Hello From a New Member

[Tom]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Tom. I live in Vermont. This past August I purchased a 1983 Ford F150 in Billings, Montana. I drove the truck across country, back home to Vermont. Although I broke down in Iowa, with a leaking water pump, it was an amazing first experience with this truck. Along the way I met so many super cool and helpful people, including the mechanic in the town of Victor, Iowa who replaced the water pump.

My red 1983 4x4 Ford F150 has a manual transmission, four on the floor with a granny gear. The 351 Windsor engine had 76,000 miles when purchased in Montana. It has a motorcraft variable venturi carburetor. I am currently having that carb rebuilt by Hite Parts in Ohio. The air pump is disabled; the pulley does not spin at all. There are a lot of vacuum hoses; and, I'm slowly learning how all of the vacuum assisted solenoid valves, valve checks, vacuum valves, and other emisison related valves work. It appears to have electronic engine control with a Duraspark module affixed to the inside of the driver side plastic wheel well (inside the engine compartment). I am in the process of cleaning the engine compartment and better understanding how everything works!

I initiallly began reading the Bullnose Enthusiasts' Posts as I think my first big job will be to replace the motorcraft VV carb with a retrofit replacment. So, if anyone has any good suggestions for taking that step, it would be super appreciated! When I replace the carb, I will also take the opportunity to replace the valve cover gaskets. I'm also wondering if a retrofit carb would require a new intake manifold. I am strongly interested in replacing the carb as, although it runs fine when warm, it does have difficulty starting up on cold mornings. In Northern Vermont, where I live, we can get some very cold weather come winter time.

In the meantime, I've provided lots of TLC to the truck. I replaced the muffler; I replaced all of the cab roof marker lights; replaced all of the wiring and relay for the fog lights; fixed a number of leaks in the cowling that were allowing water on to the cab floor; replaced all of the door/window weatherstripping; placed 1/4" square hardware cloth under the cowling vent to prevent leaves from getting into the air channels and duckbill drain; and cleaned out those duckbill drains which were super jammed with lots of debris! I also purchased a vacuum gauge and I'm learning how to check vacuum readings and checking all of the vacuum hoses.

Although there is some body work needed, the truck is in amazing shape for being 36 years old. The truck was primarily used on a ranch in Montana; and, the first owner kept meticulous service records. Eventually, I will go underneath the truck and begin to replace or clean the suspension, gas tanks, etc.

I retired two years ago and it has always been my dream to own a truck such as this F150. I love the classic look! I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can about the best ways to maintain and care for this truck. Thanks so much for all of the information that has been posted to date.

Best,

Tom

 

[1986F150Six]

Welcome to the forum, Tom!

[Gary Lewis]

Tom - Welcome! Glad to meet you.

Buying a truck remotely and driving it home is gutsy. Glad it worked out pretty well for you.

You should start a thread in the main section on your truck. More people are likely to follow it and chime in there as here in the New Member section. And, it gives you a good place to track your progress.

And speaking of progress, you certainly made some.

As for the carb, the Motorcraft 2150 was the other carb used on that engine, so that would be the easiest replacement. And I would replace the VV as it wasn't well understood back then, and it is unlikely you'll find many (any?) that truly understand it today. But it was a good design, just poorly understood and, therefore, had very little support.

Or, you could replace the intake with something like an Edelbrock 4bbl and put a small 4bbl on it. I like the Eddy 1406 for that, and it comes out of the box jetted just about right for a 351.

Having said that, you really can't change much w/o upsetting the computer, and if you do you'll not like the lack of power since it'll lock your ignition timing to just get you home. If you have emissions inspections in VT then you'll have to make some decisions. Without emissions inspections you could remove the computer and change over to a simple ignition system. But with emissions you may have to stick with the 2150 and all of the many, many complicated devices under the hood.

Anyway, welcome!!!

[Gary Lewis]

Tom - Welcome! Glad to meet you.

Buying a truck remotely and driving it home is gutsy. Glad it worked out pretty well for you.

You should start a thread in the main section on your truck. More people are likely to follow it and chime in there as here in the New Member section. And, it gives you a good place to track your progress.

And speaking of progress, you certainly made some.

As for the carb, the Motorcraft 2150 was the other carb used on that engine, so that would be the easiest replacement. And I would replace the VV as it wasn't well understood back then, and it is unlikely you'll find many (any?) that truly understand it today. But it was a good design, just poorly understood and, therefore, had very little support.

Or, you could replace the intake with something like an Edelbrock 4bbl and put a small 4bbl on it. I like the Eddy 1406 for that, and it comes out of the box jetted just about right for a 351.

Having said that, you really can't change much w/o upsetting the computer, and if you do you'll not like the lack of power since it'll lock your ignition timing to just get you home. If you have emissions inspections in VT then you'll have to make some decisions. Without emissions inspections you could remove the computer and change over to a simple ignition system. But with emissions you may have to stick with the 2150 and all of the many, many complicated devices under the hood.

Anyway, welcome!!!

Where's my brain this morning? A couple of other thoughts. First, what did you do before retirement? Just trying to get to know you.

Also, we have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu above) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a town in VT. Kinda cool to know where the others are.

[grumpin]

Where's my brain this morning? A couple of other thoughts. First, what did you do before retirement? Just trying to get to know you.

Also, we have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu above) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a town in VT. Kinda cool to know where the others are.

Welcome!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Welcome to the forum Tom!

Very nice truck!

I'm headed up to the extreme SW corner of your state next week.

 

[Ray Cecil]

Tom, good to have you. All the members here are all over the country. Thank you for the story about how you bought your truck.

If you dont need emissions tests there, and want drivability and guaranteed starts, I would start looking at some aftermarket EFI systems like MSD Atomic EFI, or Fitech, or Holley.

There are guys here that swear by carbs for all weather. And they may be right. But if you want to "set it, and forget it".....then look at EFI.

Someone just started a thread about installing an Atomic EFI.

[Tom]

Tom, good to have you. All the members here are all over the country. Thank you for the story about how you bought your truck.If you dont need emissions tests there, and want drivability and guaranteed starts, I would start looking at some aftermarket EFI systems like MSD Atomic EFI, or Fitech, or Holley. There are guys here that swear by carbs for all weather. And they may be right. But if you want to "set it, and forget it".....then look at EFI. Someone just started a thread about installing an Atomic EFI.

Awesome, thanks Ray!  I'll check out the new thread.  As I get to know the truck better, I'll take some time to figure out the best way to go.  In researching Vermont's inspection standards, it looks as if the State does not require emissions testing on trucks 15 years or older.  Thanks for the note and suggestions about the EFI.  I'll check that out.Best,

Tom

 

 

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 5:58 AM Ray Cecil [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

 

 

 

[Tom]

Welcome to the forum Tom! :nabble_waving_orig:Very nice truck!I'm headed up to the extreme SW corner of your state next week.

Awesome Jim!  Thanks for the note and enjoy your trip to Vermont!

 

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 4:56 AM ArdWrknTrk [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

 

 

 

[Ray Cecil]

Awesome, thanks Ray! I'll check out the new thread. As I get to know the

truck better, I'll take some time to figure out the best way to go. In

researching Vermont's inspection standards, it looks as if the State does

not require emissions testing on trucks 15 years or older. Thanks for the

note and suggestions about the EFI. I'll check that out.

Best,

Tom

Here is the link for the Atomic MSD thread:http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Just-checking-in-new-project-started-EFI-on-82-tp41833.html

And just a forum tip. If you respond from your email account, you get all the reply/forwarded junk like you see in the above posts. If you come to the site and reply, you can use this button at the top to place just the quote you are replying to.