My mom and dad gave me this 1979 F150 Lariat for Christmas this year!

My grandpa bought it in 1986 and my dad bought it from him in 1990 and has had it since.
It's got two tone black and silver paint,140k miles, 460, auto, dual fuel tanks, cruise, AC, Lariat package, and roof lights. My dad had bought an f250 parts truck a long time ago that gave up it's 3/4 ton rear end for this truck. F250 still has complete 3/4 ton front suspension in it that might go into my truck if it doesn't require major modifications.
My dad parked it in 2001 when the carb needed to be rebuilt, he just never got around to rebuilding it.

Now it's my chance to get it back on the road and show it off at school (my last year of high school!). I have almost $200 saved up from selling some stuff that was gonna go towards an 80's F series or bronco before I was given this truck, kinda glad I started selling things because I have the cash to fix this one now

Current plans:
Drop and clean out both tanks
Replace tank switching valve
Replace rubber fuel lines/filter
Change fluids and tune up(selling more things to afford this lol)
Flush out old antifreeze
Rebuild the 4160 Holley
New exhaust and flowmaster 40 muffler(single until I have extra cash to go dual)
Take intake off to clean out squirrel nut stash
Repaint valve covers, air cleaner, and intake
Might have to replace some brake components
Install newer stereo system
And thoroughly clean it!

Future plans:
Fix small rust areas
Repaint factory colors
New rear bumper
New seat foam/upholstery
New door panels
New carpet
New dash trim bezel and factory radio
3/4 ton front suspension swap
Larger wheels and tires

I'll post updates and many pictures as I go! (Cause pictures are entertaining!) Should be able to buy the carb rebuild kit, rubber lines, fuel filter, oil/filter, and antifreeze this weekend
Probably going to have to do all the work right where it's sitting due to other projects blocking the driveway though.

Pics!














Found the foglights that used to be on the bumper. Might stick them back on





Cleared out the stuff on the drivers side


Bumper is toast

 

I hope there isn't a limit on how many photos I can attach per post




Parts truck. Already provided me with perfect front window channel rubber for the drivers side! Need to uncover the passenger side and get that one too



Hey they fit!







That's it for pictures right now!

And I still remember my dad letting me sit on his lap and steer the truck down our driveway sometime before he parked it. Never gonna sell this truck!

 

Can't wait to see this all cleaned up and running.

 

Made some more forward movement, or backward depending on how you look at it!

I tore the carb down and labeled/put all the parts in little baggies, which all went into a box. The Metering plate gaskets are still stuck on, as well as the metering block. Hopefully I'll get them off tomorrow and start cleaning all the parts with the carb cleaner I got! Carb kit for the 4160 is $50 on ebay though, and the parts house wanted $60...

I also took the radio out since I couldn't get it to work. Tried fitting an AM/FM cassette out of an 80's ford but it was too big. Looking for a higher quality Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, etc two post cassette radio for it. There is a Kenwood KRC-2007 on ebay for $50 that I like best, looks like it has rca jacks for an amp. I could build a sub box that could fit behind my seat.

Cleaned up the interior some, drained the coolant (looked pretty clean), and got the valve covers and intake pulled off. Intake will be "hot tanked" and repainted. New valve cover gaskets and intake gaskets will be bought.








Easiest drain ever!




Gonna black out the faded grey!

 

I sanded the grey on the headlight surrounds to paint them black. This is a before pic, should paint them tomorrow


Then I traced down the cab light wiring. It tapped into power from behind the fuse block. I took the wire off from where it was tapped into to new run wiring and a fuse from the solenoid under the hood.



Switches from left to right will be: Foglights, roof lights, something else (probably going to be amp).



I like this sight!!





And I unearthed the 250 since I might swap all the front suspension once I get the 150 running

 

Love it. I would spent all day just cruising in it.

 

Tried to pull the tanks today. Got the hoses loose and tanks free, but they refuse to drop down. Rear is hung up by the exhaust hanger and main hose, front is hung up by something and the main hose too. Quit on the rear when I saw a spider the size of a small grape rappel down from the tank:noesrun:

Sprayed flat black on the headlight bezels followed by semi gloss. Grille will get similar treatment, new silver on the face with black around the openings.

And I mounted and fixed the wiring for the foglights!

 

Finished the wiring to the switches for the roof lights and fog lights. Need to replace some of the bulbs and the brake light switch is stuck I think since a taillight was still on after the lights were shut off.



Roof lights, fog lights, delay wiper, switch for sub amp (just stuck the switch in the hole, need to run wiring still)





Tomorrow will probably be fiddly things.

 

Reminds me of my F150. Did a whole bunch of work on it, and the truck didn't even run lol.

Keep up the good work!

 

Love the truck! When you get to cosmetics, get a bottle of Turtle Wax "color back" and some wax. Did wonders for my truck.. Pics in my build thread. 79 is my favorite year for Ford and I have a thing for two tone trucks. Get that engine running and drive her out of that spot! Keep us updated on progress!

 

Thanks guys!

I want to buff it out a bit but the lacquer paint on it has cracked real bad, wonder if pressure washing afterwards would get the compound out of the cracks.
I love its unusual two tone color as well, the silver roof is even more unusual!

 

Since a 92 gt my dad and I have is going away I pulled all the stuff I put on it off and put old stuff on. The good plug wires went on my dads 90 ssp so I could get the MSD plug wires off for the truck. Also took the good higher grade spark plugs out of the 92 along with the stereo I had in it. Took the boot cover to put over the msd cap as well




Finished uncovering the parts truck from black berries too. I'm going to work on pulling the bed off to get to the leaf springs and gas tank easier. Might put it's rear bumper on my truck if it's nicer, and the bed has the locking box on the passenger side too. Might weld it into my bed when ever I get to doing body work.





Anyone know if 8 lug wheels off of a 99 dodge truck would fit the ford 8 lug bolt pattern? My dad has nice 16.5in wheels with 33's on them on his dodge but was wanting to find stock rims for it.

 

I had to pull an aftermarket radio out of a firebird my dad has to replace mine in the mustang gt. I was real happy to notice it had a tach on the column! Same tach I wanted to put in my truck and my dad let me have it. Think I'll put it in this spot. Thought about putting it above the turn signal stick, but might be too bright at night and block the guages.


Good speakers for the doors


Pulled the cluster to clean it and replace bulbs.


Original speedo bushing thing was toast. Grabbed one from an '85 mustang cluster I have. Needed to cut the flat parts off the original to use as a form of washer under the screws since the speedo would tilt side to side without extra rubber.


I didn't like the bright white that was stock on the tach, so I got a couple blue filters that fit over that size bulb from a couple '97 crown vic rear defrost buttons. Now the color is a little more like the factory gauge color. Pictures don't do it justice.




Took bulbs/holders from a 75k mile Crown Vic cluster and replaced most of the old bulbs. (old on left, new on right)


Hard to see with my phone camera, but the tach is about the same tint, but the brighter bulbs make it look white, camera doesn't take very good low light shots either.





Going to cut the dash trim/face bezel to fit a newer radio in it. It's broken and has been cut, so I'm not really ruining anything. The metal support for the older radio will be bent back to avoid cutting, I'll just have to make a hanger to hold the rear of the new radio up. Might work on that tomorrow!

Found this pic on google. Inspiration!!

 

Wired in the tach light. Found an ignition point to tap into, then just gotta run the green wire to the tach wire. Then I played with the lights!

 

Finally got some time to do more work on the truck.
Pulled the front clip out of the parts truck and jacked the rear of it up a little. Was going to pull the bumper but the hitch receiver was welded to a cross bar underneath the rear tank, which was welded to the frame
Good news is that the rear tank was still in with it's rubber filler hose in good shape!

Gonna use a cutting torch to cut the bed bolts off from the top, then pull the bed off to get to the tanks and bumper easier due to where it's sitting.

Where there is major rust on the f150, the f250 does not have rust!



Cleaned out the glove box. Old!


My dad helped get the Ranchero canopy off the back. Looks a whole lot different to me now!



Washed a couple spots too. Black should shine up to look decent, but the repaint on the silver has worn off showing primer. I'll look at doing all the body and paint after high school.



And I finished up the radio/tach wiring, stereo deck hole cut, speakers replaced, headlight/wiper bulb replaced, and dash put back together!


Might pull it out to flat ground where I can tackle lifting the bed off to do fuel lines too