1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[Gary Lewis]

Congrat's!!!  That is SUCH a GOOD feeling!!!

[grumpin]

Rembrant wrote

grumpin wrote

Man, sounded good, looked good too! Wasn’t shaking.

It spit and shook a bit on the very first start, but then smoothed out pretty quick. I suppose it took a minute to pump up all the stuck lifters so they'd start smackin' the valves and loosen them up...ha.

It did smoke a little bit after a few minutes, but not serious...certainly not for an old engine in a truck that was dragged out of the weeds. I think running it a little bit would make a difference too.

That’s great for the life it’s had!

[salans7]

Congrats Cory! So glad to see the truck given new life!

[Rembrant]

Thanks Shaun. It has been a stupid amount of work but it’s finally starting to feel like something LOL. Got the bumper and hood on today, as well as some other odds and ends.



So next weekend I’m going to get the clutch hydraulic line installed and get that all bled and working. Install new brake master and booster, and then I’m back to grinding, scraping, welding, and painting the back half of the frame.

[Gary Lewis]

Looking great, Cory!  It looks like it is ready to drive.  And you will be, soon.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

The truck looks great Cory!  👍

The back half seems a lot less complicated than the front, and you have more access.
Maybe less laying in a rain of rust?

Anyway, it's great the engine seems smooth.
One more bridge crossed.

[Sac79]

Coming together nicely Cory! Congrats on getting it running without issues. Hope you had help with the hood? That would be a pain as a one-man job...

[Rembrant]

Sac79 wrote

Hope you had help with the hood? That would be a pain as a one-man job...

I did, yes. A friend of mine dropped by to help me with the hood. I've done them by myself before, and it's not the easiest thing in the world lol. I might have tried it myself again but I'm still healing from from surgery a month ago and not really supposed to lift anything too heavy.

The hood is on, but it still needs some alignment work. I don't know if it is the core support or the fenders, but it's not sitting quite right at the moment. I got it so it will open and close OK, but it still needs to be adjusted. I'll get at that next weekend among other things;).

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

The truck looks great Cory!  👍

The back half seems a lot less complicated than the front, and you have more access.
Maybe less laying in a rain of rust?

The back half is easier, yes. For one thing it's not covered in black engine oil, black power steering fluid, and other globs of engine bay slime. I still have 19 more rivets to drill out and remove, but they go pretty quickly. They don't bother me much anymore. I have already needle scaled most of it, so now I need to remove the spring hangers and shock mounts...then rust treatment, and then some welding to do. Paint black, and reassemble. The truck is almost ready to move under its own power, but I still need to run brake lines and install a fuel tank, and I need to get the frame finished before I can do that.

[FuzzFace2]

Looking good  👍
I did my hood by myself, hung it from the garage rafters and drove the truck under it LOL

You don't need a tank to move it. That can on the fender worked great for me as I did not want gas sitting in the tanks not knowing when the truck would be on the road and it going bad.
Dave. ----

[Rembrant]

Meant to ask you guys also...

I checked yesterday and the alternator is not charging on this old truck. It appears to be an original style 70amp alternator. Currently I believe there are only two wires attached to it. The 3rd wire I have tied up on the fender and it looks like it was for the choke on the original 302 that was in the truck.

I do have at least one spare voltage regulator kickin' around, should I swap it out first? What/where else to troubleshoot?

[Gary Lewis]

It should work with only the O/LB & BK/O wires connected to the alternator.  So go ahead and try the other regulator.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Be mindful that there were two ways 1G's were wired depending on ammeter or idiot light.

What is in the truck?

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Be mindful that there were two ways 1G's were wired depending on ammeter or idiot light.

What is in the truck?

It came from the factory with the "Sport Instrumentation", so it has factory tach and gauges.

I charged the battery up with a bench top charger, and it was reading only 12.54v while running, and 12.75v when I shut it off...lol. The only consumer after starting it would be the DSII.

Lots of corrosion and old wires too though...but I just want to make sure the thing is a dead duck before I replace it. I'll swap out the Voltage Reg and see what happens. I'll also check the wires for continuity between the alt and the battery.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Maybe it doesn't want to work without the stator brought to ground?

And be sure the case of the regulator has a good ground too.

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

And be sure the case of the regulator has a good ground too.

/\  /\  That!

[Rembrant]

So a little news...that is probably only interesting to me...lol, but when I dragged this old 1980 F150 home there was a bunch of paperwork in it and Bill of Sale from when a guy bought it in 1995 over on Newfoundland (Island Northeast of me, where Vinny is from). Over the past couple weeks I did a little bit of digging and reaching out on Facebook and finally talked to the previous owner on the phone this afternoon.

What I was really curious about was when did the truck get swapped over to an auto with a 300 (It came new with T18 4spd and 302). Apparently the original owner was a mechanic at the Ford dealer where the truck was sold, and he swapped the T18 4spd for an auto sometime back in the early 80's because all of his driving was in the city and he didn't like the 4spd. The guy I talked to bought it in 1995, and a few years after that the truck was run dry of coolant and the 302 was fried. He said he searched all over the island and couldn't find a 302 for it, so he stuck the 300 in it. He said that the 300 didn't have any miles on it...maybe 40k miles or so. He later sold it to his nephew, at least 10 years ago and he is the one that drove it over here to NS back on the mainland. What happened after that is kind of unknown...but the nephew did drive it, at least a little bit. It must have quit for whatever reason, and was parked and turned into a parts truck. Sold to another guy for parts, and then I got it when it should have gone to the junkyard...lol.

[Gary Lewis]

Interesting story.  I like knowing the "back story" on things.  

[grumpin]

Gary Lewis wrote

Interesting story.  I like knowing the "back story" on things.  

I agree. Cool!

[ArdWrknTrk]

So, nobody in Canada has a 300 but the P.O. couldn't find a 302 and decided to put a 300 in it?    

The VIN must have you scratching your head more than once.