OKAY guys, after the old girl's been sitting in my back yard with a seized 302 for a little over a year now, I've finally just about finished demolition and am starting to gather up the parts to put her back together.

What I had was a tired ol' 1980 F100, regular cab LWB that was fully loaded with about every option, dad bought it in '04 and I pretty much took it over at 12 years old when he bought something else. He taught me to drive in this truck and it was his hope that we could restore it together, but now that he's passed I want to restore it in his memory. It is currently set up with a 2V 302, C4, 9" rear with 2.75 gears and the 5x4.5 lug pattern axles. She was fast, but man was she a dog off the line. I was way too hard on the old gal, but she held her own like a champ. I raced this truck any chance I could, chased people down in it, been chased down in it, evaded the state police in it, went off-roading, and Dukes of Hazzard'd it over any ramp, hill, bump or railroad crossing I could find. Destroyed the front end on it a couple times, bent the wheels, pretty much everything except that trusty old "swiss cheese" frame!

But I'm a bit older now and out of all that nonsense (most of it anyway), and the time has come to restore her and build one wicked sleeper. So far the front clip (with some body damage) was donated to my '92 F150, and the bed (also with some damage) was donated to my friend's '85 F150. That leaves me with just the frame, drivetrain, and cab. The cab itself is in very decent shape, floor firewall, cowl vent drains and all are rock solid. One previous owner had already fiberglassed the cab corners at some point in time. The only areas that need attention are a small spot of rust on the rear wall and a couple dents that can just be filled in.

What I have found: A 1985 bare bones F150 RC LWB with a perfect body. Only 3 options on the entire truck, which are factory A/C, automatic overdrive transmission, and a fuel injected 302, with fuel injection being optional in '85. Runs like a top, drives pretty smooth, hopefully keys will be in my hand within the next two weeks. The plan is to drop my 1980 cab onto the '85 frame, run the new harness for the fuel injection, and have a "modernized" F100. After that work is done, I'd like to keep the current red/black paint scheme I rattle-canned on it a few years ago. My plan is to have it painted the same tri-coat metallic red that's on my mom's '13 Fusion, beautiful color, and just add the black later using plasti-dip.

What I'd like to do drivetrain wise, is a mild 427 Windsor stroker, throw my old C4 behind it (which has MAYBE 6k on it since it was rebuilt) and add a shift kit, and a nice gear set to let me take advantage of the torque. It'd be nice to have one of those fancy quick-change rear ends but that'll stay on the wishlist for now. I want a large displacement, smallblock V8 that can withstand an ungodly amount of HP and torque, and I am partial to the Windsor engines, so a stroked 351 fit the bill. So far I've paid a whopping $75 for a 351 block that myself and an unlucky friend had the pleasure of loading, and carrying to the garage using only our 4 hands. Came with a set of Mustang shorties that I sold for $80, so I'm already ahead, what could possibly go wrong now? Block appears to be in good condition other than a little rust in the water ports and a broken timing cover bolt. Came with everything except oil pan, crank, oil pump, and intake, all of which I either have on hand or will be replaced anyway. Lifters and pistons were a rusty mess so into the scrap bin they went. It's an E4AE block with a build date of 11/26/1987. Was hoping to stick out for a newer roller block, but ya can't beat free. Right now I'm hoping for a fully restored, cool old truck, with a surprise 6-700 hp powerplant under the hood. It'll even be dressed up with stock attire just to leave 'em guessing. I've even debated on converting the fuel injection system to MAF and running a factory EFI setup on it. If not, I may go as far as dual quads.

I am not a rich man. I'm 19 years old, I make $500 a week and have a family and bills, so this will be a tasteful resto-mod on a budget. It'll take some time and have to fit into my schedule, so stick around folks, this should be fun and inspirational. Pics to come soon as I work on preparing for this behemoth of a project!

 

Sounds like me...family, etc, and the truck "habit"! I picked up a 2nd job to pay for parts for my 390. I have a '67. A stroker Windsor would be kick butt, dude! I had an'80 eons ago with no options and a 300 3 speed. I miss it, but it was an old contractor truck and beat to heck.

 

427 Windsor kit requires a lot of clearancing of the block in order for the rods to clear the pan rails. This can make it a bit tricky to seal up the pan. Some oil pans also need a bit of massaging in order to avoid contact with the rods.
Great torque output though.

 

Subscribed. My strong suggestion is that you check the frame for cracks, especially where the sector box bolts on - and you will have to remove the sector box to do so. Ford did a really poor job of engineering the attachment point and many, many frames crack at that point. I would almost bet yours is, and the time to fix it is while you have everything apart.

 

Oh yeah, I've heard 427 builds throw a few curve-*****. I've also heard of longevity issues, but that shouldn't be a problem for me. I'm wanting to produce a bunch of horsepower, I want it to be fast if I want it to be, but more importantly I'm looking for an insane amount of torque. Something that'll make people do a double-take. For the most part though, I might take it to the strip every now and then, maybe make it a weekend cruiser, but she'll be retired from work duty and abuse from now on. And Gary, that is a very good suggestion. I've heard about that issue, but so far I've been lucky with my trucks, I think. My '80 wasn't cracked last I checked, which was a thorough inspection, but it had a nasty run-in with a ditch that bent the drag link, so it may be now. The '85 frame donor is pretty low mileage and from what I've been told never saw severe duty, so hopefully it won't be. Even if it's not cracked I may go ahead and reinforce it anyway just to prevent any future problems.

Duche400, I actually contemplated finding a 303 transmission and column, just for a retro "kicker", think they're pretty cool, but I've only seen one in person in working condition. I like manuals, but really don't want to cut my perfect floor up, plus being an '80 it's set up for the old style clutch linkage. The 3 speed seems like a perfect swap in that aspect, but since availability is almost nonexistent I'll probably just stick with an automatic.

 

Dad's 81 was never abused in any way. No big tires and driven by middle to old adult males. But it was cracked right at the bottom rear mounting bolt.

 

Hmm, well then I'll be sure to give it a good inspection. I want to install a Redhead steering box anyway, so it'll be the perfect time to reinforce the frame.

 

I found the cracked frame on Dad's when I pulled the box in prep to installing a Redhead. And I didn't initially see the crack. In fact, I was posting pics of that area and when one came up on the computer screen I ran back to the truck to look. Apparently the light from the flash had been at just the right angle to cause one edge of the crack to cast a shadow and that's what alerted me.

Here's a link to the first post in my thread where I found the problem, the discussion of how to fix it, and how I fixed it. But there were some suggestions that I should have thought about more than I did as I've subsequently learned that there is a better way than the one I used. And that is to use tubing, as was suggested, but have the tubes be raised off the frame an 1/8". That takes the hard spot away where the corner of the box touches the frame and puts the load on all three tubes and both sides of the frame.

 

Well, the deal on the '85 fell through so I'm on the hunt for another '85 or '86 EFI truck donor. Either that or I'll have to find an older one and find an EFI harness for it. Just out of curiosity, has anyone installed the factory EFI harness in an older cab pre-EEC IV? Anyone have any up close pics of where the harness comes through the firewall?

 

302/351W MULTIPORT EFI WIRING HARNESS | Part Details for M-12071-A50* | Ford Racing Performance Parts

 

We have a 1981/82 F150 lwb base model truck that had a 302/C6 combo, he purchased a coyote motor out of a '13 Mustang with just under 20k miles on it.

This is the way to go if you want power and longevity. For me, I havent desided but I want to rebuild this stock 302 to build more low and mid end grunt for pulling over acceleration.

 

I'm not opposed to it, just trying to retain a "stock" look on this one lol. That's the main reason why I wanted a factory EFI truck as a donor. But this project will be put on hold until I can find such an animal, or a worthy older donor. For now I'll just be modifying my '92 to make it appear as an '80-'81 Ranger Lariat.