Im excited, my first dentside. Its a 78 F150 Explorer 351M 2wd LWB for $300 not sure which tranz but i know its automatic. It was my uncles truck which was then sold to my brother and then to his brother in-law now its gonna be MINE. I remember riding around with him in it when i was a kid, Im 19 now still young. The body is in great shape for its age. The ONLY rust on it is a little bit on each rear wheel arches and its not even rusted through, just on the outside piece of the bedside. I cant wait to get her runnin strong.

It needs a little bit of work and it hasnt been started in a while. That i can think of off the top of my head it needs a transmission pan gasket, brake booster (I HATE working on brakes), brake lights rewired and im gonna try to fix the EXCESSIVE play in the steering wheel.

Im new to this part of the forum if you guys havent noticed lol, but i post in the 80-86 from time to time. I currently have an 81 F100 300, that needs a new cab due to letting my girlfriend drive it, bad mistake.

Im really excited about getting this truck tho. This is my favorite body style period. My favorite thing about my 81 was the grill and letters across the hood because it was the same style.

I'll post pics as soon as i get it home and cleaned up, but that will probably be a week or so.

 

hey sounds like a good one an welcome to the forum there is a lot of good info on here. lot of people to help you out.

 

Thanx man, im gonna fore warn you guys, I'll have lots of questions lol

 

Welcome to the dentside world. We are here to help out with your questions just don't forget to use the search first...some people get touchy about that.

 

Update: I got the new brake booster put it, oil changed, transmission pan gasket and filter put it, thermostat replaced, water and antifreeze put it, carb semi cleaned lol, and got it cleaned up a little bit. I just got some bolts to replace the missing ones out of the tranz pan yesterday. will be putting them in in the morning and finally getting to start it for the first time since i have owned it.

Here are some pics i promised but never got around to posting. Shes not in perfect condition but not too bad for a 30 year old truck in southeast kentucky lol

 

351M. Not very pretty lol

 

OK so i had to re tap a hole in the transmission for one of the pan bolts because of a PO. I got the pan back on and it took 9 freaking quarts to fill it up. I got the engine running now and the transmission is shifting good. I have driven it a few times but just around the drive way. I would love to take it down the road and back but my luck something would happen and I would get in BIG trouble lol.

So far I have put some cab lights on it, there were already holes in the cab for them siliconed in by a PO. I still havent got them wired up due to work and stuff but Im hoping to in the next 2 days. What do you think? Here is a pic:


I had a set of rims That I got for a STEAL ($50) from a friend that i will be putting on it soon. I took them to work and got me 4 235/75/15 mounted on them to replace the 205/75/15s on there right now that look like donuts lol. i had to buy some shank style lug nuts and washers for them that wound up costing me $35. I will get a pic of them on the truck as soon as i put them on. I measured the inside hole for the center caps and will be ordering some from LMC as soon as I can. Opinions please. Here is a pic of them.


I am currently in the process of getting the turn signals figured out. Which is a PIA. Im going to re wire the brake lights, TS. and all at the end of the bed tommorow because of an awful hack job from a PO and see where I am from there. I have the steering wheel off right now and was going to replace the turn signal cam but from what I have read on here the only way to change it is to grind the stud holind it in off and I really dont want to do that. Especially if I wind up not needing to replace it in the first place. (ANY HELP WOULD BE REALLY APPRECIATED)

I picked up a spare grille and headlight rings from the junkyard for $20 and I painted the flat black. I have to take the aluminum trim off the front and try my luck at bending some of the dents out of it. Anyone else have any tips or anything to offer me? It is bent on the passenger side and causes the headlight ring not to set in there right and it aggravates the crap outta me. I will probably try the foil and coke trick on it while i have it off. I am curious to know what the black grill and headlight rings will look like, i think they will turn out pretty good. If I can get around to changing them out tommorow I will take a pic to share.

I am having a blast working on this truck and learning as I go. I am no mechanic by any means but im really interested in it and trying.

My brother says that when driving, it has excessive play in the steering wheel and it gets squirrelly. Does this sound like the tie-rods to you guys? I will be jacking the front end up and checking them as soon as I get around to it.

I am missing the headliner, give me some ideas about what i could use to make one. I was thinking about getting some kinda thick cardboard and pinning a rebel flag (lol) over it to make one or something like that. Suggestions.

Sorry for the long winded post and huge pics but im having a blast with this old thing and cant wait to get it looking and running good. Thinkin bout calling it Hank, after the legendary Hank Williams.

Feel free to offer me any advice and (constructive) criticism. I have learned ALOT from reading this forum daily and want to thank everyone for making this a really knowledgeable and fun site to be a part of.

 

You might try channel locks on your grill, go easy the bend easy and use a rag on it to keep from scratching.
The wheels look pretty good. You need someone to rock your steering wheel back and forth to see where your slack isit can be in the tie rods, the gear box or even the rag joint, likely a combination.
Jack it up and check for slack in the king pins and wheel bearings.