Got the truck home, and it's still got the air bypass valve and the check valve, so that will save me a little $$$ Still need to buy the Ported Vacuum switch, vacuum motor, and Purge cv, and an air pump. I'm sure I can find a truck at a scrap yard that died before they cut the emissions out of it. He's a couple of pics of the donor truck, and if I have good pictures of my truck I'll post them, it's too dark to take any now, and it's a little crowded in the "shop".


stock radio?

almost all the grill mounting tabs are broken off

 

Main reason I bought the truck.

Havent looked at the seat back yet, feels whole, waiting to unwrap that present.

 

Only two pictures I can find of my truck.

 

I know you made a deal with your buddy but I would try for a title and drop a motor in it, some drop beams and a rear spring flip and drive the wheels off it.
Got to say that is a clean parts truck, mine was not that nice.

no doors or motor and the dash / radio was cut out with wires.
Dave ----

 

Its actually nicer than my truck, except the donor had a 302 and an AOD in it I believe, which my buddy has now. He's going to put the motor in his 80 model with a utility bed. He only wants the cab to put air in his. I could just tell him he cant have it and use the air components to put the ac back in mine lol

 

Exhaust manifold came in today. The box was 3 times too big. Hardware and gaskets in loose with the manifold.



Expectation

VS.

Reality

 

Hate it when that happens. Who'd you buy that from?

 

RockAuto. I know they didn't package it properly, I just don't know how poorly. Everything was loose in a way too big a box. But box was damaged and improperly repacked by the shipper. It was the cheapest manifold I could find, and for the most part I'm happy with the parts I've gotten from RockAuto, and the prices are usually the cheapest by far. Waiting to find out if they are going to send me the hardware separate, or if I'm going to have to send this one back and get it all sent to me again. I guess I could use the old hardware, and I ordered spare gaskets. I mean a second set of spares, they came in before the manifold. But this does give me more time to clean the engine and attempt to paint it.

 

Rock auto does not package items they are a retail drop shipper, stuff is shipped directly from distributors/wholesalers etc. Send Rock Auto an email and the pic they should get ya a new exhaust gasket shipped out

 

They warehouse and reship the boxes then I guess. The package had an invoice left on it when it arrived showing from where the manufacturer had shipped it to rockauto through a different carrier than the one they sent it to me with.

 

Starting to feel like a frankentruck. Measured today to see if donor bed will fit. It's nicer, and has a heavy-duty bedliner. Was thinking about using it to work out of and keeping the other to fix and store for way down the road if I ever decide to do a complete restoration. Lots of oddities have come up and I've been trying to not think about them too much. Hood doesn't line up quite right. Front lip seems to be a bit long for the truck. Stamped tag on it has something like 02/92 on it. Assumed it was a replacement since undercoat of paint doesn't match the truck. Driver door seems to be the right style(based off old mirror holes) but paint showing through is different color. Passenger door is a different style(factory holes in interior panel wrong/missing). Got the bed hanging from a temporary frame. Been there for weeks. Look at it all the time. Noticed faded paint marker numbers on the back panel facing cab last week. Figure salvage yard inventory numbers or something. Replacement right? Fuel tank has light rust on exterior. Interior looks brand new. Old filler hose was cut and had a section of what looks like tail pipe to extend it. Clean cut, no noticeable damage. I measured the wheel-base today, best guesstimate(didn't try real hard) was 117ish. Truck is supposed to be long wheel-base(133). Now I really don't know much. I assume that means 2 different frames? And if so, someone swapped the cab, and I assumed the motor and trans to another frame? Haven't looked closely at motor and trans, still not clean enough. I know they are right for my vin, but don't know if they are the original. And assuming frame swap. New tank was necessary, and maybe the filler neck fits different between long and short wheel-base? Buddy keeps trying to get me to just get it running and drive it around with a for sale sign in the window while I work on it. Sell it, pick up another one, rinse and repeat. That would at least give me something to do, and a little beer money to boot if I picked up another for cheap and make it look good for little $$. This truck was special, planned on putting a lot into it and keeping it until one of us died. It's really my first vehicle and I've always wanted a straight 6. And I've already put a ton of love into it to make up for all the abuse it's suffered. But I don't know that my dream of later on in life making it stock and showroom ready is even worth it at this point. I guess I can at least put the ****-like keep it stock mentality on the back burner and issue some creative license and have some fun with it. Going to push forward and put it back together, get it running, get it tuned, see if a carb rebuild is in order(it was reman'd 03/15) and if she runs like a hot damn I'll keep her, if not maybe I'll pay it forward. Also, got most of a truck, not sure what all parts I'm going to use. Got a bum, I mean friend, that wants some parts if I don't use them. But I for sure have a frame I don't need, and then some. Do people need those much? Sure don't want to haul it for salvage. '85 F-150 in pics posted earlier, Blue with Silver band.

 

The hood from the '85 definitely looks period correct, and not like a hood from a '92 (from the stamp you found, for example). Body panel alignment is a funny thing... and is an art in itself. Parts have to be installed and aligned in a certain order to make all gaps correct and straight, etc. If one part is off in the beginning, it will be near impossible to get the subsequent parts lined up well (stack up of tolerances). Could be the result of a lot of things, so I wouldn't get discouraged just yet.

Regarding "is it worth it"? For resale value down the road, no - probably never. But it sounds like this is your dream, and you have a passion for this truck in particular. So I would say YES! It is totally worth it!

I totally understand how you might feel. I've had my truck for more than 10 years now, and it looks somehow even worse now than when I started. The motor has been out for over a year, and the rest of the truck is under a tarp. I get discouraged all the time, but it's my dream - and I'm willing to continue even if it takes another 10 years! Just take it step by step. I've heard some advice from others here which I can also suggest. Keep your truck in running order for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. Drive it often while you fix whatever you can without pulling it out of service. Once the truck is immobile, and in 1000 pieces, motivation starts to dwindle. It starts to look like a junk pile better fit for the scrap yard.

Please keep at it, as long as it makes you happy and motivated! And keep us updated

 

I decided last night I'm going to swap all the body work I can unbolt to my truck, suspensions and brakes as well. Will keep my new mirrors, the tiny ones on the '85 are adorable, but I can't see them being functional, not with as bad as my eyes are getting, will look at the better in the morning. Going to swap the interior over as well, hate the blue, but it's in great shape. If it hurts my eyes I'll look into that everything paint. Need to see what the horn in it sounds like, mine is about 2 shades about cute. Still waiting on parts, although from all the notifications I should have 10 boxes or so in by saturday, cant even remember what I ordered from where. Still need to finish cleaning the engine bay and the transmission. Will probably pull all the minor parts to give me more room. Think I will pull the belts and the alternator, plug wires, bag the dizzy, put the old plugs on, block off the ports pull the harness and anything else not welded down, then go hog wild. Oh, and just going to swap steering columns, so will pull that as well, need to take the new ignition switch, cylinder, and signal switch out to put in the other one. In between rounds of cleaning I will tear the interior back out. Get the bed off the scaffold and out of the way. It was a good day for that today, Full sun, and was above freezing, but I took about 12 naps after I woke up which made me noticeably less productive. Weather is supposed to be nicer than miserable tomorrow. Will make fair attempt at progress, may remember to take pictures.

I really appreciate everyone's support
-Clifton

 

It sounds like you have your work cut out for you.

I hear you on the nap and not wanting to work on it.
I pulled the gauge cluster out of mine a few days ago to install LED bulbs.
Bulbs are in just need to trace out the circuits so I can bench test to make sure they all work.
The cluster is in the house, I got home early yesterday had a hot cup of tea and took a nap.
Yep like you got lazy and did nothing. All I had to do is get it from the spare bed room sit in my chair with my tea and traced, nope just napped!
Then again I am up at 2am for work and some of that is outdoors in the rain yesterday and freezing many days before that.
Dave - - - -

 

I dug out the thermal underwear, went out and looked at the donor truck. Pulled the seat cover the rest of the way off. Seats are perfect, even the dirt on them is nice. Think I am going to pull the doors and swap both interiors then get the doors back on. Going to try and get under the hood on mine stripped down, maybe pull the hood now too, but I'll have to cover it with something because my roof leaks. PO of donor truck left me a set of wheel covers I can clean up and repaint, and a brand new v-belt behind the sit, not sure if it fits anything of mine but it will go into the parts pile. Also found a banjo hose new in package. It's 28 degrees, but the sun is shining and wind is less than miserable. See if I can't do a marathon parts swap. I'll get pictures as well.