Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here and also a newbie to automotive repair (I don't count oil changes and stuff as repair). I just bought a 1981 F150 that needs work and plan to do most of it myself (I'm broke ). I probably will not have the tools I need on hand, but if you are specific in your reply, I can either rent, borrow or buy them. I'm also a small female and not real strong, so any sort of alternative ways to do hard things would be really great. This list is not in any particular order - I'm not sure where to start really.

Okay, first off, I need to bleed the brakes. This girl got upgraded from a V6 to a V8 and got a new trans - runs great but doesn't stop! She'll slow down but even with your foot all the way down, you're at a coast. I've had to bump her into neutral after slowing down considerably and then just turn her off. Not the best way but effective temporary solution. I'm also going to be hauling a 2-6 animal livestock trailer, a travel trailer and other things routinely. I have not driven her anywhere but out here in the country - I don't want to risk harming anyone.

Second, I need to do some body work. Specifically, I need to get the doors to close and stay closed. They are held mostly shut by hay bale string right now.

Third, there's a bleach bottle being used as a run-over for the radiator.

Fourth, there's a hose missing from the carb to the front of the truck - I have no idea what it's supposed to attach to.

Fifth, how do I deal with rust in the bed? I'm going to be using the truck for both personal and farm/ranch use. I would not like to toss a post in there and have it fall through! Is there any way to reinforce the bed or should I just put a plastic bedliner on and hope for the best?

Sixth, the gear shifter is very loose and moves like a rachet. When you shift, you have to count how many spaces you've gone because the indicator needle never moves out of park.

Seventh, the plastic radiator casing is "sewn" together with plastic wire! How do I replace this casing?

Eighth, the seat and dash need to be replaced. The dash looks vandalized and the seat has normal wear and tear.

Nineth, I'm concerned about the wiring. The tailights come on but won't flash or blink (stop, signal). I also am a single mom with a 2 year old, so I'll definitely need AC & heat and of course, music - or my little guy will drive us both insane during a 90 mile round trip to town.

I've been borrowing my mom's car to get around and am anxious to have my own reliable and multi-purpose transportation. I'm sure more will come up as I go but I'd sure like to get my girl safely operational ASAP. What should I do first?


THANKS in advance, for all your help! I sure do appreciate it. Have a great day!

 

first of all i would make sure brake pads, shoes and wheel cyl. are good and there are no fluid leaks . Next i would bleed the brakes starting with the rr,lr,rf, lf . To bleed brakes have an assitant pump up the brake pedal hold it then loosen brake bleeder individualy carefull some bleeders may not loosen or may even break off. keep resivor full of fluid and keep cover on while bleeding. Depending on the trailer size you may want to purchase a trailer that has electric brakes this is eazy to hookup and is safer not to metion less stress on your trucks brakes. As for the tail lights not working check the hazzard flasher on the column .

 

First, you need to fix the brakes.

Get two large bottle of brake fluid, close or open end wrenches (use to open and close the brake bleeder valve), lug nut wrench, jack and jackstand. You need another person to pump the brake pedal while you try to bleed the brakes.

First, fill up the brake fluid reservoir.
Typically, you bleed the brakes starting from Rear Right, Rear Left, Front Right, Front Left.

Put a brick or wood the front and back of each tires except the one you are working on. If you have enough clearance to go underneath and have access to the brake bleeder valve then you don't have to jack up the vehicle. If you don't have enough clearance underneath the vehicle, then loosen the wheen lug nuts and jack it up and put it on the jackstand. Loosen the lug nuts all the way and remove the tire. I usually put the tire underneath the vehicle to protect me in case the vehicle falls off the jackstand.

Locate the bleeder valve and use your wrench to loosen the bleeder valve a little bit and close it back (just enough for you to easily open it up again).

Note:
Tell your helper that when you say pump "they must pump the brake pedal 3 times very slowly and then on the 3rd pump they must push the brake pedal all the way to the floor if possible and hold it there with pressure. "Your helper must be aware that while they are putting a pressure on the brake pedal, the brake pedal will go down further when you bleed the brakes and must keep their foot down on the brake pedal and never release their foot.
Tell your helper that when you say release "they must release the brake pedal and let it up.


Now, tell your helper to pump the brakes. Now, open the bleeder valve either 1/2 turn or 3/4 turn very quickly and then close the bleeder valve again. Brake fluid should be squirting. Tell your assistant to release the brake pedal.
Do this process 2 or 3 times.

Check brake fluid reservoir level and fill it up.

If you have raised this particular section with a jackstand then put back the tire and lower it and tighten the lug nuts.

Go to the next section Rear Left then Front Right then Front Left. Once you are finish at each section make sure you check the brake fluid reservoir level and fill it up.

 

Sorry everyone! I should have mentioned that:

This truck belonged to my uncle. He bought it as a project truck (modifying it for hard labor and for fun) and has done a lot of work on it already: upgraded the motor and trans, put in new brakes, etc. I know it's good because he's never steered me wrong. It's just that he works 12 hours a night (7P to 7A) with only 2 days off every two weeks if he's lucky. He's also got his own small ranch and ... He told me we just need to bleed the brakes. The problem is, he doesn't have the time to help me and I'm impatient. LOL

I can borrow pretty much anything from his shed and would probably be better off working on the truck there - which is where it is right now. Other than that, I know I can borrow specialty tools for free from AutoZone.

Thanks for your help!

 

Slade901

This is a little off topic but I notice the 1982 F150 is listed as "E150". Does this affect your insurance in any way? I tried to insure my truck but they tell me the VIN shows up as an Economy Van. I'm having a hard time explaining that it's always been a truck, not a modified van.

Thanks again,
Pearl

 

You can get bed floor repair panels from Motorhaven or JC Whitney. They should be welded in, but if that's not an option for you then I'd just clean up what's there now and bolt the panels in over the top as a temporary fix to stiffen the bed up. In that case I'd start looking around for a parts truck with a good bed for cheap money. Swapping the beds out is pretty basic , just a few bolts and the taillight connector.

 

Our 1982 Ford E150 is a van. It is just that when I listed it here from autozone.com or advancedautoparts.com it belongs to the Ford Truck section which includes truck and van, suv, while the Ford section mainly deals with mostly cars.

The designation E for the E150 means it is a van while the F for the F150 is a truck.

Try copying down the VIN on your dash or on the side of the door frame and visit www.carfax.com and see if then VIN shows as a truck. Probably the VIN on the dash has been replaced after a previous wreck or something. So find all VIN you can find around your truck to verify they match altogether and visit www.carfax.com and enter your VIN and it will give you few details of that VIN.

 

Hi cjsmonnie,

About your brake pedal, is it hard to push it down? (This could be from a bad vacuum booster, or the vacuum line not being connected to the booster) Or does the pedal go down a ways before it starts to do anything? (This could be air in the brake master cylinder, brake lines, calipers, or wheel cylinders. Also, this can happen when the rear brake shoes are way out of adjustment.)

On the doors, can you lift up on the door as you close it an get it to stay shut? (I have this problem on a 81 F250 that I am fixing up) if so, you might need new door hinge bushings, or new door hinges.

On the carb, you can go to www.auotzone.com and click on repair info, then look up vacuum diagrams for your year model. This may be some help, but it is one of those things that I would have look at with own eyes before I could help.

On the rust in the bed, same problem here! I went to a junkyard and got a used bed liner for $25.00 and put in in untill I can find a good bed.

On the shifter, you may need some shifter linkage bushing. You can look under the hood, and under the truck at the linkage while someone moves the shift lever back and forth to see if there is any excessive play. (I'm sure you know this but, this is done with engine shut off. I just don't anyone to get hurt because of one of my posts.)

Seat and dash, Junkyards are your best friend for these types of things. (I find it a lot of fun too. Its like a big scavenger hunt for me!)

On the wiring, You can find wiring diagrams on autozones web site also. It sounds like you might have a turn signal bulb burnt out, it will cause the lights to come on, but not flash. If all lights come on, then you probably need a new flasher. If no lights come on, then check your fuses and wiring.

Hope some of this helps!

Good luck,
George

 

These guys all have good sugestions. Unfortionately, the only way to fix the tanks on the radiator is to buy a new radiator (about $150). You could probably glue it, but eventually, if it is not replaced, it will leave you stranded. I would probably swap it out for a metal radiator (i'd get the mounts and the rad from a salvage yard, and have a radiator shop refurb it. a shop around my house does that for around $30).

Like george said, your lights are probably work not working due to a bulb.

I don't know if you truck came with A/C, but more than likely you are going to have to spend at least $1000 in parts to get a working system, IF the truck came with A/C (ie, if your uncle swapping the V6 to V8, he probably ditched the AC compressor) and probably a lot more if it didn't.

I hate to be a downer, but your going to have a lot of money tried up into a 23 year old truck to get it somewhat workable. It'll be reliable, but not much to look at..

 

I may have a radator or two around, I have a 85 2wd king cab and two 86 4wd's one reg and one king. I also may have extra parts. (sorry no good beds, i need one or two my self) All i want to do is one good 4wd truck (got two to make one, then that turned to 3) I am in ny by the way....

 

As for the hose that's missing from the front of the carb, it most likely ran to the carbon canister as part of the emissions system. Fitted in the line from the carb to the canister are a fuel bowl vent solenoid (aka: air control valve), thermal vent valve, and a canister purge valve.

I'd definitely recommend picking up a repair manual for your truck. The Haynes Repair Manual for 1980-1996 Broncos and F-Series Pickups has a lot of great essential info.

 

Thank you to all who have replied on and offline. FORGIVE ME FOR MY TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY IGNORANCE.

We replaced some fuses so my lights would work, messed with the door latches until my doors could actually stay closed without hay bale rope, adjusted the hood so it would close and stay closed until I unlatched it, bled the back brakes (the nut on the passenger front was rounded off - we couldn't remove it). My cousin handed down the standard Ford stereo system from his newer Ranger but I needed an adapter for it (which I still haven't gotten).

While bringing the truck home, I sort of got a little excited and went off road on the ranch. So, my front driver's side spring broke. I also figured out the truck has more get-up-and-go than stop-on-a-dime. That was scary. With the conversion from 6 to 8, I have dual wire module things and wires running basically right on top of where it gets hot - so the truck will no doubt turn off in South Texas heat (after the wires burn). There is an electrical short somewhere, I think, because I need another set of fuses in less than 2 weeks.

This is the state of my truck now:

Both driver's side tires off! Front brake cover thing (that stops rocks, etc. from getting to the brake disks) squashed down on a block. Rear rim on ground. My uncle started to help me with it then we had problems so it was left as is.

The rear brakes need a twisted metal wire/cable looking thing with a flat metal oval at the end. It goes behind some small little fluid cylinder looking thing. Can't find it anywhere and no one knows what we are talking about anyway. My uncle doesn't know what it's called either.

I definitely need a new carb. Although it still runs, it's hard to get it going and it wants to turn off when I press down on the brake.

I will finally get some pics posted before the end of this week. Thanks again, everyone, for helping me out on this.

 

I hate to be a downer too - but I agree with Bremen242 - The list of work you have would be an accomplishment for an experienced person. You have a very large amount of money and time ahead of you to accomplish all of the work listed.

Some of the work - like brakes - requires a certain amount of skill and experience to do correctly and end up with a safe reliable repair job.

I think you would be better advised to invest you money in a better truck or at least one that does not need so much work to be safe and reliable.

A 23 year old project is always going to need some work to keep on the road and is probably not the best pick for primary vehicle.

 

Uh, guys? It can't even run right now, so there's no way I could use it even if I wanted to (see previous post). I'm driving a Cavalier, perhaps I should have mentioned that. I have time, np, and the money? Well, I have income.

I am stubborn. I am not getting rid of my truck. I am working on a list of things it needs and getting each part new. I know brakes require skill but my uncle's have worked on trucks like this one for years, I trust them. They just don't have a lot of time and this is going a lot slower than I would like. Besides that, I want to know how it all works and what to look for in case of an emergency. Already, this list and information have paid off. I used some of the information I learned to accurately diagnose the Cavalier while the mechanic kept insisting it was something else. That, my friends, is worth more to me than anything - being able to take care of myself because I understand the mechanical stuff better. That is why I will not give up. Well, that and bragging rights. But thanks for your imput.

 

the twist wire thing, is it inside the brake drum? If so, I think that would be part of the rear brake self-adjuster. Btw, you can ditch the brake dust shield on the front. I ditched the ones on my f-150 and have no problems. Is your truck a 4x4?