1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[Rembrant]

Ford F834 wrote

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.

Jon, that is probably a really good idea! I may do that yet, it's just that I'm in a bit of a time (and space) crunch so I'm trying to get the the thing mostly assembled so that it can be moved around more or less in one piece. I can pull the engine relatively easy at a later date if need be.

Where is a good place to order a rebuild kit from? RockAuto or other?

Also, I believe the engine is an '85 or an '86...not 100% sure. I've seen some parts kits advertised as fitting 1968-1985? Is there something different about an '86 over an '85? Just curious if I am shopping for parts, etc.

Thanks.

[1986F150Six]

At one point in time, the cam shaft bearings size was changed.

[Rembrant]

1986F150Six wrote

At one point in time, the cam shaft bearings size was changed.

Hmmmm...I wonder when exactly that was? I suppose I should go read up some more on the 300, and see if I can somehow ID the block.

[1986F150Six]

After 1984, I believe. Let me see what I can find...

https://www.fordsix.com/viewtopic.php?t=77013

[Gary Lewis]

A cam is base part # 6250.  Our page on Documentation/Engines/300 Six shows that the same cam was used from 82 to 86, and a different cam was used from 1987 onwards.

[Ford F834]

Interesting David! I did not know this!

Cory, this thread may help you figure out what you have:

https://fordsix.com/viewtopic.php?t=77013

Edit: David beat me and to it 😎👍

[1986F150Six]

Ford F834 wrote

Edit: David beat me and to it 😎👍

Great minds working together!

[Rembrant]

Thanks Guys,

I just checked and I do indeed have the later E1TE-6015 AA block, so that pretty much confirms that this engine is a 1986 then. I knew it was more than likely an 85-86 based on the valve cover and pushrod cover. Good to know. Perhaps a very late 1985, but for all intents and purposes I will call it a 1986 when ordering any parts for it.

So the camshafts stayed the same, it's just that the front and rear camshaft bearings changed. Very interesting.

Thanks Gents

[Rembrant]

With little to no history on this truck, and no Certification label, the curiosity got the best of me and I decided to spring for a Marti report. It's an extravagant purchase for a truck in this condition, but I was curious nonetheless. Ordered in June of '79, and built in September '79, it's a fairly early build for the Canadian plant. No idea how many F-series they were building per day...be curious to know that. I'm sure Marti could tell me, for a cost.

[ArdWrknTrk]

That's all real interesting Cory.
I wonder when the truck plant took vacation and switched over tooling for the 1980 models?
Though I'm sure there's some teething, you could divide by that 650 and come to an approximation.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

That's all real interesting Cory.
I wonder when the truck plant took vacation and switched over tooling for the 1980 models?
Though I'm sure there's some teething, you could divide by that 650 and come to an approximation.

Well, I would assume that the switch between the 1979 models and the 1980 models wouldn't be nearly as smooth as say, 1980-1981, etc. Not that it matters much in this case...but it would have surely taken some time to change over.

One of the vintage videos, I believe posted on here somewhere, shows the trucks rolling off the assembly line at the Virginia plant (I believe, in 1981) and I thought they said they were building 200 trucks a day. Would the Canadian plant be similar? Who knows...maybe they were only building 50 trucks a day.

It says that the truck was built 42 days late, but it still made it out in September. I suppose the long delay had something to do with the tooling change over?

Who knows. Still, these Marti reports are kinda neat to "geek out" on.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I don't think 'built 42 days late" means much in this context.
The dealer knew they were ordering a 1980 model truck and would be waiting.
And I'm not sure how many millwright teams Ford had back then, but they certainly went to more than one plant a season.
Still, the idea that they could go in, strip out all the dies and jigs, fit and calibrate the new ones, introduce any new processes and have the line back up in a few weeks is amazing.

I imagine the 42 days is beyond what an order would usually take when production is in full swing.
And if that difference is ~80 days (6/29-9/20) that would mean normal fulfillment would approximate 5 weeks.
Which doesn't seem unreasonable.

Yup, so much insight and conjecture with a document like this.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I don't think 'built 42 days late" means much in this context.

Well, the truck was scheduled to be built on August 9th, 1979 and wasn't built until Sept 20th, 1979. I know this is only guessing, but I assume that it has something to do with the tooling changeover delays, as I've seen other Marti reports where the actual build date is indicated as being within a couple days +/- of the scheduled build date.

On the production numbers, I remembered that a guy parked beside me this summer at one of the Thursday night cruise-ins, and I took a picture of his certification label. His truck was also a 1984, built one month after mine, also in the Ontario plant. Our sequential serial numbers were 11,594 apart. Only issue is that we don't know if that was 10 days apart, or 60. If I divide by 50, I get 231 units per day. Only way to know for sure would be to order Marti reports for both, which I won't be doing...lol. I will be ordering one for my '84 at some point though, so I'll know then if it was built early in the month or late.



I guess what I'm getting at is that it looks like they were probably pumping out at least a couple hundred trucks per day.

[Gary Lewis]

The Marti reports are cool!

And it is amazing to think about changing a plant over from one year to the next, much less one generation to the next.  Plus training the production crew.  And then being there for the first few days while they get going.  That's a daunting task.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

The Marti reports are cool!

And it is amazing to think about changing a plant over from one year to the next, much less one generation to the next.  Plus training the production crew.  And then being there for the first few days while they get going.  That's a daunting task.

Gary,

Wouldn't it be cool to talk to a Ford insider from back in the Bullnose era? I'd love to know more about the manufacturing and production numbers.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, it would!  I'd like to know about the buck tags.  What did they tell them.  How did they use them?

[FuzzFace2]

Rembrant wrote

With little to no history on this truck, and no Certification label, the curiosity got the best of me and I decided to spring for a Marti report. It's an extravagant purchase for a truck in this condition, but I was curious nonetheless. Ordered in June of '79, and built in September '79, it's a fairly early build for the Canadian plant. No idea how many F-series they were building per day...be curious to know that. I'm sure Marti could tell me, for a cost.

It looks like you have part of the cert label, just need tire / wheel size & think weight.
Dave ----

[salans7]

[Gary Lewis]

480 trucks/day.  Got it.  

[salans7]

Both my 1986 frame and my 1990 cab passed through Norfolk. I bookmarked that video for that reason as well as the fact that it shows one of my two favorite years of bullnose going down the line.