Just found and bought a 1965 Ford F250 with only 41000 original miles on it. Inline 6 240 1 barrel. 4 speed on the floor with the granny gear! Starting to restore old girl. What was the top speed for this model in 65? What am I expectations?

 

These trucks were not built for top speed. You will notice that in 1965 the front coil springs are not anchored in the perch at the top. If you go too fast over a bump in the road, they will pop out and cause some "issues" while driving.

 

The springs have a travel limiter, but no anchor. If you can get that 240 up to 90mph, self preservation will probably step in to slow you down :-)

 

That is correct, the early 65's had the travel limiter riveted to the frame. Sometime in the spring of 65 Ford changed the design of the spring tower and did away with the limiter and went with the retainer bolted to the tower.
They must have discovered a weakness in the original towers early in production. If you look at the tower in the first picture you will see a 1/2 inch rod welded to it on the corners. Both parts trucks I have, an F100 and F250, were made late 1964 as 65 models and have that modification. The second picture is an F100 made in May 1965 and it has a more robust tower and the clip retainers for the spring.

 

I do really appreciate it greatly all this information! Right now it's having a run time even getting up to 60
New carb placed in it. ******* to get up to highway speeds

 

Sorry spell check
it's having a rough time getting it up to 60. The motor is working very hard

 

These old inline 6s in stock form are pretty much done at 4,000 RPM as far as making any additional horsepower. They can rev a little higher but power can actually start to fall off at higher RPMs. One limiting factor is the 1V carb just can't provide enough fuel to the engine beyond a certain point.

The 240 was rated at 129 HP net when brand new and that can make it tough to push a truck down the road very fast - if it is worn out or not tuned quite right it gets worse.

Gearing and tire size can also play a role.

Chad

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Thank you Chad! Input appreciated!

 

Welcome to FTE as I forgot to say that before. Any slick era truck is loved by us. If you are looking to go faster changing the gears in the rear axle can help or change out the tranny for a modern 5spd. This will help on flat highways but will hurt you on hills. The 240 6cyl was for economy. The big brother 300 Big Six was for pulling stumps and hauling loads at low speed. If you went back to 1965 and wanted to cruise the highways fast you would have ordered the 352 FE with automatic and overdrive (and of course bucket seats). I was unaware that early 65 trucks had spring travel stoppers. I am die hard 1966 lol.

 

Back in '65, a small six 3/4 ton would usually always have the 4.56 gears, basically an around town economical workhorse ( up to 55 mph before mpg's go down the tubes ). 4.10 was the optional highway ratio ( up to 60 mph before mpg's go down the tubes). Today, most would probably order it differently. A healthy 300 ( simple swap )with a 3.73, or 3.54 ( professional rear end shop) would do wonders to the experience..

 

Thank you very much for all this information! My first classic and one heck of a barn find. Great advice here now I have to put it together and make it happen. I have a 2011 Camaro RS SS Convertible for speed. Just with this old girl she was not getting up to at least 60 to keep up on the roads. Keep sending me any ideas. I am open to any advice. Have a good day
Fitz

 

My 53 F100 has a flathead V8 and top speed was 50-55 mph. I changed out the gearing in the rear end to 3.07 gears. Now I can go 70 plus on the interstate. I didn't change anything else besides that. If you want to keep the 240, you may want to lower the gearing in the rear end.

 

I will look into changing out the gears for sure!
appreciate it
Looking for rims for it as well. The original ones on it are in rough shape. I do have newer ones for It but the dogdish hubcaps will not fit. Any suggestions?

 

yeah, the rims will be fun. been looking at sets for my 66 250 lately and the choices are sadly limited (compared to F100's and such).

 

Yes tell me about it. One of the original rim cracked while trying to get the old tire off of it. This truck sat in a barn for 29 yrs on a dirt floor.The old rims are shot. So I am looking for rims for this F250. If u have any leads let me know....8 lug
The ford dogdish hubcaps are in great shape . Some suggedted hub clips
Cannot find them on the net