Rembrant

Outstanding! This is great news. Congrats Chris! I was so hoping that somebody that cared about the XLS got this truck. It certainly appeared to be pretty well intact, and was very reasonably priced too. If it had been closer to me or if I had had a friend in eastern Washington, I would have purchased it myself sight unseen. Although I'm constantly scanning the internet for this stuff, I came across this truck by accident. There is another Flareside for sale in Spokane (on CL) that appears that it might be a Freewheelin' truck, but the "Reply" button doesn't work for me, so I then checked FB Marketplace to see if it was cross listed, and found this XLS. I am so happy that you got the truck being the XLS fan that you are. That is so cool. Paint the wheels silver again and the center caps black, and she'll look like she's all original. Odd that somebody pulled the bezels though huh? I wonder why? Sold them on Ebay I suppose. Can't wait to see and hear more about this truck. Sounds like a Marti Report might be order as well;). Congrats!

Do tell!! I've been checking the ad every day waiting to see if/when it went somewhere, hoping an enthusiast would get their hands on it. If it gets chopped up, lowered, and de-XLS'd it will break my heart...lol.

Gary, The pictures are great for now. I won't bug for any part numbers until I actually have to get this stuff. I'd be curious if there are any common parts between the 351 and 460 in the E250/E350, but don't go to any trouble just yet. I'll get back to you if I need it. I took a stroll through the junkyard and there are lots of vans there...20 or so I'm sure, but they're all newer with Triton engines, etc. The few cutaway vans that are there were Powerstrokes.

Jon, Sorry for your loss. I've been through it quite a few times myself, and it's never easy. We currently have two Basset Hounds (our 5th and 6th) so we've been through this 4 times previously. Our two current dogs were taken in as adults...one 5, and the other 7, now 9 and 11. Our oldest guy is getting pretty deaf, and is vision is not good either, but his spirits are still great. Our first Hound 21 years ago was Rembrant by the way. It was also when I started on some early internet forums, so I grabbed the dog's name and it just stuck. In any case, sorry for your loss.

We got a new pup right away after losing each of our last two dogs. My kids thought it seemed wrong that we were "replacing" a dog so soon. I said that we could never replace Casey or Shadow, but that we had got Kirby, and then Kenzie, so they could make and fill new places. I think this truck is missing one of the body side molding/trims? Isn't there one that runs along above the marker light in the front fender too?...lol. https://www.ebay.com/itm/324102717004

Just starting my 2nd cup, but my cups are large ones...lol. I've already been out to get my bagel and Timbits for the dogs. Yes, so I was wondering what intake parts interchange either between E-series models, or will any parts from the F-series transfer over? Any commonality in intake parts between a 351 EFI van and one with a 460 EFI? I was reading that the lower half of the air filter housings are all the same, but that the upper part and ducts between it and the throttle body vary between engines. It doesn't matter all that much right now anyway...all we have at the moment is a handshake deal...this thing is not in my driveway yet. But...seeing as how everything is being shut down around me, I might have some free time to go hunting around the junkyards coming up...

So the EFI 460 should be the same from 1988-1995 for the most part? We've made an offer on a 1993, and if we get it, I will have to start hunting for stock air intake parts (I'll explain later), and I'm curious what parts interchange from what other vehicles and years, etc? I found the picture below in a search. I assume I'd have to find parts from another E350 cutaway with a 460, be it an RV or a Cube van. Would F-series with an EFI 460 share any of the same parts with the E350?

There is also a small rubber hose going to a vent valve. See the picture below there is a hole just this side of the filler tube neck. Here is another of mine when I first started taking the truck apart. I'd make sure that the tank is empty or as empty as possible, and lower it down as much as you can before disconnecting everything. I think the strap bolts are like 2" long, so there is a little travel there. The electrical connector just pulls off (lift up on it). The little rubber hose on the vent valve might be hard to remove...I just chopped all that stuff off because I was replacing it anyway.

Are you asking about that round rubber thing, or the bolts? Or both?.. Both... It was in the same bag. I assume they are related, but I did fill other bags with unrelated parts, so... I don't know what that rubber part is... The larger two bolts look like engine block bolts to me. Look at the bolts that attach your engine mounts to the block. Do you have any parts or brackets or mounts left that need to be attached to the engine? The smaller screws look like the ones that are used where the core support bolts to the front fenders, or are used in the brackets between the core support and front fenders (where the hood bumpers are). Just guessing...

The plastic tube inside the rubber filler hose is the vent for when you're filling with gas. The plastic tube (approx 3/4" OD) fits into little metal tabs on each end...one inside the neck on the tank, and the top end fits in a little tab that vents into two little openings on each side of the hole where you stick the gas pump nozzle in. I replaced my 16 gallon side tank last year, along with the sending unit and straps. I used Spectra Premium stuff from Rock Auto. 16 Gallon tank p/n F14A (Spectra lists it as being a 16.5 gallon tank). 16 Gallon tank sender p/n FG75A 16 Gallon strap kit p/n ST05 I cut new rubber strips to go between the straps and the tank. It was a rubber gasket material I picked up from a local industrial supply shop. The tank itself fit just fine. No issues there. The straps are shipped flat, so it's best to pre-bend them using the old straps as guides. The sending unit is where I ran into some issues. Two things I recommend with any aftermarket sending unit: 1. Plug it into the connector before you install it in the tank and stroke the float up and down to make sure it reads from empty to full on the gauge. 2. Place the new sender next to the old one and make sure that the stroke of the float is the same as the old one, and that the pickup is in the same location. I did number one, but not number two. The sender was not reading properly, and I ended up pulling it back out and I adjusted it several times until I got it where I wanted it. I bent the float arm until it read correctly, and when I was finished doing that, the float would travel below the fuel pickup. So, using a tubing bender, I bent the pickup tube so that it reached lower. The way I have it set up now, it reads full no problem. When it reads empty, there's about 2 gallons left in the tank, and it will run out of gas when there is approximately 1 gallon left in the tank. I did all this "adjusting" with no bed on the truck, so it was relatively easy that way. Just spend a little bit of time checking the sender to make sure it functions properly.

Are you asking about that round rubber thing, or the bolts? Or both?..

That looks awesome!

Ha!

What would be interesting is if somebody ran a CarFax on it to see if it was ever registered. If it wasn't, then I'd say the test story might be legit. Still...with only 12 miles on the odo, it likely did sit forever...or at least the cab did. The firewall area is shiny clean, and look at things like the wiper motor and the exhaust heat shield...all look brand new. It certainly doesn't look like it was ever on the road...at least not in Michigan anyway...lol.

The VIN appears to be above the Certification Label...not very easy to read. It does show up in a VIN search...

It's certainly in good condition...must be from down south.

Cool! Nice find David.

Good price and good condition. These things are NLA and nobody is making them aftermarket. I looked everywhere for one of these a year or so ago and ended up finding one in a local junked truck. There were none on Ebay at the time.

I hope somebody buys it and restores it. If it ends up getting all chopped up it would break my heart...lol. For only $2000 I'd buy it myself if it wasn't on the other end of the continent.

I think the red spacer might be loose without the O-ring in place to hold it. The original bearing has an o-ring on the inside of the inner race to keep everything snug.

Well, I see he has the 1973-1979 version on Ebay for $65 bucks, so it will be that much or more I'd say. I think the Bullnose version is a bit more elaborate. I wonder if it will work with both manual and auto transmission columns? Manual for sure...but Auto?... The nice thing is the replaceable common bearing, and of course it would be much more rigid. My only concern was how to make sure the shaft actually turns the inner race (instead of turning inside the inner race). I think what I'd do jam some RTV in between the flats of the shaft and the inner race, and it would probably lock it in place as good as anything. It's not like there's any rotational force on it.

Very clever Scott. Cool part.

As far as I know, yes. That has always been my understanding of it.

I hear ya Ron, 18 grand would be way too rich for my blood, especially for a Bronco.

Yeah, I think $2000 obo for this truck is a very reasonable price, especially for somebody that knows (and cares) about it's significance. Although very faded and possibly missing the original silver bezels, it is otherwise fairly well intact for it's age. In the past 3 years or so, I've only come across a very small handful of XLS trucks for sale, and they're usually rusted into oblivion, or they've been painted and modified far from their original state. This one doesn't look too bad, although the blue wheels would have to go or be painted back to silver again. PS: I only came across it by accident while I was looking at another Flareside in the area.