Hello Everyone,

I recently bought a 1976 F150, 2WD, with a 5.8L 351M in it. I needed a cheap truck to make it easier to work on my own home, and friend's homes, and decided to get something with some character. I've never worked on my own vehicles before and am looking forward to learning on this truck. So far, it's only been a week, I'm having a blast and making progress on the list of things it failed its safety inspection on.

I'm looking forward to meeting other VA Ford guys here. Especially any other 73-79 owners who like to answer questions!

Cheers

 

Welcome, Welcome buddy. Always good to have another Va guy.

Join us over in the chat thread, just jump in and hold on. You old enough to remember the Andy Griffith show?

Bring that truck out to the meet in April too! We might need to pull some stumps from the ground haha.

 

Thanks for stopping by. There's a good amount of knowledge here. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

welcome

 

Just a quick, official, welcome to the Chapter. I've gone ahead and processed your request. Let us know of any questions you may have.

 

Welcome Chuggin. Someone must have swapped in that 351M. I don't think they were put in the trucks until 78.

 

Welcome aboard

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

@GLR - I'm pretty sure that's the case. The 351m doesn't appear to be a factory option for the 76, but it was for the 77 as far as I know. At some point I'll see how close I can get to determining the actual age of the motor.

 

Chuggin- get some part numbers from under the hood. There's a guy on this forum, or course I can't remember his name, but he's an encyclopedia of PN's and Ford employee. Might be able to dial you in some if anything was discontinued or replaced.

Anybody remember his name?

 

Hows the project coming along. I always loved that body style!

 

Bill AKA: "Number Dummy" was a Ford parts man and great on info. You'd be able to find moe info by posting in the 73-79 forum.

Does the engine valve cover have a decal on it? That would tell you the year.

 

Not too much. I sprayed all the white primer sections gray so it doesn't look so crazy (down to 3 colors now instead of 4). Installed an electric choke and she starts very nice now. Other minor electrical items to pass safety inspection: neutral safety switch and reverse switch, wired horn etc. I'm installing the new master cylinder Sunday and then all that's left to pass inspection is replacing some seals in the rear axle.

She's rather leaky. I purchased and now need to install new seals at the top of the steering gear box. The transmission is leaking a little. Might need a new rear main.

Found a crack in the frame where the steering gear box bolts to it. Probably going to tackle that in the next month.

Basically want to get her dry and running right before anything else.

 

Huh, what about the neutral safety is on inspection? Mine is bad, have to start the car in N, but the key lock in/out for P still works.


Solid game plan ahead of you. Not your first resurrection I assume?

 

Sounds like a pretty good amount of work. Everything should be pretty straight forward.

Id tackle that cracked frame section first, then fix the leaks and wiring. Is this your driver or a project?

 

@Dave804 - The lack of a neutral safety switch was marked down on my form/receipt as one of the reasons it failed. Makes sense to me since I can start the truck in Reverse or Drive currently, which isn't terribly safe. The reverse light switch wasn't a reason it failed but something it just needed.

This IS my first project but with FTE, the Internet, a Haynes manual and plenty of friends with lots of experience its easy to learn quickly. Plus its a 76 so its pretty basic.


@archtaan - I don't weld so the frame is waiting on the availability of a friend who can. It is not a daily driver.