I have a 1982 F100. It was purchased by my dad brand new on my 7th birthday!. So naturally I always thought of it as MY truck...lol...Anyway, I've had it since I was 16 and did a slight resto on it in the late 90’s…A few years later I parked it (1998) and am just getting around to be able to do it again, but right this time. I know over the next few months (maybe years) I'm going to be asking a lot of questions (a lot have actually been answered by reading other posts). Well, I figure it’s about time that I start getting on with getting my Old Bessie back on the road…I love this truck. It was always a blast to drive and definitely brings back GREAT memories! After I converted it from a 300 i6 to a 351M it was even more fun. About that time (1994) I also had it repainted, re-did the interior and a few other “modifications”. I’m in California, but back then getting “smog” was no big deal. $50 on the side and off we’d go with a smog cert in hand…not so easy today…But that 351M screamed! It has headers, an aluminum weiand intake, Hedman headers, the heads were ported and polished, a Holley700 cfm carb, a bigger cam, bored .30 over, the c6 had a shift kit with a higher stall torque converter…damn that truck was fun, I gave my buddies with the hopped up Chevy pickups fits back in the day…lol… so here’s the plan:
I’m going to take it down to the frame and start from the ground up. I’m going to go with disc brakes all around and get the suspension as much back to new as possible…new bushings, joints, everything. I do want to keep the stance as close to stock as possible with maybe a touch of leveling out the traditional “Rake” these trucks had. …I love that it’s a short bed and it does have two tanks. But since I’m probably never going to drive it more than an hour or so from home I think I’m going to eliminate one of them and shave the extra fuel door, just not sure which one yet..
I love the paint scheme. Call me boring, but I think the blue with white with all the chrome trim it came with originally looks awesome all shined up. It was a “custom” originally but I’m going to try to get every XLT Lariat option I can on both the outside and the inside. As far as trim, I’ve already got the Lariat bumpers and even the tailgate with the aluminum “ford”panel (82 version, not the 85 one that I put on it long ago...). I even got all new repro emblems to finish the lariat look.
On the inside and under the hood my plan is a little more complex. I bought an 85 XLT Lariat F150 a few years ago with the HO 351. I love that it’s carbureted and pretty simple still to work on for the most part. It has A/C which I want as well, the old ’82 had good old 45 mph a/c with the wing windows and the kick panel vents by the floor. My plan is to swap the cabs. I thought about gutting the 85 for all the “bells and whistles” but at the end of the day simply switching one cab for another is going to save me hours of transferring wiring harnesses and A/C stuff. The 85 also has cruise, tilt steering, power locks and windows…The 82 was pretty basic. But since I’m trying to go for a more lariat appearance I’ve already stocked up on few things. Here’s a list of the cool stuff I’ve gotten together so far:
*Rosewood XLT Lariat bezels all around, even the doors!. The dash one was a NOS item I found on eBay the others were junkyard finds that were in perfect shape. The bezel even has the stock fog light plaque…soooooo
*the stock Marchal fog lights it is! I bought a NOS set on eBay a while back and I even found the original metal brackets that they go in and the original switch to go in the bezel spot on the dash as well!
*I found some excellent condition door panels and an almost perfect dash pad on eBay also. Everything will be painted to match and the carpet and headliner (from the 85) will be redone as well. For the seat I got that place that does auto fabric in Oregon to make me the original pattern. I’m going to go back to the original bench but this time I’m going to have the original cloth trimmed with leather…
*I also found a working am/fm cassette ford radio from an 82 in a junk yard…that’s going in too, even if it’s just for looks!
*some other rare finds I have and am installing…locking hoodrelease, underhood tool box and the underhood light (from the 85)… I think there’s a few more... I’ve been piling this stuff up for years!


So a swap it is…


While I’m swapping the cab I’m also going to swap in the 85’s HO 351. I spoke with a smog referee and as long as I keep all the smog stuff from the 85 I should be fine. They still haven’t gotten back to me yet on registering because in California they go by the frame VIN but with me swapping so much they may go by the cab. I’d rather keep it to the 82 VIN for sentimental reasons but no big either way…As far as the 351, I realize it will be a touch underpowered as is so I will try to make as many mods to it as possible that still pass the sniffer. test Manifold (egr), cam, tuned carb…Maybe even a 90’s block and heads? It should still be fun to drive even with the smog stuff…hell the 85 is fun to drive now as-is so I’m not too worried…
Well that’s most of where I’m going, here’s a few pictures of Old Bessie (that was her name with the 300 so it’s just stuck, lol)… tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions…I’m a high school agriculture mechanics teacher so things like the FFA and life in general keep me pretty busy!…it might be some time between posts for me but I’ll try to do a little work when I can and keep you all updated!

 

Goodluck! I'll be glad to help you out along the way! I'm just wrapping up my 85 rebuild, even though i made mine to compete against coal factories not having any smog regulations here! If you're replacing all the bushings, I have a good company you can order from, I'll have to find the box to get the name, I can't remember it, but you get every single bushing in the entire truck! Make LMC truck your best friend too! Looking forward to hearing the updates! Again, good luck!!

 

sorry...here's the pictures

 

Awesome, thank you! I'll definitely be asking you for that! Thanks again!

 

I don't remember how old or what year but is the 1985 not smog exempt yet? I'm in California as well SOCAL not sure your location?

 

Not yet… I believe 1975 or 76 is the newest it goes to be exempt. I'm more in the central part near Modesto… It's funny though because where my folks live in Tuolomne county there is zero smog requirements. I ought to register it from their address… lol

 

Energy suspension is the company I used, they give you everything expect the metal part that slides into the rubber part, however, those are easily made if you have a welder or a friend with one!

 

Perfect, thanks!

 

Anytime!

 

After reading your first post about the A/C I was going to say I have been told the firewalls are different between A/C & Non A/C trucks as that is what I am doing on a 81 F100.
Then I read you are swapping cabs. I can not do that as my A/C truck is a roll over and roof caved in.
Keep us posted would like to follow your project.


Oh so you will know what you are in for

Dave ----

 

Yikes!...lol

 

Wow I bet there aren't too many one owner rebuilds out there be sure to document everything does your truck have ac w/duel tanks?

 

Welcome to FTE ! Looking forward to the West Coast Rebuild.....Consider keeping both of those fuel tanks. Never know when the Zombie Apocalypse (or who wins the Presidential election) might occur and you'll need more fuel.

 

The 85 has both the a/c and the dual tanks...the 82 has just the dual tanks...I'm definitely going to try to keep things as updated as I can as I get things done...my dad told me an interesting story about when he got the truck today. It was a custom trim level but it had lots of added things for such a basic truck. It came with white pin striping down either side and up behind the doors. It also had the deluxe cloth seat, am/fm cassette, the chrome wagon wheel style rims, all the chrome trim on the outside, and a tow package...he said he actually got a deal on it because the dealers wife had it special ordered to pull a small horse trailer to shows in Nevada (that's actually where we lived at the time)...I've never seen a custom level so well equipped.

 

Oh back to the dealer wife story...they split up a couple weeks before the truck came in so the dealer sold it!...lol