Hi, I just joined and wanted to say hello and show a pic of my project. I've been wrenching for 30 years and this is the second F150 bullnose I've owned, but the first one I've dug into and worked on. It is a 1986 F-150 4WD, 300 I6, NP435 Transmission, NP208 TC, 8.8 Rear axle, 33" tires. I bought it 2 years ago non running. The body is beautifully straight, no cancer, the floor pans look like new. The P.O. had owned this truck for 20 years but only had 15K on a crate motor. Unfortunately, he had so many vehicles he only ever changed oil once or twice in this truck, and so the motor had a knocking rod and 4 cracked pistons. I rebuilt it, but did not have the crank turned so I will be swapping out the crank with a gently used one soon. Last weekend I finished up the 6" lift (a learning experience and sort of a disappointment in hind site), I have installed new tires and some aluminum rims, and so far that's my history with this truck. I've only drove it 1500 miles in the last 2 years, but I'm getting close and am feeling motivated, I might even paint it this year too. When I pulled apart the motor, the cylinders were real nice and still had the cross hatch, the head was excellent too. I replaced all the bearings, new Keith Black Hyper pistons, and a new Melling oil pump Cleaned and painted the engine. The next time I pull the engine to finish the rebuild, lol, I will be swapping to a Offenhauser manifold with a 2100 Autolite 2 barrel, I also have some EFI split manifolds to go on, and everything to convert to a serpentince belt. I also have a Ford 9" big bearing 31 spline out of a 69' Ford I plan to install after a gear swap, and I will be buying a TruTrac carrier as well.

My goal with this truck is to be reliable above all, simple and non computerized, a back up vehicle, daily driver if need be, a grocery getter, camping rig, light trail use, occasional loads and towing etc.... this is the truck to end all other projects for me, I'm getting tired of wrenching on every pile of junk I own. Any advice to make this truck more reliable will be appreciated, Ford hacks? What do you know? Here's a pic last weekend after the 6" lift. I had lifted the front 4" at first and that's all I wanted. When I lifted the back, I ordered ProComp 6" lift springs. I thought that if I ordered 6" springs, I could remove the factory lift block to solve a nasty axle hop issue a little better. I didn't read the fine print, and found after install that the springs were designed to install without the lift blocks, so I ended up with a full 6" f lift. So I decided to order 6" front springs as well, since I already had the front brackets with 6" or 4" holes. Now I see that if I were to stuff the tire into the wheel well, the spring would definitely come into contact with the frame, so the 6" lift is sort of non functional. Disappointing but I love the look.