Greetings,

I've been wanting a project truck of some sort and wasn't really brand loyal. Did end up finding a 85 Chevy, but it didn't run and had more holes than a block of swiss cheese. (NO Exaggeration)

Anyhoo, I found this a few miles down the road from me sitting in someones back yard. The price was right ($600.00) and most importantly, it ran. Even had a current tag on it as well. It's a 1986 F-150 Shortbed with the 300 I-6 and 4 speed. Got it on Tuesday evening and thus far have put over 400 miles on it.

I know full well how rough it may appear, but it's a good one to hold on to for awhile. There is no rust on the cab, the bed is solid (floor too) and what's most important is that it's not been hacked up by removing emissions, putting in stereos...etc. It goes down the road straight, and stops straight. The radio isn't working, and no big surprise that the A/C isn't either.

My plans are to keep it for awhile, fix it up to make it a nice daily driver. Not really a "restoration", just something that's safe and reliable. Already been to a few yards around here and thus far came up with the bottom of the door panel map pocket thingy's, the nicer dome light with the two map lights, and some cloth covered sunvisors.

The engine has a slight stumble/miss only at part-throttle. So far, I've changed the air filter and cap/rotor. And it's helped, but not cured it.

More to follow...

 

that truck has a lot of potential. About the missing check your spark plugs and fuel filter.

 

Welcome to the site and congrats on truck

 

Welcome to FTE. You aren't all that far away so maybe we will meet up one day. Go on down to the chapter forums and find the Mississippi chapter. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum215/ BTW did the trailer come with the truck? I noticed that it seems to have been painted to match.

 

Welcome to the forum. Your truck looks better than mine. In time you'll find that there are a lot of parts available for these trucks and fixing them up doesn't have to cost much. You did well on your purchase and choice of sites!

 

Welcome to the family.

Your truck looks way better than what I (and many here) have started with.

 

Thank everyone for the comments! I had been looking for a truck for awhile and all but purchased a 1985 Chevy C-10, but it had too much rot to fix. The floors and rocker panels being gone aren't that much of a surprise, but this one was odd that the door pillars were swiss cheese. Simply too much to do in my little bit of time off. And, I wanted to keep the "Brand Loyalty that I've got going with Ford now.

My car that's my daily driver is a 2002 Taurus SES, also in blue.

About the trailer: There's a story behind it as well, but no it wasn't purchased w/ the truck I had gotten it over 18 months ago and it was a rust/primer/black tri-tone. I painted it blue (Rustoleum) and for something that's been brushed on, it looks damn good. Installed a wood floor, painted the wheels, put on the trim rings, all new lights/wiring...and even it gets compliments. It's made many trips from Memphis to Poplarville and all over both areas.

Sorry, took so long to reply back as I'm away at work.

 

Nice looking truck you got there. Definitely check out the Mississippi Chapter. Glad to see another truck with the big six around here.

 

Before:



After: The door lower door panels with the pockets are the ones that I found for a mere $10.00 for the pair. I've used vinyl paint a bazillion times before, but this was the first for on here. See question #3.





1: I've seen many trucks with the cargo light for over the bed. Was it wired to come on with the dome light, or was there a seperate switch for it? I've not seen any in the donor trucks, or am I overlooking something??

2. My truck has a manual shift. I'd like to get rid of the block of wood that's there and replace it with a factory one. I noticed that my shifter has splines instead of being threaded. Is this a sign that someone has replaced the rod or was this factory at the time (1986)?

3. Has anyone used the Krylon Fusion vinyl/plastic paint? Any feedback, positive or negative??

 

Please use smaller pics next time. They are huge.

The cargo light uses the existing dome light wiring and comes on when the dimmer switch is turned all the way to the right. I personally would not cut a hole in my cab just to put one in.

Those splines are factory on the shifter lever.

Never used Krylon before. I have good luck with SEM interior paint although it is very pricey.

 

I have used the Krylon on the grill insert and the plastic on the bumpers of my van I changed them from grey to black which matches the stripes of the body. There has been absolutely no problem with the grill. However the plastic trim of the bumpers does need retouching from time to time as it gets pebble dings on the roads around here.

 

Don't listen to Unc... he's still using a 9" green screen!

Your pics look excellent on my 22" LCD screen.


Ed

 

Ummmm, yeah. How about no.

2x Viewsonic VP191b Pro Series LCD's powered by a Radeon X1950 Pro with 512Mb of RAM.

I do a LOT of graphics work.

 

Nice video setup, Unc. One would think that could handle the pics posted in this thread just fine.

What res are you running on those monitors? 1440 x 900 should be the native res on a 19" monitor.

Good grief... just look at that 1600 x 1200 res image of those monitors! It's HUGE... but looks just fine.

Ed

 

Sorry, double post.