I was wondering if anyone knew the specs for a 1974 F-250 RWD were. Its a XLT Ranger with the Campers Special package and regular cab. I was looking for the wheel base, total length and any other specs. It has a 390 V8 and im considering buying it I just wanted to get some rough dimensions.

I've worked on the motor and driven it quite a bit, has dual tanks and but it uses brake fluid in the smaller resiovar which go to the rear so possibly a wheel cylinder (real slowly, takes a couple months to get low). I took the top of the engine apart and replaced the lifters and pushrods, the only other thing I had trouble finding was a good set of exhuast header gaskets.

Its my neighboors truck, and it was sitting for about a year because of a dead starter. (motor and tranny were rebuilt by a shop 10,000 miles ago) and I went over and put a starter in but I had to take the exhuast manifold off. Now, I can't find the gaskets that it had in the same thickness. It has the big round tube headers and it looks like they might have warped a little in time and the standard felpro gaskets won't provide a seal, they pop.

Also I was hoping someone had a similar problem, it has the Dual tanks with the valve on the floor under the drivers seat but it has the selector for the sender on the climate control to select which tank to read. The Aux tank reads fine, but the main tank always reads empty. I was assuming it was a fuel sender, he said that before the truck sat for a year both gauges worked but now only the aux does. Even though it has dual tanks, there is no warning when that main runs out, you'll be crusing a long and then it'll just chug and die in about 2 seconds and you have to reach under and flip it to Aux. I was hoping that was something easy to fix.

I'm new to the board, I just wanted to know input on the truck and more information if I could, hes asking $2,700 but its been repainted and taken care of very well just sat for a year when the starter went out and i think a wheel cylinder and fuel sender went bad.

But it really does have tons of power. I'm not 100% sure that it is a 390 v8, he bought it used in the 70's and he said that it came with a 4 barrel carb and it was either a 360 or 390. I bought parts for a 390 valvetrain and they fit.

 

Starting with the little stuff,
The header gaskets don't have to be the same thickness from side to side. Mr. Gasket makes some pretty good ones and so does Ford Motorsports. If the flange isn't warped too badly, the thicker the gasket, the better. One trick is to soak them in a tub of water overnight to soften them up. If the flange is warped too bad you probably should take the offending side off (if you can) and file the flanges flat. I personally like the ones that have a raised weld to bite into the gasket.

The fuel gauge could be as simple as a poor connection where the wire hooks up to the sender in the tank. It's just a slip on connection and a little corrosion won't let the gauge work. Or it came off or the wire is broken and hanging loose or the tank ground is bad or the float in the tank is sunk or the sender is actually bad. Take the wire off the sender and ground it and watch the gauge. It should go to full. Or check the voltage on that wire with a test light with the key on. It should have a pulsing voltage (light will blink). That would check the wiring from that point back to the gauge. I think that originally there was an electric fuel switch but I have seen many that were replaced with the mechanical switch when the electric failed. A little harder to operate but won't leave you stranded with a full tank because of a bad wire. Don't be surprised if you see one under there when you are checking the tank wiring. They are mounted on the inside of the driver's side frame just ahead of the side tank.

360 or 390... identical on the outside. The only way to know for sure is to measure the stroke. Remove a spark plug and use a wood dowel or a pencil and mark it at TDC and BDC. Search the FE forum for the specs and proceedures. Most, if not all trucks came with the 360 but anything could have happened in the last 25+ years.

The other specs others will pitch in with, I'm sure. There isn't a nicer bunch of people on the net than what you'll find here.
Welcome to FTE.
Greg

 

Welcome to FTE!

Here are the engine specs.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~stanchfi/specs.html


To find out about the *camper special**,just type these those words in the search feature for this forum and there should be at least 10 links to info.