Rembrant

That's a good question, I didn't notice, but I will check tomorrow. While this truck will likely see some use in the rain, it will never see the winter or salt. I bought a gallon of Fluid Film black, so once it's all buttoned up this thing is getting SOAKED with a black film...lol. It's going to look like the Exxon Valdez hit it.

Like dismantling trucks, swapping cabs, frames, and drivetrains, etc...lol. It's been very handy.

I thought all (or mostly all) trucks with the AOD trans had 3.55 gears. I know every one I've looked at had 3.55's. I'm running the M5OD 5spd w/OD and 3.08 gears and I like it, but that's is with fairly low profile tires (27"?). However, I know a lot of people would not like this set-up, so it depends on the user I guess. A 5spd with 3.08 diff was a pretty common combination in the 1988-1996 trucks. I've seen lots of them.

Thanks David! It's coming along, one bolt at a time. Once I get the Flareside bed built for it, it will at least look like a complete truck again, albeit a ratty one. More progress in the rust bucket garage this weekend...and well, some non-progress. I pulled the rear leaf packs off one at a time to replace bushings and clean rust, add some steel plates here and there, and paint. I ran into a major snag with the rear leaf forward bushings. Apparently Ford changed the size of them (or, some of them) in 1994, but nobody told Moog as the bushings I had purchased were the older style (OD too small). I bought them from Rock Auto six months ago, but the issue is with Moog's listing. Seems it is a fairly well known issue...IF you know about it...lol, which I did not. The Moog parts were supposed to fit, so why research, right? Oh well, can't cry over it now. Found this with a little digging on Google... It looks like the bushings ARE available from a couple spring/suspension vendors, but they're bloody expensive at $30-$40 each, compared to something like $8 for the Moog ones. So I'll make some calls to the leaf spring shops tomorrow and see if they have or can get the correct bushings. If that doesn't work I'll either sleeve the bushings (sheet metal sleeve and tack it to the bushing shell) or worst case scenario swap out the 1995 main leafs for a set of 1980-1993 leafs. Anyway...a day in the life of a Frankentruck. I'm sure going to miss the use of this Forklift soon...it makes for a great leaf pack holder when pressing new bushings in. And it also doubles as a workbench, paint bench, etc... So I removed all four leaf hanger brackets. The forward ones I just cleaned up and painted, the rears I had to replace. The passenger rear was especially bad. I got the driver's side all back together and the outside of the frame rail painted. Passenger side is partially assembled. I need to weld in a couple small patches where the rear hanger mounts on the frame. Tomorrow is going to be All MIG Monday... It was my goal to have the whole back half of the frame finished by the end of Monday (Holiday in Canada tomorrow). That's all welded and painted up...EXCEPT without new front bushings installed. BUGGER.

The truck doesn't have a bed on it at the moment, but here they are. 15"x10" wheels stick outside the Bullnose body lines a little bit, and you can see that the sidewalls bulge a little. The look isn't for everybody. We all have different tastes.

I'll second this opinion. I love the look of 31x10.50's on these trucks. I have them on my 1980 F150 4x4 (but with 10" wide rims, which is not to everybody's liking).

I was guessing 3-5 amps, so I was happy to see that it was 4.67 lol. Technically, it should be a little less as I think most trucks are going to be running at a higher voltage than 12.8v aren't they?. I haven't checked my truck's old 1G 40amp alternator, but I know my cars were running more like 14.25v (I usually have an Ultragauge installed in my daily drivers).

According to my 1984 FSM, the clutch amp draw would be 4.7 amps. Below are the amps for the blower on F150-F350 and Bronco with standard and high output heater: I couldn't find anything specific regarding the amp draw of the AC Blower...it is slightly different isn't it? I assume it is a higher flow (thus higher amps) than the standard blower? The only other power consumer in the AC system would be the solenoid on the carb, which might draw and amp or two?...I'm not sure. (Not present on the 460 and Diesel anyway...just the "little" engines, like mine lol).

Quite a few years ago, I switched from having a company vehicle to using my personal vehicle and getting paid mileage. I was running Volkswagens at the time...gas engine, and then diesel, and I really got into chasing MPG. I used to joke that a MPG addiction is almost as bad as a HP/performance addiction, it's just that it's opposite. The one VW that I worked on so hard to get the optimum MPG would routinely return 50 MPG, and a whopping 800 miles per tank. Man I loved that little car. Anyway, my point in all this is that I trained myself to drive much slower to the point now where I'm so used to it, it is normal for me. Before, with the company vehicle everywhere I went I was doing between 75-90 MPH (I wasn't paying for the gas lol). Driving my own though, I knocked it down to 60-65 MPH. It's a weird sensation to make a trip somewhere and have Semi's passing you all day long...lol, but I'm used to it now...and the nice side effect is that is also more relaxing for me since I'm not scanning the horizon for police anymore, because I rarely break the speed limit. Gas is around $5/gallon here, so everything little bit that I can save is money in my pocket.

Spoiler? E1TZ-10001A06-A YES!

Hey Cobra, My wife and I bought a 1993 E350 Cutaway RV (31ft) last winter with a 460EFI and 4spd Auto/OD. It had a lot of new parts...EGR valve, IAC, plugs and wires and filters, etc...and it just got 8MPG pretty consistently driving at about 60-65MPH, sometimes less depending on the wind. It was probably more like 7.5MPG most of the time, and 8MPG on the good days. I did a lot of reading on MPG, and I think the general consensus was that an E350 RV with a 460 will NEVER see double digit MPG numbers, so 6-8 seems to be pretty common, with 9 MPG being the upper limit when all conditions are good and the hwy is flat with no headwinds. Probably not much help for you, but some extra data from a fellow member.

I purchased one item from them...the little black strip that mounts to the bottom of the front bumper. They were good/OK to deal with. I had no complaints. Price was fair.

Holy smokes is that spendy... Didn't somebody mention recently that these aluminum castings were all the same (or at least interchangeable) from 1980-1986, it's just that the pedals and shafts changed (ie: the steel parts). Is that correct?

David, I see on all of them that the needle does not rest at zero...that's odd, isn't it? I think it means something doesn't it? That they are the newer versions? Funny, I had a lovely low mileage 4500 RPM tach from a 1985 F1700 (only about 25k original miles), but I sold it to a guy in Germany thinking that I'd never use it....and here I am with a 300 inline 6 in my 1980! Anyway, luckily the 1980 came with a factory tach, so there IS one in it already. However, I'll be watching for a cheap 4500 RPM tach (again lol)

I prefer the full black band decal, on either cover myself. That's what I have on my '84. Both of them are cool though, in any case.

Haha, Gary no don't even bother. It's not worth the effort...it's just me blabbering. I'll leave the thread alone while we all wait for updates!

Welcome aboard! I used to spend a lot of time traveling for work in both western and eastern Europe, but made only ONE trip to the Netherlands. Since it was a work trip to service a machine, I was in and out in about 48 hours and didn't get to see much but my hotel and the factory. Anyway...my little F150 is only a 302, and I too wanted a little bit of that V8 rumble sound, but at the same time didn't want it to be too loud. I was trying to make it pleasant to drive, but still give me some of that hotrod feel. Here is a little video with a sample of the sound at idle. The truck wasn't finished at that time, but the exhaust was. It is full dual system with BBK shorty headers and Magnaflow mufflers.

Ahh yes, the gas tank...I know there were changes in 1985 as I'm always reading about guys having trouble finding sending units for the 1985-1986 tanks (they had a larger opening?). I know the 5.0 was available in both carbed and EFI versions in 1985, and then only in EFI in 1986. However, I don't know when exactly the change happened. A lot of people claim that the 5.0 EFI was "optional" in 1985, but I've read other info that goes against that. The early 1985 F-Series brochure has an asterisk with a footnote stating that the 5.0 EFI would be available in November 1984. Another member on here (Vinny) is very knowledgeable with the 5.0 EFI, and he mentioned one time that he has never seen a carbed 5.0 with a build date after January 1985. I know every time I see a carbed 5.0 1985, it has an earlier build date (fall of 1984), so it seems to me that in 1985 the earlier 5.0's were all carbed, and the later ones were all EFI. Still, lots of people say you could pick and choose either or. Maybe Gary knows, and if he doesn't, I betcha Rick does. By the way, the truck is looking great. That was a very cool find imho. Can't wait to see more of it.

Ahhh, OK, so that's what the difference was. Thanks for clearing that up myrl883! All I want to do is use the 1980 adjuster with the 1995 rear cables, and from what I looked at it seems like it should work OK.

I found this equalizer bar in the bottom of a box of parts on the weekend. I guess I didn't throw it away after all. I'm pretty sure it is from the 1980 frame/chassis as it had the two rear cable ends still in it when I found it, and the same two cable ends are still intact on the 1995 frame. I checked fitment with the 1995 cables, and it seems like it fits just fine, so I'm still not sure what the difference is between the older version and later version. I am going to check another parts box, but it is possible that I still have these parts from the 1995 chassis. It would be unusual for me to throw these away, but I ripped these trucks apart pretty quickly, so anything is possible.

It's a truck dipstick, but they probably used it on the vans as well. Ford put it on the 5.0 EFI because there was too much stuff in the way to reach the traditional dipstick found on the carbed engines. I'd say they started using it in 1985 just slightly ahead of the 5.0 engines all becoming EFI in mid model year production around January or February 1985.

Thanks David! It's coming along, one bolt at a time. Once I get the Flareside bed built for it, it will at least look like a complete truck again, albeit a ratty one.

Ha! That dipstick caught my eye also. My 1984 5.0 has the shorter dipstick that is closer to the back. I thought that this longer forward dipstick only showed up on the 5.0 EFI, but Ford probably starting using it earlier in 1985 regardless of carb or EFI.

What is that bracket attached to on the other end? Is there a bracket on the back of the alternator as well? I see the long adjuster bracket under the front of the alternator.

Dave, I know what I'm doing with the bed...sort of...lol. I have it all sorted out except for the floor, and I'm still unsure what I'm going to do with that. I just picked up my new bed sides on Friday, and will be getting some of the smaller parts in the coming weeks. I got front and rear sills from a guy in Georgia. They're not perfect, but they're way better than what I had (which was none). The original tailgate is in surprisingly good condition. Somebody had the foresight many years ago to drill holes in the back side of the tailgate so that it could be sprayed with rustproofing inside. I also have the original headboard, which is pretty rotten across the bottom, but is fixable. I'll be working on this in coming weeks, so I'll post up some pictures as I go.