A week ago I took a trip to Tennessee and look what followed me home.



The Truck
Model: F103, SWB, 4500 GVW
Engine Code: A, 240 CID 6 cylinder
Rear Axle Code: 09, 3.3M Ford 3.70
Transmission Code: C, 3-speed Ford Light Duty
Assembly Plant: Ontario, CAN
Build Date: November, 1969
Exterior Color Code: P, Boxwood Green
Interior Trim Code: 6, Lt./Med. Ivy Green
Body Style: Styleside Pickup



The Good
I have been looking for a truck like this for over a year. A short bed, Wimbledon white or Boxwood green, nice patina, no rot, unmolested, running and driving truck.
The body is almost rot free. The patina is awesome, it looks like an old US Forest Service truck. The engine is great, starts right up, no smoke or noise, the trans has an aftermarket floor shifter that works good.











The Bad

The hood had a big dent that is now mostly gone.







IKD about the funky looking booster/master cylinder combo. Braking is hard like the booster is not helping at all.


Drivers side front fender has some rot.



Drivers side floor rot but the passenger side is perfect.


The Ugly

Instead of replacing the starter switch, a universal switch was put in the lighter hole.........my key is on the right.....that's just wrong.
Much of the wiring harness has been hacked up......but that's an easy fix.




Don't laugh......it works.




The bucket seat installation kit from Home Depot.


Can you say "hack job"

I saved the best for last.......

I know copper is expensive but come on man.

Overall, I freakin' love it!!!



I haven't seen a dealership bumper for ages....I'm keepin' it just the way it is.

The Plan
Change all of the soft brake and fuel lines. Get it completely serviced and everything working like turn signals, window cranks, leaky pinion seal, replace the seats and fix the wiring and then drive it!

I'm gonna need help with this.

 

that bridge looks way to familar good looking truck. theres a few of them in the junk yard down here with the exact same color.

 

Thanks spike, that was on I-155 going into MO. PM me if you find one in good shape, I'll run down and grab it.

 

Congrats Gavin. Nice rig.
Wow, I haven't seen a "breezeway" since my Buddy's house back in Toledo,Oh. I like how you fill a driveway. Man, even the front bumper is straight! I may have the left hood emblem (used) and a ball stud to fit in that carb. Looks like you'll be going to Steve's school of bending fuel lines.
Looks like someone put a Vette M/C and booster on it. I wonder if that 240 can generate enough vacuum to power it. Steve and Bobby...wada ya think? I hope Jared doesn't catch your switch on the right. Don't feel too bad about the Home Depot seat job. My PO hacked mine worse. Mine had a Chrysler car seat complete with sitting on 2X4's. Big long grade 3 bolts. Pure presidential acting. And last, I believe Woody Anderson Ford is still alive and kicking. Seems like I've seen them pop up on Ford's parts locator. Seems like they are or were big in to racing.

 

Outside of the hackery, the truck looks like a good find. Fortunately, the hack work can be corrected and done the right way.

Those small 7" diameter aftermarket boosters aren't good for anything. Put it in the round file where it belongs. Nothing beats an OEM Ford Bendix brake booster. If you want a dual diaphragm booster that really does work, get one from a Dentside F350.

1975 F350 8-3/4" diameter Bendix dual-diaphragm booster with a 1995 Explorer 1-1/16" bore MC.

 

**NICE FIND** Good things sure come to those who are patient and persistence pays off.

I think Boxwood is one of the nicest colors used on these bumps. It just looks right. And the narrow trim also looks more proportional than the wider option. And the engine... hooey the engine! It's not crusty or greasy with layers and layers of dirt, grease, and oil. I'd be liking wrenching on that machine.

Ex-government vehicles tend to be good buys. I mean, they usually don't stray too far from the agency that used it and maybe best of all, there is usually strict adherence to maintenance and service intervals.

 

Thanks Jeff, I am really pumped about this truck.

Thanks for the MC/booster info.

Just getting this truck is going to save me at least 30 minutes per day looking on CL and ebay.


I'm going to need a lot of help from you guys, thank you for your input and help I'm going to need.

 

Nice find...funny how one nice old Ford becomes 3 or 5 or 20. My son was giving me a hard time for peering onto someones back yard today. I just cant help myself!

 

Congratulations, Looks like pretty solid find.

 

I see in the engine photo you had posted that your engine has the same single groove water pump pulley that was originally on my 240.

The other thing I noticed was something I hadn't seen before --looks like the pulley on your engine's crank just has a single groove (?). Mine originally had a 2-groove crank pulley.

If you intend to install some creature comforts, like power steering and/or air conditioning, you'll have to make some changes to the pulleys.

I replaced my 2-groove stock crank pulley/balancer with a brand new 3-groove balancer. I replaced my single groove water pump pulley with a 3-groove version I pulled from an '82 model Ford pickup with a 300 -- I got my Ford C-2 PS pump and brackets off the same '82 300.

My old water pump pulley and crank pulley on the left. The pulleys that replaced them on the right.





IF you do add PS and/or AC and find a 3-groove water pump pulley, you're going to run into the same problem I did of the multi-groove pulley not fitting up on the existing water pump. I didn't know this before hand but after some research, I discovered there are two different length water pumps for the 240/300s. --a 3-5/8" length version and a 4-5/16" version. I had to swap my shorter water pump out for the (brand new) longer version.

 

11 days ago I was sitting at the kitchen table, looking at this truck on ebay, and my wife sees it and says "nice truck" My son walks over and says "that looks cool". I show them all of the pics of the truck and then my wife says "are you going to get it". I almost fainted.
I won the truck Thursday evening and was at the guys doorstep 19 hours later.
Thanks Randle, I was down in your neck of the woods.

I have been looking at your thread....a lot.
Amongst the stuff I got with the truck was a rebuilt power steering gearbox, still in the A1Cardone box. A used PS pump, looks like the one you have. A longer steering column shaft and a 2 groove balancer. The engine was rebuilt 10K miles ago.....so that explains where the 2 groove balancer came from. Thanks ultra!

One question, what would my oem air cleaner look like? I want to look for a replacement. Thanks!
I'm off to change the shocks and oil the window regulators and door latches on the green truck.

 

First thing, get the battery negative grounded on the engine block as Henry intended, before something gets roasted or starts a fire.

 

When I bought my '69 Ranger in April, 2011, it had a janky small diameter aftermarket chrome open element breather on it. It had a plastic adapter base on it that didn't fit very well and after the engine would warm up, it would soften the plastic base adapter up, it would drop down on one side and allow air to bypass around the air filter.

I looked and looked for an original air filter assembly but couldn't find one. The original air filter assembly would likely have been round with the snorkel pointing off to the right and tying into the tube coming up off the exhaust manifold.

I ended up buying an NOS breather off ebay from U-Haul. I guess they had phased out all their old moving trucks using the Ford 300 and were getting rid of all their old stock repair parts for those engines.

My breather looks more like the ones you would see on the first generation (1966-1977) Broncos. There were also oil bath versions of this breather. Mine is the dry element type.



The original breather assembly would have likely looked like this.

http://fordification.com/tech/images...rcleaner02.jpg

 

If you went I-24 you passed right by me.

 

Done!


Cool! Thanks for the pic.

I was going to take I-24 to Paducah then take US45 south but I changed my mind at the last minute and went I-57 to I-55 to I-155 to TN412 to US45 to Selmer then on to Adamsville. It was a nice drive down there and a lot more scenic than here in boring flatland.