New Member from Minnesota

Good evening everyone, I've been a long time lurker here, finally decided to join as my love for these trucks continues to grow.

I've been a professional auto tech since 2009, I've always liked trucks, but am more of a car guy.  However, I've always loved the look of the bullnose so in 2021 when I was presented with the opportunity to purchase one at a great price I couldn't pass it up.  It's a '86 XL F150 2wd, fuel injected 5.0, no a/c, 4-speed auto, standard cab/long box.  I purchased it from the family of the original owner, it had been sitting in a farm field for at least 9 years, new battery, fresh fluids, and a smack to the inline fuel pump, she started right up.  Other than the fuel pump/tank (rust), tires, and basic maintenance items it's asked nothing of me, even when taken on 200+ mile trips.  Even passed a DTC scan with my co-workers old OBD-1 scanner.

Just this past weekend I purchased a 2nd bullnose, for parts only as it had been pretty stripped down before I got to it.  This is an '85 F150 4x4 with the 351 H/O, 9" rear end, front/rear sway bars, and all sorts of body patch panels came with it, for a whopping $100... 351 H/O was long gone tho.

Thank you all for collecting such great data on these trucks, you've really helped create a better understanding as I continue to resurrect my '86.

Welcome!  Glad you joined.  

What part of Minnesota?  I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you with a city or zip code.

Sounds like you have the Bullnose bug.  Welcome to the club.  What are the plans for the '86?  Will it remain stock?  Or are you going to move some of the parts from the '85 over?

55112 is where I live.

I bought the ‘86 because I had a legitimate need for a pickup.  I run scrap for my shop as a side gig.  I started by just using my wife’s Subaru Outback, bought a ‘01 Expedition for $500 (all money made from scrap), but the volume of scrap our shop was producing started to exceed the expedition’s ability to make one trip.  My friend offered up the ‘86 for practically nothing, so I sold the expedition for $1000 and bought the 86 for $900.  I’m sure you can imagine, being in Minnesota her whole life, and sitting in a field for almost a decade, she’s pretty rusty.  So there isn’t much I’m going to do.

However, I still want to have fun with the truck, and the wife loves it which is a plus.  I’ve started to eco mod it, but I’m not going crazy.  I won’t be making an noticeable exterior modifications as I think eco body modifications are a huge eyesore.  Probably just a tonneau cover, some skid plates, and an attempt to make a 90’s air damn fit if it doesn’t look out of place.  I want the body mods to look as if they had came from ford.

As far as mechanical modifications, obviously my greatest gains will be found in an engine refresh, bearings, rings, and seals.  The other mods will be to gain mileage but without any power or torque loss.  I’ve already done some relatable modifications found from Four Wheeler magazines “project MPG” where they squeezed quite a few more MPG’s out of a 460 along with HP and torque gains.

These include changing to a 90’s style air box w/ K&N drop in filter with the 90’s 460 air scoop that uses the same rectangle hole in our core support, along with some DEI reflective wrap.  Ford racing wires, MSD coil, I think accel cap/rotor, mainly upgraded these parts as the truck needed these items anyway, and I’ve been playing with different plug gap and such, typically I just stick with OE plugs, pretty common knowledge that they’re typically the best anyway… minus service intervals for Cooper.

I’ve tinkered with the exhaust as well but just cuz I had free stuff laying around + a welder so things happen.

I will be installing an electric fan and getting a manual steering box, not 100% sure on how I’ll decide to tackle the P/S delete as I know there’s that idler pulley that goes in place of the pump, can’t seem to find one, but also a friend of mine is parting out his high horsepower fox body build, so I might pick up his serpentine pulleys which will change things.

A huge piece to this build is extreme budget as I have three other cars I’m building, and being the rust bucket my 86 is, she tends to get less of my play money than my other builds.  Pretty much just fixing what’s broken and upgrading when I have left over parts, such as the electric fan that I’ll be using is from my Monte Carlo which received a better cooling set up.

It’s possible I’ll swap the cam out when I refresh the engine as I think crane offers a camshaft focused around MPG, but as of this post, I’ve done very little research into that cam, and like previously stated I refuse to make any modifications that will reduce HP/torque

Sorry for the long post, I could write all day.

…also forgot to add that the ‘85 parts truck came with all sorts of replacement sheet metal patch panels.  I pretty much have everything from the cab corners forward.  Depending upon what kind of money I make from this part out, I’ll probably order what I need for the bed and get to work patching.  I’m good with a welder and my coworker use to be a body guy, so it’s possible I’ll try my hand at some body work, I’ve never been that great at it but I desperately want to be, so it’ll be a good way to get some practice.

Welcome!

Welcome and looking forward to seeing more of your MPG modifications. Would love to follow along in a projects thread and also know what the MPG you're starting at is (measured) if possible to know how much you're able to gain via the mods.

SeaJay wrote

I will be installing an electric fan and getting a manual steering box, not 100% sure on how I’ll decide to tackle the P/S delete as I know there’s that idler pulley that goes in place of the pump, can’t seem to find one...

There was a new guy posted just the other day with a 5.0 and factory manual steering...couple pictures in his thread:

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/1984-F-150-Short-Bed-First-Project-Car-and-First-Bullnose-tp125974.html

See if he'll swap with ya;), you never know.

Welcome aboard by the way. I've been to Minnesota a few times over the years. My first experience ever of driving on a lake was there, outside of Mankato somewhere. It's a weird feeling when you've never done it before lol.

We passed right through the state on I-90 while on vacation back in 2011, and I'll never forget my wife saying "wow, I've never seen so much corn" LOL.

lol yeah, southern Minnesota is mostly farm land.  As a life long Minnesotan, I can tell you, we have nothing on North Dakota when it comes to farm land.  Driving across that state from Minnesota out to Washington State I remember thinking, "is this entire state just one guys farm?"

South of the Twin Cities, on the rivers between Minnesota and Wisconsin like the city of Red Wing (where the boots come from) and Winona (the city Winona Ryder is from/named after), the landscape is amazing, a hidden treasure.  Then pretty much everything north of the twin cities is a vast forest especially along "the north shore" as we call it, on lake Superior.  Unless it's winter, then everything sucks.

I've driven on frozen lakes 100's if not 1000's of times, you never fully get use to it.  A couple years ago two guys landed their airplane on a frozen lake in Minneapolis to have lunch, they got in big trouble apparently lol.

At some point i'll surely be making a project thread, it'll probably be awhile, and unfortunately I tend not to document much, but when the time comes I'll take pictures of what's already done and talk about it.  So far I've noticed that driving style is absolutely the biggest player with these trucks.  When I got the truck, it was around 10mpg according to the app I use to track it.  However, the truck wasn't running the best.  The timing was WAY off, like 10 degrees BTDC if I remember properly, the idle had been messed with, probably due to some vacuum leaks it had, it was idling at like 1800-2000rpm, etc etc etc.  Since then, I've gotten it running properly and did that 1990's intake I described above along with the removal of the bug deflector which Ford has a TSB on related to reduced fuel economy.  My best MPG as of now is 18mpg with an average of about 15.7mpg.  This falls within the EPA expected MPG for my specific truck, which is great compared to where it was at.  My goal is to hit 25mpg highway, but will be extremely happy with anything 20+.  I have yet to install the electric fan I have from another project, it sounds like removal of the mechanical fan gives some significant gains in regards to both HP and fuel economy.  I do really need to pull the engine for a refresh, she's leaky and clearly tired.  Maybe next summer, I've got another project car I gotta get going before I pull the truck engine, otherwise the wife will murder me.

The following link is where I got many ideas.  The build is for a 460, but surly they same modifications will help most vehicles.  It's a pretty good resource especially since they guy has done some amazing documentation on his build.  Pretty good numbers considering what it is.
http://performanceunlimited.com/projectmpg/about_mpg.html