Hello everyone, about a year ago i started building a red 89 F150 that i named the Brick, that was goingto serve as an all purpose driver for me, but a body that was rusty to the point of being unsafe halted that build. But, since I recently bought this new truck, and it is strikingly similar in appearance, and most of the good parts from the first truck will move onto this truck, i Have decided to name this one Brick as well. the old brick will be dismantled and heading to the scrapyard come spring.

So, moving on....

I got a lead on an old ford that was lounging under some farmer's tree for far to long, and I decided to go pay it a visit last month. For $350, i came home with a 1991 F150, regular cab long box, 4x4, with a 302, automatic and no heat. the steering colulm was torn apart, you had to use some odd farmer rigged switch to start it, and it had an overall abandoned look to it. I kicked the tires, jump started it, and drove it home 60 miles. No heat kinda sucks in an iowa November.

Here's the new Brick, getting its first taste of gasoline in years, on the drive home



and here i am driving it the next morning to work.



Doesnt that look like an old man farmer bought it new??

So, i took my truck into the shop i work at, gave it an oil change, a deep cleaning ,and a proper check over. i back flushed the heater core, swapped the leaky radiator for a extra capacity F250 radiator from a different project, and i began tearing off all the old man stuff. mudflaps and topper had to go, the wheels looked hideous, and the tires were rotten, the exhaust ended shortly after the Cat and the fuel tanks both leaked.

I deleted the front tank, and swapped in a new rear tank ( and sending unit and pump for good measure) and pulled off the original Fuel filter. that was weekend one. I was gaining momentum.



I then swapped the rims out for a set off my 95 F150 ( i love the rivetless look) and fitted on some 31x10.50R15 Goodyear Duratracs.



Some may ask why i didnt pluck the running boards. they are mounted a bit higher than usual, which i like, they are very sturdy and in great shape, which is surprising, and most importanly, my short wife is willing to get in the truck easier.

Also, while i had it up on the lift, i decided a more proper exhaust was in order.

Attachment 289580

right after the factory Y pipe, i went with a single 3", back to a house brand Flowmaster style muffler, and a simple turndown. i wanted high, tight, simple, bulletproof and cheap. it has a very nice rumble, I'm not usually a small block guy, but this thing sings a tune i can listen to.

 

I drove the truck for another week, where the farmer got ahold of me and informed me that the truck didnt have 149,000, it only had 49,000 on it. I started working through all the other bugs, i replaced some fuses, i swapped in a Sony CD player i had sitting in the bottom drawer of my toolbox. I started replacing burnt out bulbs like the Reverse lights and Dome light with Ebay purchased LEDs.



I also got my toolbox swapped into the bed (i kept the bedliner in it) and put on a Truxedo Lo Pro Tonneau cover that i had left off of my last daily driver truck that i sold a few years ago. After about 1000 miles, of driving, and a very thorough scrubbing, i decided this one was gonna be a keeper.



I pulled the truck into my work one night and started tearing into the column, finding the actuator rod was broken. A few nights of me staying late and i eventually got it all apart and back together, i did have to adjust the ignition switch as well, the only casualty was the fact that i broke the shift indicator. no worries, i had plenty of clusters from parts trucks, i just swapped in a manual block off plate and dont have to worry about it anymore

So far, the truck has served as a very reliable daily driver, it starts reliably, gets decent mileage, and drives very nice. the brakes look recently replaced, and all the front end components are tight. I do have a front axle U joint thats getting worn, i plan on swapping in all new U joints next month.

Plans for spring will be to swap in taller front coils/ 3/4 rear leaves, shocks, an alignment, removing the broken power windows and swapping in crank windows, and i will probably do a tune up as well before the snow melts. I may build myself a custom rear bumper to replace the aging Luverne bumper. but yeah, stay tuned in to see me keep bringing this good little truck back to life.

 

Very nice find & great work so far. I like to see an old truck brought back to life.

 

Nice looking truck. Is that a 65-67 galaxie or fairlane I see in the back (goldish brown)?
Those still are my favorite muscle cars.
Trav

 

That is my 66 Ford LTD. Pops lost his 68 LTD in the garage fire that ate a bunch of our toys and tools, this car is helping fill the void.

 

Nice brick!!!

 

I believe you did better than myself. I paid $ 650 for a 92 that had and still has a little more rust than yours and had a bad trans and one broken leaf spring, oh and no radio drove without one for a few years until recently, and approx 168 k when purchased, now about 197 K. Looks pretty good for that invested amount ....

 

thanks man. this isnt my first truck in this series, ive had close to 20 before. my parts stash has been a real big help on getting the bugs sorted out on this thing quick.

 

Its a good looking rig. Congrats!

 

302's do have a nice monotone rumble to them, hard for anyone to deny that they sound good... too bad theyre all bark no bite.

 

All of my previous drivers have either been straight sixes or Big blocks. the 302 does seem to wind up a bit quicker than the other engines, but i can tell the lack of torque. my 300s are slow, but they can pull stumps. I havent done any heavy hauling or towing with this truck yet, but the gas mileage seems... dismal. like i could probably drive Brutus, my 91 F250 460/5 speed/4.10 4x4 for a similar price. maybe i need to move that tune up a bit.

heres an upper radiator hose i built the other day while i was trying to work out a cooling system bubble. it holds the hose in the correct spot, and still keeps it safe from fan damage.

Attachment 289565

 

Are you compensating odometer inaccuracies with the 31s? And also what gear does it have? I have 31s and 3.55s and get better mileage around town/under 40mph staying out of overdrive.

Edit
Also saw on your other thread its in the 20s where you are mine drops mileage when it gets below 30*. What are you getting mpg wise?

 

i did put on 31s, i have not yet checked to see what gearing is under it, but a rough guess would be 3.55, just by the fact that it does have some get up and go ( ive had plenty of 3.08 and 2.73 trucks) i utilized the towns now speed trap signs, that flash your current speed at you as you drive into town, with the 31s, it is accurate at 35, 45 and 55 mph. the 235/75R15s gave me inaccurate readings when i had them on.

yes, northeast iowa temperatures are cold right now, even though we are having a unusually warm year. I just filled up an hour or so ago, the calculated mileage came out to right around 11. granted, that also involved the truck idling inside the shop for a good hour or so trying to get that coolant air bubble out. i would like to see something over 15 mpg, my last two straight six trucks would click off 20 mpg with 3.55s on 235s. but there are a lot of variables, so yeah, 15 plus would be ideal.

I should mention, my daily drive is 22 miles round trip, it involves about 3 blocks of town driving, then 11 miles of highway ( 65-70MPH) and then another block or two of town driving. yeah, it does get driven over lunch hour sometimes, but rarely does it sit and idle. an d typically on the weekend, it will see a solid 100 miles of highway driving, or at least my other trucks do.

 

Sounds about like my drive to work everyday. And depending on my foot, I'll get ~16-18 mpg. Used to get upwards of 18-19 on long drives but that was 100k miles ago. And I think your cold air blew across the Mississippi this morning, it was 50 yesterday and today its 29 haha

 

The snow storm that has been ripping throughout the entire midwest decided to put up a challenge for me and the ol Brick. Challenge accepted. the 4 wheel drive locked in hard, the steering was tight, it held the line true, even when there was no line to follow. i got to work, around town, home from work, tugged out a few stuck people. all was well.

then as i was a block away from my house, the drivers wiper arm decided to stop moving. ONLY the drivers side, the passenger keeps churning away. so, tomorrow morning's project is to tear off the cowl and see what popped loose.