Well it has been a few years since i have had another ford truck especially a bullnose. Ended up trading a car i had for it and im quite happy for what it is and what it has. The truck is an 86 F150 4x4, 300/6 with NP435 trans and NP208 Tcase. Also has 4.09/4.10 factory gears (which is a plus) and lots of body rust lol. Also has 31 10.50 15's on it.The frame is in great shape compared to the body. The truck was used as a farm truck for years and sat for about 7 years. Someone on down the line of ownership swapped the feedback carb for a standard 1bbl carter but it still runs great with all the other feedback parts still hooked up which is amazing from what ive read so far. Brake booster is shot so thats the first thing on the list to replace and will go with a f250/350 booster for better brakes. Next thing is deciding which way to go as far as suspension lift and tires are concerned. Age and other issues prevent me from going all out like i wanted and having the truck sit on 44's lol, so im thinking roughly a 6" lift with 35's will do just fine. Also the wife is only 5 foot tall so she wont have too much of an issue jumping up in it lmao. This project will be a slow progress but im always finding something to do on it. Today i fixed the turn signals since it kept blowing the fuse. Turned out there was 2 screws for the switch in the column that actually came loose and were just floating around in there shorting things out. Got the screws tightened back up and put a new flasher relay in it and they work perfect . Sorry for the long winded post, just had to share a little!

Heres a couple pics i got so far. Shes no beauty queen but gets from a to b!

 

I am not sure I would put the wrong booster on it. Most of them were the same between a f150 and a f250. But some where different, and I think it would be risky to interchange them without knowing what will happen. If the rest of the system is in good shape and the booster is not leaking, adequate brakes don't seem to be a problem on the f150's. F250/350's have been known to be lacking in the brake dept, but that is usually when they are loaded down or pulling a trailer that is a little too big.

I also would not lift it 6 inches. You only need 4 inches for 35's, and you can run into driveshaft problems with a 6 inch lift.

 

Welcome to the forum, mjc86f150!

 

Welcome to the forum!

A 4" lift is plenty for 35s on these trucks, and the 4.10s will likely be perfect with the granny gear and 300

 

Brake issue has been fixed. Ended up finding a good used booster from an 85 f150 4x4 and brakes work great now!. The old booster was shot and leaking vacuum so it had to go. I would go for the 4" lift and 35's but im just not a fan of the stuffed tire look . THis will be an ongoing project for quite awhile so you never know my mind might change later on lol. Yesterday i got the carb readjusted and the choke working properly. Just finding little things to do to it while im low on cash at the moment.

 

I have the 4 inch lift with 35's and mine doesn't looked stuffed. But I did some searching on the internet and I think you are right, a f150 with a 4 inch lift and 35's might looked a little stuffed. Problem is, if I had a 6 inch lift the cops would start pulling me over. They will not let you get too high around here without writing you a ticket. Your 4.10's and the 300 six may be happier with 33 inch tires. I have the 7.3 diesel, 4.10's with the 35's, and I have to use 1st gear to get going on the 5 speed.

 

I hear you there! Here in Kansas we just have light height limits. Headlights cant exceed 54" and 72" for the tail lights, but we can relocate them as long as they have DOT approved lenses and bulbs. So pretty much you can relocate them so that the top of the vehicles roof can be 14 feet or under. Crazy laws lol. But yea I think im gonna go with the 6" suspension lift and 35's since it looks good to me. May do an SAS when the time comes as well

 

Well not much has been going on other than finding more problems lol. Been battling my back issues so I really havent spent much time on the truck. Around mid November last year I changed out the crappy intake/exhaust manifold gasket set and found 3 freeze plugs that were starting to seep so I just replaced all 4 of them on the side. Then when it started to get colder out the gauges started acting weird. At first it was the fuel level gauge. It would read empty regardless of how full the tank is, but as soon as the truck warmed up it would slowly start moving. We did have a couple days where it was 60 degrees and then the fuel gauge started working fine. Temp gauge is always reading low even when at operating temps so im thinking the thermostat might be sticking since the upper radiator hose is fairly stiff all the time. A couple weeks ago when I started the truck it had a loud knocking/grinding noise and got louder with rpm. It wasnt rod, main or piston slap since i have heard those before. Sounded like something was tapping on the valve cover real hard but it sounded like it was coming from all over the place. I shut the truck back off and restarted it and the knock noise went away. Couple days later it did it again but I couldnt get it to stop unless I revved it up to about 2000 rpm. Ever since then the oil pressure has been iffy. Sometimes it reads halfway on the gauge and other times its on the higher side like it normally was. But what got me confused, is yesterday when I went on a beer run. I had to accelerate harder than normal and when i hit about 2500 rpms the emission light came on and cut out the radio. I let off the gas when the light came on and then the light went off and the radio started working again. Not sure what the deal is with that but its really strange lol. Got alot going on all at once and not sure where to start. Next month i'll be buying my old truck back from a friend and then i'll really start digging into this truck more. Anyone got any ideas on what these problems might be?

 

There is a thing called the ICVR [instrument cluster voltage regulator] which supplies reduced voltage [~5.4V] to the fuel gauge, temperature gauge and oil pressure gauge. As it ages, the voltage output varies. All three gauges will simultaneously read higher or lower. The ICVR does not affect the amp meter [charge].

Is it possible that while changing the intake/exhaust manifold gasket that one of the ground wires was disturbed?

Regarding the engine sounds... have you recently changed the oil and filter? Have you checked the oil level?

 

E4TZ-2005-A .. P/B Booster / Obsolete

1984/87 F150 2WD/4WD; ditto 1988 before production date 12/1987 // 1984/86 F250 2WD/4WD under 8,500 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.
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D1AZ-10804-A .. ICVR = Instrument Cluster Voltage Regulator (Motorcraft GR-513) / Obsolete ~ Available NOS & from auto parts stores.

See post #9 for a description & problem with the puppy.

1971/86 F100/350; 1971/89 Econoline; 1978/86 Bronco // Misc: 1971/79 FoMoCo Passenger Cars.

 

All your strange electrical/gauge problems sound like the classic ignition switch problem these trucks have. And then you say it messes up worse in cold weather, that is the clue to me that it really could just be the ignition switch.

Next time you have problems, very lightly wiggle the keyswitch and see if things start working. When it gets cold the old grease in the column gets stiff, and makes the key harder to turn, and also makes it hard for it to return to the correct position. If it's not in the correct on position, certain things will work, certain things won't.

 

Thanks for the ideas and help guys! I figured out what was causing all the problems except for the engine knock, but I think the oil was in need of a change since it was pretty dark lol. Main problem was all the wiring under the hood for the engine. Everything was all oil coated and rubberized and after counting 10 wires that were bare, I just opted to yank everything out and run the distributor locked for now until I come up with either an HEI setup or Duraspark 2 setup. All the gauges work as they should now and it actually runs alot better lol Cant imagine how much better this thing will run with an actual distributor that advances timing lol. Truck is an oily dirty mess so dont mind all the nastiness

Anyways heres a pic of the mess I pulled out


And heres the temporary setup now until I figure out which ignition setup to use

 

May I suggest that you contact billythedistributorman@live.com

He has an excellent reputation for recurving distributors. I have dealt with him before. He has some NOS Duraspark 11 distributors and can adjust the timing curve, using a SUN distributor machine. He will want to know all about your engine and drive train.

 

Well unfortunately this project has came to a halt. After some serious cleaning of the frame and finally got all of the caked on mud off of it, the frame is too far gone with rust rot. So for now i have just decided to sell the truck and find something else later on. Living situations have come into play and i need something alot more reliable lol. Thanks everyone for your help and ideas and hopefully i'll have another ford truck here soon