Lila- 81 F100. Built for her, by her!

Greetings Everyone!
I am the proud owner of a 81' F100 Custom.  This is Lila, formerly known as Pearl! She has aptly had her name changed as she is now a gorgeous purple!    She is in full blown restomod overhaul at the moment. A little backstory-- When my grandfather passed nearly 15 years ago, the only thing I wanted was his 1994 F150, that unfortunately did not happen. Last year we came across "Pearl" and I fell in love instantly as it smelled like my grandfathers truck! My husband, a diesel mechanic, promised me years ago that he would get me my truck.....so hear we are! Lila has proven to be the red-headed step child of the bullnose family, as she is a Frankenstein truck! She has an 81' body, a 91' 302, and a 92' M5OD transmission (I think). Never in my life did I ever think that I would be turning wrenches in my spare time, but Covid hit and I needed something to do! It has now turned into my restoration project with the aid of my very patient husband!
I have a lot of questions I am sure may seem simple to many, but Lila is a difficult breed to find information on! I am looking forward sharing my project with all of you...she is going to be one of a kind!

Her Beginning...





Lila had been sitting, or used as a "yard" truck for many years, though seemed to be in pretty good shape for her age. She started right up with a little jump....(she squealed like a pig and smoked like a fiend)...but we drove her home where she promptly emptied her transmission fluid all over the driveway!!!
"Gettin' a new one of those" my husband, Chris, told me. Long story short.....that has been the moto of this adventure!

Stripped her down and shipped her out...


Engine and heads went to the machinist and body went to paint. Thank goodness the engine was in great condition, just coated in a heavy layer of burnt oil! Let the rebuilding begin!!
She did have some rusting in her bed that required some metal work and she needed a tailgate replacement.



Her Current status
Lila has been painted the most stunning purple I have ever seen.....




Her 302 has been rebuilt and is patiently waiting to be mounted..



She has refurbished interior that is also ready to be installed..



I have so much more to share...and many, many questions, but this seems to be a good start to peak some interest in my baby!!!

Super cool! Everything looks awesome and it seems like you have already made a ton of progress. At this rate she should look brand new by Christmas or so, right?

How did you 91' 302 come to be carburated with duraspark 2 ignition? Those features wouldnt have been standard in 91, though the would have been in the early 80s.

'92 would have been roller cam from the factory!

Though the truck blocks were set up for it from '88, so there's no reason you couldn't go roller with factory lifters and pushrods.

That diamond quilting looks classy!   😉

We are moving quite quickly, Christmas is probably pushing it..but man I wish!

We have had all the same "but wait???" Head scratching questions with this truck! The engine is casted as a 91 thunderbird engine...came to us all sorts of hienzed 57'd.

Nice!

Loving it!  And I certainly understand the Heinz 57 bit.  I have two of those myself.  

If your engine DID come out of a 1991 Thunderbird it is indeed a roller engine.  
It could come out of an Explorer or Mountaineer, and have the GT40 heads on it.

Two basic things about numbers on Ford parts that will help you a lot when puzzling out their genealogy.

1) Casting numbers, or ANY number you see on a Ford part is an engineering number.
Ford has used "car" parts in trucks & vans, and vice-versa.
EVERY Ford/Lincoln/Mercury engine block will have the same basic part/engineering number.
The foundry is not changing molds for The same 5.0 block going in a Mustang or truck
They have no idea where it is going, just that they need to make 10,000 of XYZ pattern.

That number tells what vehicle the part was originally designed for.

It breaks out like this:
First letter=decade. C is 1960's, D '70's, E 80's, F 90's
Second number= the year of that decade.
Third letter= the division or vehicle the part was designed for. "T"=truck, "V"= Lincoln and so on.
Forth letter= the type of part it is.... E, for example is an engine part.
"Z" is always a replacement part.

E5TE is a part designed for a 1985 truck engine.

Group of numbers in the middle=basic part number.
ALL steering wheels, or exhaust manifolds are going to have the same steering wheel or exhaust manifold number.
An exploded view will only give you this basic number, you then have to go to the catalog to fill in the blanks.

Suffix letters=engineering revisions.
"-A" would be the first revision, "-B" the second, "-C" the third and so on.
Then we get into "-AB" and other combinations of letters and sometimes numbers, like "-A2A"


2) The number you see is NEVER a part number you can order from the dealer.
Only the Master Parts Catalog (MPC) can break that out for you.
A savvy parts counterman will do this without thinking, but you'll have trouble if you go on some distributors website and try looking it up this way.


My truck might come off the line with a wiper switch that says it is a 1975 station wagon.
But that is only because the wiper switch was first intended for that vehicle.
It might be used in dozens of FoMoCo vehicles for a decade or more.

Sorry, I don't mean to preach.  
Understanding this will help you when it comes to finding or mixing parts for your build.
You can always post asking for a part number and someone will help.

There are a lot of part listings and exploded diagrams in our documentation, but you'll need to understand how it works to find the actual part number.

Hi again Jaci,

By the way, in case you didn’t know you have to change the starters with an automatic to manual swap. They are different between the two.

What is the casting number on the engine block? Do you still have it?

A permanent magnet gear reduction starter is always a nice upgrade, as long as you are swapping.

A suggestion here, is that if you use a mid '90's truck starter do away with the spade terminal for the trigger wire and bolt it directly to the solenoid.
These trucks were notorious for developing corrosion in that plug, and then the truck won't turn over.

Another thing when switching from automatic to manual is that you won't have any gear/neutral safety switch for the reverse lights. (I don't think '81 had the starter interlock) but a hydraulic pedal set will have a clutch safety switch so you can't crank the engine in gear.
Anyway, you need the plug for the reverse lights....

(Yes, I'm a truck geek)

Name is fitting! That purple is gorgeous and it looks like an old Mopar color called InViolet/Plum Purple Crazy. Looking forward to seeing the truck come together. Good to have you!  

I think I've seen a similar colour on some of the 'splash' flareside Rangers back in the day.

It really does look deep and get your attention!  

Dang! I was hoping to avoid the plum crazy! It actually is a 96' audi/Volkswagen color!

Jim, wasent there an SVO F150 painted a similar purple? Thats what I thought it was. It dont really matter, it is a pretty color and I cant wait to see it all put back together.

There may well be, Steve.
I know there were metallic purple Mustangs, so Ford definitely had a similar color.

But Jaci says it's Audi, and though I lived directly behind a huge Audi dealership and don't remember seeing a purple one, I'm going with that.

It doesn't matter... She likes it, and the truck looks great!  

I was reading the forum and just came across a post by Myrl.
If anyone, he might have an answer to the slip yoke question.

Jaci, Myrl is our resident Ford parts insider. He's spent his career working in dealerships, both in a bay and behind the parts counter.
Angelo Voltura is another possibility. He works for Ford too but isn't old enough to have been working there when these trucks were around.

It's kind of a shame Numberdummy (Bill) has gone offline.
He had encyclopedic knowledge of Ford parts after working the back counter for 38 years.

I guess this is all to say you should make a post in the main forum asking 'Can someone  help me find a slip yoke for a 2wd '92 Mazda gearbox?'
Having that info or something similar in the title will get knowledgeable eyes on your predicament.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I guess this is all to say you should make a post in the main forum asking 'Can someone  help me find a slip yoke for a 2wd '92 Mazda gearbox?'

I have a spare slip-yoke that I removed from a '96 2wd M5OD if any measurements are required. I'd just have to find it of course. I re-used the slip yoke from my 1984 3-on-the-tree in the M5OD, so it was my assumption that the 2wd slip yokes were mostly all the same, at least among the manual transmissions. The only difference between my 1984 slip-yoke and the later ones from the M5OD's is that my original has a harmonic ring on it. Fitment is the same.

I'd thought that damper was the key to the proper yoke.
Ya, if you don't need that any 28 spline 1 1/2 OD yoke will fit (with the right length drive shaft.

Be aware too that Ford was notorious for using combination (bastard) U-joints, with 2 caps one size and 2 caps another.
So even that isn't a big problem.
Though it is best to have a normal type.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I'd thought that damper was the key to the proper yoke.
Ya, if you don't need that any 28 spline 1 1/2 OD yoke will fit (with the right length drive shaft).

One of the part number experts on here would have to confirm, but I believe that damper ring went away in the late 80's or early 1990's. I seem to recall seeing that style slip-yoke on an M5OD from the late 80's, but all of the 2wd M5OD trucks that I've looked at from the mid-90's had this same slip yoke below (which I removed from a 1996 F150). It is 5" long, 1.5" OD, 28 spline.

Which is why I suggested Myrl...

Cory, do you know which U-joints is used in your application?

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Which is why I suggested Myrl...

Cory, do you know which U-joints is used in your application?

Moog 354 at transmission end, and Moog 434 at differential end. As far as I knew, they were all the same on 2wd F150's with 1pc driveshaft. The 8.8 in my '84 has the yoke at the differential with the u-bolts or u-straps. Later on they changed this to the press-in style, with a 4-bolt plate that unbolts from the differential.