1981 F150 Blue. Named Walter, for now anyway

[Gary Lewis]

Sounds like it must be a fairly solid truck.  But getting the A/C working will be nice.  I don't have it working on Big Blue yet.  

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the links! Good price.

[Jonathan]

That engine is not cheap!

https://www.autozone.com/powertrain/engine/nutech-remanufactured-long-block-engine-df74/627117_0_0

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm seeing $1372 for a warrantied long block.

Seems really cheap to me.

[rcarlisle]

Yeah not sure I'd be wanting to spend that unless I was in the truck really cheap.  The garage had the 302 at$1500 on their receipt to PO.  As I've said before, dude had$5000+ in receipts for parts and labor from the garage.  I bought truck for $2800.  So I feel ok about it all.  I would not buy a truck facing a new motor.  I'd find another truck.  But that's my way.  

I learned a long time ago that something like this has to be running and can stay running pretty much for me to own it.

[rcarlisle]

Update 5-19-2021:. Installed a "proper" shift boot.  The one in it had holes in it, allowing air to flow thru.  

Problem is the floor pan in an 81 doesn't quite match up to the later boot.  And whoever installed this trans didn't take as much time as they could have to get it better.  So I got this to work.  It is a double layer not so the end result is no wind and noticeably quieter.  If/when I get new carpet, I'll try to improve the mounting.

Need to trim back the duct tape under the knob.  There again, wish I could find something I liked better for a reasonable price.  

 

[Jonathan]

It looks good! I am just glad you don't have the air coming in anymore. When you replace the carpet it can cover over the metal ring. Or you can make a custom matching wood trim piece to go around the boot.

[rcarlisle]

Thanks.  It's not too bad looking so long as you stay up high.  The new flat bezel does not match the curve of floor.  But as you said, when I get to new carpet, I can make it better then.  

It was a bit frustrating getting it to fit to this point, what with nothing wanting to match up.  I think I'm to a point I just want to go play in it.  It runs well, looks okay and seems to be operating safely.  

I did run into my mechanic guy and he said bring it by and he'd look at AC.  So that's probably next.  

[Gary Lewis]

Is the carpet and backing showing if you look from under the truck?  If so, when you drive in the rain it could get wet.

[rcarlisle]

Installers did cut the carpet back from the shifter hole.  I can see that from top.  On initial inspection it looked pretty good.   And they did okay really.  But I wanted this shorter boot that fit up to the bottom of shifter instead of that tall ranger thing that was on it.   I also have one of those on the way from Ebay for less than $20 in case this one didn't work.  

As tight as the trans is in the hole and hump, water would have to work awfully hard to get up in there - I know it can, given the chance.   But not going to be easy.  They have the hole tight enough around shifter area that you can't see the ground from just peeking in the hole.  And you can barely see the hole from the bottom as well.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, you may get by with it for a while, but I still think the carpet may get wet.

However, if there is that little of clearance you will probably have clunks as you shift gears and the engine and transmission torque and hit the floor pan.

[rcarlisle]

It's not going to make the carpet any wose than it is.   It's worn slap out and you can barely touch it without it coming apart.   But need to restore my bank account before much more restoring on truck.  

Not a daily driver, so I don't usually drive it in the rain unless I'm caught out in it.   And the carpet shows no signs of having been wet before I got it.  Biggest reason I didn't try to eliminate the black metal bezel in photos is that when they put that in, they apparently painted AFTER they put it in and got paint on carpet.  Would be pretty ugly without the black metal bezel they made.   Had to open it up a bit to get the new one to drop into it.   Old one was riveted to the bezel.

I have not noticed any clunks and poor shifting that can be attributed to the trans or install.  All mistakes are purely mine.  Shifts pretty well for a 2' long lever - never going to shift like a Mustang.  And better than the old NP I had in my 84 Dodge.  

[FuzzFace2]

That looks pretty good.
Do you have the tunnel pan that is used with the stick transmissions?
I know some that swap from auto or 3 on tree only cut a hole in the tunnel for the tower to come thru so finding a boot to fit can get hard.

Picture below you can see the pan I talk of and I cut and welded it to fit the main stick, now back 8",and the over drive stick as I wanted the OD stick in the pan and not in the side of the tunnel.

BTW ever try and find a shift boot to fit this? LOL


I cant remember now if it is 1 boot or 2
I tucked the metal rings under the carpet and the carpet is for a auto truck not stick so it does not fit 100% but for used free I will take it.
Dave ----

[FuzzFace2]

Oh you said something about duct tape and the shift knob, what is that about?

Is the top threaded and it is stripped out or is it one of them spline type knobs?
My NP435 knob was spline and would pull off if you pulled up on it like my son would I had no problems with it.

I found a die that would fit the stick with out the need to grind it down to get the die to start, this was 9/16" NF die. Once the stick had threads I moved on to the knob.

This part got a little messy but turned ok good.
My knob had cracks down the side from a PO getting the knob off, the cracks needed to be filled in.
I should have used masking tape to seal the cracks before this next part and why it got messy.

I mixed up some JB Weld and filled the knob hole to the top. I started to fill it before the tape went on and the JBW ran down the outside of the knob. Once filled I let it sit over night to get hard.
Becasue I have JBW down the side of the knob I drilled a small hole in the center where the stick would screw in but I installed a screw and took the head off it.

I chucked it up in my drill press and used sand paper to "turn it" to get the "run off" sanded off.
I then drilled & tapped it for the 9/16 NF threads, got a long dummy bolt sp I could paint it.
Once installed I glued the shift pattern in and it looks great.
Dave ----

[rcarlisle]

Wow, that's a crazy shifter shape.    I haven't peeled my carpet back But I think they just cut a tight hole where the shifter sticks up, then attached the Ranger boot to the homemade metal bezel and screwed the whole thing in.   I like this smaller boot better.   Looks neater to me.

Way better than the old 70 I owned in mid 80s that had a big chunk cut out to put 3 on floor.  The big hole was so you could reach down and pull the linkage up when you messed up that 1-2 shift and bound the whole thing up.  

Well, I forgot to post this so I'll answer up other one as well.   My knob is some sort of "universal" knob.  Nothing inside and it had a set screw which someone tightend til it cracked the plastic?  THe lever is splined.  There was black electrical tape in there, but I cut it off and cleaned the whole thing and gave the lever a new coat of black paint.   Local parts store have tuner type knobs, noting that is "1981 cool".  No Hurst balls or copies.   Just skulls and fake aluminum blobs with fake gems in them.  So I wrapped it with a round of duct tape and pushed the knob back on.   I'll file the rest away for some other day.  

I read your fix in another post a little bit back and considered it.   But I'm lazy and was getting irritated with the whole project.   I just have no patience at this point.  Everything is back to working and looks at least as good as it did and stopped the air and noise leaks.  

[grumpin]

Randy, my knob on my 4WD lever was loose and would come off when I would shift.

I didn’t have any luck finding a replacement at the time. I bought one of these from Core Shifters. The only thing I didn’t like was that the holes for the set screws were rough, and of course right where I put my fingers for shifting. I touched them up with a file or sandpaper, don’t remember which. And it’s great now.

You can look around their website.

https://core-shifters.com/products/transfer-case-shift-knob-for-1982-2016-ford-trucks-np208-bw1356-np271

[rcarlisle]

Dang it - sold out of both black and white 5 spd Ford F series knobs.   I'll keep checking though - thanks.

[FuzzFace2]

My son found this site and I was looking to buy a knob till I fixed mine.
https://www.twistedshifterz.com/collections/shift-knobs

I have not tried Google for knobs

That shifter is the factory for the NP435 used in the later trucks`
Dave ----

[rcarlisle]

Cool.   I like those.  Have to save some pennies and dimes.   I may wait for some more swap meets and see what kind of funky stuff might turn up as well.  

Thanks for the link though.   Will put that one on my spreadsheet list of vendors.

[FuzzFace2]

I have others that I have saved before my son gave me that one.
Thing was none of the other sites had the right shift pattern for reverse, right & back, they listed right & forward.
https://www.americanshifter.com/products/custom-shift-knobs/

https://www.hotrodshiftknob.com/
Dave ----