1981 F150 Blue. Named Walter, for now anyway

May as well start a project thread on this one.   There will lots of things for others to hopefully learn from.  

Purchased 3-17-2021. Seller has reciepts for 302 engine replacement, water pump, thermostat, alternator, exhaust system (single), new plugs and wires, belts, harmnic balancer, clutch slave, clutch, fuel tank and sender, radiator, fan clutch.  All lights work, all instruments work.  

I have ordered a distributor cap - tower #3 is cracked.   Distributor is apparently an A-Team performance Ready to Run elctronic unit.  Cap has male terminals and an odd rotor.  Cap and button are only $15 each so I ordered TWO to havea a backup.  - thread on main about this.

I have ordered a turn signal switch harness - the lever action is a soggy mess.  

I have ordered a brake booster.  - thread on main about this

I have yet to get truck cleaned well.  Windows are clean, which is a start.  

I'm on board.  Here we go!  Bloomin' Onion here we come!  

Nice looking truck.  Is that a Medium Blue interior?  It looks greenish, which would be Spruce in '81, but surely not with a blue exterior.

And what are the things on the sides of the bed?  Some kind of tie downs?

Randy,

Regarding "no name yet", Gary has Big Blue and Blue, so why not go with Lil' Blue!

I see the truck was originally an automatic. I'm curious what 5spd is in it...that's a different looking shifter...doesn't look like it is from the 1988-1996 trucks. I have read reports of guys swapping in the later 1997-up M5OD that was used behind the 3.8V6 trucks...the "Essex V6" that replaced the 300 inline 6 had the SBF bolt pattern.

PS: Kudos to you for having both the Haynes and Chiltons books laying on the seat!!

I've been a blues guitar player and drummer since 1983.   Trying to come up with a name like that.  My wife's Tucson was called Delta Blue - at the time we were going to Clarksdale MS every year for delta blues.  This might be Delta Blues II.  Idk.   I called it POBS the other night, "Piece of Blue S..."  well you know.   It will eventually tell me what it's real name is I'm sure.  

THe interior is the lightish to medium blue.   THat's going to have to be a slow process, at least til I get the wife onboard with the value of restoring the truck.  Right now, she sees it as a tool to haul stuff for her.  Not so much a toy to restore and use a "going to town unit".  I've sorta been laying out ideas on what to try to fix on to upgrade it.   She has not ridden in it yet either - tomorrow will be our first hauling trip.  One of the issues will probably break and strand us, with my luck.  

And yep, the things on side of bed are flip up tie downs.  I kinda like them.  Little T shaped piece flips up to tie off, then back down into housing when not in use.  Some of JC Whitney's finest parts probably.  

So far, Gary told me it may be a Mazda M5OD-R2 from what I've seen.  It's been too wet to get under it again to get photos.   It has horizontal ribbing on the case.   Was used in later F150s, and a few 250s.  But there will be pics soon.  Even if I have to bring it in the warehouse at work.  Trans was swapped and prev owner wasn't real sure of anything.  I think he liked the idea of being a restorer, but didn't really know much about cars/truck?

Was comparing the Haynes and Chilton last night - they are the SAME on stuff I looked at.   I was very disappointed.  I was excited about the HAYNES manual - they used to be much more comprehensive than the Chilton.  I do have a manual from my 84 Dodge that beat them both with a hammer - need to see what it was and try to get one like that.  It was like a bridge between the manufacturer manual which is very technical and the haynes, which was always my favorite.  

So far, am enjoying the community here and looking forward to contributing help as I learn more.   Seems like every google search leads here in the top few links.

Looks like it has good bones to start with and a lot of work, on paper anyway, done to it.
I do like the 302 & 5sp what rear gear dose the truck have?

So what are the issues that may leave you stuck on the side of the road?
First time out for a real ride, 37 miles 1 way to a show at work, in my truck with the wife she asked "what if we break down?"
I said you have AAA's number don't you?

If everything went as planed we would not have anything to do or ever talk about it would be boring!
Dave ----

So far it runs well.  I'm working on the first issues already, parts ordered and waiting.   Nothing that would seem to be terrifying.

Don't know the rear gear yet, been too wet to crawl under this week.  

Still trying to convince my wife the value of restoring more than what it is.   She just sees am old work truck.  I told her no one would really want to work out of something this old much.  That this is more worthy of preserving and or fixing up a little.  

Hopefully as I get it cleaned up and looking some better, she'll come around.  

My wife did not really come around till I had paint on the body and then could see it was a pretty truck.
Up to that point it was a money pit sitting in the garage for the last 4 years that I never even got to drive!

I think if you could give it a nice bath and a waxing so it looks a little better on the out side she may see what you see .... we hope
I found Color Back works pretty good for a quick shine.
Dave ----

Yep I'm trying to get it looking better.  Have been connecting in the interior this week.  Reduce the amount of DNA in there.  

This truck is DRY for lack of a better term.  Tires are dry. Dash is dry and cracked.  Door panels and plastic are scaly.  Going to keep at it till it gets cleaner and softer.  Get one of them carpet covers for the dash.

New tires as soon as I can.  It is looking better every day though.  

She'll come around some day.

The dash pad over lay is nice and cant tell unless you look really close.

Dave ----

That does look nice.

Yep, looks nice!  The new cover fit very nicely.  I have a black one on Big Blue's blue dash pad and you'd never know it.

Dear Diary....LOL

Update 3-23-2021:   Installed Standard part TW73 turn signal switch harness.   Fits perfectly.   Horseshoe connector plug is super tight.  Had to lower steering column support due to way harness is sandwiched in.   Connector is slid onto a support at the plug.   There is a lightbulb on a wire with the harness that goes nowhere?  I cut it off several inches from the connector, put heat shrink on it, heated and pinched it off, put wire back up into the sleeve holding wire bundle.  

These are more expensive than the Dorman part, but now everything to do with the signals is brand new.  And I didn't have to do all that fiddling to make it work.    

Also replaced the ignition lock cylinder while in there.  Old one was quite loose.  Ordered a new stalk as well.   Old one has been bent on and ground on with a grinder.  ????

Next money projects will likely be a dash cover - probably just a cheap carpet cover and a new set of taillight lenses.  

Next labor will likely be door panel painting - Duplicolor medium blue vinyl spray dye - close enough and will make them look better for a while. While in the doors, try to see if speakers work.

Radio comes on and "stereo" indicator lights up, but no sound.  Not sure if it's the radio or the speakers.

I have a couple guys on FB marketplace looking for a seat and some wheels on parts trucks.    

Update for posterity in one place.  Replaced the brake booster on 3/20, which fixed the brake pedal issue. Still waiting on parts from usps.

And wife & I were joking about names.   We may call it Walter, for no real reason, other than it seems funny. Unless the truck tells me different.  

Yes, you'll like having things in one place rather than in several different threads.  I just wanted to know how I did one thing on Big Blue and found it easily with a search.

Walter is a good name.  It was my grandfather's name and a cousin was named after him.  But it isn't used much now, so seems appropriate for an older truck.  

Gary,

I seem to have two different threads now?  This one and the first one started?  Can one of combine all that into one place?  Let me know if there is something I can do on my end.

THanks

It isn't something you can do, but I can.  Tell me which thread's comments you want moved to what thread.  And where you want them in that thread.

If I'm lucky it'll bring everything over in one string, so the easiest is to put one at the bottom of the other.

Move everything in this one to the one with same name and no "RE:" in front of it, please.   You can delete these couple posts about moving things.  

I'm not sure how I started this one new.  

Thanks.

rcarlisle wrote

Move everything in this one to the one with same name and no "RE:" in front of it, please.   You can delete these couple posts about moving things.  

I'm not sure how I started this one new.  

Thanks.

Done.  And the other one disappeared.