Rembrant

Well Gary...I'm not sure what I think about this, but I decided today that I must get one of those folding camping chairs to take with me now so I can sit by the truck...hahaha...and I swore that I wasn't going to do that...lol. And I got a sunburn today too...maybe I also need one of those umbrellas too... Cooler full of ice and cold drinks... Folding chair... Umbrella (or ball cap at the very least) Showing it off is fun:nabble_smiley_grin:

One final thing to note... The truck has 3.00:1 gears in it. I think 13/39 in the 9" and 15/45 in the D44. Does that shed any light as to what transmission might have been in this thing (Knowing it was originally a 302 truck). Just curious.

Oh, and I forgot about this... Right now, it's going to need a bunch of welding, which is cheap, but time consuming. I'm OK with that. Covid-19 has really thrown a wrench into my life and I now how a little more time on my hands, but at the same time quite a bit less money too. The main plan is to have something to do this winter...

I grabbed all of the loose parts last week. Came with a spare SRW too...

Hi Folks, I've been wanting to ask some questions about this old truck, and with its future more or less unknown, I was reluctant to start a project thread about it. In any case, I decided to and if I determine that the old thing is not worth fixing then I'll keep all of the good parts and let this thread die off. Anyway... I bought this old 1980 F150 4x4 Flareside (locally) that has been sitting in the weeds in this guy's backyard for a number of years (exact amount of years unknown, but at least 5, maybe more). I'm picking it up this week coming and plan to start disassembling it the following week. The good: It's Blue...lol. The guy disassembled what was left of the Flareside bed and put it all in the house, so that was good news. He had also purchased almost a complete second bed (in parts) so it came with two tailgates, two sets of fender, two sets of steps, etc. It's a 300/6... The bad: Rust, like usual...the frame may be too rough to fix...not sure until I get a better look next week. For whatever reason, the guy pulled the D44 and 9" 3rd members and also put them inside...so the open 9" diff has been outdoors and exposed to the elements all these years. Maybe it is ruined? Don't know. The truck has no transmission or transfer case, and no driveshafts. The certification label is missing. According to the VIN it was originally a 302 truck. It currently has a manual column and linkages in it, but also has a hole in the rubber floor where a 4spd shifter once was (as well as a patch on the tunnel cover hole). Any words of wisdom or advice on how to check a 300/6 that has been sitting for a long time? I was thinking I'd pull the plugs and spray a little oil into the cylinders and then see if I can rotate the crank manually...

Oh...I'm in Canada, so my speedometer is in Kilometers. That's 90 km/h, or about 55MPH? With the 5spd and 3.08 rear diff, my truck is geared pretty tall. On the highway at 70MPH, I'm still only running at 2000 RPM. Not much new news on the old Blue Mule project truck these days...everything is working very well, and I've been getting out for the weekly car gatherings (Thursday nights, weather permitting of course). I guess no news is good news? Just driving it, waxing it, and showing it off whenever I can. With the classic car shows all cancelled this year due to Covid-19, I haven't gotten it out into the public eye as much as I'd like to, but I did attend a classic car show and shine today and the old Bullnose got rave reviews (But no trophies). Something worth noting...and I forget exactly where we were discussing it earlier this spring, but my new door seals have settled in quite nicely and the doors are no longer difficult to close. When they were new, I could barely close the doors at all without slamming them as hard as possible. Now, they actually seem fairly normal...or like tight doors should feel I guess. Two thumbs up for the Fairchild door seals kit. I have all of the new SEM paint for the dash and door panels, but haven't gotten to it yet. Between the humidity and being in the middle of car season (driving the truck on a weekly basis) I haven't really wanted to rip things apart for painting. I hope the paint is OK sitting for a while...which reminds me, I should go and give it a good shaking...lol. The engine does have a lifter tick on cold starts that annoys me greatly...it seems to hang on a little too long sometimes, but it does go away and quiets down. Once warmed up, the engine/carb starts and runs as well as any EFI 5.0L does. In any case, it's a huge hit with the old guys (even if they're not Ford guys...lol). Flaresides are always a hit (even though nobody calls them that...lol).

She looks to be in outstanding condition! Nice score.

Welcome aboard...I'm a big Flareside fan myself;). Can't wait to see the progress.

The most valuable volume is missing...the EVTM.

Gary, it didn't for me either. Mine for example has a 5spd added and a professionally built and dyno tuned 5.0L making 300HP, but the appraisal assumes all stock. When I talked to the gal on the phone, she just told me to add the value of these items and that is what they would insure the truck for (and they did). So, while the upgrades on mine are not documented in my insurance, I have the truck insured for the value including the upgrades regardless.

Interesting...

Gary, If you go to the Hagerty website, you can fill in your truck information and it will generate an online appraisal with price trending, etc. That is what they use to appraise it...but anybody has access to it. I just bumped mine up a little bit. I took the middle value and added 10% or something like that, which bumped the premium accordingly.

Gary, I am with Hagerty for Classic Vehicle insurance...just new to me this summer. Judging by Dave's comments above, it sounds like maybe they do things differently up here...I don't know. We also have Antique Vehicle plates which have their own set of restrictions, but the plates and insurance are not connected here at all (and I know they are in other places, even here in Canada.) For me personally, there are a couple good and bad things about Hagerty, so my feelings are mixed at the moment, and I'm not 100% sure that I will stay with them. Over the phone they said my truck had three possible values for good, better, and best...I forget exactly what they were, but it was like $10k, $20k, and $30k. I ended up insuring it for something like $23,000 and that covers me for everything. As for qualifying, all I really had to do was fill out a form and send them pictures of the truck. What I don't like are the restrictions... The way it was explained to me is that the insurance is meant for taking the vehicle to car shows, and casual drives. They told me I could not install a trailer hitch, and I cannot haul anything in the bed. The truck cannot be used for any kind of work. Those things don't bother me as I had no plans to do any of those things anyway. However, the one catch that does bother me is that I'm not supposed to take it to my work...as in no commuting. I would rarely take it to my work, but once in a while on a sunny day I'd like to. They put a note on my file that pre-approves me for Thursday since I often take the truck out for classic car night, and it is not so far from my work. I usually DO drive the 20 miles home to get the truck, but I don't have to on Thursdays...lol. They said traveling to a car show...even to Skiatook is no problem, as long as I let them know. So, while I don't like the restrictions...I do like the coverage in the case the thing were to burn to the ground or get stolen. I paid for the whole year already but I'm going to look at other options for 2021.

Oh, and to my knowledge, this is the only floor shifter still in production... https://www.summitracing.com/parts/huu-3666809

Gary might have to load up a larger picture...

Dave, I took a picture of this for you last night;). There are a few AMC's that show up on our Thusday night gatherings. This particular one is my favorite.

Oh that new paint looks so nice...congrats! There is something quite special about standing in a paint booth looking at your freshly painted truck/parts/etc.

I like the air intake ducts in the bumper and the rack on the roof. I haven't seen either of those before. Cool truck!

I think steering shafts are a bit of a funny story with a lot of internet dogma attached... I'm a firm believer in getting out the zip-cut disks and welder, for the record...lol. You may remember that I installed an '87-'91 steering shaft in my '84 F150, and to remove the slop from it, I welded two nuts on the shaft so that I could tighten it up with set-screws, and it worked like a charm! I love it. I read one account where the guy just leaned under the hood with his mig welder, and welding the slip joint solid to remove the slop. But what about the safety you might ask???>...It was an old F250 Plow truck with a cab that was already collapsing on the frame, so... Anyway, I've read about a lot of guys installing that Borgeson shafts (the double jointed ones, with NO rag joint) and many of them reported not even noticing that the rag joint wasn't there...

Gary, Would it be wise to grab the driveshafts from the donor truck as well?

Gary, What is the quick and dirty way to ID a ZF5 from under a truck? Does it have access covers for PTO, etc?

Ya, make sure it is actually a ZF5 if what he wants is a ZF5. The M5OD-R2 is the standard 5spd trans used in F150's and Bronco's from 1987-1996, and it was also used in pickups after that as well. It is a good transmission and Ford pumped out millions of 'em over the years, but one key point in his situation is that Ford never did offer that transmission behind a 351w. It was basically a 300/6 and 302 transmission. I quite like how mine shifts. There is no doubt that is IS a truck transmission...it shifts like a truck, but it IS a half-ton transmission. The M5OD-R2 did come in the F250 as long as it was under 8500gvwr (I think that was the rating). Mine came out of a 1991 F250 2wd with a 302.

Ahh yes, the so-called "small" kit. I removed one of these from my '84 and just recently gave it to another member.

Are you sure it's a ZF5 transmission? A 1992 F150 with a 302 would have had the lighter duty M5OD-R2 transmission...used in half tons and light duty 3/4 tons. Although there has been talk/comments that the ZF5 was offered in F150's, I have never actually seen one, nor has anyone else that I know of. Just want to make sure that you have the right transmission is all. And yes if you have a hydraulic clutch now you can re-use your existing Bullnose master cylinder and simply buy the 1992 version of the hydraulic line and slave cylinder.