Hello forum folks! I've been reading posts around here for a while now and thought I'd finally post my truck project, "La Bomba", my '82 F100.

The truck was owned by a local air force base back in the 80's and was bought by my father and grandfather around 1985 with only 30k miles on it. For the next 30 years, the trucks sole job was to go 30 miles a week, once every Sunday, to a nearby swap meet. After the death of my grandmother in 2006, With 67k miles on the tachometer, the truck sat in the backyard of her house. I decided around august of last year to pull it from it's weedy slumber and fix her up, if possible.

Here's some sweet progress shots of the La Bomba's makeover:

First look after years of sitting. The tires were still inflated, and after a charge, the battery was still good. Actually, after some gas in the tank, she started!




We ended up taking off the camper shell, but I'm almost tempted to put it back on.


Dirty engine, mmm.


The display board


Sweet radio


Getting a tow to my place


After the engine had a bit of a bath. I hate all of the smog wires.


She's running but giving us some problems at this point.



After a nice paint job, some new tires (the 6 yr+ ones had reached their sorry end) and wheels.


Recently, after lots of engine trouble (mostly getting the thing to idle smoothly), we finally pulled the gas tank. Turns out the tank was so corroded that it was horribly affecting the rest of the engine. I just put the new gas tank in, got a new fuel pump and changed the fuel filter. The carburetor looks good, as does most everything else.
Some things on my to-do list:
change bushings
procure a new dashboard
change out the exhaust, almost all of it
replace the weatherstripping, all of it
fix the broken seal on the front windshield
add an extra radio
add a tow hitch
etc, etc...

If you guys have any suggestions, questions or comments I'd love to hear from you!

 

Welcome to FTE! Good looking truck you have there.
As for the weather stripping, LMC or NPD are good places to start looking. I used LMC for the door window weather stripping and Anti Rattle strips ( those are the ones on the inside and outside of the door that the windows go up and down through). As for the dashpad, not many options there. Either fix your, find a good used one or install a dash cap. There are new ones out there but $700+ last I checked.

 

Mighty fine! I got new Belt Weatherstrip/Window Scraper Seals from Rock Auto (RockAuto Auto Parts). Jeff's Bronco Graveyard also sells seals and weatherstripping (Early Bronco Restoration Full Size Bronco Restoration Classic Ford Bronco Parts For Sale) as well as quite a few parts no one else seems to have. And LMC, of course (Truck Parts and Truck Accessories for Chevy, GMC, Ford and Dodge Trucks from LMCTruck.com). And Green Sales (www.greensalescompay.com). Those have become my top 4 go-tos.

What tires and rims do you have on there now? (Sharp!)

 

Welcome to FTE! How about going into User Control Panel (User CP in the upper left) and filling out some of the blanks, like location. And, if you'll put info about your truck in your signature, when you can, or in each post where you ask questions it'll be helpful. Old guys, mainly me, have a problem remembering what you have so don't know how to answer.

But, you've already done wonders with the truck. And, I like it w/o the camper/cap, but it is your truck, so...

As for your plans, unfortunately you've found what I found - the 82's had poor weather-stripping from the factory. I had two trucks that spent their lives outside in the same little town in KS, and the 81's rubber was still soft an pliable while the 82's was brick-hard. Then I bought another 82 in the same town and its rubber was hard as well. So, I did a poll on here and learned that 82 and possibly 83 had rubber that aged rapidly, but earlier and later has held up fairly well. Point being, you may be able to find the actual weatherstripping at a salvage - I did. But, that won't help with the stuff around the door glass itself as all of it seems to have hardened.

And, if you have a leak around the windshield you may be able to fix it with the thin RTV that's sold at auto parts stores for just that purpose. I was able to fix a leak on Dad's truck that way. Just pull the trim, clean it out really, really well, and squeeze some of this stuff in. It'll run into the holes and then set up, sealing the leak. What it won't do is stop the tin worm from eating your truck, but the only way to do that is to pull the windshield.

Oh, and speaking of pulling windshields, if you decide to do that and have the glass replaced, be careful as some vendors will replace it with glass meant for later trucks. The problem there is that the see-through place for the VIN is different for them and you cannot read the VIN w/o pulling the dash cover and the powers-that-be don't appreciate that. I learned that when I sold a truck.

 

Welcome to forums, jeserah. It's always nice to see a new member and his truck with pics!

Nice looking truck you have there! Looking at the ignition module and seeing the big red diagnostic plug, it looks like you have a computer-controlled Duraspark III ignition system with a "feedback" carburetor. These were only used for a few years and I think they were California only models. Most mechanics are not going to know what to do with these systems, and aftermarket support for these is non-existent.

Member 81-F-150-Explorer has a 1981 F150 with an inline 6 engine with the Duraspark III as well, and he is extremely knowledgeable and helpful with these systems. If you have any questions, he is the man. His truck still has all of the original equipment and has over 600,000 miles!

 

Welcome to the forum Jeserah. That truck sure looks nice with the new paint job and wheel/tire combo on it. It's always nice to see someone saving one of these old trucks.

 

I wanted to say thanks for all of the friendly welcomes and responses!
Now I've got a lot more resources in order to improve the truck, so thanks thanks thanks again for the links and advice.

Finally started the truck up yesterday evening after the gas tank install. I'm sorry to say that she is still idling horribly, but no longer has issues getting up and down hills like she did with the old tank (the old tank had about 2 lbs of rust floating in with the gas, and the sending unit was completely corroded, I mean, when I pulled the thing there was no float left). I'm thinking that a lot of crud has gunked up the carburetor. Rebuild time?? Maybe, I'm not really certain what to do other than that.

I also repainted the doors and what's left of the dash to see if I could salvage them from the sun damage they've incurred over the years. The doors look great, the dash... not so much. I'll have to post some photos soon.

 

Yeah, post plenty of pictures (we do love pictures).

Change your fuel filter, maybe several times. Keep an eye on it when you change it out. Keep changing it every so often until it comes out clean.

If you plan on keeping it for a long time, I suggest getting a shop manual. try checking here, a call would probably do better. Service Manuals, Owner Manuals, Wiring Diagrams, Service Bulletins - Helm Incorporated
These are the same ones that the factory uses.

 

Thanks. I just changed the filter when I threw the new tank on. They way the truck's been acting, I've probably spent at least 30 bucks in filters over the last couple of months, ha. I'll check into getting a shop manual. It would probably do loads of good.

 

You are almost for sure going to have to rebuild the carb. It is amazing how much of the rust gets through even the best of filters. I've had the accelerator pump passages plug from the silt. And, even when I ran two filters in series I got enough silt to look like mud in the bottom of the bowl.

So, I'll bet that is the idle problem - some passage is plugged.

 

TAKE OFF THAT FRAM OIL FILTER!!!

They don't call those oil filters "orange can of death" for no reason. The Motorcraft FL-1A oil filter is almost as cheap, can be found virtually anywhere, and is MUCH higher quality than the Fram.

 

Agreed ! Get rid of the Fram ASAP. Fram's most expensive oil filter is of lesser quality than everybody elses cheap econo filter. There are plenty of oil filter studies on the net backing this up. The only motor my dad ever lost was running a Fram filter. The bypass failed and burnt the motor up.

 

I almost lost mine about 7 years ago before I knew better. I always used Motorcraft oil, but the Fram oil filter was on sale, so I bought it instead of the usual Motorcraft oil filter.

A month or so later, I began to lose oil pressure. I double checked everything, but it remained low; it was barely off the gauge. The engine was well worn, so I figured it was finally time for a rebuild. As a last resort, I changed the oil again but decided to go back to the Motorcraft FL-1A oil filter, and the oil pressure immediately shot back up to normal.

I have read countless stories from others on this site who have experienced similar results. There was even an independent study where someone cut open various oil filters and found the internals of the Fram filter were made of cardboard, while the Motorcraft (made by Puralator) was made of metal. The Fram filter was at the bottom of the list, and the Motorcraft/Puralator filter was one of the most well made. The Motrcraft oil filter is cheap enough, readily available from almost any parts stores, and is what Ford recommends anyway.

No more Fram oil filters for me!

 

The Fram filters also had faulty bypass valves. If your filter would catch debris and shut the flow down the bypass valves wouldnt open and let flow through them. Also Fram had issues with their bypass valves not sealing properly. The by pass valve would let a small amount of unfiltered oil go through and back into the motor. Fram just really is junk. Their Dura extra magnum gaurd or whatever their most expensive filter is(like $15) Got about the same rating as Purolators $2 filter.

 

Consider the fram filter replaced! Since the truck isn't running regularly and I can't get out to work on it all the time, I'm going to have to wait for my next available moment to get that filter off, but thanks so much for the good advice. I never would have known.

As for the carb, it's coming off the truck this weekend and getting some clean time. Can anybody recommend any good rebuild kits for me? Thanks!