Rembrant

Dave, I am running an Air/Fuel Ratio gauge also, and it oscillates a bit like yours. If I'm running along on the hwy at very light load, it's in the 14.2-14.7 range, but it probably bounces overall between 13.5-15.0, but I can get it to hold relatively tightly around 14.5 +/- 0.3 or so. It runs around 12.5 at idle. This is with the Holley 4160 4bbl 600CFM Vac secondaries. When we did the break-in on the dyno, we did bump the jet sizes up from the stock #66 to #68. If I recall correctly we were hitting upwards of 13.0 on the dyno pulls and he wanted to get it back down around 12.5, and the #68 jets worked. He said at that time that I could probably put the #66 jets back in the truck for street use...assuming that one, I wasn't going to be doing heavy load redline pulls with it, and two, it wouldn't breath as freely on the truck as it did on the dyno with their longtube headers and basically no exhaust. Howver, the #68 jets seems to be OK. I was going to put the #66 back in to lean it out a little more to see if there was another MPG available, but the darn thing just works so nicely where it sits now, I figured it is best if I simply don't touch it at all. And, after all that....with regards to my typical light load easy driving, I'm probably running on the idle jets anyway, and not the main jets, right? PS: I should note that the truck did get better MPG with the large open element air cleaner installed. I didn't have the AFR gauge installed at the time, but the truck got a solid 2MPG more. I will have to try it this summer for a while and see what the AFR is with the open element air cleaner.

Yes, you are correct, I didn't want to turn it around and have the posts at the front. I could have moved the cables to fit, sure,...but what I wanted was what was in there, so that everything fit as it was previously. I realize that is being a bit nit picky...lol, but sometimes we just want what we want...whether it is right or not lol. I wish I had met the 3rd guy first yesterday...lol. I went to three different places...one of the local Ford dealers and then two auto parts shops. It wasn't until I got to the 3rd place that there was an old guy there that knew everything about batteries. To be honest I don't think that I've had to purchase a new battery in 20 years.

Yes sir I know what you mean. I think the Group #24 battery is the same size as mine except it is 1” taller?

Got mine out from under her winter blankets today! Hasn’t been started in about 4 months or more. Purring like a kitten!

John, Ignore my post on the Ford Motorcraft battery....I returned it this morning, and bought a different one. I know nothing about batteries, and haven't had to purchase a new one in I'm sure 10+ years. The one that was in my '84 was a 34/78DT, and it fit great. I swapped it over to my 1980 truck, and it fit in there great also...the clamp and J-hooks fit it perfectly. So I went to the Ford dealer, and they sold me the recommended battery for the truck...and I'm sorry but I don't remember what group# it was, but it was a solid inch larger than my 34/78DT in every direction...inch wider, inch taller, and an inch longer (or so it seemed). That one seemed way too big and my hold-down wouldn't fit it or anything, so I returned it and asked for a group 34 battery...which was the BXT-34B (I think?), and I didn't realize until I got it home that the terminals were on opposite sides...lol, so this morning I returned THAT one. What I learned was that my pre-existing 34/78DT battery is a group 34 "Universal"...the terminal posts are in the middle of the battery, instead of offset to one side or the other. So I tried a couple auto parts shops, and Napa had a few different ones in-stock, and I ended up with another 34/78 Universal fit...see below. The posts are in the middle, and it fits my hold-down bracket properly. I don't know what is supposed to be in the truck, but this size/power battery seems to have more than enough CCA for my needs, and I now have the same size on both trucks, and they seem to fit well in the tray with the hold-down, etc.

This thing popped up on Autotempest as being listed for sale today, but when you click on the ad it shows as already sold. Maybe somebody scooped it before it was listed?...Dunno. I like the brown capped roof. It had some pretty serious black undercoating applied...which is sometimes used to hide things...but maybe it's been on there forever, who knows. https://www.4-wheelclassics.com/vehicles/515/1980-ford-f150-styleside

I have two of them (in the 2wd 1984, and the 4x4 1980), and I'm happy with them. You'll need a 1983-1986 hydraulic clutch pedal set. They are plug and play install. In case you need to buy the pigtail for the back-up switch, I used LMC p/n 47-0901. You could snip one off a truck at the junkyard easy enough as well (if you have one close by). I am running a 1984-1986 Bullnose clutch master cylinder on both trucks, with 1988-1991 hydraulic lines and slave cylinders. After 1986, the master cyl mounting holts went diagonal, and since my '84 was originally a hydraulic clutch truck, I wanted to keep that part correct in case I ever swap a Bullnose trans back into it. I'm using an M5OD crossmember in both trucks, but I don't think you necessarily need to. I know other folks have simply moved their existing crossmember. I also welded a 4spd stick on to the M5OD shifter stub to keep my interior looking somewhat period correct, but still used an M5OD shifter knob...not that it matters much. Here is the stock 5spd stick installed in my 1980 4x4. Not 100% sure what I'm doing with this one...I might swap a 4spd NP435 stick on to this one as well. The 4x4 shifter is on the floor (1988-1991 style) as that is what I had to work with. I may modify that later to put the 4x4 shifter in the tunnel cover (so that it looks more Bullnose).

Maybe the original was a group 24? I believe it is almost the same as the 34, but 1” taller. I just picked up my new one this afternoon.

Big jump in gas prices here last night...it is now at exactly $5/gallon....ugh. That'll suck the fun out my "pleasure driving" the old pushrod truck this summer. Might have to have more driveway shows...lol, with my truck as the only entry!

Try this...just worked for me:

I dropped by the dealer today to get a new battery, and they gave me this huge monstrosity that didn't even fit my battery tray/top clamp. The truck had a group 34 battery in it, so according to my searches the Motorcraft p/n I needed was a BXT-34B, which was not available at any of the Ford dealers around here. They did find a BXT-34A at a dealer about 60 miles away, and they were going to bring it in for me...I guess it is the previous version, although I have no idea what is different about it. As long as it physically fits, I guess I'm happy. The Group 34 battery that was in it was working just fine since I've owned the truck.

I think I get emails from them like that once in a while. They do send out 5% discount codes on a fairly regular basis, and I make good use of them too.

I'll check it all out as I need to place another order soon. The 302 plug wires I'm currently running on my 300 look like a bowl of spaghetti under the hood...lol. They work just fine, but the look of them annoys me.

I used to see hockey puck body lifts all the time years ago...lol. They were noticeable on the old Jeep CJ-7's.

HAHAHAHA. Well said David, well said.

Gary, Have you gone on the Hagerty website to print off an appraisal? You can download a report, even using your VIN (I think). I know you don't want to use Hagerty, and I get it 100%, but they valued my truck at $14k CDN (IIRC) and I bumped the value up to 20k, just to cover me in case the thing ever caught fire and burned, ya know?

Oh yes, I'm aware of that. When I said Ford "pumped them out" I just meant that they were sold by Ford, that's all.

The poor old M5OD-R2 gets a bit of a bad rap in internet dogma these days, and it's at least a bit unfounded in my opinion. People call them weak (and "junk"), but what nobody ever mentions is that they're usually referring to a transmission that is now 3 decades old, and often times with several hundred thousand miles on them. Ford pumped these transmissions out by the hundreds of thousands from 1988-onward, and for every guy you see complaining that they're junk, you'll read about another guy that put 300k miles on his and it is still working fine. (Gary, I'll compare it to the old "Swiss Cheese" frames that everybody says are junk. They were perfectly fine in their day...but they might be junk after 40 Ohio or Michigan salty winters...lol). One big advantage of the M5OD-R2 over the ZF-5 is going to be availability. From what I understand, the ZF-5 is especially hard to come by with the SBF bellhousing...and even harder when it's a 4x4. I like how the M5OD shifts...it's definitely heavier/harder shifting than a car transmission, but lighter/easier than the ZF-5. I think the "tightness" of it compared to the old SROD is the fact it is top entry...no external linkages, etc like a typical top loading transmission. Replacement shifter bushing kits are cheap and easy to install. My 2 cents worth;).

Nice! That looks great Scott. Like the look of that shiny exhaust too.

I have the M5OD-R2 5spd in both trucks. The 84 is a 2wd and the 80 is a 4x4. I quite like the trans myself, but it seems most people want to heavier 3/4 ton ZF5 trans. Anyway, I can’t help with you decision much, but wanted to let you know that a hydraulic clutch swap is pretty easy. Don’t let that slow you down. It’s a little extra work and expense, but it’s not a big deal.

Love this truck (And I love rescue stories too!). The wheels and tires look great, and she sits up nice on the suspension too, perfect! Here's a picture of what I did with my window felts. I used little pieces of sheet metal as washers. I drilled the 1/8" holes in the sheet metal first obviously, and then cut them out in little squares. Worked great.

Subscribed! I am also battery shopping right now...sort of (I priced one yesterday). The battery that was in my '84 was working great, but I swapped it over to the 1980, so now I need a new battery for the '84. The battery that was in it was a "Group 34/78DT", whatever that is...and 800a/650cca. I was going to see if I could get a Ford or Motorcraft battery for the '84...if any such thing exists. I need to drop by the dealer and grab a couple filters, so I was going to see what they had to offer.

I know, right? That's why I grabbed it. I happen to have several spare clusters, but one of them is a cluster that is missing the tach, so I'm going to restore it and put a tach back in it, and then put it away for a safe keeping spare.

Oh, I do have other things I can do with it...and I understand on the bed rail smoothness, I'd just like to even it out a bit more myself before I hand it off for finishing, that's all.

Well, I should note that the local price is from an auto parts store that would buy it from Spectra's local warehouse. Spectra doesn't sell retail here, so I have no choice. How much is the auto parts chain margin? It would be at least 30%, and probably more like 50%, so that accounts for much of the price difference...but still. Rock Auto might be making only 5% on it...who knows. After all, all they're doing is digitally processing the order...not physically handling anything.