Hey guys, new to the forum not to fords. I just picked up an 87 f250 460 4 speed 4x4 one owner! A few questions about it:
what oil should I run in it? I was planning delo 400 15w-40 with fl 1a filter
What plugs should I run? Preferences? Gaps? Iridium, platinum, copper etc?
Sometimes when I start it it seems like it won't idle high for warm up. Choke? Vacuum leak?
Also there is a gas smell after driving for a bit, running rich or leaking fuel line somewhere?
I know it's a lot of questions but I would like to hear anyone's advice on them. I really appreciate it. And don't get me wrong I can and will and know how to work on trucks just wanted to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
Drew

 

15w-40 is a good blend, IF all tolerances in your engine are normal. Obviously you'll have to make adjustments for wear and tear and other anomalies.

Iridium's are okay if everything is stock, but if you're using iridiums make sure you dont gap them. They'll already come pre-gapped, as damage to the tips is really common. If you aren't stock, I prefer copper.

Vacuum leaks are always a good place to start! Especially on the 460's haha

 

Completely disagree. ...sorry. We discuss oil and sparkplugs almost every week. Hands down the best bang for the buck is plain copper plugs. No need for fancy wallet flattening iridiums or platinum.

Oil is highly debated. For me, I stick to 10w-30. If the tolerances are wide on the engine you may need the thicker oil. Stick to a standard Ford filter. Fram is a four letter word.

 

Drew, Welcome to the Forum & that's a nice looking truck

 

That looks good... not a fan of the bricknoses but that one looks nice and clean. Nice bumper too.

I run 10-30 in all my older Ford engines with Motorcraft filters for everything that needs filtered. FRAM = F****** Rebuild Another Motor. Stay away from any of their filters.

And as rla said the copper plugs are fine. They may need replacing more often but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Thanks guys, I'm just gonna go copper to keep it simple. So what do you guys mean by tolerances? The truck has 143k so what does that mean as far as tolerances? I'm going to work on it this saturday and try and track down some vacuum leaks, tune up and oil change. The fl1a is a motorcraft filter, I read somewhere that 5w-40 would be good for the 460 does it even matter? Should I just try the 15w-40 and if it doesn't sound good or pressure is too high change it for something else? Thanks for the welcome guys

 

With the miles on your engine, the 15W40 (not that it has that many) is a good choice, the main reason Ford ever recommended 5W30 was for fuel mileage reasons. I run 15W40 Delo in all my trucks. Its a good quality oil and I can buy it for about $11 a gallon at Costco when they put it on sale.

 

Not that I'm all that against iridium or platinum, but there is nothing wrong with the good old copper plugs. Plus your pocket will like it.

 

I have always run 10W-30 Castrol GTX in my 460, and I've never had a reason to change from that.

 

So I did my oil change, didn't need a tune up because it recently had one, new plugs and wires already. I have a couple other questions.
What's a good sounding muffler without being too loud? It's straight piped from the stock manifold to a big ol' dual in single out muffler and it's pretty quiet.
It has an aftermarket oil gauge and it bounces a little when it idles, why? Is this normal? I was told it was a big block thing. It was doing it before the oil change too, was hoping a slightly heavier oil would make it go away but it just slowed it a little.

 

Anyone have any advice or ideas?

 

So I hauled my first load with the truck and was very impressed. Picked up the trailer and drove 3 hours put a car on it and drove 3hrs back at 65-70 the whole way.


I have a question about wipers, right now I don't have intermittent wipers, is it just as simple as picking up a switch that does have it and plugging it in?
Thanks, Drew

 

I believe all trucks use the same wiper switch and all should have an intermittent setting. I would bet the switch is just wore out.

Is your truck 4-speed manual or automatic?

 

That may be the case, it feels kind of wonky. I was looking on Lmctruck and there were switches for "equipped with intermittent wipers" and not.
It's a manual

 

So I'm just going to update this and use it as build thread of sorts and just questions I might have and things I do to it. I asked early on about a gas smell; it turns out the hose going to the mechanical fuel pump was shot. Didn't realize it until there was a big puddle under it one day. Quick easy fix, my dad had a hose laying around. Santa was pretty good to me and I got some toys. Got a new kenwood Bluetooth receiver, marker lights and an alarm. Going to try to install the lights and alarm tomorrow. I got the stereo in pretty quick today, love crutchfield.