My 1965 F100 step side has a dataplate that has me wondering. It shows a "D" code for the engine and it does have a 352 four barrel motor. However the plate says the max horsepower is "172 at 4000" instead of the normal 205 at 4400 or whatever it is. Was there some other 352 made that year that was rated lower?

Also it looks like the truck is either a special model or it was modified when it was new in a couple of respects.

Each wheel opening arch has a reinforcing piece of flat steel bar bolted to the inside lip of the fender. They were very careful in the placement and all four fenders are identical. The bolts have smooth rounded heads on the outside of the fender with nuts on the inside.

The inner walls of the short bed are completely lined with what appear to be oak planks on the sides and the front. Special bolts were used with large flat heads on the inside of the bed so they would sit flush with the wood strips. Even the tailgate is covered with the planks. It looks like they put the bolts in the same spots where the rivets would normally go.

The truck also had bed rails made out of pretty stout tubing about 1.25 inches in diameter. It has a big brush guard up front and a very nice wrap around bumper on the rear made of heavy diamond plate and curved tubing that fits very neatly up against the sides of the body behind the wheel wells.

I assume the truck was some kind of service truck, but thought I would ask if anyone had run across this before.

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

As far as I know, the trucks never got 4-barrels on the 352. The cars did but not the trucks. The horsepower number on your warranty plate woud be for the 352 in it's original 2-barrel form. Sounds like you've got a pretty unique truck there.

 

D = 1965 F100/350 352 2V.

172 refers to the 'Certified Net' HP figure as listed on the Warranty Plate.

Air cleaner decal sez: 208 HP which refers to gross HP.

No FE 4V's till 1974, and then as an option / 1974/76 F100/350 390 4V (engine code M).

 

D= 352 4v in the original 65 factory shop manual.

But we all know that ford messed up when printing....

Most will say ford never did it, put those pesky wrong engines in things.

I also acquired a factory 65 D code with a C5ME block and had a four barrel with even the correct autolite 4V carb..had a matching amount of grime and grease on it for the age....

But ford never made mistakes...

Garbz

 

Not this time...

Shop Manual sez 4V, Parts Catalog decode sez 2V.

There's no ref to a 4V anywhere in the truck parts catalogs inre to FE engines till 1974.

1964/72 truck parts catalog: No 4V carb/dizzy/intake manifold listings, or related parts.

 

As to the wood placement...Ford beds only had the wood on the bed floor...it does sound like a service truck or a retrofit to protect the bed sides and tailgate.
As to the fender braces...if you are talking about the rear fenders I believe there are 4 braces..2 per fender...Im totally going out on a limb as its been a cpl yrs since I last saw a stepside(flareside in Ford lingo)
The bolt placement on the fender to bed side is with the carriage bolt head on the inside of the bed side and nuts in the fender. Im assuming they used carriage bolts on the fenders as they did securing the stylesides to the truck...If Im wrong, correct me guys..

Anyway...the rear bumpers can be quite detailed depending on what the original buyer wanted...If seen some really beefy rear bumpers that as finished are done in a nice curve and thus giving a huge step area on the rear corners...

Post some pics...I and I bet others would love to see it :-)

- cs65

 

It was not uncommon for owners to drop a 352 Police Interceptor in trucks back then.

 

The truck is at a friend's farm at the moment, but I will try to get some pictures.

The fender reinforcements are arches in the same shape as the wheel well opening. It looks like they added the reinforcements so that if you rubbed up against a pole for instance, it would hold up a little better.

I think I still have the original autolite 4 barrel. I put an Edelbrock 600 on it just because I hae one available. I know there is probably no way to document it, but it sure looked like that carb and intake had been there for a long time. I think there was also an engine ID tag by the coil bracket.

Thanks for the responses.

Chris

 

LOL... Hows the show?

Bill when you are on Vacation you are supposed to enjoy it and not post....or are you haveing withdrawl symptoms?

The autolite coded to a galaxie.......


Garbz

 

if it has the engine tag...it would be attached by the coil...post the info and carb tag if it has one...cant wait to see the pics of it


- cs65

 

Called mine a step side by mistake once. A member kindly replied "Chevy makes step sides. Ford makes FlareSides.