1987 F350 4x4

[viven44]

I went and saw this really sweet truck for sale today. Has everything I want (460, 4x4, AC, Crewcab) but an automatic. ZF5 would have been nice but it's got a C6 which is quite robust and a known commodity to me by now so no complaints there

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1064770721645295/

Carfax shows about 82k miles by 2003 and then very limited mileage records slowly adding up to 88k. I don't know if its 88k or 188k miles

Price firm at $8k -- personally fine with that -- assuming that it is a 'fair' price. Seller paid more than that to including shipping costs to TX from california.

Has this interesting DS-II looking MSD ignition module setup.. looked stock.. but curious

Pros
- very clean interiors. Front bench seat faded a bit but still very sturdy.
- Nevada truck. Zero rust.
- paint in very good shape. Hood missing clear coat, but that's alright.
- once we got it running it ran well, LOT of oomph... but it took a lot to get it idling

Cons
- Brakes need some overhauling
- Title is out of state from another dealer and open to transfer into the buyers's name (but has another reassignment form with his name on it... so its tricky) but he wants to sell it to me as-is. I told him he would need to transfer it into his name first and then sell it. Almost offended that I requested that. Per him, obviously he lived in a "very substantial" neighborhood and says he will stand behind anything that happens... Anyway I stood firm that I'll only buy with the title moved into his name. I even offered to split the cost of doing that.... my philosophy is to do it the lawful way, no matter the cost. I can sleep better at night ...  title jumping is something I only will do if the circumstances are impossible like an estate sale or something
- Very strange idling behavior... will idle at 1500rpm and once transmission went into gear it dropped to ~600rpm. It took for it to warm up fully before it even wanted to move without stalling.
----- is this just a case of bad idle mixture adjustment on the stock 4180??
----- early on when cold even AC kicking on would cause the truck to stall
----- after it was warm, there was about 17-18" vacuum

[ArdWrknTrk]

High idle is probably a vacuum leak.

If not immediately apparent look on the right of the carb where the EGR gasket always burns through.
There is a bundle of vacuum lines along with the PCV pipe, and it's not uncommon to see them melted through.

Bring a can of ether and see if the engine rpm changes

[viven44]

Thanks Jim, that makes sense. The vacuum reading was a bit on the low side for the stock cam so I am sure there is a vacuum leak.

Next time I see the truck is after it has a title in the sellers name.. in a month or so.

Other than that it is a really clean truck. Hope it works out. It will be a one year wonder, just like yours!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Could be the timing chain is really slack too.
Does it look like the water pump and chain case have been refitted?

Back in the day we didn't expect to get more that 75k out of the nylon cam gear.
I can only imagine how brittle one of these are now.
At least it isn't an interference engine.

[viven44]

Interesting. Always thought all these old pushrods were interference engines

[ArdWrknTrk]

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1681417-is-the-460-an-interference-engine-3.html

[viven44]

Ok that’s good to know.. I didn’t pay attention to timing cover, if it has 88k original miles and I find original timing set that’s good i.e. indicator that the truck isn’t high mileage

It had a lot of get up and go though for such a big truck