Rembrant

Slightly off topic, but is that one of the aftermarket chrome/black grills? Didn't they only come in grey or black from Ford? If yes, those chrome grills are really growing on me. I have both the original grey one, and the black one I bought used locally, but the few trucks I have seen with the chrome grills looked nice. As for which gen grills look better, I stated above that I prefer the later grills with the Ford oval in the center, but I do also like the 1980-1981 grill with the Ford letters on the hood. I think my personal preference would be for a factory configuration...be it early or late, with the only exception being that I'd also consider a chrome grill;). (PS: and I'm only referring to a grill that is factory in appearance...not an aftermarket grill if that makes any sense. There are some mods on these trucks that I'm personally not a fan of but they are very popular overall with the Bullnose crowd).

Well that's interesting Steve. I have one washer that came out with the old brakes, and it was NOT in either adjuster, so I don't know where it came from. In any case, I left them out. If they are intended to be in the adjusters, they are very ill fitting (way too loose on the ID) and I left them out anyway. Thanks for the replies gentlemen! Much appreciated.

Gary, The kits did not have new 2028 parts, but I am re-using the old ones. I have at least one of these washers that were removed when I stripped the brakes last fall...so they were there before...or at least one was. I just didn't see (or don't remember) where it came from. I don't see it in the picture above either... Can't be that critical then...

Can anybody tell me where this thin washer is supposed to go in the rear drum brakes on my 1984 F150 with 8.8 rear end? It is not the spring washer that goes under the clip that holds the park brake lever on. This one is totally flat, approx 5/8" OD, approx 3/8" ID, and only 0.015" thick. I just finished assembling the LH side, so I hope it isn't critical...

Gary, True enough....but the reason I stuck it in here was that it was just a truck that was spotted in the wild, and not for sale. Wasn't really worth starting a whole new thread over it, but thought it worth a mention being a one-owner and all. I mean really, how often do we see that these days?.... In the grand scheme of things, there can't be very many one-owner Bullnoses left around. Around here, they were already well rusted out even in the 90's.

David, We had a discussion about these bumperette-less bumpers a while back. They DO look incomplete to me, but they did indeed come that way from Ford. Still...I think I'd install them if it were mine.

Dave, The floor carriage bolts are stainless. They're 5/16" x 1 1/2" long. The originals were metric (8mm) and almost exactly the same length. I bought a set of flat headed stainless bolts to mount the fenders with...they came from Mar-K also, and they look just like the originals as far as profile goes. I'm not sure if they're a custom ordered bolt that Mar-K sourced or if they're just carriage bolts with the heads machined flat...I dunno. Oh...and no, I'm not painting any of the bolt heads. Just leaving them bare.

Look what I parked beside this morning;) I was in our neighboring city this morning running some errands and spotted this nice little Bull Flareside. The truck is nothing special really (well, except the fact that it still on the road 40 years later when most of the vehicles of this era were scrapped decades ago), but the one main thing to note about it is that it is a one-owner vehicle. I spoke to the original owner inside the McDonalds. I had actually met the guy a year or two ago out on one of the car nights, but he did not have the truck with him at that time. It's a 1980 with 300/6 and auto trans. Not a show truck, but a nice little survivor that is in very nice condition for it's age. I quite like the silver color.

It's SO nice to be on vacation... It's SO nice to be on vacation and not have to go anywhere...lol. Having a few days to myself for "garage therapy" does a lot to charge one's batteries I'd say. So I test fitted the wood floor, and that ended up being more work than I expected. There are 59 carriage bolts in that floor, and there were only a small handful that fit into place without drilling holes. In any case, I have it all removed again and as of last night I had two coats of Spar Urethane on the bottom sides now, with a 3rd coat going on this morning. By this afternoon I'll have the boards flipped over so I can get the first topside coat on. I don't have any pictures yet, but locating and drilling the 8 mounting holes was a bit of a pain. I had to get under the truck and mark each hole with a pencil...up through the frame and the wooden mounting blocks. I didn't realize until after they were all done and drilled that they weren't all in a straight line. There's one hole on each side that is slightly out of step with the others due to the frame hole locations. It's not a problem...it's just something I hadn't noticed before. The other thing I had to do was drill center holes in all 5 sills/crossmembers. All 5 are new pieces from Mar-K in Oklahoma...but they only manufacture them for the 1982 and older 7 board 6 strip installation (That is also the only configuration they sell the bed wood in). If one wants to do the 5 strip install same as the factory did, you're on your own to drill the center holes.

I know you have this all sorted out, but figured I'd mention this kit anyway... https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetor_components/brackets_and_linkage/parts/20-2 I don't know what size mine is, but I bought this kit and one of them worked perfectly. Factory throttle cable snapped into placed tightly and hasn't moved since;).

I can't imagine it either...oh my... I'm a good 1500 miles northeast of Atlanta, and even I struggle with no AC... Then again, my heat threshold would be a bit lower...lol. With the humidity here in the summer, people start complaining once it gets over 80F. I have not heard one of these stroked 302's in the flesh yet, but they do seem to be quite popular.

I meant to ask about this the other day.... My truck has been sitting since last fall...must be 8 months now, and I haven't started the engine in that time. I will be starting it again soon. At what point would one pull the distributor to spin the oil pump and prime the system? Or will winding it over with the starter get it primed enough anyway...it's not like it's going to start on the first crank. I'd rather not pull the distributor, but if I need to I will. (I don't have a shaft specifically for priming either, but I can order one quick enough). I suppose I'm worrying about nothing....since these trucks sit in fields for years...decades even, and people still fire them up...lol. I think if it was a roller cam engine I wouldn't even care (psychologically speaking...lol).

There was a truck for sale locally a year or so ago with the 5.0 badges on the fenders. I even saved a a couple pictures of it;). It's not my thing personally, but I've seen it a few times over the years. It's common enough that LMC sells the Mustang 5.0 badges in the 1980-1996 truck badges section as a "popular addition". I like the factory 1982-1986 badges with the long F personally. Surprisingly, I think a lot of people pay no attention to them at all...lol. I've had guys walk up to my truck on car nights and ask me if it's an F100.

I vote for the 1985 grill!

I put three coats of Spar Marine varnish on a test piece of wood just to check the color and finish, etc. It darkens it up nicely, but not too dark. I'm going to start drilling holes in the wood tomorrow, and I still have to cut out the fender areas with a jigsaw, so hopefully by tomorrow afternoon sometime I'll have the wood back out and ready to varnish. The truck is starting to feel somewhat complete again. I was doing easy jobs tonight, like pulling the new rubber sleeves on the tailgate chains...lol, and cleaning up the garage. I'm off on vacation all week, so I'm hoping to get a whole bunch of stuff done to the truck. Still have to install all new rear brakes. The rear drums are currently empty. Have to fill and bleed the brake system, and put some gas in the new tank/lines. I've decided to retire the black wheels. I still love them, but I think with the truck having new paint and being all shiny, I'd like a set of new shiny wheels to compliment it. Not sure what wheels I want yet...I'm still kind of a sucker for chrome, and it would keep with the 1980's theme here. Maybe a set of old school Blades like on the truck below. We'll see. I'm still shopping;).

Actually, they were both available in the F250 as well. My M5OD-R2 came out of a 1991 F250 2wd (Light duty).

Gary, Yes, I should have clarified, when I said late in 1982, I meant late in the 1982 model year. I've seen a couple 1982 Flareside owners confirm that their trucks had the plywood floors, but they were late build trucks. Do we know when in the Bullnose era that Ford changed the model year production? August or September? If the floor switch was in July, there must have still be a month or two left of 1982 model year production, or else the parts list would have said 1980-1982, and then 1983-1987. By the way, on a side note about the plywood. I've been varnishing a test piece all week with Spar Marine Varnish. Three thick coats on it now, and I think it looks pretty good. It's darker for sure, but not too dark.

Ha! Well, a man has to know his limitations! There are some things that I could have done more with (and spent more on) but at the end of the day, you have to decide just how far you're going to go. You could spend $100k restoring one of these trucks if you wanted to...lol. I'm not that guy. I think many of us in the Bullnose world are enthusiasts working with a limited budget.

Looks good. I want to see the rest of the old trucks in the background too!

Ray, This may not be in your list of potential swaps, but since you're looking for suggestions, you should consider a 5spd from a 1988-1996 pickup. My personal thought is that if you're going to go through the trouble, might as well go 5spd. With that you'll have two options. The 3/4 ton ZF5 trans, or the half ton M5OD trans. I'm running the M5OD in my 1984, and Reamer is running the ZF5 in his 1986 Flareside 4x4. I believe had had to have his driveshafts adjusted slightly, but he had an NP435 to start with. The heavier ZF5 is a more desirable transmission, but finding one for a 4x4 with a SBF bolt pattern is not quite as easy as finding an M5OD. For what I'm doing with my old truck, I'm more than happy with the M5OD. The 5spd swap is a little easier on the 1984-up (gas) and 1983-up (diesel) as they came with hydraulic clutches. However, swapping in a hydraulic clutch is not a big job either imho. Anyway, just food for thought. Some folks are not interested in a 5spd. Some love them.

They are indeed different. The 4x4 spacers are a little thinner...at least some of them are, and the bolt hole in the 4x4 spacers is smaller. I have a 4x4 set I believe from a 1991 that I'm going to use on my 1984 2wd. I'll have to drill the main hole out in a center, but other than that they will work just fine.

gtanns, I bought front and rear swaybars, but so far have only installed the rear. The front is all powder coated and ready to go, I just haven't put it in there yet. As far as I know, for the 1/2 ton trucks, the bars were all the same...it's just the mounting points/brackets that changed. The good news is that you can swap in a swaybar from a 1996 F150 4x4. The mounting pads that sit under the coil springs have changed a few times over the years, but I think they can all be modified to fit easily enough. For example, at some point either in the late 1980's or early 1990's, Ford starting casting the mounting pads with a little nub on the bottom that fit into a little slot in the front end of the radius arms. I assume this was done to "clock" the mounting pad correctly during assembly (anybody?). Same thing with where the bars mounted to the chassis. Some mount to the front crossmember below the rad, and some mounted to the left and right frame rails. Same thing with the rears...the bars were the same, but the ends links were different lengths between 2wd and 4x4, and the axle mounting brackets were different between 9" and 8.8". In any case, it's a pretty straight forward swap. I've read enough threads where guys went to the junkyard and took front and rear bars and brackets from a 1993 and installed directly on their 1983 without issue, it's a swap you don't have to worry much about.

Depends on the year of the truck Oz. From 1980 to sometime late in 1982, the bed floors were individual boards (7 boards, and six metal strips). After that, until 1987 it was plywood with five metal strips. The plywood was in 3 pieces, and the 5 metals strips made it look like it was individual boards. I'm already getting some flak from a few buddies for installing plywood in there...lol. I know oak is the defacto standard for classic truck beds, but I'm not spending the money on it...not this year at least.

One of my internet pet peeves are these 45 degree angled pictures...lol.

I haven't done a complete frame off restoration, but I am doing sections at a time. This past winter was the rear end of the frame, and I also replaced the 4 cab mounts. I first had to remove all of the old grimey undercoating, and then I sanded the whole thing down mostly using wire cup wheels on an angle grinder, but I also used some flap wheels as well. I did an Ospho treatment on it, and then primed and painted using a black gloss rust paint. I should note that I removed the rear end and leaf springs and had them sand blasted separately. Installed all new leaf spring bushings, leaf spring hangers/brackets, all new brake and fuel lines, and new fuel tank and straps, etc. This thing is NOT a show truck...I'm just cleaning up 35 years of grime and rust in an attempt to make it more presentable.