Hi All,

I've been lurking here for about 6 months or so learning all I could, waiting for the day I got my truck. Well, that day has come.

I am the proud new owner of a 1981 Ford F100.



The truck has kind of a fun history. My Father In-Law bought in brand new off the lot in 1981 in Seattle. Drove it for about 15 years and 113,000 miles. Then the truck was sent it to retire on his Father In-Law's farm in south east Iowa, where they put about 12,000 miles on it over the next 10 years. The truck as been sitting for 5 years. We went to Iowa this summer to help clean out my Wife's Grandma's house and I got the old girl running, just a new battery and some ether, and she ran amazingly well on the varnish in the tank. We bounced around the farm and town in it for the week. I wasn't able to take it home to NJ then, so it's been sitting at an Uncle's house in Des Moines until last week.

Anyway the details on the truck are, as far as I can tell:
4.9L I6, 1v carb
2WD Long Box
Granny 4sp (Warner T-18)
2.75 Open rear (Axle code 01)
125,937 miles
Green on White two tone paint.
Green interior (this seems to be a bit rare)

While in Des Moines, the Uncle gave it a tune up (spark plugs, air filter, cap, rotor, wires, etc) and replaced a rotten brake line that blew on him. He also ended up putting two new tires on it, as he kept blowing spares on the tow out here (an entertaining story for another time).

Tomorrow I'll be replacing the Radiator and heater hoses as I have no idea how old they are, the rubber brake hoses and the other steel line after the split block on the rear axle, the trans and rear diff fluid...And the most important part, transferring the title and getting tags for it. I also desperately need to replace the other two tires, as one is of unknown origin, and the other is from when my FIL put tires on in '96 before sending it to Iowa!.

My plans for the truck are to use it as a semi-DD once I get it all sorted and basically to clean it up as best I can. I don't think it was ever washed the 15 years it was in Iowa, till we took the power washer to it this summer. There are some rust issues that need to be sorted, but I'm not sure quite how bad the rot is yet -- like it is worth fixing, or just get my 5 years out of it before it turns to dust.

Anyway, now for the fun part:

Pretty much as I found it on the farm.

 

Looks like a good old girl. Refurbish her if you can. I've never seen actual moss growing out of the dash pad before this (above).

 

Are you sure that tranny wasn't swapped in later? That's a combo I don't see very often, usually people write in with the 300 six, one of the weaker 4 speed overdrive trannies and the very low 2.75 rearend. Should make a good daily driver with that rearend though.

 

Congrats on the new "old" truck!! They are always worth fixing!! I'd say that green is a little more rare. I've parted out tons and tons of the '80-'86 trucks and have never seen one, usually red or brown. I do have two trucks that came with the factory teal interior though, and have never seen any more.

Good luck with the 'ol girl and keep her runnin'.

 

I saw that same interior color a few weeks ago at the junkyard, usually you only see like red, blue, and tan.

 

Yep, positive the trans is original. I got a bit done yesterday. Got the radiator and heater hoses replaced, got two new tires mounted and put on the front, adjusted the choke, and changed the transmission fluid.



Yipes, no wonder it was hard to shift! I didn't drive it yet, but even sitting still effort to shift is at least 1/2 with fresh clean 80/90.

Still have to do the brake lines and get to DMV -- I'm hoping to make it to DMV today. Brakes lines might be waiting a week or so, I have other things to get done around the house this weekend.

 

Nasty looking.....
If it were me, I would have put some ATF in there, and drove it around for a few minutes (or at least let it idle in nuetral for a while), then drained it again before refilling with 80/90.
As it is, you will likely want to repeat the drain/refill a couple times to insure all that crud is gone.

 

My truck is the same exact year, engine and tranny combo, if you want to see another one, so they are around.

 

The 5th picture in post #1 shows the shift lever ****...take a look-see at it.

Assuming the shift **** is correct, it cannot be a Warner T-18 4 speed. The Warner T-18 has reverse up-towards the dash.

The New Process 435 4 speed shift pattern has reverse down-towards the seat. I don't recall what the "weak sister" 4 speed O/D's shift pattern is.

The TRANS code is marked on the Certification Label:

1980/83: A = New Process 435 / F = Warner T-18 / T = RAT/RUG 4 Speed Overdrive.
But...you have an F150, the OP's truck is an F100. Does your Warner T-18 have a reverse shift pattern that is down...towards the seat? I think not.

 

Trans code is F on the label. It's dark out so I can't get a good pic. I remember reading on these forums somewhere that the older T-18s had reverse up, and the later ones were down.

Also when I was under the truck I saw a giant Borg-Warner stamped on the trans case.

 

Slick truck! Love the two-tone. Now do yourself a favor and re-route that fuel filter anywhere but right on the exhaust griddle!

 

This leads me to belive the tranny is a Borg Warner.

 

Without a doubt. I had a dickens of a time with vapor locking the first summer I had my 300 powered truck. It was all caused by fuel boiling inside the fuel filter, sitting in that exact same location. Relocated the filter, and haven't had a repeat occurance in over 13 years now.......

 

He has a T-18, I can tell from the picture where he's draining the "green water logged goop" out of it.

The T-18 shift pattern changed to, reverse to the right then down toward the seat in 1976. The NP-435 and the T-18 has the same shift pattern in 1981. One way to tell them apart is the NP-435 is "sync-ed" in all foward gears where the T-18 is only "sync-ed" in second third and fourth.

My 1973 with the T-18 was how you describe, reverse was to the right and UP.

So yes my T-18 in my 1981, the reverse gear does go to the right then down.

The Clark (Tremec) 3-speed overdrive is a standard H pattern, except the reverse gear, you have to "push" down on the lever, then move it left then up toward the dash.

 

That is actually the factory location for the FG-44-B motorcraft fuel filter.

I would get the correct metal filter and swap out the aftermarket plastic one if keeping it in the same place.

I did notice that by 1984 they did move it to a threaded type that threads right into the carb fuel bowl.