Hello! First Bullnose Purchase and First Time Repairing

Hello all,

Just purchased my first Bullnose, a 1984 Ford F150, 2dr, 2wd, long bed with manual transmission and inline-six motor. I've been reading through this forum and others for a few months to try and best prepare myself for viewing and eventually purchasing a bullnose ford and the day has finally come. It's hard to find a bullnose up here in Ontario, Canada that isn't completely rotted through the cab and box for a reasonable price but I was able to pick this up earlier this week for a great price locally.



It needs new floor pans for sure (holse and rot in the floors) but I think the rockers are ok in it. I was wondering if any of the Canadian members have any places to buy parts within Canada, as LMC Trucks shipping is over $300. I am ok with doing an order and picking up across the border, but was wondering if there is anything comparable for smaller stuff like gaskets, window foam, anything that isn't body panels. Although if there is a good body panel supplier in Canada I would welcome that suggestion too!

Also struggling to decide what level of the rabbit hole to dive down into. The truck starts and runs and only needs a bit of tuning to seem happy; however, there are definitely oil leaks and I have no maintenance history. Thinking there would be value in doing some preventative maintenance outside of fluids change such as replacing all the gaskets and seals, but wasn't sure if that's a good idea right away or if I should drive it for a bit first. I don't have more than single car garage indoor space so I don't think I can really take the cab and bed off to refresh the frame. Might just need to put it up on jack stands and get under there with a wire brush then get some rust inhibitor on it. Below are some pictures of the engine (covered in leaking oil) and underbody. Fame and mounts all seem good!













Thanks for reading! I will have quite a few questions as I go, this is just the beginning. A big part for me will be the bodywork. Although the body isn't too bad, I will need to figure out what is worth fixing today vs what is a future problem. There is some chipping paint/primer and I want to make sure those don;t turn into big rust spots.

Thanks Again!

Welcome!  Glad you joined.  

We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member’s Map in the menu) and we can add you with a city. You may be close to others.

Nice truck. Looks like a good project.

Welcome!

Hey Periwinkle, welcome aboard!

I'm one of a small handful of regular Canucks on here. I'm in Nova Scotia. I've travelled to Hamilton a few times with work to visit Dofasco, and my wife's niece lives just down the road in St. Catherines.

I had a 1984 F150 myself, the same color as yours (I assume your color code is "3P" Medium Blue Metallic?). The Bullnose trucks got a little more predictable later on in their timeline. When I saw the 300 six and hydraulic clutch master, I said to myself this thing is gonna have an NP435 and an 8.8 with 3.08 gears, then I read your signature and was right! Truck was built in Ontario, I assume?

Your truck looks to be very original under the hood. Looks like the old 1G alternator, probably a 40amp if it's the original. I don't see a thermal clutch on the rad fan which is a bit odd...I thought they all had clutch fans after about 1981 or 1982 (Gary?). The heat riser and flex pipe still intact on the exhaust manifold is impressive...they usually rotted away and fell off, and nobody ever replaced them. Of interest to the 300/6 fans is the lack of EGR system under the carb, and it appears to be a factory Duraspark ignition truck, which seems to be pretty common in Canada, while rare in the USA (at least by 1984). By the mid-80's, these trucks all had EGR and feedback carbs in the USA. In Canada, they seem to have left most of them with the 70's system, right up until they went to EFI in 1987. I see you have the High Output heater also...another fairly common option on Canadian trucks.

I thought that teardrop air cleaner housing went away in the early 80's also, but I'm not 100% sure on that. One of the 300/6 guys here will know.

If you're looking to buy Body panels IN Canada, your best bet is to find the local LKQ. They bought what used to be Keystone. They should have a location in Hamilton, and if they don't there will be lots of them in southern Ontario regardless. They have a pretty good catalog online if you Google it. They'll have floor pans and cab corners and all the usual stuff.

Other than that, I still use RockAuto for a lot of the basic stuff, and also LMC and Summit. Summit now does free shipping to Canada if you spend $299 or more. I also order stuff and have it shipped to Maine and then pick it up when I'm on a work trip in the area...it's 550km away from me, so I'm quite a bit farther away from the border then you are in Hamilton;).

In any case, happy wrenching. Great bunch on here and everybody is friendly and super helpful!

Cory - I haven't been able to figure out from the documentation which trucks came or didn't come with a fan clutch.  But I'm pretty sure that the base level trucks with the 300 six didn't get one if they had standard cooling.  In fact, I don't think they even got a shroud.

Welcome to the forum.  

Gary,
I think base I-6 trucks got just the plastic handguard at the top and A/C trucks got the bigger radiator and a shroud.
Dave, David or Larry would probably be able to confirm that.

I think you are right, Jim, but I can't seem to find anything that says that.  I'd expect it to be in the dealer facts book, but it wasn't in the one I looked at.  

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Gary, feel free to add me to the map!

Rembrant, you're on the money with the Medium Metallic Blue colour. We love the colour and are hoping to preserve it as much as we can as we go. There are a few rust spots I'll need to repair, not sure how I'm going to colour-match or make those look half decent without a whole paint job.

Truck was Made in Canada, which is pretty sweet as well! I actually read around on this forum before buying to make sure it had a standard Duraspark II ignition and not the EGR system as I wanted as simple of a system to work with as possible as I'll be learning on this truck.

Thank you as well for the recommendation on potential local body panels, I'll check them out!

Sorry Gary, replied to you in another post but not sure if you'll see it if I don't reply to you directly. Yep, feel free to add me to the map!

I saw it in the other post, but somehow I missed the city.  I see "Ontario, Canada" in your first post but not the city.

Sorry Gary, it's in my signature, Hamilton!

Oops!  I missed it!  

But you are now on the map, literally.  

Periwinkle wrote

Rembrant, you're on the money with the Medium Metallic Blue colour. We love the colour and are hoping to preserve it as much as we can as we go. There are a few rust spots I'll need to repair, not sure how I'm going to colour-match or make those look half decent without a whole paint job.

Truck was Made in Canada, which is pretty sweet as well! I actually read around on this forum before buying to make sure it had a standard Duraspark II ignition and not the EGR system as I wanted as simple of a system to work with as possible as I'll be learning on this truck.

The "3P" Medium Blue Metallic was used between 1982-1984 on the Bullnose trucks. I call it "work truck blue" lol.

Here's a couple pics from one of our local cruise nights in 2020. Both trucks are 1984 F150's with "3P" Medium Blue Metallic paint. The Flareside was mine (I sold it last year). Both trucks had been painted. The long bed '84 was spec'd the same as yours...300/6, NP435 4spd, and 3.08 diff. It was a local truck I had seen around for years, it changed hands a couple times and then the last owner sold it to somebody in Ontario and shipped it away...I did a double take when I saw your truck thinking it might have been it, but realized quickly that is was not.

Anyway, here they are...originally the same color as yours, both '84's.




Since they're both Canadian built 84's, here's are pics of the certification labels from both of them...see how close yours was on the assembly line.

The long bed, same as yours...



And my '84 Flareside:

Really interesting information, thanks for sending over! Those trucks look immaculate!

Mine is "A86352" dated 02/84 so a little bit after yours. Mine also seems to have "Class D Brakes" with the GVWR of 5450 lb and also had the smaller P215/75R155L tires with 15X5.5K rims. I keep wondering if it would be worth it to eventually try to beef things up to get more tow-ability out of it but I don't actually think I'll be doing much towing. Will probably just have some small amounts of lumber in the bed of the truck. At the end of the day, we want this truck to be a truck still when we need it to.

I will be starting a project thread soon but I was wondering if you know how I might be able to preserve the paint while also sealing some of the paint chips/spots to prevent the body from further rusting. This will never be a show-quality truck but I don't want it to further deteriorate. See below for some of the paint chips/rust spots I'm talking about that I would like to either fix or seal without having to re-paint (not sure if this is possible).

Chip in the hood with peeling paint:


Chip in the passenger door:


Large rust spot/panel rot in rear near the bumper:


Rust bubble in door frame:


I also have a problem where when the hood lifts, it catches the drivers side venting below the windshield. This makes a loud bang sound when the friction between the two pieces of metal release. I am wondering if the hood was bent in somehow at some point:

Periwinkle wrote

I will be starting a project thread soon but I was wondering if you know how I might be able to preserve the paint while also sealing some of the paint chips/spots to prevent the body from further rusting. This will never be a show-quality truck but I don't want it to further deteriorate. See below for some of the paint chips/rust spots I'm talking about that I would like to either fix or seal without having to re-paint (not sure if this is possible).

The answers to your question might vary depending on who answers, but I'll give you my opinion on the topic. I have dealt with a lot of rust issues out east...I always assume it's the worst out here, but I see a lot of rusty junk in Ontario too, lol, so it's probably all the same.

For rust, I use a rust "converter" product called Ospho. I ordered it from a place in Ontario actually:
https://www.caswellcanada.ca/OSPH1G.html

I see it's out of stock. You can get similar products at Canadian Tire...Rust Check makes one in aerosol and liquid. I've used both.

Once you use a rust converter, you can either leave it alone or paint over it. Best thing to do is sand blast if possible to remove the rust, but if you just want to touch up a spot and keep it from rusting further, you can use Ospho. I've done full truck frames with it. The wife just used it on a rusty old hand pump she refurbished for a backyard decoration. Scrape or grind the loose rust away, and then hit it with a converter, and that will seal it about as good as you're going to get it without completely removing it (cut and weld-in new metal).

If you want to get fancy with fixing the spots, you can grind them down, Ospho the rust of any is still there, then prime and paint. If you go to Napa or CarQuest (I use a Sherwin Williams auto paint supply shop that's close to my work) you can get custom spray cans mixed up in the same paint color as your truck, and they work surprisingly well if applied right. They're about $30 bucks each. They'll make up little bottles of touch-up paint for you too.

After that, I'd just go over the truck with light compound and a buffer, and then wax. Do you have a buffer? It certainly makes it easier. I have a shelf full of products I use...but nothing special or hard to find. You will be amazed at how well that old paint can be shined up and brought back to life.

Here's my old 1980 F150 in mid rehab. Testing compound and wax on the front fender. This truck sat in the woods for somewhere between 5-10 years.



I can send you pictures and info on the products if you need them, but it's all stuff from Canadian Tire mostly. This old F150 was covered in rust spots and patches like it had the measles, and I did most of it with spray cans. I had a shop paint the bed sides, but all of the other blisters and rust spots I fixed up individually.



You can see the B-pillar is a little different color? That's the one area I couldn't get matched up with the existing 30 year old paint.

Anyway...about that hood. My 1980 F150 had the exact same problem. Mine was low in the center, and yours looks to be as well. See pic below:



I straightened mine with a 2x4. Open the hood, and run a 2x4 in length ways straight over the top of the engine and on top of the cowl panel. Put rags on it if you don't want to scratch the paint. Bring the hood down slowly on the 2x4, and it will bend the center back up. Just go easy and keep doing it until the area I circled in red is nice and flush/level with the cowl panel. That should fix it...at least it did for mine, and mine looked like yours (and sounded like yours opening and closing too).

Perfect, that's some great info. I was wondering if the move was just sanding the rust off and either using a rust inhibitor or primer. It kills me to do it because I love the existing paint and patina so much but I really don't want this thing to rot.

Your flareside is beautiful, can't believe it can look that good with paint-matching and rattle-cans.

And that's good to hear it is a common issue with the hood and not a big problem. Will do the wood trick and report back at some point.

Thanks again!

Periwinkle wrote

Your flareside is beautiful, can't believe it can look that good with paint-matching and rattle-cans.

It showed well in iPhone pics lol, but it wasn't quite as nice up close. It was a Covid project...a rescue of sorts. Long story behind it, but I fixed it up and sold it last year. Body work and paint costs big money these days, and that truck wasn't worth dumping that kind of money into imho...so rattle can touch-ups is what it got. It was a 20/20 truck...looked great from 20 feet at 20 MPH lol.

You'd be surprised at how well yours will clean up. Just touch up the rust spots with a rust inhibitor or converter, and buff and shine the rest and it will look great in the end. You don't need a shiny fully restored truck to show up at the local cruises. The old guys will love it;).

How's the interior? They usually didn't age well...

Rembrant wrote

Ospho. I've done full truck frames with it.

Periwinkle, I would be careful with Cory's advices about rust products.
Cory, I am wondering if you're the one who posted this?

BigBrother-84 wrote

Rembrant wrote

Ospho. I've done full truck frames with it.

Periwinkle, I would be careful with Cory's advices about rust products.
Cory, I am wondering if you're the one who posted this?

HAHAHA! Call me Mr. Rust! That's too funny.

The truck I have now has no rust...one of the main reasons I bought it was so I could take a break from rust repair and work on drivetrain stuff. However...I find myself looking at old rusty trucks again and thinking to myself, "I can fix that". haha.

 That’s hilarious!

Glad I’m out of the rusty places!