84 F-150 300i6 3 speed OD 2.47 rears 2WD

[844rd]

This truck was bought at Ray Ford in Shreveport, LA in 1984 by my dad. I remember going with him to get it. It's a base model and came with an AM radio. He used it for a work truck (he was in construction) so you can imagine the 2.47 read end did not work well for him but great for me. In 1985 I got my driver’s license, dad got a new truck and let me drive the 84. I had no idea at the time that I would keep it the rest of my life. Still mostly stock. Many years ago I put seekers in the door with a am/fm cassette radio. The interior is still OEM. Dash pad is in great shape except the speaker. Seats set great although material is badly thin and will get redone soon. In August of this year I had the motor rebuilt, replaced the feedback carb. with non- feedback. the emissions stuff was not working anyway and been driving in limp mode for a while. Still have the EEC IV TFI ignition with the map and o2 sensors hooked up. No EGR or air pump. New started, P/S pump, radiator, all of which was original. Still have the OEM A/C compressor and still blowing cold air. Also replaced the Clutch which has had a few. Only went up a tad on the tires from 215 to 235. Just put in new taillight housings in (much better).

Things to get done very soon:

1. New steering gearbox

2. Get the TFI ignition checked out and see what it would take to convert to the DSII.

3. Windshield has a leak. Rust across the top were you glue it in. Having that redone next few weeks.

4. Crowl seal to be replaced. (liked the way Gary done his).

Other things to do:

1. Pull out floor mat and prep the floor. Looking at going with carpet. What color of blue will match?

2. Experiment with dash pad speaker. Might try a speaker cover it would stick op a bit so not sure yet.

3. Replace dash lights mine are green and dim. Saw Gary's blue LED's plan to do that.

4. Would like to add a tach. Maybe junk yard find. Need to research how it will hook up. I bet someone here knows.

5. New toolbox. One of those narrower ones (about 13" wide)

6. Paint the breather housing.

7. See how the choke does this winter and if I need to try and rig the stove pipe tubing up.

8. See about making some sort heat box forr breather tub or just let it hang down on top of the

Manifold. Live in South AR. any thoughts on this?

 

[Rembrant]

4. Would like to add a tach. Maybe junk yard find. Need to research how it will hook up. I bet someone here knows.

I installed a factory tach in my 1984 F150. I bought a complete instrument cluster like the one linked below (with a tach).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-1986-Ford-F150-250-350-Bronco-Truck-Instrument-Gauge-Cluster-w-AUTO-TACH/163213857048?hash=item26004dd118:g:v2UAAOSwkHJbfEUI

It's a pretty straight forward swap. If you have these trucks in the junk yards in your area, maybe you can find a cheap one.

Don't forget to read up on all the details for new (better) bulbs, and also how to paint the gauge needles with nice new bright orange paint.

 

[844rd]

4. Would like to add a tach. Maybe junk yard find. Need to research how it will hook up. I bet someone here knows.

I installed a factory tach in my 1984 F150. I bought a complete instrument cluster like the one linked below (with a tach).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-1986-Ford-F150-250-350-Bronco-Truck-Instrument-Gauge-Cluster-w-AUTO-TACH/163213857048?hash=item26004dd118:g:v2UAAOSwkHJbfEUI

It's a pretty straight forward swap. If you have these trucks in the junk yards in your area, maybe you can find a cheap one.

Don't forget to read up on all the details for new (better) bulbs, and also how to paint the gauge needles with nice new bright orange paint.

WOW thanks. Never thought about getting the whole cluster. Heck I've seed just the Tach alone for 65.00. 120.00 for the whole thing would be well worth it, can even get a trip odometer which I don't have now. Looking at putting blue LED's in when I do it. I will study on the orange paint thing.

[844rd]

WOW thanks. Never thought about getting the whole cluster. Heck I've seed just the Tach alone for 65.00. 120.00 for the whole thing would be well worth it, can even get a trip odometer which I don't have now. Looking at putting blue LED's in when I do it. I will study on the orange paint thing.

Oh another thing, it should plug and play even though not auto trans? That would great to get it, the bulbs and paint the needles in advance and just be able to do a quick swap.

[Gary Lewis]

This is a wonderful story! Your father purchased it new, and you will have it the rest of your life.

Several things:

• Your pics aren't as big as they could be, and if you want them to be full sized you need to add width="100%" to the code that gets generated when you insert a pic. For instance, inserting a pic of Big Blue generates this code, but without the "" before and after:

  nabble_img src="After_Wash_and_Wax_Front_Quarter_-_Smaller.jpg" border="0"/

  But to make it as big as possible I add the above text like this, although I made it bold for emphasis here:

  nabble_img src="After_Wash_and_Wax_Front_Quarter_-_Smaller.jpg" border="0" width="100%"/

• On your speaker hole in the dash, Ron/reamer has a plastic patch or repair that you might like. See it here: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/WHYDTYTT-What-Have-You-Done-To-Your-Truck-Today-tp148.html However, what you have isn't too bad. Big Blue's is far worse.

• Steering box: Ford's design used the case for the front bearing, but after several thousand miles the case wears. You can buy a "rebuilt" steering box, like from Cardone, but they don't do anything about the worn case. However, both RedHead and Blue-Top bore out the original case and install a true bearing. So the box is really better than new. RedHead has gotten some bad reviews of late, but I don't really know if there's a problem. Blue-Top appears to be run by a previous RedHead employee and is getting good reviews, but someone recently said they were out of product when he contacted them.

• Interior: The interior colors are shown in Specifications/Interior Paint

• Choke: I'd try it the way it is before worrying too much about it. However, if you can find the right "stove", which is the sheet metal that goes around the exhaust, that would be the best solution.

 

[Rembrant]

Oh another thing, it should plug and play even though not auto trans? That would great to get it, the bulbs and paint the needles in advance and just be able to do a quick swap.

The auto trans gear indicator part is just held in place with a couple screws. 10 seconds to remove, and you can pop the manual trans blank in its place.

Those parts are all interchangeable...EXCEPT maybe the 1980 truck stuff?....Gary will know, I think there is something different with them? 1981-1986 are all the same as far as I know.

You could install only the tach in your existing instrument cluster, or you could swap in the whole cluster and just change out the auto indicator to the manual blank filler plate. Either or.

I liked the fact that the extra instrument cluster gives me some spare gauges in case I ever need spare parts later on down the road. I bought a complete 1984 Bronco cluster for $75 USD. They come and go on Ebay, so the prices will vary.

Might be a $20 item at a junk yard...some guys seem to have good luck with this stuff. Junk yards around here barely have anything older than 15-20 years, so the Bullnoses are long gone from a used parts stand point.

[Rembrant]

Oh another thing, it should plug and play even though not auto trans? That would great to get it, the bulbs and paint the needles in advance and just be able to do a quick swap.

The auto trans gear indicator part is just held in place with a couple screws. 10 seconds to remove, and you can pop the manual trans blank in its place.

Those parts are all interchangeable...EXCEPT maybe the 1980 truck stuff?....Gary will know, I think there is something different with them? 1981-1986 are all the same as far as I know.

You could install only the tach in your existing instrument cluster, or you could swap in the whole cluster and just change out the auto indicator to the manual blank filler plate. Either or.

I liked the fact that the extra instrument cluster gives me some spare gauges in case I ever need spare parts later on down the road. I bought a complete 1984 Bronco cluster for $75 USD. They come and go on Ebay, so the prices will vary.

Might be a $20 item at a junk yard...some guys seem to have good luck with this stuff. Junk yards around here barely have anything older than 15-20 years, so the Bullnoses are long gone from a used parts stand point.

Oh...and I seem to recall there being a tach wiring difference between the 6cyl and 8cyl...maybe somebody else can comment?

[1986F150Six]

Oh...and I seem to recall there being a tach wiring difference between the 6cyl and 8cyl...maybe somebody else can comment?

The tachometers are one and the same, but the 8 cylinder wiring harness provides a 2nd ground, which "tells" the tachometer it is for an 8 cylinder engine.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh another thing, it should plug and play even though not auto trans? That would great to get it, the bulbs and paint the needles in advance and just be able to do a quick swap.

The auto trans gear indicator part is just held in place with a couple screws. 10 seconds to remove, and you can pop the manual trans blank in its place.

Those parts are all interchangeable...EXCEPT maybe the 1980 truck stuff?....Gary will know, I think there is something different with them? 1981-1986 are all the same as far as I know.

You could install only the tach in your existing instrument cluster, or you could swap in the whole cluster and just change out the auto indicator to the manual blank filler plate. Either or.

I liked the fact that the extra instrument cluster gives me some spare gauges in case I ever need spare parts later on down the road. I bought a complete 1984 Bronco cluster for $75 USD. They come and go on Ebay, so the prices will vary.

Might be a $20 item at a junk yard...some guys seem to have good luck with this stuff. Junk yards around here barely have anything older than 15-20 years, so the Bullnoses are long gone from a used parts stand point.

Yes, the early 1980 trucks had a different pinout on the instrument connector. But that can be changed if you wind up with one of those clusters. Late 1980 through ‘86 were all the same.

But, the dash wiring is different between a truck with idiot lights and gauges. I think this one has gauges, so a full gauge cluster with a tach will bolt/connect right in.

As for the tach, they are all the same. But there’s a ground in the 8 cylinder’s engine wiring that tells the tach it is an 8 cylinder. So, any tach cluster with work with either engine.

[844rd]

Yes, the early 1980 trucks had a different pinout on the instrument connector. But that can be changed if you wind up with one of those clusters. Late 1980 through ‘86 were all the same.

But, the dash wiring is different between a truck with idiot lights and gauges. I think this one has gauges, so a full gauge cluster with a tach will bolt/connect right in.

As for the tach, they are all the same. But there’s a ground in the 8 cylinder’s engine wiring that tells the tach it is an 8 cylinder. So, any tach cluster with work with either engine.

Great feedback all, I like the idea of the whole cluster and I always wanted a trip odometer. Like you said I can keep my old one for spare parts. Only thing I would like to keep the same odometer reading so can they be swapped out or change the new one?