Rembrant

Meant to ask you guys also... I checked yesterday and the alternator is not charging on this old truck. It appears to be an original style 70amp alternator. Currently I believe there are only two wires attached to it. The 3rd wire I have tied up on the fender and it looks like it was for the choke on the original 302 that was in the truck. I do have at least one spare voltage regulator kickin' around, should I swap it out first? What/where else to troubleshoot?

Ya, I was trying to think of another way to do it also. I have a nice diamond cutting wheel for my Dremel, but it will melt a cutting through. Maybe If I run it slow, and leave some burrs that I can file smooth afterwards.

I just noticed that the F150/Custom badges on the front fenders are stuck on differently from side to side, and they're BOTH wrong...lol. Too bad too, because it looks like they did a nice job on the body otherwise. Driver's front fender is an aftermarket replacement. I like that dark green though, that's very nice.

Gary, When you say Xacto knife, you mean you cut the holes all the way through with the knife? That plastic is 1/8" thick and I tried it last night with a brand new blade and it wasn't very easy to cut lol. I used a busted up bezel I have as a sample spare, so I can get this right before I ruin a good one.

Nice old 1980 Bullnose F150 4x4 on Ebay in Dallas. https://www.ebay.com/itm/143919147315 It's not all original or anything, but it's still in pretty nice condition for being 41 years old. According to the build date and VIN, this is a very early Bullnose....built 08/79, and the 0399 ending VIN means she probably rolled off the line the first few days of production (Kansas City). Also, first time I've seen this particular AC...maybe an early dealer install? I've not seen this type of instrument cluster vent with control knobs before. Kinda cool. I don't like the seats personally, but they look comfortable. In any case, it's a pretty clean old truck.

It's easy as anything. People replace those spring hangers all the time. I've done them on my '84 (all four leaf spring hangers) and I'm removing them all on my 1980 over the next couple weeks. Don't let those rivets stop ya, I've removed dozens of them, and I have to drill out 19 more of them in the next couple weekends. ha.

Right. I remember going through all this when I was building my 302. Two different engine shops told me to keep it around 9:1 compression, so that is where I ended up. I was building it for more power, but with daily driving ideals in mind (not that I daily drive it...I certainly don't, but I was trying to get as close to 300HP as possible, and still trying to keep it nice and smooth and as easy on fuel as possible). How much is gas where you live? It's back up to $1.10/L here, so I'd be doing everything I could to make sure I didn't have to run supreme...lol.

Try the calculation with a 0.047" compressed thickness for head gasket. Does that drop it down a bit? https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-8548pt2

Be cool to hear the story behind it. If you read all of the stickers on the truck, it was built at the Twin Cities plant in Minnesota, sold to Frontier Ford in Rockford Illinois, who sold it to the Sharon Telephone Company in Sharon, Wisconsin. It has a fair amount of nicks and scratches in it, so it must have been sitting somewhere collecting dust all these years. I must say, they did a nice job shining it up the way they did.

The back half is easier, yes. For one thing it's not covered in black engine oil, black power steering fluid, and other globs of engine bay slime. I still have 19 more rivets to drill out and remove, but they go pretty quickly. They don't bother me much anymore. I have already needle scaled most of it, so now I need to remove the spring hangers and shock mounts...then rust treatment, and then some welding to do. Paint black, and reassemble. The truck is almost ready to move under its own power, but I still need to run brake lines and install a fuel tank, and I need to get the frame finished before I can do that.

I did, yes. A friend of mine dropped by to help me with the hood. I've done them by myself before, and it's not the easiest thing in the world lol. I might have tried it myself again but I'm still healing from from surgery a month ago and not really supposed to lift anything too heavy. The hood is on, but it still needs some alignment work. I don't know if it is the core support or the fenders, but it's not sitting quite right at the moment. I got it so it will open and close OK, but it still needs to be adjusted. I'll get at that next weekend among other things;).

Screen snip of the window sticker. 351...what do you call them Gary? A 351M400, right?...haha.

I imagine many of you have already seen this truck posted on Facebook? I can't find it on the 920 website so I am assuming it sold already? Some details here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/1980-ford-f-250-with-76-original-miles-doesnt-even-seem-real/?fbclid=IwAR1HtuvE8lxdbBbbJhL4aX7-897UkeGGR58N-5iu507AJL8ah3CyCGsDxLk Youtube here: The video shows some nicks and scratches... I read that the dealer was going to post more pics...engine bay and all, but I don't think they ever did. Must have sold? So what do you think? Real deal?...

Ahh that's too bad, too bad the seller didn't warn you that it wasn't an 80-86 bed...or maybe he didn't know himself? Keep us posted on the build progress. Lots of Flareside guys on here. I'm building a new Flareside bed soon myself.

Deck Height : 9.503" (71-96 351W) Stroke : 3.50" Rod Length : 5.956" 3.50" / 2 = 1.75" 1.75" + 5.956" + 1.719" = 9.425" 9.503" - 9.425" = 0.078" Deck Clearance. Thats assuming the block height is 9.503. I ran into this problem years ago when trying to piece together a 351W build as I wanted to hotrod my 351W some, just about all piston combos with rods gave a huge deck clearance like as seen here. Only way to really correct it would be to throw in a longer than OE rod or deck the block quite a bit. Ahh, OK Rusty. That math works out for my engine as well then. I ran my specs through the Summit compression calculator, and it's pretty much bang on with my previous calculations which my engine builder confirmed. My '84 302 now has 65cc GT40 heads, 3cc flat top stock replacement +.020" pistons, and they decked the block down to 0.005", which puts it right at 9:1 compression. Hey Lima, Can you find a set of pistons with smaller valve reliefs, or different pin height? With a deck clearance of 0.078" you have some room there. I'm no expert though...lol, all my experience is with the 302;).

Thanks Shaun. It has been a stupid amount of work but it’s finally starting to feel like something LOL. Got the bumper and hood on today, as well as some other odds and ends. So next weekend I’m going to get the clutch hydraulic line installed and get that all bled and working. Install new brake master and booster, and then I’m back to grinding, scraping, welding, and painting the back half of the frame.

Where did the deck clearance number come from? Is that typical for a 351w? My ‘84 302 was 0.014” stock, and was decked down to 0.005” when the shop built it for me.

Oh...I knew about that part, but I was wondering how to get it on the shaft in the first place, but I was being dumb...lol, because I just remembered that they pull apart...duh. I have an Amazon bookmark saved, because I'm going to put one of these on the shaft I removed from my 1984, then reinstall in my 1980 project.

Ha! No brakes, no booster, no master, no lines! Also no driveshaft, and no hydraulic clutch line! I'm going to get the hydraulic clutch working tomorrow and stick the drive shaft in it so I can move it around inside the shop.

Gary, that engine bay is FULL!!...haha. Seriously...you might need to be build an E250 soon...lol.

It spit and shook a bit on the very first start, but then smoothed out pretty quick. I suppose it took a minute to pump up all the stuck lifters so they'd start smackin' the valves and loosen them up...ha. It did smoke a little bit after a few minutes, but not serious...certainly not for an old engine in a truck that was dragged out of the weeds. I think running it a little bit would make a difference too.

Just following up this thread since I finally fired up this engine today. I bought this carb on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/OCPTY-Carburetor-Carter-240-250-300-BARREL/dp/B084YWG1K2 It ran great right out of the box. I plugged the hot air port, and in the video below have the choke tied wide open. I didn't even touch the idle...nothing, it just ran. After a few minutes it would start instantly, and idle at 600 RPM according to the factory tach. Pretty happy with it.

That is the one connector I ended up deleting on my '84. Once I did get it apart, it was all corroded so I cut it off and wired everything back up without it. But yes...they are no fun to pull apart, and I usually break them.

Thanks Scott! I'm just amazed that it runs as well as it does...lol. Once it was warmed up a little bit, I started and stopped it a half a dozen times over a couple hours, and it would start at just a touch of the key...instantly, and then idle smoothly. Gauges in the instrument cluster aren't working, so I have to look into that. Unless the gauge is correct and there's no oil pressure...uh oh...haha.

It's alive, it's alive!! I can't believe, but this stupid thing not only runs, it runs pretty well ha! Finally got all of the hoses and things hooked up today, stuck a gas jug over by the driver's side headlight, a vroom vroom! After only a couple minutes of running, it just sat there idling on its own. I never touched the carb and didn't make a single adjustment...lol, it just idled smoothly at 600 RPM. That's a Chinese YF copy carb from Amazon! I did read reports from other guys that said they ran well right out of the box! Forgive the filth of the engine bay in this truck...it is not getting cleaned up like my other one lol.