jstone4646 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 I learned with my 1980 that although original is nice, it's just not as fun as custom. There will always be a part of me that loves clean, all original trucks. However, making them your own is what sets them apart from all of the other trucks out there. I get more complements on my Ranger with it modified than I ever did when it was stock. It's different, there isn't another one like it in town, and it definitely turns heads. Not only that, but it's built the way I want, and this new bullnose of mine will be the same way. All good replies and thoughts to chew on from everyone so far, thank you for that. My regular go to vehicles for about the past 15 years has been Wranglers, so customization is the name of that game...but customization within reason also. I am a function over flair kind of guy when it comes to the Jeeps, no silly light bars, or "angry eye" grills for me as they are called around the Jeep watering holes. Axle upgrades, lockers, lifts, tires, etc...I prefer function. I would like to customize her up, but she is a 2 wheel drive long bed so I have no plans of going crazy with it. If she was a 4x4 short bed step side....yea I would probably go ham, but I like the idea of having a rugged but stock~ish looking 85 with modifications that I can revert should I sell it at a later date, or want to change the function. That all being said my goal for her is about half and half utility vs fun. Runs to lowes/home depot for this that and the other. Drive her to work a couple times per week during the warmer months. Tow my Jeep with her occasionally to short trip events...that kind of thing. The reason I have the idea of a flat bed in mind is so that when I do use her for those fun times I can strap all my gear to her while towing the Jeep, such as a generator, welder, etc. Now a bed would do just fine for that but the benefit of a flat bed is that I can use it as an elevated sleeping/tent platform while camping. The flat bed would be easily removed just like the regular bed using the same bolt holes through the frame so reverting would be easy. I have however removed the idea of bed lining the exterior. Most of you guys said it best, that stuff is practically impossible to remove should you ever want to revert back. I think I will just get the current red (which I believe is a factory color) resprayed. My wife wants me to do the patina thing...but IMO an 80s truck is not really in the patina category. Do not get me wrong a lot of trucks pull off the patina thing very well, but for my particular 84 I just do not see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 All good replies and thoughts to chew on from everyone so far, thank you for that. My regular go to vehicles for about the past 15 years has been Wranglers, so customization is the name of that game...but customization within reason also. I am a function over flair kind of guy when it comes to the Jeeps, no silly light bars, or "angry eye" grills for me as they are called around the Jeep watering holes. Axle upgrades, lockers, lifts, tires, etc...I prefer function. I would like to customize her up, but she is a 2 wheel drive long bed so I have no plans of going crazy with it. If she was a 4x4 short bed step side....yea I would probably go ham, but I like the idea of having a rugged but stock~ish looking 85 with modifications that I can revert should I sell it at a later date, or want to change the function. That all being said my goal for her is about half and half utility vs fun. Runs to lowes/home depot for this that and the other. Drive her to work a couple times per week during the warmer months. Tow my Jeep with her occasionally to short trip events...that kind of thing. The reason I have the idea of a flat bed in mind is so that when I do use her for those fun times I can strap all my gear to her while towing the Jeep, such as a generator, welder, etc. Now a bed would do just fine for that but the benefit of a flat bed is that I can use it as an elevated sleeping/tent platform while camping. The flat bed would be easily removed just like the regular bed using the same bolt holes through the frame so reverting would be easy. I have however removed the idea of bed lining the exterior. Most of you guys said it best, that stuff is practically impossible to remove should you ever want to revert back. I think I will just get the current red (which I believe is a factory color) resprayed. My wife wants me to do the patina thing...but IMO an 80s truck is not really in the patina category. Do not get me wrong a lot of trucks pull off the patina thing very well, but for my particular 84 I just do not see it. I think you have a reasonable plan. But, with a plan you need to weigh each decision against the plan. And if this decision doesn't fit with the plan then either alter the plan now, knowing full well the implications thereof, or don't do whatever it is you are considering. I say that because I didn't adhere to my plan on Dad's truck, and I now have a trailer queen and a seriously-flattened wallet. I like the results, but don't know how I got here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 But the flatbed I think I'd like. Especially if you got a girl to drive it. In Winslow. (I've been on that corner a couple of times. There's a red flatbed Ford there.) "Take It Easy" Well, I'm running down the road tryin' to loosen my load I've got seven women on my mind, Four that wanna own me, Two that wanna stone me, One says she's a friend of mine Take It easy, take it easy Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy Lighten up while you still can don't even try to understand Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me Come on, baby, don't say maybe I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me We may lose and we may win though we will never be here again so open up, I'm climbin' in, so take it easy Well I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load, got a world of trouble on my mind lookin' for a lover who won't blow my cover, she's so hard to find Take it easy, take it easy don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy come on baby, don't say maybe I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me, oh oh oh Oh we got it easy We oughta take it easy  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 But the flatbed I think I'd like. Especially if you got a girl to drive it. In Winslow. (I've been on that corner a couple of times. There's a red flatbed Ford there.) "Take It Easy" Well, I'm running down the road tryin' to loosen my load I've got seven women on my mind, Four that wanna own me, Two that wanna stone me, One says she's a friend of mine Take It easy, take it easy Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy Lighten up while you still can don't even try to understand Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me Come on, baby, don't say maybe I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me We may lose and we may win though we will never be here again so open up, I'm climbin' in, so take it easy Well I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load, got a world of trouble on my mind lookin' for a lover who won't blow my cover, she's so hard to find Take it easy, take it easy don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy come on baby, don't say maybe I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me, oh oh oh Oh we got it easy We oughta take it easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Who is that good looking guy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Who is that good looking guy? According to Wikipedia is it just a likeness of some unknown man w/a guitar. But here's a better pic w/o the old man in it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 According to Wikipedia is it just a likeness of some unknown man w/a guitar. But here's a better pic w/o the old man in it: As most of you on here know, Darth is a far from stock 1986 F350 crew cab DRW pickup. First reason for some needed work, previous owner parked by feel, either when he heard metal bend or fiberglass crack he knew to stop. He had also slid on the frozen camp ground RV slots as the area was on a hill going down toward a lake. As a result both front fenders and one side of the hood were bent and a chunk of the left rear fender was broken off, He had been getting repairs at the Ford dealer in Gordonsville VA, who had a 3 day a week part time mechanic, who probably moved to Florida to work on Big Blue, or was at least related. Got him April 1994, for $4500.00, took our 1987 Horizon up with my youngest and camped in the tent area, met the owner and paid him, drove back to the tent area and proceeded to fix the accelerator pump, link was not even touching the pump lever on the Holley front bowl. Hooked up the Horizon tow bar (from towing it behind the 1977 F150 with a pickup camper) and headed back East via I 64 going off track to Northwest Suffolk VA where a good friend who could do fiberglass work lives. Proceeded to look the front end over, wash the oil off the Horizon front end and look for the oil leak. 3 tie rod ends later and it drove a lot better, tightening the oil filter adapter bolt solved the leak. While this was going on Roy Weidmann was repairing the rear fenders. Drove him like this through 2005 and into 2006, wife passed away from MS complications the end of 2005 but we hadn't been camping much since 2003 due to her MS. I had purchased a 1990 F250 parts truck for the EFI system and E4OD transmission, but wanted to go to MAF/SEFI as the bank fired 460s have a penchant for #5 cylinder problems and the parts donor engine was no different, #5 was burning oil, heads turned out to be fresh, but excessive leakage in #5 rings. I installed to top end on the 1986 short block, put in the E4OD and drove him a while as a bank fired system, I re-sequenced the injectors so they worked like a TBI or carburetor, 1467 and 2358 instead of the 1458 2367 they came as. The 460 lower intake is essentially an aluminum 4 barrel dual plane so this was a better sequence. While I was doing this, using a 302 SEFI engine harness, I did the grouping in the chassis end. My original plan was to use the 1990 dash and wiring, but there are not enough pins available in the engine harness for SEFI, a total of 32 available, 33-34 minimum needed, 1992 up, the engine to chassis interface changed to a 42 pin connector. While I was researching this I was running into a major stumbling block, no one really had much information on MAF/SEFI for a 460 as only some 1996/97 CA spec models got it. I actually had someone on a FB group say it was a unicorn, I informed him I had his unicorn including an actual FEZ3 EEC-V box, but I digress, I was contacted by Adam Marrer of Core Tuning LLC, who sold me a nice package of EEC, Mongoose Pro pass-through cable and software along with about 1 year of excellent support. We spent about 2 hours the first night while he walked me through the parameters and what to lock out in the software. Since I was still in Newport News at this time I had Cox broadband internet and digital phone so he was able to login to my laptop and show me the procedure. The advantage of using the Ford EEC rather than aftermarket, I have several spares and actually sent one to Gary for Dad's Truck. I just need ones with the ML1-441 hardware code, doesn't matter what it actually came out of. The final was the interior, HVAC etc. 1986, even a full power truck only had front power windows and locks, due to the door configuration, adding those to the rear doors borders on Mission Impossible. I had actually gotten a pair of 1987-91 rear doors when a 1996 crew cab came into Pete's Used Parts with a crushed roof, it was a Centaurus custom, with Ford/Alcoa rims and a really nice interior. Change of plans, go for the 1996 interior! so that is where the interior and wiring came from, 1996 uses a pair of plugs on the firewall, one for the front end and one for the chassis, everything is weatherproofed and the 1990 up does away with the triple fuel pumps, TFI module is remote and the EEC mounts from underhood just inside the left air box, so no need to cut into the air box area. Steering column also sits straight! I ended up with a nice, later looking truck, still with my original king pins and most of the exhaust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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