Hello Bullnose fans, long time member of this site, but only recently acquired a Bullnose. It's a 1983 F-100 short wheel base flareside, currently with a 351w under the hood. I believe that it originally had a 3.8 V6. There is no door sticker, possibly peeled off / painted over. However there is a tag stuck under the cowl seal which may or may not originally belong to this truck. I have tried the VIN decoder tool as well as the door tag decoder tool and it doesn't seem to match up to either. Can anyone help?



This is the truck, 1983 F-100

This tag is on the firewall, under the cowl seal. I don't know if it is original.

Up close zoom in so you can see the numbers. I see the "F15" part which makes me think this is from an F150, which would mean the tag is not original to this truck.

 

Compare it to your vin. I'm thinking it's going to be truncated. Should be that every number for the vin that applies to that part will be on it.

 

There is a matching data tag to this one attached to the bed as well. On my Flareside it was on the right front corner. As far as I know it is mostly assembly line info, and nothing usable to us other than the paint color code is usually on this tag.

What is the VIN for the truck? Do you have it?

 

I can get the VIN off the title, I will check for that later. The dashboard VIN is not visible though because the replacement windshield glass has a black strip in that area.

 

Well, if the certification label is missing from the driver's door jamb, then the VIN is about all you will have to work with. The later model windshields have the VIN opening in a different location, so unfortunately they hide the VIN in the Bullnose location.

The rear diff, trans, and engine stuff will be easy enough to figure out, and there will be some things in the interior that identify what is what.

Where did you get the info that it had a 3.8V6 at one time?

 

The emissions tag on the grill support says it was a 3.8L. The rear end was swapped out for an 8.8 with 3.73 gears, I'm assuming it originally would have had a 9 inch? I will get that VIN later today and post it up.

 

The 8.8 rear end first started being used in 1983, so it could certainly be original to the truck, but the 3.73 gears wouldn't be...not unless they were something special just for the 3.8L V6. Most of the 8.8 rear ends in the 2wd trucks had 3.08 or 3.55 gears.

What transmission is in this thing?

The VIN will tell us some info...it will indicate what engine is supposed to be in there at least.

 

Welcome to the dark side John
When I was there yesterday I also took a picture of that buck tag. I knew of the one on the bed and when I rebuilt mine I put it back on.
I did not think it had an information other than the paint code. When working on the bed if you find that tag see if any of the information is the same like the "7H' or "9A"

On the 3.8 sticker that I don't think came with the truck and the VIN will tell us, BUT did you see the sticker on the fan shroud! IIRC has the 5.8L motor.

Guys this truck will be a puzzle to figure out as the interior is red in a blue truck?
Yes the truck does have the newer wrong windshield so cant see the dash VIN.
Being the rear was changed and that year could be a 8.8 or 9" is another.
The motor looks like it was swapped in, front sump oil pan and the pan is resting on the cross member so something is not right.
Steering wheel is for speed control but I don't see anything under the hood pointing to the truck ever having it like his parts truck.
Truck has a auto trans mission think C6 but I did not get under to check and could have come over with the motor swap?
This truck did have a feed back system as the computer is still bolted to the lower edge of the dash frame and all the wires cut flush at the firewall.

That is what I have found with the little time I have seen the truck.
Dave ---

ps John post the VIN from the title for the parts truck also as I could not make out the sticker on the door.

 

Hey Dave, I was thinking that as you pointed out, the cab of the truck did not have those filler panels along the rear bottom, indicating it was probably NOT originally a flareside, so I wouldn't think any tag or code I find on the bed would be original to the truck itself. But where would the tag be, so I can look for it? Also that fan shroud does not appear to be original to that truck, that 5.0L tag you mentioned says 1986.

Rembrant, I said the 8.8 was not original because the guy I bought it from said the previous owner installed a 351W & C6 trans out of a 69 Mustang and also installed a "limited slip 8.8 with 3.73 gears". I have my doubts as to the year of the motor, it looks more like mid-70's to me. I'll have to pull some numbers once I get it cleaned up. Did they use the 8.8 in F-100 trucks? Seems like if it is the stronger upgrade then they would have put it in F-150's but not F-100's. Just a guess though, I'm new to these trucks.

Here is the VIN:

 

1FT - Ford MoCo USA Truck(complete vehicle)
C - Clas C 4,001-5,000lbs
F10 - Pickup F-100 2wd
F- Gas engine, 8 cylinder 302 c.i.d. 5.0l 2 bbl
7 - Check digit(internal use)
D - 1983
N - Norfolk assembly plant
A44138 - Numerical sequence of assembly


That body tag looks like it has the part of the vin indicating an F150 and it's assembly sequence number. Several of my truck parts, frame and transmission for sure have part of the vin stamped on them. I haven't looked at my body tags closely. I have one on the hood and one on the outside front of the bed. Need to go look at them as I don't think they are original parts. But if one of them is I can confirm about the tag.

Here's a photo of my frame numbers.




Here's my transmission.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/g/picture/12781774

Best I can tell they only had the parts of the vin that were specific to that application on there. Like the frame shows It's in a F100, the letters before the assembly sequence are for the year and assembly plant, would have to look. But it also, I think, shows this frame is specific to this application. Whereas the transmission doesn't show was model because they put the C6 in several. Therefore that application(specific model) isn't unique to this transmission as it could have ended up in anything with a small block. But that's all just a theory.

 

You could check and see if the original buck tag is on the bed. See picture below of the bed on my 1984 when I removed it. The tag was attached to the front sill, just behind the passenger step. See if it is the same as the one on the cab.

 

As far as I know, yes. 1983 was the first year for the 8.8, and 1983 was the last year for the F100, so it's certainly possible. The 3.73 would not have been in it though...at least I don't think so. Is there a data tag on the rear end under one of the diff cover bolts?

 

Clifton, thinks for the information.

John, Looks like a 1983 F100 4x2 with a 302 and from what I seen had a feed back carb system on it.
So I don't know why the oil pan is hit ting the cross member unless the truck should have a rear sump pan?

For that metal tag on the bed mine was on the front bed wall between cab & bed down low.
Dave ----

 

I found the firewall tag on my donor truck, that is the sequence number, it matches the VIN.

 

I guess the most unexpected things from my point of view is that the truck was originally a flareside, and was originally a V8. However it doesn't show any data for the color code. I'm completely lost, I was looking at colors yesterday and made a list of all the possible ones I thought it could be, now I go looking for an aeresol can so I can buy the one I think is most likely and test it out, and guess what - Ford uses the same name half a dozen times and its a different shade of blue each time.