Rembrant

So you'll have to educate me a bit on these products. I know what Panel Boner is, but I've never used it personally. Are you suggesting I use it to cover the holes all by itself, or use it to adhere steel patches over the holes?

That's cool, did you recreate that sheet?

I was planning to do the cab corners after I get the bed back...and possibly not for a while yet. I can remove the bed later...or for the cab corners, just remove the steps...they're easy enough to pull if need be. Anyway, if I ever get the cab fully painted I'll have to remove the bed anyway. And, I'm just getting the bed sides, head board and rear sill painted for now. The fenders, tailgate, and steps are going back on with the beat-up 30 year old paint on them. This is what I'm dealing with for holes...and I'm open to ideas on fixing them...weld, fill, patch, etc...whatever. Quickest and easiest. (PS: I'm thinking about removing the cab marker lights as well...and either making cover blanks or welding them in as well). By the way, I am really, REALLY against drilling holes in body work...at least around here. It might be OK down south where it's warm and dry, but up here in rust belt...as rusty as a rust belt can get, all those screw holes become places to rust...and they all do (and did). Visors, handles, and those tonneau covers where you drill 150 holes in the bed for the snaps...they all rusted rapidly here.

Thanks all! I'm really anxious to get the bed side panels back as once the truck has a bed on it it will feel much more complete and it will drive me even more. I'll soon have to tackle the cab...it needs a floor pan on the driver's side and maybe a couple small patches on the passenger side...really typical rust belt Bullnose repairs. Both cab corners need to be done, and then there's about 20 holes in the cab to fix. I don't know what happened but the truck at some point had handles on the B-Pillars (3 screw holes, each side) and some kind of a light bar on the roof (more screw holes) and of course a windshield visor (another 8 screw holes, or more) and for whatever reason, it looks like every one of these items was ripped off the truck with force...so not only are they screw holes...they're large, jagged, metal peeled out type holes. Anyway...more grinding and welding and grinding...lol.

Yes, correct, and they’re always rusted out. Had another busy weekend working on the crusty old "Lincoln Flareside". I took the four bed panels to a body shop around the corner, and I'm hoping to have them back at the end of the week (ya...right...lol). Anyway, in the meantime, my office had a pile of RockAuto boxes waiting to be installed, so I tore into them this weekend. All new rear brakes, with the exception of one drum which looked to be fairly new by comparison. The driver's side rear brake shoes actually had no brake material on them at all...and judging by the condition of the wheel cylinders, I'm guessing that it didn't matter...lol. Good news was that the rear brake backing plates were oddly in really good condition. So all new steel lines from the master cylinder back to the rear brakes, wheel cylinders, shoes, spring kits, and one drum...lol. Also installed the new fuel tank and sender as well as a new fuel line from the pump. Also new rear shocks, and I replaced the driver's door latch post with a spare I had...the plastic bushing was gone and the door was loose and rattling badly. Closes tight now, and doesn't rattle. The truck is still an awful mess...but it has it's own fuel tank along with a full braking system! I drove it around the neighborhood a little bit...Sunday in an industrial park is plenty quiet. Holy smokes does this thing ride ROUGH!!...I hope it settles down a little bit with the weight of the bed on there. Oh...and I tested the 4x4 and climbed some snow banks...but no pics of that! Anyway, that's it...once I get the bed panels back and the bed assembled and installed, this thing with almost be ready for the road. I have a couple brake line fitting leaks to take care of, but otherwise I'm catching up!

I know you're looking for a new one, but I grabbed a PMGR starter out of a 1996 F150 at the junkyard a couple years ago. It was a fairly fresh Napa reman, and I was under the truck getting something else anyway, so I grabbed it. It is now in my 1980 and working like a champ! I haven't installed one in my '84 yet...but likely will when the time comes.

That's what I did with my '84. I grafted a curvy NP435 stick on to an M5OD stub so that my 5spd truck actually looks like it has a 4spd in it. I'm going to do the same thing with the 5spd in the 1980 project truck, but I want to replicate the T-18 shifter that would have been in it originally. Seems pretty straight forward going by the pictures posted. Thanks gentlemen!

Welcome back Jon! I can’t help with the house stuff but I’ll follow along:)

Curious what a T-18 shifter looks like in the cab if you happen to have any pictures...

I've heard people recommend Mike's for parts before, but I have zero personal experience with them... https://www.carburetor-parts.com/

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!!

Yes, correct, and they’re always rusted out.

Ha! David I always have a list of tasks so every evening I try to knock one thing off the list! Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t, but you’ll never hear me complain about being bored! We always need something to keep the hands and the mind busy! TGIF (or in Gary’s case, TGITFS...thank god it’s the fifth Saturday!)

Last night I was rebuilding my left hand step bracket. The bottom of it was rotted away so I grafted in some new steel. Will finish welding it all up tonight.

Gary it should be fine. It will only be vapours that high up and there’s very little epoxy to contact...just a few pinholes. I’ve welded patches on these before but wanted a quicker easier fix for this one.

In this particular case, I have been saved by Covid...lol. The new owners of the company are in neighboring NB, and they have not been able to visit our location yet...so the truck is still in the shop. The building is now for sale however...so I'm moving out very soon. I'll be dragging the old truck home in another week or two I expect. Hoping to use the shop to install new fuel tank and lines, and brakes and lines, next weekend. After that, I'll likely trailer it home. The weather is clearing up nicely now anyway. I'm going to miss the use of that workshop, and all the space. The fork truck...hydraulic presses, sand blasting, heavy tools (3/4" and 1" impacts and sockets, etc)...and most of all, the storage space. There's lots of pallet racking where a guy can keep winter tires (in the summer) and summer tires (in the winter...lol). I have avoided building a detached garage at home because I never really needed it, but now I need space. I suppose I could sell one of these stupid trucks...lol. Anyway, my next project will have to be somewhat lighter fare...I won't have the equipment or space for doing frame swaps and cab swaps, etc. Life goes on. Last night was fuel filler neck rehab. I sand blasted this one and found it had a bunch of pinholes in the section between the hose and the back of the filler box. I slathered on a nice layer of JB Weld and today it’s as hard as a rock. Should be good for another 41 years!

I guess I'm going to be stuck paying full retail...ugh. RockAuto doesn't list the #7879 color in the 1987-1996 floor pattern (which I need for the 5spd tunnel cover). Bugger.

Yes, there are three rubber plugs at the back of the top cover...see red arrow below. They sometimes leak quite badly. You can buy metal plug kits that press in like frost plugs in an engine. If you can't find the kits let me know and I'll check my receipts to see where I got mine.

I have the Mazda M5OD-R2 trans behind a 302 in my '84, and also behind a 300/6 in my 1980 4x4. If it is the Mazda trans that you have, there will be a white tag on the LH side (driver's side) with the Ford part number, and that will tell you what differential gear ratio the trans was set-up for originally. See picture below...the data tag is almost in the middle of the transmission.

No sir, as far as I know, cable speedo ended in 1991. The 1995 has a speed sensor on top of the rear diff. I'm swapping in an '88-'91 transfer case to get the speedo drive (BW1356?). There's a few of them around collecting dust, I just haven't picked one up yet.

Could be. I can only offer info on the frame/chassis/body swap. My electrical is all staying 1980, so I didn't have to make any changes there other than possibly getting the 4x4 light to work (my 1980 doesn't have one).

Hi Josh, welcome aboard. I just swapped a 1980 F150 Bullnose body on to a 1995 F150 chassis, and it is all pretty straight forward. I needed a frame, and the 1995 donor truck was desirable to me for a few reasons...it was a swb 5spd 4x4 with quad shock front end and both front and rear factory swaybars. The only issue with the Bullnose swap on to a 1992-1997 frame/chassis is the mounting of the 1980-1986 Bullnose front bumper. I cut a set of bumper horns off a 1986 at the junkyard, and then grafted them on to the 1995 frame, and everything fit perfectly imho. That's a half ton though...I don't know what differs with the 3/4 ton frames...make sure you research that part. Body mount holes and locations are all the same, all the way up to the end in 1997, even the core support mounts...it's just that the 1992-1997 frames are boxed in the front with crumble zones, and the 1980-1991 frames are not. The cab floors are all the same, so swapping around tunnel covers for different transmissions is no problem. Manual trans (hydraulic clutch) swap is also no problem...you just need to install some parts and poke a couple holes in the firewall, but it's all pretty much plug N play.

Welcome Gustavo!

In this particular case, I have been saved by Covid...lol. The new owners of the company are in neighboring NB, and they have not been able to visit our location yet...so the truck is still in the shop. The building is now for sale however...so I'm moving out very soon. I'll be dragging the old truck home in another week or two I expect. Hoping to use the shop to install new fuel tank and lines, and brakes and lines, next weekend. After that, I'll likely trailer it home. The weather is clearing up nicely now anyway. I'm going to miss the use of that workshop, and all the space. The fork truck...hydraulic presses, sand blasting, heavy tools (3/4" and 1" impacts and sockets, etc)...and most of all, the storage space. There's lots of pallet racking where a guy can keep winter tires (in the summer) and summer tires (in the winter...lol). I have avoided building a detached garage at home because I never really needed it, but now I need space. I suppose I could sell one of these stupid trucks...lol. Anyway, my next project will have to be somewhat lighter fare...I won't have the equipment or space for doing frame swaps and cab swaps, etc. Life goes on.

Finally got my bed sides finished today and I have to say I’m pretty sick of working on them LOL. Anyway, next up is paint.