I bought this 1976 F-250 from a close friend Nov 1st for $800. It had been sitting on his property since 2002.
Its powered by a 1966 390 2v donated from a 1966 Mercury Monterey years ago.
Seemed to be mechanically sound but it needs a lot of work.




First thing I did was locate the misfire. Looks like #5 has a valve stem seal problem.
I put in fresh spark plugs and its been fine ever since. I'm suspecting a bad plug wire too.

The plug wires are either original to the 390 or the 360 that came in the truck. The only plug wires numbered came from the factory.







The a new battery and a new battery tray and new pedal pads.






And then new tires. I love them.



When I took the brush guard off the passenger side grill was busted so I got a new one of those. It looks a lot better now.



New dash pad and seat cover.



New rear view mirrors.



New windshield washer reservoir, pump and wiper blades.



I ran some engine flush through it and changed the oil and filter. First time the oil and filter have been changed in 20+ years.




I bought a new glove box liner from DC, the old one crumbled when I took the dash out to replace the old dash pad.
I needed somewhere to keep the original owners manual.



I drilled out and cleaned the passages in the exhaust manifold do now the choke stat gets hot oil to open the choke.




I took the ugly old home made trailer hitch off and I have a new one from etrailer that I will try to get installed next week.
I have a new headlight switch and a few other item waiting to get installed too.
I have more parts on order. Its a never ending story.



So far I'm quite pleased with my new truck.

 

I think it might need new shocks too.

 

Steady progress, and looking good. I dig them old school tires also. Those mirrors are not quite right, the needed type 9's have a top bar that is parallel to the ground. Yes I think you need a new shock.

 

Thank you. Nope, the mirrors are not right, I thought they were when I ordered them. I'll be replacing them soon.

 

I got my new headlight switch installed so now all the dash lights work.



I got the dome light working too. The new lens is on its way.



Not ne f the marker lights work. Luckily it was just the bulbs.




I did get all the light working. I still need a new turn signal switch and its on its way too.



My new spark plug wire set finally arrived yesterday. They should work well with the Motorcraft spark plugs that I already installed. Another project for today.

I took it our for a drive last night after working on it and run it up and down the canyon.
I pushed it real hard and it runs great. Runs pretty darn strong for a 55 year old 390.
The truck is turning out to be a lot nicer than I had hoped.

 

Looking good for sure. I bet those mirrors are for a 80's to 90's Ford? You can always unbolt the bottom point, bend the top mount bracket (lip that the top bar mounts to, in the red box) down a bit to make the top bar parallel, cut and shorten the longer bar piece (heading to the bottom bracket, yellow circle), re-drill and reattach.

 

And I found a use for my gun rack too!!

 

 

Thank you for the help. Once again I took the cheap route and got what I paid for, the pair was $30.

I will most likely just buy the correct ones.



These were all the options when the truck was originally ordered.
I was in such a hurry to get started fixing things I made a few bad purchases from the get go.
The mirrors were one of them, the dash pad was the other.

 

Yea now days it can be hit and miss on parts quality, fit and finish. Dennis Carpenter is always #1 on my looking for X parts 1st list. LMC is on the bottom of it. As far as the dash pad, it might not have the best fit, but it is new and crack free. Hang in there, it is looking great for a $800 truck.

 

Thank you, I like it a lot and I'm having fun working on it.
The dash pad is livable but the mirrors aren't.
I've bought quite a bit from DC and have two more orders from them on the way.
A few things I want DC is out of them. I'll just keep checking back.

I have new transfer case bushings coming from 4 Wheel Parts and I need a new yoke on the front of the front driveline.

I did get my new Motorcraft spark plug wire installed today.

I also ordered Meguiars Ultra Cut rubbing compound and I'll see what a good buffing will do for it.

 

Nice truck, keep up the good work.

I just went through the same issue with the mirror bracket. I busted one on my 77 f150 and could not find anywhere. Found a set on craigslist the seller was willing to ship to me for $50. The only issue is one bracket is a little different and has a bigger mirror head but has the same mounting points. I only needed one so no big deal. But yes, some of the aftermarket quality is terrible. I guess that's why people have OEM parts listed for big money.....

 

Man... you have done some nice work.

Isn't it great to be able to upgrade a few parts and have a NICE, STRONG Ford truck!
Hey, just because that engine is from the 60's makes no big difference. It's a FORD!!!

Keep up the good work!
I am enjoying your restore job!

 

I think finding the correct mirrors that aren't going to cost an arm and a leg are going to be a little tough.

 

Thank you very much. I'm more than happy with the truck.
Lots of things about it are better than I had hoped for and some things worse, but minor.

It will never see new paint but it will see a nice buffing, I hope it looks better after the buff job.

I'd rather the truck have that 55 year old 390 that's in it than the 45 year old 360 that was in it originally.
I'm actually impressed with how well it runs.

When I bought it it had a 300 gallon water tank, a water pump (powered by a Briggs and Stratton engine) and a fire hose reel in the back and it only ran on 7 cylinders.
That's the way my friend drove it the few times he did.

So now it runs on all 8 cylinders, got the timing set and the carb adjusted and the oil and filter changed.
I took my friend for a ride the other day and you couldn't wipe the smile of his face. He had no idea that it would ever run as good as it does.

Again, its an old 390 with a 2bbl carb so its no race truck but it does run pretty good for what it is.