Hello everyone, first post here.

I have already searched for the answer and came up unclear so I will ask. I have an 86 F150 w/ carbed 351w, long bed 19 gal dual fuel tanks. It seems the fuel level senders are getting rare and expensive for 85/86. I could use a new tank anyway so I was wondering if anyone has put a tank and sender from an 84 into an 86? I realize the pigtail may be different but my main concern would be fitment of the tank and the fuel line connections. Thanks in advance for anyone's experience.

 

86 F150 Carbed????? I thought the 86 F150s were FI? F250 in 86 was the last year of a carb There were some 87 F250s early with a carb. Did someone change it over?

Craig

 

351W's didn't go EFI until the 1988 model year (along with the 460 as well) making the 1987 351W's the last of the carbed truck engines.

 

Have you looked up the different part numbers for your truck and the earlier truck and compared them? If your truck is carbed, and we know the earlier truck is carbed, I would think they would be the same sending unit and the same tank.

I do know the 85/86 302 fuel tanks and sending units are different, because they had the fuel pumps hanging on the sending units, and they had a return system. The 460 trucks will have a different unit, because even though they were carbed, most of them had electric fuel pumps on the sending units also with return lines. The diesels had another different sending unit, one with no fuel pumps but they did have return line fittings.

So if you had a earlier carbed 302 or 351w, I do not know why it would not fit a later carbed 351w, but you never know they may have changed something. Like I said I would look them up on autozone or rockauto.

 

What I do know is that 84 and earlier had a 2" opening for the sender and 85 and later had 3 5/8" opening to accommodate a fuel pump for the 302. Even the carbed 300's and 351's 85 and on had the larger opening to keep the later tanks the same. I have looked everywhere on the internet and tried to compare as much as I could. I am pretty sure the earlier tank would fit an 86 but I'm not clear if the fuel line connections are the same. I was hopeing someone has thought of this before and maybe gave it a shot and would share their experience, but I welcome any input.

 

Welcome to FTE

If you think sending units are becoming hard to find, just wait till you look for fuel tanks.

1985/86: Mid-Ship and Aft Axle plastic fuel tanks use different fuel tank sending units than steel fuel tanks.

These are a royal PITA to look up in the parts catalog, as there are so many variations, and the little charmers are listed out of sequence.

1980/89 Ford Light Truck Parts Catalog available on a CD from hipoparts.com. FTE members Gary Lewis and Chris (ctubutis) are using this version.

Chris is the moderator of this forum. Both he and Gary will scan and post parts catalog pics, pass along part numbers.

The Big Dummy has microfiche Parts, Master Cross Reference and O-S-I (Obsolete-Supercede-Interchange) Catalogs.

 

The frames are the same, and you can look up the straps that hold the tank and see if they are the same. I do know the tank fits up against the frame crossmembers, and the frames are the same through the years, but you are right, I have no direct experience with what you are trying to do exactly, but I think it will work. People do swaps all the time with no problems, especially when converting a older truck to fuel injection, thus swapping the newer tanks into a older non-fuel injection truck.

The lines can be fudged also if you are into that sort of thing(I am into anything that makes it work). If your truck has the plastic fuel lines, you can slip a rubber hose over the older sending unit barb with a clamp, and then just cut the fitting off the end of the plastic line and slip the plastic lin up into the rubber hose and use a clamp on it. The plastic line is stiff enough that it holds up well inside the rubber hose under a hose clamp. The plastic line goes by OD and the rubber hose by ID, so a 5/16 hose will slip right on to a 5/16 plastic line.

 

if its the same as my f-250 bigger opening 2 lines not heart shaped plug and no eletric pump its the E5TZ-9275-JA and Green Sales Company - Obsolete Ford parts, Lincoln, Mercury parts Green Sales Company, supplier of obsolete Ford parts and Lincoln / Mercury parts. Our Ford parts inventory represents all Ford and Lincoln / Mercury products from 1950 to the present. has 17 of them

 

E5TZ-9275-JA .. Fuel Tank Sending Unit / Use with Mid-Ship dual lines fuel tank / Use with 133, 155 & 168.4 inch wheelbases / Obsolete

Applications: 1985/86 F250/350 351W/460 / Last MSRP: $164.57 / Dealer net cost: $109.71.

TOM HILLIER FORD in Escalon CA has 1 = 209-838-3535.

SAHARA MOTORS in Delta UT has 1 = 435-864-4456.

TIMBERLINE AUTO CENTER in Libby MT has 1 = 406-293-4128.

BOWMAN SALES & SERVICE in Bowman ND has 1 = 701-523-3257.

WESLEY OBSOLETE PARTS in Liberty KY has 1 = 606-787-5293.

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has 17 = 800-543-4959.

Call around for the best price. Obsolete parts prices vary wildly from one source to another.