Actually, it's either 5 on 5.5" or 5 on 4.5" not 5" or 4"

 

Thanks for the correction. you are right.

which is why I shouldn't post late at night.

 

Alright, finally got the truck today!!! It is a 83' like someone posted previously, takin it to the car wash to get it a little cleaner and then will shoot some pics of it. The truck is a no A/C truck with the good ole AM radio still in the dash. The 302 runs freakin solid!!! Not its time to get to work on all the things we have been talkin about...Pics will be up in a few hours.

 

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Nice looking 1983 Explorer.

 

thank you sir, i believe you were the one who stated it was a 83'? If so, you were correct. i am pleased with it, compared to everything else i was looking at that was in the F100's price range. this truck was the cleanest, best running, and cheapest...first things i want to do are: wheels and tires (looking for some), intake and carb, headers into true duels (probably some flows or somethin), and of course a good ole tune up first!

 

My truck has power brakes,but it has the 5 on 5-1/2 bolt pattern.I think it depends on what the original owner wanted.My truck is a Custom,so I guess the original owner wanted 5 on 5-1/2.

Bleach1012,i'm gonna make a stupid assumption.I've never seen a truck that has a 5 on 4-1/2 bolt pattern with the 5 on 5-1/2 turbine mag hubcaps,so i'm gonna guess that you have 5 on 5-1/2.You said you want wheels from a 94-96.You have about 3 choices.Deep dish aluminum 10 holes,chrome styled steel wheels(like what I have on my 80,feel free to look at the pics),or argent colored styled steel wheels,which are like the chrome styled steel wheels,but they're painted silver instead of chromed.You could also throw on some 8 spokes like my dad's truck has,or you can go for the older style riveted 10 hole wheels.Those are all the styled rim choices from ford that will fit your truck.There were a couple special ones,but the wheels I listed are the ones you'll be able to find relatively easy.

 

Most likely, and definative, are two different words. There are exceptions.

Why I said most likely.



Well, it being an Explorer, those sport wheel covers are standard equipment on the Explorer. They also made those style wheel covers in four and eight lug.

There are some very unique wheels that Ford offered in the late 70's and early 80's, (I think Stosh found a couple) that are beautiful. However finding them are going to be the hard part. You can go to tire shops, and look through their OEM wheel and wheel cover replacement catalog and maybe find a good used set of wheels that way too. They are usually reconditioned and sell for a premium too however.

 

Yea most people are too lazy to look,and are just gonna grab whatever happens to be at the local yard.The only people who would try and find the unique wheels is a bonified purist.It's sad.When I got my truck,I knew I either wanted to put on factory 8 spokes,or 92-96 Chrome styled steel wheels.I went out one day to my favorite yard,and started to look through all the vans,in beds of trucks,and under them too.I opened up an 80's Econoline,and there sat 4 Chrome styled steel wheels.They were dirty,but I knew I could get them clean.I got all 4 for 40 bucks.That's another thing.You never know what you can find hiding inside a van or in the bed of a truck in the corner of the yard.Always keep your eyes open.

 

well i am pretty sure i want to go with the aluminum moduler looking wheels from the early 90's, although i do like the wheels on your truck "fordtruckman80". anyone know where i can get some headers for this thing?

 

This is a very nice truck, if it were mine and the bolt pattern was indeed 5 on 4.5" (fullsize passenger car bolt pattern) the first thing I'd do is pull the turbine wheels with nice LT235/75-15 Bigfoot tires off my Lincoln and bolt them on this truck!!!

As for engine mods, it all depends on what you want from the truck? My old Chevy (halfton stepside 2wd) could pull 20 mpg on a carbed 350 all day long if I kept her cruising at 1900-2000 rpms, and at the same time she would break them 33s loose at half-throttle, and that's all I wanted from her - good fuel economy with plenty of power when needed. Your 302 could be set up like that as well, they do make spreadbore intakes for small-block Fords, and spreadbore Holley carbs can still be found on ebay for cheap and rebuild/tuning kits are still made for them as well. I ended up using a 650cfm 4165 double-pumper with dual metering blocks and two dual-stage power valves, starting IIRC at 10.5" Hg every 2" drop there would be a stage opening, and secondaries would stay shut all the way to 3/4 throttle, a bit overcomplicated setup but results were well worthy in my view... definitely not a 1/4-mile winner, but a pretty decent all-around truck that caught many a Camaro and Fox-body Stangs off guard

Oh, and for what it's worth, my jacked up '78 F150 4x4 with the '69 high-compression 429 big block ran best with its original AutoLite 4bbl carb, I made the mistake to replace it with an Edelbrock when it finally died on me, will never repeat that!

 

On the exhaust - actually what seems to work very good for them Bronco guys with mild 302s (whether carbed or EFI) is long-tube headers, 2.5" mid-pipes into a Flowmaster Y-collector (dual 2.5" inlets, single 3" outlet), then single 3" through a nice muffler all the way back to the rear bumper - I know it ain't true duals with the 2.5" pipes all the way, but for a truck that spends most of its life at fairly low engine speeds it creates just the right backpressure while still maintaining good scavenging effect. Sound will not be of issue, most mufflers are offered in 3" outlet size, so you could go as loud or as quiet as you'd like.

 

I would not change the exhaust for more free-flow unless you change the carb too and get rid of the egr. The egr valve on these trucks works on exhaust back pressure, and if you lessen the back pressure, then you have less egr, and it will ping like crazy unless you get a aftermarket carb.

The reason I know this is it happened to me. I thought the egr was broken, since I could put vacuum on it, and it would not open. Got another, still would not open. Cut the old one apart, and that's when I found it has a little diaphragm inside that lets the vacuum leak through a filter on the under side of the valve unless a little metal diaphragm shuts off. The little metal diaphragm is controlled by exhaust pressure.

What I ended up doing is putting larger jets in the original 2bbl, and went to a 180 thermostat, and that got rid of the problem. This was after I installed the full length headers and y-pipe and turbo muffler. I was getting ready to do the 4bbl swap, but ended up selling it before that happened.

 

Franklin brings up a good point about EGR and pinging - pinging itself is not due to the EGR malfunctioning, but more a result of the distributor being adjusted for an EGR that flows that particular amount. I have found that every Ford distributor with Duraspark ignition has way too much timing advance, even with a fully operational EGR system - good news is, however, that these distributors are very simple to retune (albeit time-consuming), and there are kits out there with different weights, springs, and adjustable vacuum diaphragms. In any case, the moment you change the carb, or even the exhaust, timing advance will need to be played with.

 

new pics of the truck with "newer" ford wheels and BFG A/T's