleaned up, drilled our broken bolts and cleaned gasket surfaces. I think it’s all ready to go back together now.

[1986F150Six]

Cory, the linkage for the automatic transmission kick-down feature is an item which someone occasionally is looking for.

[Rembrant]

Rembrant wrote

Anyway, simple minds...simple pleasures, but I'll be trying the 3D and 3B paints to see how they match up.

So I was finally able to confirm the paint codes on this old truck, and they DO match the pictures of that Bronco I posted earlier. I'm kind of excited, because the truck does not have a certification label...but I did find this below tag in the paperwork that came with the truck, and it shows the 3B3D which would be the two tone blue paint code.



Interesting to note that this truck was an early build at the Canadian truck plant, with a sequence number of only 0649. One thing I do not have is a build date for the truck. The "In Service" date is shown as August 1980, but there is a receipt in the paperwork from where the original Ford/Merc dealer sent the truck out for a Permashine treatment in October of 1979. So they obviously had the truck pretty early, and it obviously sat on the lot for a long time...almost 10 months.

Gary or anybody else want to take a stab at what the "3" on the data tag indicates? I've confirmed everything else on there, but the 3 has me puzzled.

Anyway, the truck was originally a 302 with a Warner T-18 4spd and 3.50 limited slip diff.

I might have to spring for a Marti report on this one to figure out some of the finer details...not that it matters much, but I am curious.

[Gary Lewis]

Cool!

The F140 says it is a 1980 F150 4wd w/a 5600 lb GVWR.  And I think the "3" says it is a regular cab w/flareside pickup box, as shown below from the page at Documentation/Specifications/Body Codes.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

Cool!

The F140 says it is a 1980 F150 4wd w/a 5600 lb GVWR.  And I think the "3" says it is a regular cab w/flareside pickup box, as shown below from the page at Documentation/Specifications/Body Codes.

Good call Gary! That is likely what it is. I think I did see that, but kinda cruised past it.

With a sequence number of only 0649, this truck was probably built in the first week or so of 1980 MY production at the Canadian plant. That is of course if the sequence numbers are specific to the plants, which I assume they are?

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I'm very sure the "numerical sequence of assembly" is per plant.

[Rembrant]

Good news and bad news on the crusty '80 Bullnose project. I got the engine mostly RE-sealed this weekend, buttoned it all up to the transmission, and dropped it all into the 1995 frame.




Bad news is that when I had the oil pan off I could see the camshaft, and it is not good. Looks to be some pretty serious wear on the lobes. No big deal I suppose...I can replace the cam and lifters, but I'm going to wait and do a compression test (and oil pressure test) and see how it looks from there. Stay tuned for more.

I checked RockAuto, and the 300 cam/lifter kits are all out of stock.

Anyway...
Plan is to install the cab next weekend, and modify the 1995 crumble frame horns to accept the donor '86 frame horns I scavenged from the junkyard. I spent some time this afternoon measuring everything on my ;84 to make sure I get it all right. I made some fitting/measuring blocks out of wood so everything should be (relatively) correct when welded together.

Other than that, I've just been making a list of parts to get on order asap. Shipping is going to start seeing Christmas delays soon, and I want to make sure I have enough parts to keep me busy through the holidays (I have a week and a half off).

[ArdWrknTrk]

Is the white on the floor acid etch from the frame rails?

If you have to replace the cam will you be going with bone stock or something with a bit more performance?
These 300's seem to have more than enough torque for street duty, but might benefit from a bit more pep from what I understand.

You better save yourself some work to do over vacation!  

[Gary Lewis]

I wouldn't do a compression test.  Instead I'd do a leak-down test.  It will tell you far more than a compression test.

[FuzzFace2]

Sorry to hear about the cam but it sure looks pretty
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

But it's not going to tell you much of anything about the worn condition of the cam.

A compression test tells you a lot about lobe timing, ramp and lift.
None of that has anything to do with a leakdown test, and all of that is what Cory is interested in.

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - I agree that a leak-down test doesn't tell you boo about the cam.  But my experience is that a compression test doesn't either.  The '82 Explorer I had tested good on the compression test, but it almost shook the mirrors off when idling.  A leak-down test determined that the valves were bad on three adjacent cylinders in the firing order.  And when I got it apart I found that the cam was also bad.  But the compression test said everything was good.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Is the white on the floor acid etch from the frame rails?

Yes sir, that is exactly what it is. You can see that so far I've only done the middle section of the frame. This was for two reasons...one, so I can place the cab on the frame and, two, so I could do some other work and take a break from the frame rehab. Grinding rust, drilling and chiseling rivets, and welding is thankless dirty work...lol.

The rear section of the frame won't take all that long. I'm going to replace the leaf hangers, and sand blast the leafs themselves. Won't take much to get that end of the truck finished up.

I'm going to pull the front spring towers off the frame soon, and then finish the front end of the frame.

This engine has been sitting for a long time, and I had zero history on it, so I was fully prepared for it to need some work. I'll see how a compression test looks...that will be quick and dirty. I'll do a leakdown test after that possibly. If it needs a rebuild, then so be it...it's all part of the adventure...lol.

This is supposed to be kind of a beater truck anyway

[grumpin]

Gary Lewis wrote

Jim - I agree that a leak-down test doesn't tell you boo about the cam.  But my experience is that a compression test doesn't either.  The '82 Explorer I had tested good on the compression test, but it almost shook the mirrors off when idling.  A leak-down test determined that the valves were bad on three adjacent cylinders in the firing order.  And when I got it apart I found that the cam was also bad.  But the compression test said everything was good.

I would say do both. The rings are working with the engine spinning. Not on a leak down unless you are rocking them as mentioned in another post.

The leak down will help you determine what is leaking.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I was under the impression that Cory had just spotted the worn cam and wanted to quantify how bad it was, not go digging to make this a bigger project than it already is.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I was under the impression that Cory had just spotted the worn cam and wanted to quantify how bad it was, not go digging to make this a bigger project than it already is.

Well, it's almost kind of the opposite really...lol. I had always planned on doing a compression test to see what the numbers were. It takes all of 10 minutes to do, so why not. However, I spotted the worn cam only because I was changing the oil pan gasket. In any case, I'm going to try it out as it is, and if it needs cam, lifters, and valve work, then I might be pulling the whole thing out.

[Ford F834]

Just pull the engine, Cory... you can get the cam out with it in the truck but why do all of that bending over? These are light engines with lots of room to get them in and out. I would pull it and at least put in new bearings and rings and hone the bores. These are zero balance engines and don’t tend to get a lot of bottom end wear. It is usually pretty easy to freshen them up. It’s the valve train that likes to wear out. The master kits are pretty reasonable. I’d get the head done at a shop so they can make sure it’s flat and do the rest at home if the bottom end seems decent.