I have seen many 92-96 4x4 F150s on CL with dented or rusty bodies, as well as many of the 1980-86 trucks with bodies in much better shape, except for the fact they are 2x4s. My question is, will the whole set of sheet metal (front clip/fenders, cab, bed) from a Bullnose fit on a newer OBS? Thanks in advance

 

Yes it will. Just make sure the wheelbase is the same. You can even slide a f250 or 350 running gear under a 80-86 f150 body. There will be a few things to watch for;

-You may have to mess around with the older style front bumper to make it fit on some of the newer frames. Maybe a simple bracket change, may be a little more.

-You will need to bring over the 80-86 fuel tank and rear frame wiring. The 87-up sending units are not compatible with the 86-dwn fuel gauge. This may become a problem if you want to keep the fuel injection.

-If you get above 1993 or so, they did not have regular speedometers. They had electronic speedos, so the transfer case won't have a place for a cable to drive the old 80-86 speedo. You could get a older transfer case, or possibly look into modifying the newer transfer case output shaft to accept a cable.

If you did this, I think I would convert the newer engine to carb, but that's me. If you keep the fuel injection, you will have a lot of wiring to deal with.

 

The only thing that comes into play as far as issues is the front bumper mount

 

If you are only looking to swap the frames. Franklin brought up some other issues when you decide to swap more parts over.

 

I wouldn't keep the fuel injection, I have an extra Bullnose I6 I would most likely swap in

 

You will need the newer 4x4 tranny so the transfer case will bolt up. Watch out, they started putting electronic controls on some of the automatics later on. The ideal setup would be to get a later model with the 5 speed overdrive. Either the lighter duty 5 speed out of a f150, or the more heavy duty zf 5 speed out of a f250 or 350. But the catch here would be the need for your 2wd to be manual already. If it's not, then you will the pedal assembly from a 86 dwn truck, the later model pedal assembly won't fit under the dash of the earlier trucks.