The truck was purchased from an Estate Sale in Washington for $500 and I hauled it over to my place in Portland. The cost of transportation was $700. Already more $200 than the truck itself.
Picture of Estate Sale:


I ended up purchasing the black one.







In it's lifetime, the truck worked for a carnival for quite a few years, making sure they got from destination to destination, and was owned by a mechanic who used the truck as his daily driver during normal business operations.

According to the owner's son, he put a 390 into the truck, before later replacing it with a 428 from a 76'. That old 428 engine was on search & rescue missions, like when St. Helens blew.



Here's a photo of the truck on it's way to my place.


The next day, the truck was in my front parking lot.


The first thing I did was clean out the interior.

 

Good luck! Hell, you can probably get plenty of cash for the trim and emblems alone.

 

The truck is a peach. A great start for a resto. I wish I'd have known about the estate sale. There looked like a lot of goodies there for sale.

I can about guarantee you don't have a 428. Sorry. They never came in trucks, and weren't made after 1970. Even then they were a rare, hi performance option only found in Mustangs and Torinos after '68, and was a rare option in T-birds and Galaxies between 66 and 68. If he said it came out of a 76, he would have to mean a truck (the FE engine was phased out of cars in 1969, other than Mustangs for '70), so it's most likely a 360, maybe a 390, but for sure not a 428. fyi.

 

Howdy and welcome to FTE,

I have the same truck but a 4x4. I am a few months ahead of you on my project. You can get the shop manuals on Ebay, I think mine were around $65 for a 3 volume set. This will provide answers to most of your questions. The fuel tanks are readily available online from Rock Auto, Dennis Carpenter, LMC or many other online retailers.

The fuel pump is located on the front of the block on the driver's side. It should have a line coming from the frame going into it and a line going to the carburetor coming out of it. It is a mechanical unit. A standard replacement master cylinder is a single pot, I used a double 50/50 pot off a newer F350 that had the same bore size.

 

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Update. The transmission flex plate should NOT be visible. It seems I'm just missing an inspection cover.

 

Congratulations! If the tag is correct, it's a 67 428. I didn't mean to be a debbie-downer for you, and I'm glad you have what you were told. It's just that everyone who sells a car or truck with an FE engine seems to have it magically become a 428 on sale day. Kind of like how every Camaro sold has a Corvette engine in it. And 428's are relatively rare. Especially in '76, as you were told it was.

 

That's a score! The tailgate alone is worth what you paid for the truck.
Welcome to the Forum. On the gas tank it looks like someone filled the original filler neck location behind the drivers door handle. Personally I like my "in cab" tank but in your case it may be easier to put one between the frame rails in the rear. A lot of people go with a Mustang tank. Since you have the fuel door already in the side of the bed that may be the way to go, or just cut out the OG location. Since you are in OR, a "local" contact that would be useful is "Slick Truck Parts" down near Eugene. Brian Morrison has a good selection of parts for the "Slick" year trucks.... 61-66. https://www.facebook.com/slicktruckparts/ He is very knowledgeable as well. I am in So Oregon and have spoken to Brian a lot on my needs. As other's have said. Dennis Carpenter, Mac's Auto Parts, Carolina Classics, Steele Rubber Products and others are good reputable places... Sometimes CJ Pony Part and LMC... Sometimes people have issues with their parts or service.
I just picked up that automatic flexplate inspection cover for my '64 F250 with an FMX on eBay from a company in Albany... They have another one available.... I'm not sure if the C6 and the FMX take the same cover but I think they are close. Others here will straighten me out on that.... https://www.ebay.com/itm/23406015548...MAAOSwAoFbba3u
Another good resource is Sid Drapal of https://droppedaxles.com I picked up a lot of things to lower my '62 Unibody but he also does I beams and disc brakes for 3/4 ton trucks. The choices of aftermarket discs for the 3/4 ton are few. You can use some newer F Series part and convert.. Not as easy on my '64 straight axle. He has a lot of stuff that is not on the website. Best to call them.
Great project! Seems like you are having fun with it... Keep it up and keep posting photos!

 

Cool truck. i would have bought it also for that price.
I am not sure how it was put in gear from the pictures. I cant see the spot where the shift arm would have gone. Does it have the clutch pedal cut off or can you tell if it was removed?
I think, if it was manual, and changed to auto, and not done correctly, you may need a neutral safety switch on the column for the reverse lights. But others are better at that than me. I did have this exact problem with my 75 i bought.
It looks like you need some small stuff like horn button, acc pedal, signal switch, hood ornament, doo access panel, c-6 transmission access cover, etc. email me me if you dont have them. chircolandinc@gmail.com

 

Welcome. You have a very good find there with a lot of potential. Here are a couple of links to re-pop sellers on the west coast. There are way more than these two but since shipping is getting to be an issue, the closer the better. 1948-79 Vintage Ford Truck Restoration Parts & Accessories - National Parts Depot (npdlink.com)
C&G Ford Parts (cgfordparts.com)
You need to get a shop manual they are available on CD, USB, and print. The originals turn up on e-bay a lot but don't overpay for one.
Now the fun part. I'm sure you want to see if it will run. Since there is no obvious shifter in those pictures. You need to make sure that thing is in park before you turn the key or there could be injury or death involved.
I would pull the plugs and squirt in some of your favorite lubricant. Since the 428's and 410's had the longest stroke of all the FE's 3.98 inches. You can bring a piston to top dead center, stick a dowel in there and mark it, turn it to bottom center and mark it. Measure the distance between the marks. 352/360= 3.5 inches, 390/427=3.78 inches, 410/428= 3.98 inches.
If that transmission is a C6 and it was transplanted along with the engine it could be a good one. Look on the passenger side for the servo. It may still have a tag on it that will identify the trans. Also, the servo cover like the one laying on the table in the picture will have a letter cast into it. That letter can be a good clue as to what in that trans.

 

Great find! From the pictures it also looks like it might be a Camper Special as the fender badges looked more like the script for that than the standard Twin I Beam badge. It isn't easy to lift the 2WD trucks as the steering gearbox would need to stay in line with the steering shaft, but raising it would move the pitman arm out of alignment with the steering linkage. The best you can do is put tall tires on it.

 

Great project , It will be good to get it back on the road .

 

Nice find! You have a ‘65 grill with ‘66 side emblems. Post the vin. Someone can decode it for you.