Hey Everyone,

I just bought my first pick-up truck, a 1980 F150 Flare Side 4x4. It has a 351w I think and a c6 Tranny, still trying to figure everything out.
If anyone has any advice or anything worth mentioning about these trucks feel free to let me know.
I don't know much at all about ford trucks. Any advice would be appreciate, do's and dont's, general interest or just to say hi.

I am new around here so I thought I would introduce myself and give you a look at my new baby !!!

Cheers Everyone.

harley

 

nice.i like it,alot.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by harleyfx

I don't know much at all about ford trucks.

At a minimum, get yourself a Haynes and/or Chilton's manual; ideally, get
yourself a factory shop manual, e.g. the second one listed here:

Lloyds Auto Liturature available for 1980, Fordtruck, Shop Manual

There are other places that sell 'em and they show up on eBay sometimes, too.

BTW I wish my 1981 looked as nice as your 1980.

 

Thanks for the Info ctubutis. I will definitely have to get a manual.
The truck looks pretty good but she does need some work. The Cab corners need some attention. The drivers side rocker has a hole in it, not big but its there. Right behind the cab above the step on the box side is starting to bubble too. I am sure once I start pokin at it it will need a little more, makes no sense to do a half *** job. I will just have to wait till spring, make no sense doing anything with all the snow blowin around. It's my daily driver right now, any hints on getting better fuel economy ?? LOL

 

actually yes there are a few small things you can do,
check the spark plugs and make sure they're all clean and good. if they need change dont skimp.
if that air filter is washable (i assume it is but any oriellys or autozone guy could tell you for sure) give it a good wash.
run half a can of Sea Foam (ten bucks oriellys) through a vaccume line while working the throttle, it will fill the neighborhood with purple/pinkish smoke thats normal, the more smoke the dirtyer your intake was. run the other half through a 1/4 or 1/2 full tank of gas. i like to run it in a quarter tank mysself, more potent. you'll run like crap prolly for the rest of that tank but after that i guarentee you will notice a HUGE difference. i treat mine monthly and it runs better than our 97.
also check the wheels for any noise or brake drag. brake drag usually needs to be fixed anyway and is typically simple. noise might mean wheel bearings and the easier your wheels are to turn the less gas it takes to turn them.
nab some carb cleaner and run that down the carb ( better do that before you add the sea foam to the gas)
and oviously keep the front wheels unlocked and stay out of the gas. other than that we have to grit down and bear it
last but not least welcome to the forum, sweet lookin truck too lol. i've got the same thing but 2wd and with the 300 I6... somtimes i wish i had the 351!
dont forget to look up your local chapter, just hit the main forum page and scroll down! here in Mo we've got a great bunch of guys, can save you a huge pain in the *** lookin for parts too!

 

Thanks Hitman, awesome advice, really appreciate it. I have some carb cleaner, gonna run some trough at my buddy's shop on Monday. I am gonna do a tranny service to it. I am curios to see whats in the pan. I am gonna install a drain plug on the pan to just to make it easier to clean up the fluid. Staying of the gas in hard, Lol I have not driven a V8 for a while and I really missed it