just thought i should share my story from tonight.
 

well just as the title says i met the original owner of my Flareside today. was shopping at the grocery store and went out to my truck to put the groceries up and an older gentle man was staring at my truck. i said can i help you? he asked if the truck was mine i said yes and we proceded to talk bout it and he was like you do realize im the original owner of your truck right? i was like huh??? he said yeah i sold it to express car lot in lavergne when it had 235k miles on it. long story short he met the next owner and kept up with the truck and when he died the truck was passed on to his son in law (previous owner) the original owner lost contact. but he knew it was still in the area.


but all in all i found out when the original 302 blew up at 220k miles... he swapped in a 150k mile 351W. which is still in there to this day so now my motor has 223k miles on it but dont leak a drop! wooo!!!! explains why its gotten so weak. and i told the guy bout the rear swap and the future motor and he said if i wanted any financial help he would give it cause he still has a soft place in his heart for that truck and understood how much i love it and is taking care of it. lol and he is aparently rich. has a brand new '10 F150 and owns his own business. but i dont think i will accept his offer.

sorry for the long story but was an interesting conversation.

WOW Chris! That was a kool experience. Don't pass on the opportunity for him to help. As you get older you will learn that the ones that are able to give get more out of it than the ones that get. Just my advise, you do what you think is right.

Build another 351W, or get a low mile from a junkyard, pull the pan and put in new bearings, timing gears, and seals, RV cam, and you'd be more than happy.
I have a friend with a 95 E-150 he bought with 50,000 miles, has a 300 I-6, C-6 transmission and is pushing 360,000 miles now, neither the engine or transmission have been opened, it goes through a quart of oil every 5,000 miles, he changes at 6,000. It has decreased power and the service engine light is on, came on after a plug swap, I say it's a sensor, power is likely the injectors, he runs cheap gas and hell, they weren't designed to last forever. I told him to get new injectors and have it scanned to find what code is causing the light, it'd be worth it, but his power door motor went out, so it needs fixed, and a new window motor, when it warms up I'll look into it. He's in a wheelchair, but lacks the ability to do automotive work, FTW guys donated years ago and I got his front end fixed so he was able to drive it a few years more.

Congrats, I would at a minimum keep him involved. Ask him over when you work on it.

He's welcome to finance ANYTHING on my '66...I'll even tell him it was his grandfather's old truck f it helps. :)

I agree! That rocks man!

Just knowing that the gentlemen cares and willing to support ya on any concerns for the truck is cool enough; I agree let him be involve if he wants too! I"ve trace some of my old trucks back several owners and they all seem to have no care inthe world; but having something to spark a friendship and enthusiasts with is priceless.

Mitch

yeah we swapped email accounts so we can keep in touch.