So I picked up a 55 F100 a week ago...exactly. And it has been a productive week. The truck hasn't ran in at least 4 years.

302 engine. So far:
Replaced ignition solenoid and got it running.
carb leaked like mad from the transfer tube. Rebuilt the holley 1650.
Replaced fuel hoses, new fuel filter. besides a sticky float on first use, she starts and idles wonderfully. A bit rich but I love the smell...for now.

What next?
On the list to pick up and do this week:
Dropping off wheels tomorrow to pick up Wednesday with new tires.
give the brakes a once over.
oil change.
new plugs & wires. do I need a distributor? Does this thing have points? distributor has a vacuum advance connected to the carburetor.
thermostat and new coolant.
muffler is really loose - need a clamp.
replace fill tube connection to the gas tank, old an rotted. Already ordered from LMC along with a new grommet and locking gas cap.
verify the lights are working.
Burn some rubber.

And the big question...The wiring is a BIG MESS. Scary big mess. there's wire nuts, fuses in weird places, and random wires all over. I need to get this out of the garage once i get the tires on it and pressure wash it. What are my risks? I'll take measures to prevent water from getting into the carb and vents on the tappet covers and I will keep the pressure low. Just need to get the leaves and grease off the power steering pump and engine, etc.

 

Captain Hoss,
Looks like a wonderful project ! Looks like you have all the basics covered with your plan. As to your question about the distributor, it probably still has points, as there is nothing to indicate they did an upgrade to electronics. (However, there are a few electronic upgrade kits that hide under the dist cap. ) Nothing wrong with using the old point system until you upgrade when you replace the wiring harness. Probably would not hurt to keep a good fire extingusher handy until you can make your wiring changes.

55s make great project trucks !

 

Great project!
Yeah that wiring looks scary! Might look into EZwiring for a new harness that lays it out and has all wiring printed so you know what goes where. have fun!

 

Pop the the distributor cap to se what’s inside. I retrofited my 302 with an electronic distributor with vacuum advance.
I’d check your fuel out of the tank. Make sure you’re not sending bits of rust through the fuel pump, filter, and carb. If you’re not cleaning your carb, put some MMO in the fuel tank. I’d put some in the oil too (clean out the lifters).
Good luck!

 

Hey hoss, sounds like she runs, that 302 is a great engine, and it just doesn’t look like that distributor has been upgraded. Not a bad Idea to do the upgrade but lots of parts are there for the 302. The post about the fuel system is a good one. My 55 was really bad how I got her home I will never know. That’s a nice project. Driving it will be lots of fun, looks like your front end suspension was modified with your power steering pump. In my 56 I had a 302,Valori front suspension. Matched it a Lincoln Versi rear end gave me disc brakes on all four, tremac 6 speed she cursed at 1,800 RPM double nickel! Envy ya Nice rig!AJ

hoss washing a 302, cleaning grease spray with gunk, then varsol with alcohaul I do not use water. For several reasons. It’s drys fast and really cleans the realtough stuff you can do by hand and various brushes. AJ

 

One thing you might want to add to your list is give your suspension, steering components, brake pedal , u joints, and everything else with a zerk a good shot of grease. If you find zerks that won't take grease you may need to go after them with a grease zerk rejuvenator tool. Basically its a steel syringe you fill up with penetrating oil, bleed the air out and attach it to the stuck zerk then bang the plunger end of it with a hammer. Also maybe pull off, inspect and pack your front wheel bearings and inspect your races inside the hubs. You might also take a can of spary Kroil or PB Blaster and spray your leaf springs that will improve your ride greatly while you think about when or if you want to rebuild your front and rear suspension.

 

@bhenders Covered.
@bassdr You should see beneath the dash...I'm looking into prefab harnesses but I think I'll opt to make my own. For now, I'm stripping anything I can confirm isn't needed. There are a lot of things simply clipped off.
@Dturk The gas tank had a puncture hole in the bottom. Since the truck sat for years, the tank was completely dry with no vapors so had a friend tig the hole and close it up. camera in the tank showed good condition.
@ajsunnyB It's a bit of a frankenstein. Looking for the 302 casting number to see where it came from. Trans is a 3 speed toploader from a 67-68 mustang. According to david kee website, only from a 200ci so I don't think the engine and trans are from the same car originally. Neither is originally form the truck. Still digging into that. I don't think the front suspension was modified outside of a different power steering pump. Steering box appears to be stock. Thanks for the tip on washing. i agree using water would be a bad idea in the engine compartment.
@hooler1 Started this. steering was really sloppy but only because the drag link was loose. Still have some to do. Thanks for the tip about zerk rejuv tool.

Thanks all for the responses. Right now, it runs and drives pretty good. Headlights need new sockets (arrives today) and wiring. A good exterior cleaning. And here's a pic with new meats.

 

That's a cool truck you have there!

About that grease zerk rejuvenation tool. When I finally got around to greasing all my suspension parts, that hadn't been done for years and years. Many of the spring pins, the king pins, tie rod and drag link joints, U joints, brake pedal bushing, wear'nt taking grease. So first I tried changing out the zerks themselves but still they would not take grease. Tried heating them up with a torch and maybe one or two opened up, but there were still many that you couldn't get to budge. I went to Tractor Supply and bought the tool. It was a lot of work, and quite messy, (wear safety goggles!) but I managed to open all of them but maybe two. I guess I would call it about an 90% success rate. But it was amazing how much better it drove and steered afterwards. At the time it wasa $50 tool. But to me it was worth every cent! If you use one make sure you bleed it whenever you put penetrating oil in it. Otherwise when you smack the plunger with a hammer it will bounce out and try to hit you. And also when using the tool, if you can't get a joint open, try changing the position of the joint. Like if you are working on a leaf spring pin and it is not opening try letting it down all the way while you have jack stands holding up the frame. It's really interesting how just changing the position of whatever is getting greased will help the zerk rejuvenation tool do its job of blowing out the hardened grease.

 

If you cover the carb and distributor really well with plastic bags, you can take it to the car wash and give it a good soapy pressure wash without worry. It looks like it could use it. Casting numbers on that vintage 302 would be behind the starter, but they won't tell you much besides narrowing down the year. There's nothing in casting numbers that will tell you what the engine came out of. The same casting was used in all models and lines of cars and trucks that used that size engine.