So I just made it home this weekend with my birthday present. My uncle gave me my grandpa's 1984 F150. I grew up with this truck (I was born in 83 - my grandpa bought it in 86 with 30k on the odometer) and it was known as Big Red.

Somewhere around 1993 the engine went out after plenty of use by grandpa pulling logs to clear the land where my uncle built his house, as well as uncountable loads of firewood stacked to the roof height in the bed. Grandpa is/was (he's 86 with alzheimers now) a very resourceful man from growing up working on moonshine cars and being a Massey Ferguson tractor mechanic for a few years. That being said, he pulled the original engine and replaced it with a 5.0 engine out of an 89 Mustang.

So while it's not all original, it's all originally my grandpa's to me, and I'd like to slowly work back to getting it in good shape. Therein lies my question, where do I need to start looking for parts, pieces, and the odd stuff I can't find elsewhere? Any suggestions on overall where to start in general would be appreciated as well. The truck runs, albeit a little rough from sitting for the past year, but I think I can get it going smoother fairly easily.

I've attached some pics below and once I get some time to dive in a little more I'll put some more up.

 

Great story! Make a list of what you want to accomplish and work on the list, one item at a time. That way you will not be overwhelmed. We all will be glad to assist any way we can.

 

Yes, that is a good story! I really like seeing trucks stay in the family. And, they don't have to be "original".

And the list idea is the way to go. It is all too easy to work on 12 things at once and not see any progress, but if you keep a list and tick things off you will be able to tell what you've done. Just keep plugging on it and report back on this thread and we will chime in.

As for resources, Tabco is a good one for patch panels. And for wiring schematics you can find them here: 1986 EVTM - ???Gary's Garagemahal.

 

[QUOTE=Gary Lewis;17053091]And the list idea is the way to go. It is all too easy to work on 12 things at once and not see any progress, but if you keep a list and tick things off you will be able to tell what you've done. Just keep plugging on it and report back on this thread and we will chime in. [QUOTE]


"Peeling the layers of the onion", Gary?

 

Yes, peeling the layers on these onions. But, as I like onion rings it is fun.

Now, back to Big Blue's layers......

 

Great story, cool Grandpa and great truck....and Happy Birthday !

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm pretty excited about this truck. My wife said when I got home with it that she "hasn't seen me this excited....ever". Guess I'll have to take her out to nice supper or cook her a steak this weekend.

In my question for places to start, are there places that are easier to start both in time and financial resources? I've never done much car/truck work besides fixing things that break or regular maintenance. I supposed I'm a bit overwhelmed and looking for guidance on a starting point. Should I start engine first or cab or interior or ?? My thought is to start wherever I can make a little progress in a limited amount of time/money for the first little bit, but I'm not sure where that is. Haha. Sorry for being long-winded, I'm at the office for a bit and "listening" to a webinar on pasture renovations....

 

Maybe you should tell us what problems you think you have? Then we might be better able to suggest a starting point. Some things are intertwined, so....

 

Congratulations, and happy birthday! It's always nice to see another truck stay in the family. I have my grandfather's truck as well:



He passed away in 2000, and my grandmother kept the truck for sentimental reasons. But she almost never drove it, and by 2010 was ready to see it go to a good home. Once I promised to keep it running and not sell it as long as she was alive, she gave it to me.

That was in 2010...she's 92 now and coming out to visit next month from Oklahoma; I'm looking forward to showing her I've kept my word. I've sent her pictures over the years of the truck in action, but this will be the first time she has seen it in person since she let me have it.

Anyway, enough of my story...that was really all to say that it's very rewarding to maintain a vehicle with family history. As to what to do first...what is most important to you, and what does the vehicle need most? In my case, the truck had mostly sat for 14 years before I got it, so it needed a lot of mechanical work. Now that it is running correctly I am beginning to focus on the interior, and after that I will consider paint and body work. But those are my priorities, yours may be totally different.

Finally...welcome to FTE! I couldn't have done half of what I've done if it weren't for the guys here. You've come to the right place.

 

Well, that would probably be the simpler way to do it. Ha. Sometimes I am the "can't see the forest for the trees" person.

Here are some known issues:
- Rust, mainly wheel wells (which you can see in the pic, it's on both sides like that), some on the cab but not as much.
- Exhaust mainfold leak, not severe but enough to keep a window cracked in the cab
- Interior needs a nice update, headliner looks like it's a dirty sponge, windows are aggravating to roll up/down (manual), missing or broken odds and ends (end of turn signal arm doesn't have the ****, the "T" handle for the hood latch is broken off so I'm using vice grips)
- Side mirrors are cracked/broken
- Idle issues/stumbling a bit on acceleration (I think I can clear this up with a cleaning out of the fuel system and checking my plugs/wires etc which is already in process)
- There's a hard "spot" on the accelerator, not sure if it's normal for these trucks or not. Get to what I'd call half throttle and then it's a lot more pressure to push it farther
- My uncle said sometimes the transfer case is hard to engage to 4wd, not sure what gremlin is in there causing that or how to attack it (I am planning to test the transfer case out this weekend to get a better understanding - nothing severe, just try to use the 4wd in our pasture)

I guess those are my main known issues right now. Other things are petty and can be done after I get the working parts "working" enough to talk the Mrs. into letting me throw some money at niceties.

 

Hey Dorsai, thanks for the story. Gives me some hope that I can get my grandpa's truck looking as good as your's someday!

 

My thoughts re the issues:

- Rust, mainly wheel wells (which you can see in the pic, it's on both sides like that), some on the cab but not as much. These trucks rust at exactly those locations. Good patch panels from Tabco and someone that knows how to properly install them is the way to go. But, this is a fairly big expense as you are probably also looking at a complete paint job. Think $5k or more.

- Exhaust mainfold leak, not severe but enough to keep a window cracked in the cab. Where's the leak? If it is at the manifold/block interface then you may be able to fix it with a gasket. If the manifold is cracked....

- Interior needs a nice update, headliner looks like it's a dirty sponge, windows are aggravating to roll up/down (manual), missing or broken odds and ends (end of turn signal arm doesn't have the ****, the "T" handle for the hood latch is broken off so I'm using vice grips) The weatherstripping will be bad, so look for a recent thread on that since Ozark1 found a source with better stuff than that from China. The plastic trim will probably be .... yukky, so you can either replace it from better stuff from a salvage, although better is hard to find, or replacements from LMC, Jeffs Bronco Graveyard, etc. Or, if you are handy, sand then down, prep them, and paint them with SEM. Search the forum for threads on that. As for the hood release, turn signal handle, etc go to the aforementioned suppliers.

- Side mirrors are cracked/broken If the metal is good you can usually get replacement mirrors. Or, the above suppliers have aftermarket one. However, if you are wanting to really restore the truck then you'll want NOS. You can get the part numbers here and then search for them on the web: Exterior Mirrors - ???Gary's Garagemahal

- Idle issues/stumbling a bit on acceleration (I think I can clear this up with a cleaning out of the fuel system and checking my plugs/wires etc which is already in process) Yes, after setting all this time it will take some driving and tuning to get it to run correctly.

- There's a hard "spot" on the accelerator, not sure if it's normal for these trucks or not. Get to what I'd call half throttle and then it's a lot more pressure to push it farther Shouldn't be a hard spot. Look for a kinked throttle cable, or maybe lube it?

- My uncle said sometimes the transfer case is hard to engage to 4wd, not sure what gremlin is in there causing that or how to attack it (I am planning to test the transfer case out this weekend to get a better understanding - nothing severe, just try to use the 4wd in our pasture) Check all of the fluids to ensure things aren't dry.

 

Dang. Now that's an answer. Thanks, Gary!

 

Another question to anyone out there. I searched but admittedly didn't read all the posts I found on the topic. What should I be careful of with ethanol gas at the gas station? Just regular E10 here I believe. The closest non-ethanol station to me is 30 miles away. I was wondering about any additives or other things I could do to make the truck run decently on the gas at the station 2 miles from the house.

 

My 1986 F160 with 4.9L engine runs fine, using the E10.