Hello all, I recently purchased a '78 L800. I've never had an L series before, and i'm really happy with it. It was an old firetruck and only has 38,000 miles on it. I hope to upload pics of it soon. I'm trying to figure some stuff out about it. It has a gas motor, but i'm not sure what size. I used to have an F600 with a 391 in it, and as far as my memory goes it looks stikenly similar. I would also like to figure out what rear is in it (it's a 2 speed). Does anybody know how to break down this info from the vin number? If so, the vin is N80FVCD1722. I know I've seen some people pull some real interesting info out of the vin numbers, but I've never known how to do that. I would love to get to know as much about this truck as I can. Thanks for any info, thoughts or help.

 

The standard engine in that was a 389 - or so Motor's 1979 Truck Repair Manual says.

The 389 is basically a 391, not sure if there are any real differences than emissions.

The "F" (fourth digit) in your VIN says it truly is a 389, at least that's what it came with from the factory