Eric - Looks good! I'm jealous as you are well ahead of me. But, hopefully mine will take off soon.

 

Looks great! Where in Minnesota are you located?

 

That's real nice. I have a 81 F-150 custom 4x4 that I purchased from the original owner earlier this year. He babied it, heck the repaint is 10 yrs old and looks brand new. He kept every receipt for the truck. I was surprised that I found it for the price it was. It should've been around 10000 figuring the truck is all stock and looks like it just rolled off showroom floor. I hope to see more pictures on the rebuild. Oh good luck on finding any extra replacement parts... most of the little things are hide to find. FOR ANY READERS If you know where I can find the plastic LOCK/UNLOCK piece that goes over the lock slide please post a link or let me know. It was used by ford for 81 only and is impossible to find...

 

Hello, update pics. This go around a tri-coat paint has been sprayed. The paint is Ford's candy red tinted clearcoat. More pics to come:

Tailgate - black paint on the letters are under the clear coat. I know it isn't "factory" but I like it better than the stencils.




This pics is blurry - I will get another one:








Original front bumper replated:


More pics and info to come. The engine has been spec'd, seat upholstery spec'd, interior decisions made, etc.

 

Paint looks awesome. Looking forward to updates.

 

subscribed

 

Wow! That looks superb! Dad's truck was originally maroon with candy apple on the roof. Seems really a strange combo to me so I'm going back with just maroon. But all candy is beautiful.

 

Thanks for the comments. I am really digging the color, in the sunlight the metallic explodes! Piney was all candy red with a maroon top but I wanted all one color this go around.

 

Exactly the opposite of Dad's.

 

Pretty funny isn't it. The nice thing with this candy red is my towel won't be all red when I polish it.

 

My updates are long over due.

The motor is now built and was broken in on a dyno. My engine builder and I compromised on a 351W stroked out 383 cubic inches. I know 383 is a Mopar number but I didn't want to turn the wick up too high as I am keeping the rest of the drivetrain stock. Here are the motor details:

1969 351W block bored .030" over
Eagle stroker kit, (cast crank, forged rods)
Holley 4779 carb
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
Forged pistons
1.6 roller rockers
World Products Sr. iron heads with mild CNC port and bowl work (260 cfm @.500" lift on the intake port)
Cam Motion custom grind hydraulic flat tappet cam
McLeod fly wheel and clutch
Pacesetter headers
Compression Ratio: 9.25
Horsepower: 435 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 450 ft*lbs (400 ft*lbs @ 3,000)
DSII ignition (for now)



In the next couple of weeks the motor will finally be dropped in as well as the exhaust (using 3" pipes with Dynomax Ultra-Flo welded mufflers).

The truck is nearly assembled (just waiting on the motor install to complete). Here are is a shot from a few weeks ago (I am keeping the original factory molding but it hasn't been mounted yet).



I am mounting 31X10.50 BFG All-Terrains on 15" AR23 American Racing wheels. I was going to go with the 10 hole alloys but saw another 1981 F150 with the AR23 wheels and I really liked the look. I should have the truck 90% complete in a few weeks. I am getting closer!

Next update should include video with audio. :-)

 

Broke it in on the dyno? That's what I'm planning to do. What procedure did you use?

I like the engine, by the way.

 

Hi Gary. I have been following your threads as well and noticed you were going to do the dyno route as well.

The procedure was pretty much dictated by the dyno boss and the engine builder. But in a nut shell we ran it at around 2150 rpm for 33,000 revolutions (15 minutes or so) as I have a flat tappet cam. After that the timing was adjusted and three or four medium load runs up to 4000 rpm were done to set the rings as he described it. After that air/fuel mix was adjusted and multiple max power pulls were done. We tested DSII, Mallory and a cool after market Mopar ignition box to see which made the most power. That was pretty much it for the dyno day. It took about three hours in total. After my engine they ran a 500+ cube Hemi that pulled over 700hp - that was really cool to see and hear.

It was my first time at the dyno so I was pretty much an observer. My engine was the 8,890th engine the dyno man had dynoed so I pretty much let him run the show. It was really cool to witness - I will admit seeing my motor run up to 6000 RPM under max load was interesting to say the least.

 

What, if any, difference did you see in the ignitions? Different torque or HP?

 

There was very little difference in the numbers - we might have seen a swing of a few ponies or ft*lbs but for all intents and purposes they were the same.

I am getting pretty excited about it being nearly done. I am hoping the motor will be fun to drive (meaning hopefully it isn't too much). One thing for certain with the cam it has it sounds mean as hell. :-)