New Member/New Truck!

Greetings. Stumbled upon this forum & see there is a ton of great info here. Figured I'd better register so I don't forget where I found it lol. I had an eighth gen F150 when I was in my early 20's and always missed that truck. Been modding & building Jeep wranglers for a while now but got the bug to find a decent older 7th or 8th gen F150. Tracked this one down from a dealer in Minnesota. 86' 4X4 with the 300 I6 & 4 speed manual. Was told it's on the delivery truck & should be here in Texas this Tuesday so I'm pretty excited. Was advertised that it was from an estate sale & had 27K original miles but I have a real hard time believing that the ODO hasn't flipped at least once. It is really clean though from all the pics I've seen. Going to leave it as stock as possible, maybe a small suspension lift but that's about the extent of it. Here's some of the pics & I'll post up some more once it gets here & I can check it out completely.

Welcome!  

That is a really clean looking truck!
I like the wheels.  

The I-6/300 is a popular engine around here.

Repop tailgate (without embossed Ford) so be careful of thin tin if you expect to use it as a truck. DAMHIK

**** Edit: this is oem. Note the raised letters****


The seat and pedal covers are clean, so either it IS that new, or someone changed more than just the exhaust and gate

Hope to see you post some more about your truck when you've had a chance to know it a little better.

Come on downstairs to the main forum and see if you can find  answers to any questions you might have.

Once again, thanks for joining.  

Awesome thx for the information on the tailgate! Yeah I was looking at the pic with the pedal pads too...sure sign to look for wear but it is really difficult to judge by just looking at pics and you may be right, someone could have replaced them at one time or another. And absolutely...I will post some more once she gets here & I have the chance to go over her inside, out, & underneath. Regardless of how many miles it has I will fix any issues & make sure it is properly restored. This one is gonna be a keeper!

Someone sure went to a lot of trouble (and a gallon of armorall + a respray) to make it look nice!
It definitely has been thoroughly gone through.

Good to hear you've found your 'forever' truck.

Haha...right! Hoping it is in as good of condition as the pics look but we will see.

That is a gorgeous truck, congrats! I like the wheels and the way it sits too. It looks nice and straight in the pics. It looks like it has 87-91 emblems on the fenders, but it's hard to tell from the pics.

300/6 4x4 Bullnose with NP435 4spd...I'd love to have it myself.

The fact that it it in such nice condition under the hood and inside is usually indicative of low mileage. I see that it is a feedback carb model with electronic distributor. It's pretty common to convert these over to Duraspark ignitions and regular carbs. The fact that system is all still intact is another low mileage clue imho.

Good eye Cory!

It does look like my Bricknose badging, and the '4x4' is not Ford's, but those are definitely Bullnose fenders.
Battery hold-down looks a little sketchy.
Shouldn't an XLT have clearance lights, fabric seat and carpeting?

Note, the aftermarket radio is well done. It's not easy to replace the odd Ford size and have it look good.

(Sorry, we're not picking on your truck, just excited to see one this clean and noting all the details)

Welcome! Very nice!

I really appreciate all the information. You guys obviously know your stuff. So with this stock carb & distributer, is there anything wrong with keeping it stock or would the conversion be beneficial? When it gets here Ill take more detailed pics of everything so y’all can take a better look. But no....don’t think you’re picking at all. Glad to have the information.

If it is ALL working then it's as good as emissions systems get.

But when any (unobtainable) component goes bad --computer, distributor- carburetor, or it's solenoids, sensors-- then you get stumbles, locked timing, and other problems you don't have the parts to fix.

It is popular to retrofit the DuraSpark 2 system (aka DSII)
This was used for at least a decade, from the mid '70's to my 1987 460.
Parts are cheap and available everywhere! (except the wiring harness between distributor and ignition module)

The carburetor can be rebuilt and rebuilt distributors are available.
Solenoids and sensors too.

But if the computer board or harness is bad it is MUCH easier to find DSII parts and swap to pre emissions.

The computer also controls other things like your EGR system, and evaporative emissions.
So when that goes bad most people who don't have strict inspection just jettison "all this emissions crap" and go back to something they understand and can get parts for.

Some can explain this better than me, but that's it in a nutshell.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Parts are cheap and available everywhere! (except the wiring harness between distributor and ignition module)

The harness is available from Painless Performance in Fort Worth, for $86.  
(You do NOT need the included resistor)


https://www.painlessperformance.com/wc/30812

emunder wrote

 But no....don’t think you’re picking at all. Glad to have the information.

A few more things I note (I'm on my phone, not a decent monitor)

Cowl seal should be replaced.

The radiator support has been changed (should be body color)
These commonly rot at the bottom. Northern road salt kills 'em.
Check the "horns" on the front of the frame **where it mounts** to make sure the body bushings are correct.

The dash cover has been painted or it has a plastic 'coverlay' cap on it.
The speaker grille in the center of the dash falls apart, leaving an ugly hole.
(I notice no clear shot of this, probably for a reason, if they are selling as 'all original'.)

Ron/Reamer and Gary the owner of this forum designed a 3D printed 'patch', and Ron sells them.
Check him for price and availability if your dash is bad.

Rembrant wrote

It looks like it has 87-91 emblems on the fenders, but it's hard to tell from the pics.

Looking on my tablet now, and I take it back.
Badges are two piece, so later, like '85-'86 but not '87>

Thanks so much for all the information! I really appreciate it! Ok I will check those things out when it gets here (hopefully tomorrow). And then I will check out the retro carb/distributor setup but if it runs good then I'll leave it be until I have an issue.

. As a group, we are nothing if not observant.
And as you can see, I'm pretty verbose.

But we are a collective dedicated to helping one another keep their trucks top*notch !

Looking forward to being peppered with questions down in the main forum.  

Good looking truck! Great find. Welcome.


Just an observation... the compressor and hose routing looks different from mine.

I live about 30 minutes from this dealer.  Over the past several years he's had a few trucks I've been interested in.  I'm curious about your experiences working with this guy.  He was nothing but an asshole to me.  Very unfortunate and prevented me from pursuing a number of seemingly nice looking trucks.  I hope nothing but the best for you and your truck.  I hope it's everything and more that you paid for.

Really sorry to hear about your interaction with the seller.

But I'm glad to hear you thought enough of his inventory to want to purchase.
That's a positive in this case!

1986F150Six wrote

Just an observation... the compressor and hose routing looks different from mine.

Dealer installed AC perhaps?...