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Well I pulled the trigger over the weekend on this 1978 F150 Custom. 302, with Auto and A/C. Though it wasn't a manual like I have been looking for, it was really low miles (67K... def not rolled over based on condition) and very clean. Only some surface rust starting in floorboards, which I am going to POR 15 this weekend.
I have a short list of projects I'm starting out with - Tires being number one as the ones on it weren't made this century and all 4 are cracked in the sidewalls
Shortly following that, I do need to address steering. When driving there's a good amount of wandering (which could also be partly tires), but also even with power off there's about 15 degrees of "wobble" in the steering wheel, which I can see turning into the gearbox w/o any resulting movement. Rag joint is solid, and the rest of the linkage appears stout. As soon as I find a shop to help out here in Central Florida, I'm probably looking at a steering box rebuilt (Probably going with the Blue top folks once I get it confirmed).
Once I get my safety list addressed, Will definitely be moving on to clean up the interior and since it's a Custom, going to be replacing rubber mats with carpet, etc. to spruce it up a bit.. I also need to do some sorting in the engine compartment... the air clear has a bunch of disconnected hoses so need to figure out what's needed and whats not to get that cleaned up.
Overall, pretty excited to get this into a nice weekend cruiser mode!
Welcome to FTE! Great people with lots of knowledge here.
Nice truck too. Full racetrack trim and tu-tone paint on a Custom? Wonder if that was added later or is factory. Did you find the buildsheet in the springs on the bottom of the seat? Or you can order a "Marti Report" to find out how it came off the assembly line.
Welcome to FTE! Great people with lots of knowledge here.
Nice truck too. Full racetrack trim and tu-tone paint on a Custom? Wonder if that was added later or is factory. Did you find the buildsheet in the springs on the bottom of the seat? Or you can order a "Marti Report" to find out how it came off the assembly line.
I need to pull the seat out this weekend so I'll look. - there's a bit more rust than I thought in the floorboards, so I'm going to POR15 it and put some sound mat on top to seal it up.
It's actually quite well optioned for a custom which is one of the things that attracted me to it - it also has A/C, P/S and power brakes as well.
Very nice looking truck, nothing wrong with the AT. Drove plenty of those with MT and the auto just makes it a more relaxing day, especially in heavier traffic.
I'm not impressed with POR15. Corroseal has tons of good reviews in the industry so that's what I used this time around.
Regarding your loose steering, did you notice if the tie rods are loose at all too? On my truck the connection between the left tie rod and the right draglink/tie rod was real loose which caused lots of wandering. I need to probably check my steering box next
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