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a freind of mine bought an 87 f150 right after i got my 86. outwardly they looked very similar aside from the grill and head lights. body lines, windows and even the factory mirrors were identical. mechanicly they were pretty much night and day. his 300 was efi dual exhaust manifold where mine was carb'd single manifold. his 87 was electronic fuel pumps in dual tanks with a mechanical tank switch where my 86 had a mechanical fuel pump on the engine and no dual tanks and therefore no switch (dont know if dual tanks was even an option for my year) his was computer controlled intake and emmissions and mine was all relay controlled.
while pretty much all the body parts may be interchangable between the 2 generations i have to say theres a definate gap mechanically.
a freind of mine bought an 87 f150 right after i got my 86. outwardly they looked very similar aside from the grill and head lights. body lines, windows and even the factory mirrors were identical. mechanicly they were pretty much night and day. his 300 was efi dual exhaust manifold where mine was carb'd single manifold. his 87 was electronic fuel pumps in dual tanks with a mechanical tank switch where my 86 had a mechanical fuel pump on the engine and no dual tanks and therefore no switch (dont know if dual tanks was even an option for my year) his was computer controlled intake and emmissions and mine was all relay controlled.
while pretty much all the body parts may be interchangable between the 2 generations i have to say theres a definate gap mechanically.
Dual tanks were a factory option well before the 70's.
There is a change in Engine components yes, but they are also swappable.
You can put the EFI manifolds on your carb engine as example, and keep your intake and carb, or put the whole EFI on your engine.
It's all swappable, if everything needed to do the swap is swapped at the same time.
When the 302 went EFI in circa 1984, it was different to the carb engine, mechanically as well. Including fuel pumps in the tanks.
the original question was why is there a parts line between 86 and 87. i would say carb to efi and relay to computer is a pretty big difference, regardless of the ability to swap. stock is stock. if i went into NAPA tonight and asked for a intake for a 86 f150 they shouldn't hand me a 87's efi intake. same for the fuel pump or any other thing i mentioned above. yes, the blocks are very nearly identical. but you have to swap damn near everything from one to the other if you want something swapped. if not you'll need a grinder and steady hand. (refering to the dual exhaust manifold swap)
thanks for info on the dual tanks though. knowledge is power!
its my understanding that the newer exhaust manifolds dont mount exactly the same way as the "log". general out line is the same but some of the ears are just a little off. think one or the other uses more mounting bolts also.
as far as a good and fairly simple upgrades go this is a nice one, none the less. though obiously you'll need to get a new exhaust to match the dual manifolds. or at least get a y-pipe made and fit to the old plumbing.