Hey all -

I need some advice as I am in a kind of a bind. This is a long post and my first truck, so please be patient. On May 3rd, I plan on moving to Washington state, and moving all my stuff myself. A few weeks ago, I bought a 1981 F-150 & promptly fell in love with her.

Now, I'm going to relate a horrible story that happened to me & my girl (truck) yesterday. I had just bought a 1970 Arizona gutted out camper for my move, and drove over 90 miles to pick it up. The man I bought my girl from had told me he had pulled a camper up north (here in Wisconsin), & said she had pulled it with no problems.

On the way to pick up the camper, my girl drove on the highway fine. After I picked up the camper, I wanted to see how my girl would handle the load (about 1000 lbs, I think). She had a hard time staying at 55, and 65 was near impossible. I thought I was being careful by keeping an eye on the gauges, and watching for smoke, odors, and changes in the engine noise & feel. About 3/4ths of the way home, I could here slight knocking sound, and the oil gauge was all the way past L! I carefully made my way to the nearest gas station & turned her off. When I pulled the dipstick out, it had no oil on it & it was so hot it was smoking. I put 3 quarts of oil in her and watched underneath to make sure she wasn't spitting the oil back out underneath, and she wasn't. I turned her on, & she was still knocking, but keeping in her oil. We kept off the highway, and was home in about 20 minutes, knocking all the way.

I had my neighbor listen to her, and he says it sounds like her piston may be going. He said it would probably cost about $1200 to rebuild, or a used engine would cost $300-400 without the labour. I called up the man I bought her from, and although his attitude was: well, you bought her, she's yours - he said he would come over today & see if he thinks that's really the problem. Augh! I'm down to my last $200 for the trip. I could try to sell more of my stuff to pay for fixing her, which is ok - the less I have to move, the better.

What I need from you guys is some advise on what engine to get, if I need to replace her current one. The one she has in her now is a 302 V-8. When I call around, I need to know which trucks would have compatable engines that I could buy. Can I put a 351 in her? How about other F-150 years? I need something that will be able to pull about 2000 lbs max through 2 mountain ranges without crapping out on me, or am I asking too much?

Thanks in advance,
Sonja

 

Sonja:

Your best bet is to replace the engine you have, if necessary, with another 302. Gas mileage will be better than a 351, and for light hauling it should be all you need in an F-150. I don't recall whether the 81 F-150 with a 302 engine had a mechanical or electric fuel pump, but here in the West if you plan on climbing any big mountains hauling a load, you should get an electric fuel pump if your truck is not already so equipped. I learned the hard way about the need for an electric fuel pump on my 1980 F-350 4X4 400 many years ago hauling a heavy trailer from Virginia to Utah.

 

oh boy. where to start. first it is just criminal the way some guys will take advantage of a woman. the guy you bought the truck from sold you a tired old truck. hope you didn't give much for it. . i'll wager it has WELL over 100k on it; probably closer to 2. when it started to knock, you should have stopped driving immediately. it sounds like you think the needle on the oil pressure guage indicates the amount of oil in the pan. it doesn't work like the gas guage. when it went down below L you lost all your oil pressure.
don't listen to your neighbor; he don't know what he's talking about. by driving it for so long with so little oil pressure, you have trashed the rod/main bearings. maybe the oil pump as well. it'll need new bearings, the crank ground, oil pump. by driving it that extra 20 minutes the cylinders might need to be bored and new rings put in also. way more money than the truck is worth. you could look around for another engine out of a car to put in it. 302 is pretty common.
the mistake you made was buying the truck/trailor for your move. should have just rented a U-Haul. junk out the truck and chock it up to experience. there are plenty of old ford trucks out in washington.
i believe there are some air quality tests vehicles have to pass in some parts of washington. your truck might not be able to pass them. good-luck and hope you make it