Hi All,
Figured that I would post here also since my truck is a 96 F150. New to FTE, but not new to Ford trucks. Just recently acquired this truck and have been have a little fun with it. 96 F150 XL regular cab short wheel base inline 6. I do have some big plans for this truck.

 

Sweet truck! With that 300 I6 that engine will live forever. I'm also a newbie as a just joined in July but have read threads on here for years. Have fun with your new truck and welcome to FTE! Here's my biggest joy and pain in the rear.

 

Thanks. Your 4 wheel drive looks good. I still think the old body style has some of the best lines Ford put out.

 

Thanks oval bowtie! I agree all the way. Although these trucks were killed by emissions, are fast as a slug and have poor build quality (interior mostly) if you get the right combo they'll make it to 300k miles without an issue.

 

I got back my 1996 F150 from a friend of mine to whom I sold it to a decade and a half ago. I had about 200k+ miles on the 5.0 auto, when I sold it to him, and it was in fairly good shape, but he used it in his fencing business. At 383k+ miles, a mechanic told him it was done for, so he parked it for 5 years under a bunch of trees. I visited him periodically and asked him what was wrong with it and what he planned to do with it. He was going to sell it to the junk yard for such and such amount of money, because the mechanic told him certain things had to be done to it and it would cost more than it was worth, and I told him I would like to get it back, so I paid him that price and hauled it off after cutting down trees and untangling it from thorny vines, etc. It was certainly a mess (broken windows, raccoon/rat/squirrel/etc. stuff all over the inside moss and other stuff on the outside), but I liked the truck when I had it previously, and I was going to see if I could get it back to life. Looking around under the hood, it looked like a mechanic had switched spark plug wires, so I put them all back in order and fired it up. Boom! suddenly, a pickup that, even with a dead cylinder, was at least running, and I could take it up and down the dirt road (after I cleaned up the inside, that is). I am currently seeing if the dead cylinder's exhaust valve's not closing (figured it by deduction and what it is doing and what it isn't doing) is caused by carbon build up from firing out of turn. But it still has pretty good pick up accelerating down the road, as it is (relatively speaking, of course). But, a few other things had to be attended to, such as oil change, brakes, tires, fuel tanks, switches, wheel bearings, differential oil, alternator, A/C, battery cable, exhaust, carrier bearing, shocks, radius arm bushings, etc. So far, I have put about 1500+ miles on it just going up and down the roads around the farm (mainly trying to see if oil pressure, coolant temperatures, seeing if dead cylinder is getting any better, etc.) Now, I am concerned about the front wheel bearings and I came here to see if any of the members have tried to convert the front wheel bearings to a set of wheel bearing hub assemblies. I would prefer hub assemblies since they are easier to work with, but I can redo all of the bearings/seals/races if no conversion has been made yet.
Looking at your F150 is a good motivation to continue on my project. They are such nice looking pickups when they are in relatively decent shape.

 

Well,
Like I said I plan on doing a few things to this F150. I am keeping the lift gate. I have found that even though it is cosmetically challenged compared to a Ford tailgate, it is very beneficial. The XL is going to be getting the XLT upgrade short of carpeting. Adding tach cluster and pillar gauges ( Autometer OE Ford series ) for trans temp & fuel pressure. Even putting the Lightning front air dam for fog lights. Like people say, it is just time and money. Unfortunately when you have the time, money is short and when you have the money, time is short.