Enthusiasts,
I need your advice on the resurrection of my truck:
85 F150 300-6 4 speed 150,000 miles, purchased new by my folks.

Blown headgasket two months ago--slight smoking, slight bubbling of coolant/oil out driver's side of block (at head gasket)...

Was completely stock (1 bbl carb in poor condition--stuck choke, ran ok and passed emissions but in sad shape), possibly warped exhaust manifold (it was a bitch to get back onto the front dowel pin a year ago when I replaced the I/E gasket). Air pump and all the emissions stuff is in there, but doubtful that much of it was working (Several unidentified wires were burnt through).

 

Continued:

Offy Dual-Plane ready to go on, but I know very little about it (like even whether or not to install it with a stock exhaust--at first glance it looks like it'd work that way).

Head is off, pistons/cylinders look good, pushrods in good condition with slight carbon.

Primary goal is to get it running at minimal cost, but I want to balance that with a few more ponies and doing the right amount of work while I'm in there.

Any help or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

Hmm...I'd say go to the nearest J/Y and get yourself a pair of EFI exhaust manifolds. Also, since your not changing the cam, your best bet for carburation would be a 350 cfm 2bbl or 390 cfm 4bbl Carburator. Also, junk all that emmissions stuff. There's no need for it. Als you'll probably want to convert the motor over to Duraspark 2 as the stock TFI won't give you any advance when you pull off all the electronic.