1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I'm drooling as well.  What kind of fish is that?  My favorite is cod.

But I'm with Jim - a needle scaler would be my prefered rust remover.  And even then you'll be covered in rust.  Anyway, a 5.0/5-speed/short bed combo sounds like a sporty truck.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

I haven't had a chance to try out my $30 Horrid Fate compact needle scaler, but the box says 4SCFM @ 90.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

Yes, I'm drooling as well.  What kind of fish is that?  My favorite is cod.

Gary,
Here in NS it's usually Haddock. Water is too warm here for Cod. Newfoundland however...all Cod, always. I don't think they'll even eat Haddock...lol.

[salans7]

Rembrant wrote

Here's a picture of the donor truck that will be turned into a Bullnose. I just stopped by and paid for it last night and will likely have it picked up next week. Like everything else around here, it's a rust bucket, but I'm OK with that. I still have almost a full gallon of Ospho and lots of wire wheels and flapper disks (and wire for the Mig).



The good news...for me..
It's a factory 5.0L 5spd truck. I like that.
Short wheelbase means I don't have to shorten it.
Front and rear factory swaybars are nice (don't have to hunt for them)
3.55 geared diffs. I'll be running 31's, so I think the 3.55 gears will be a great match up.

Is that one of those "Nite" package trucks? The color matched grille and windshield trim make me wonder...

[Rembrant]

salans7 wrote

Is that one of those "Nite" package trucks? The color matched grille and windshield trim make me wonder...

Hey Shaun,

The truck was originally red, so I think all the black was a cover-up job at some point and time. I hope to have it home this week so I'll find out more as I clean it up.

[Gary Lewis]

I've had all kinds of fish in my fish & chips, but cod is by far the best.  Haddock doesn't come close.  

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

I've had all kinds of fish in my fish & chips, but cod is by far the best.  Haddock doesn't come close.  

I've never had them side by side to compare, but I do like them both. I actually had fish and chips again tonight, but from a little take out shop just down the road from me. That's it, I've had my fill until 2021.

[Gary Lewis]

You say "take out" and not "take away" like the Brits?  You guys seem to have a blend of US and Brit English, even though you are part of the Commonwealth.

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

You say "take out" and not "take away" like the Brits?  You guys seem to have a blend of US and Brit English, even though you are part of the Commonwealth.

Gary, yes, exactly that...sort of a blend. We've hung on to some British things...we do say Zed and instead of Zee like you guys do, and some Canadians use the British term for vacation and call it going on their holidays. I call it vacation, but whatever...I can understand both...lol. I know there are others that I can't think of at the moment, but the Zee and Zed would be a very common one.

[Gary Lewis]

Interesting.  What about spelling?

I like to say I'm bi-lingual and know both Brit and American English.  But I'm really just very confused.  If you ask me to say "A to Z" it will always come out "A to Zed" as that's the way I learned it in England, and since we rarely use that phrase it'll always to the English version.  And if I have to spell something I have to think about whether to use "s" or "zed".  

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

Interesting.  What about spelling?

Haha...I forgot about spelling. There's a whole bunch of spelling we've taken from the Brits as well. In Canada the defaults are colour, harbour, litre, centre, etc. I think we also spell grey instead of gray (US?).

An interesting spelling (and pronunciation) that did not carry over from the Brits is aluminium. In Canada we use the American version aluminum.

It's all kinda weird Gary...lol, but we're used to our hybrid ways up here.

[Gary Lewis]

And you probably can, therefore, easily spot the outsiders.  I know in England I was easily spotted.

Anyway, it is interesting.  Didn't realize that there were that many differences.  Vive la différence!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Maybe it's an affectation for me.
Default is colour, grey, metre and litre.

I try to be conscious of my audience, but I really have no reason to spell, or think as I do.

BTW, nice jab on the aluminium!
Hopefully certain people will come to their senses.

[salans7]

Rembrant wrote

salans7 wrote

Is that one of those "Nite" package trucks? The color matched grille and windshield trim make me wonder...

Hey Shaun,

The truck was originally red, so I think all the black was a cover-up job at some point and time. I hope to have it home this week so I'll find out more as I clean it up.

 I believe you mentioned that previously and it slipped my mind.

[Rembrant]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Why not do the "full Dave"?

Project update. Looks like I won't be doing a "Full Dave". I put quite a few hours into disassembling the 1995 F150 this weekend, and it was enough a battle it just about drained every bit of enthusiasm right out of me...lol. The bed is trash, all of it. Once I got the bed liner out of it and the box cleaned out, I found enough rot in the bed it was beyond repair. I had to cut all six bed bolts out...and if that wasn't frustrating enough, I also dented the back of the cab pretty badly when I was removing the bed with the forklift. A point came where I was too hot, too tired, and just stopped being gentle...lol.

This stupid truck is a major rust bucket. I mean every nut, bolt and screw has to be drilled or cut. Stupid stuff like the plastic shifter bezels...they have sockets in the plastic where the screws go. The salt sits in there and destroys the screw heads so you can't use a screw driver on them. So then they have to be drilled out...carefully of course because I'm trying to salvage these parts...arrrgh.

All four cab mount bolts had to be cut and drilled, as did the core support bolts. Most of these bolts are really hateful to access too...can't be reached with a cut off wheel or sawzall.

ANYWAY....enough whining and crying....I AM used to rust...

After all that, the frame looks pretty good. It has a layer of rust on it, but no holes, no cracks, no soft spots (so far). Crossmembers look good mostly. I'm surely going to need a frame saver kit, but I'm OK with that. That stuff is pretty typical, even on a frame rusted far less than this one.

So plan B is now to forget the Bullnose front clip swap and go straight to the full Bullnose body swap. That's fine anyway. I'm still not 100% sure if the 5.0 is staying or not, but the EFI is going for sure. For simplicity sake, I might just drop the 300/6 in there. Anxiously awaiting Jonathan's review on that carb...because I wouldn't need much more than that to get the 300 in service.

Anyway, that's all for now. Another update next weekend after I get the rest of the Aeronose body off that 1995 frame/chassis.

[salans7]

I'm excited for this project! Can't wait to see the old Flareside come back to life!

[Gary Lewis]

I, too, am excited for the project.  I'm following!

[FuzzFace2]

Rust was not that bad on either truck and was really surprised when I did the "Full Dave".
It also took a full 4 years for the "Full Dave" did not happen over night LOL
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

Have you found a needle scaler yet?
When will the border go back to being more porous?

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Have you found a needle scaler yet?
When will the border go back to being more porous?

No, but Princess Auto is barely a mile away from my shop at work, so I know where it is when I need it.
I'll be another couple weeks before I need it anyway. This truck turned into a bit more of a battle in disassembly than I'm used to.

They keep bumping the border closure a month at a time. They just kicked it to Sept 21st again a couple days ago. Heck we're not even fully open between provinces in Canada really. However, we're still pretty much virus free here in NS. There's a case that pops up every couple of weeks from a traveler, but we're clear otherwise. If it wasn't for the masks, things would be pretty normal around here.