New Member New Build, looking for Direction

[Jbird2200]

Hi All,

I'm one of those individuals who has childhood memories of a bullnose Ford in my life. My grandpa had a 1985 Ford F-250 Explorer Trim 460/C6 4x4 SuperCab truck. I acquired that truck in my college years almost 15 years ago and despite my determination to get it back on the road, it was ultimately scrapped when I ran out of storage space.

For the last year or so I've been looking for a similar truck and have had much difficulty finding that configuration. 2 weeks ago I came across a 1984 F-250 SuperCab 2wd 460/C6 XLT roller with a really good body and interior

I'm now faced with the predicament on which direction to go with the build. The previous owner took their time to apply what appears to be POR15 to the entire frame and suspension components. So everything I have is clean and we'll preserved, but without many essential components.

A donor truck is going to be needed regardless. I've read several threads on bullnose Ford conversion to 87-97 frames, but most folks seem to be only swapping front clips. I'd be looking to swap the whole cab clip, and bed.

I'm struggling with whether or not I should find either:

1. A 460/C6 4x4 bullnose donor

2. A 6.9 IDI manual 4x4 bullnose donor

3. A 94-97 Powerstroke auto or manual 4x4 donor

I think option 3 would be the best of both worlds and would still have a good tribute factor to my grandfather's truck but ultimately would be the greatest investment in time and expense.

Any thoughts from the bullnose experts is welcome as I'm at a bit of a standstill until I ultimately make my decision on which donor truck to buy.

Thanks for allowing new users to post an intro! I look forward to reading more and learning more about the builds that are shared on this forum.

Thanks,

Josh

[Gary Lewis]

Josh - Welcome! I think you missed the email asking you to go the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then start a thread to introduce yourself. But you've done the latter, so could you assure me you've read the guidelines?

So, where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we'd be happy to add you if we had a city & state or zip.

It is a shame your previous truck got scrapped. Save for it being a Supercab it was quite similar to what Big Blue was new. (He's changed a bit. )

Anyway, I'll let the others suggest what they think you ought to do. But I'm sure you know that a 460 is thirsty, and if you put a C6 behind it the combination is downright glutenous.

[Jbird2200]

Josh - Welcome! I think you missed the email asking you to go the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then start a thread to introduce yourself. But you've done the latter, so could you assure me you've read the guidelines?

So, where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we'd be happy to add you if we had a city & state or zip.

It is a shame your previous truck got scrapped. Save for it being a Supercab it was quite similar to what Big Blue was new. (He's changed a bit. )

Anyway, I'll let the others suggest what they think you ought to do. But I'm sure you know that a 460 is thirsty, and if you put a C6 behind it the combination is downright glutenous.

Hi Gary,

Sorry about that. I did see the email, and thought I acknowledged the guidelines and all.

I'm just outside of St. Louis (63385 zip).

And yeah, the 460/C6 combo doesnt have me excited for anythig other than the ease of the work and less expense.

 

[Jbird2200]

Hi Gary,

Sorry about that. I did see the email, and thought I acknowledged the guidelines and all.

I'm just outside of St. Louis (63385 zip).

And yeah, the 460/C6 combo doesnt have me excited for anythig other than the ease of the work and less expense.

Dang it, I see what happened now. Sorry about that, doing all of this from my phone and I intended to post this intial thread under the new member section.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Welcome Josh!

So are you intending to swap the OBS firewall and interior into a Bullnose cab, and plant that on a OBS chassis?

Because while it will be challenging to fit I can't see how you intend to make a Bullnose dash and controls drive an OBS powertrain.

There will still be a huge amount of harness work for things like light, wipers, etc...

But without a PSOM, PCM and the like the Powerstroke drivetrain is going to be near impossible.

Bill Vose is very good with melding harnesses together.

I'm sure he'll be along to have his say.

[Rembrant]

A donor truck is going to be needed regardless. I've read several threads on bullnose Ford conversion to 87-97 frames, but most folks seem to be only swapping front clips. I'd be looking to swap the whole cab clip, and bed.

Hi Josh, welcome aboard.

I just swapped a 1980 F150 Bullnose body on to a 1995 F150 chassis, and it is all pretty straight forward. I needed a frame, and the 1995 donor truck was desirable to me for a few reasons...it was a swb 5spd 4x4 with quad shock front end and both front and rear factory swaybars. The only issue with the Bullnose swap on to a 1992-1997 frame/chassis is the mounting of the 1980-1986 Bullnose front bumper. I cut a set of bumper horns off a 1986 at the junkyard, and then grafted them on to the 1995 frame, and everything fit perfectly imho. That's a half ton though...I don't know what differs with the 3/4 ton frames...make sure you research that part.

Body mount holes and locations are all the same, all the way up to the end in 1997, even the core support mounts...it's just that the 1992-1997 frames are boxed in the front with crumble zones, and the 1980-1991 frames are not. The cab floors are all the same, so swapping around tunnel covers for different transmissions is no problem. Manual trans (hydraulic clutch) swap is also no problem...you just need to install some parts and poke a couple holes in the firewall, but it's all pretty much plug N play.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

A donor truck is going to be needed regardless. I've read several threads on bullnose Ford conversion to 87-97 frames, but most folks seem to be only swapping front clips. I'd be looking to swap the whole cab clip, and bed.

Hi Josh, welcome aboard.

I just swapped a 1980 F150 Bullnose body on to a 1995 F150 chassis, and it is all pretty straight forward. I needed a frame, and the 1995 donor truck was desirable to me for a few reasons...it was a swb 5spd 4x4 with quad shock front end and both front and rear factory swaybars. The only issue with the Bullnose swap on to a 1992-1997 frame/chassis is the mounting of the 1980-1986 Bullnose front bumper. I cut a set of bumper horns off a 1986 at the junkyard, and then grafted them on to the 1995 frame, and everything fit perfectly imho. That's a half ton though...I don't know what differs with the 3/4 ton frames...make sure you research that part.

Body mount holes and locations are all the same, all the way up to the end in 1997, even the core support mounts...it's just that the 1992-1997 frames are boxed in the front with crumble zones, and the 1980-1991 frames are not. The cab floors are all the same, so swapping around tunnel covers for different transmissions is no problem. Manual trans (hydraulic clutch) swap is also no problem...you just need to install some parts and poke a couple holes in the firewall, but it's all pretty much plug N play.

I was under the idea that he wanted an entire OBS 7.3 Powerstroke?

No speedo drive.

Senders and sensors read backwards.

Needs the '96 computer and cluster to drive the injection and transmission.

And if you're going there you may as well graft the firewall so the steering column and bulkhead connectors work?

But that dash doesn't fit the door panels, and the door panels don't fit the Bullnose doors.

But the doors will swap, if you don't mind the mirrors and vent window differences.

[Rembrant]

I was under the idea that he wanted an entire OBS 7.3 Powerstroke?

Could be. I can only offer info on the frame/chassis/body swap. My electrical is all staying 1980, so I didn't have to make any changes there other than possibly getting the 4x4 light to work (my 1980 doesn't have one).

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

I was under the idea that he wanted an entire OBS 7.3 Powerstroke?

Could be. I can only offer info on the frame/chassis/body swap. My electrical is all staying 1980, so I didn't have to make any changes there other than possibly getting the 4x4 light to work (my 1980 doesn't have one).

Did your '95 chassis/driveline has a speedo cable connection?

[Rembrant]

Did your '95 chassis/driveline has a speedo cable connection?

No sir, as far as I know, cable speedo ended in 1991. The 1995 has a speed sensor on top of the rear diff. I'm swapping in an '88-'91 transfer case to get the speedo drive (BW1356?). There's a few of them around collecting dust, I just haven't picked one up yet.