I posted this in the intro area but figured since so many of the people that have helped me (without knowing) are in this section, I would put it up here too.




After years of lurking around and soaking up knowledge, I figured I would introduce myself for the simple reason of thanking everybody here. I have gained so much valuable information that I have put to use on multiple Ford trucks I have owned.

I started my obsession when I was 11 and got my first truck/vehicle. It was a 1988 F-150 4x4 regular cab long box. I used it around the farm to irrigate and build fence and when I turned 14 it was my means of conveyance to and from school. I had that truck for years and drove it throughout High School.

When I moved on to college, I decided I didn't need a truck in the city and decided a 96 Mustang would suit my needs. It did up until the point when I bought a piece of furniture and couldn't find a way to get it home. After a while I decided that it was time to get another truck. I bought a very nice 85 F-150 4x4 Regular Cab long box. It had the 460 and a C6. It sat on 35's and to this day, I can't believe it but I don't have a single picture of this truck from the 3 years that I owned it. I suppose in saying that, I gave away the fact that I have since sold it and moved on. I repeated my previous mistake deciding that I no longer needed the big truck and moved on. Once again, I ran into the same issues not having a pickup.

I decided it was time to get the truck that I really wanted and decided to start looking for my favorite body style. I have liked the 73-79 Fords since I was a child. I looked for around 6 months before I found a candidate that fit the budget and the criteria. I ended up buying a 76 F-150 4x4 Regular Cab long box. She wasn't a beauty queen but it had a 390 and a 4 speed and ran like a top. And I had this truck up until a few weeks ago (which was roughly 3 years).

Recently, my wife and I found out that we were going to have our first child and I decided that the time had finally come to justify buying the Super or Crew Cab truck that I have always wanted. I looked around and stumbled upon my current truck. She's a 1978 F-150 Ranger XLT 2wd with a 460 and c6.

This got extremely long winded but on each of the previous trucks, I have been here gathering information (aside from the 88). This forum has helped me through plenty of issues and I felt the need to thank everybody for making the information available.

 

This is how she looked the day I picked her up.








Interior was in pretty great shape.









One of the previous owners had mounted a square bore carb on a spread bore intake. I decided instead of paying 60 bucks for an adapter, I would shed some weight and step up to a stealth intake.



Used my cherry picker to pull the old intake.



It sits quite a bit taller.



I added a 6al box and blaster2 coil that I had sitting around. I tied them into the factory distributor.

 

The flatbed made her look like she had dinky tires. I decided to step it up. I know it's a 2wd but it's still a truck and deserves to look like one. I stepped up to 31's on stock 2wd suspension.



I painted the wheels with rattle can to give them a fresh look without spending too much money.



The old flatbed lights were pretty cloudy and weak. I decided to upgrade to LEDs.





They certainly give it a unique look.



It's hard to tell with this picture, but they are really bright. These are just the running lights, the brake lights are blinding.

The stock dome light had burned out and the cover had crumbled so I picked up an LED and the LMC clear lens





This thing turns night into day. It lights up the entire cab.

And while all of my latest additions have been somewhat superficial, I am replacing and addressing issues as they creep up.

This last one was for fun but justified as "safety"



Plenty of terrible drivers around here and I wanted something that would actually steal their attention back from their phones or whatnot. This is a set of 12v Wolo "The Dominator" horns. I have them wired through a relay tied directly to the battery and switched by the original steering wheel switch.

 

I don't really want to call this a build thread because she is more of a toy/daily driver than she is a continuing project. I will be doing some more stuff to it but I doubt that it will get a full restoration. The only serious rust is in the cab corners and I will be patching those in the future once I buy a new welder. So, this is more of an intro/placeholder for projects that I will do on her. But there isn't currently an end goal or aspiration. I just fix stuff as I see the need.

 

Forgot about one of the bigger changes I made. The whole goal with this truck was to have room for a family. The jump seats weren't going to cut it. I picked up a 97 F-150 SuperCab seat for $50 on craigslist. It isn't the ideal solution but it actually turned out ok.











There is space on either side. I may utilize this in the future to add arm rests or speakers. I didn't poke a bunch of holes in the cab to mount it either. I made brackets to tie back into the existing holes and I could always pick up a full width seat in the future.

 

Nice truck clean too. Good job. And if you haven't heard it yet welcome to our section of FTE.