Tribute
 

Hello all at FTE! After a long hiatus, I've rejoined the FTE ranks as a Bullnose owner!

Once upon a time I owned a Bullnose. It was a 1981 F150 fleetside with a 300 inline-6 with an SROD transmission. My dad bought it for me to drive when I was in high school and college, we paid $1500 for it in 1994 and made her a runner. New paint, clutch and interior and it was in fantastic condition. Here is a picture:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...c4fdd0f682.jpg

After enjoying the truck for a few short years, I was on to a new vehicle, a Dodge Neon, but that is a completely different story... Unfortunately, in 2002 Dad sold the truck to a fellow down the road, but I knew I would get her back someday. Well, prophetic I'm not, as I tried in vain over the last year to find her, I found out that she was salvaged in 2010. This was a sad day, my wife actually said that she got teary eyed when I told her. I don't know if she was teary eyed from being happy with the fact that I wouldn't have a smelly old truck in the garage, or if she truly missed the truck. I like to think that it was the latter.

I digress. Since I can't have my old truck, I decided that I should find something similar as a tribute to my salvaged beauty. Here is what I found on the trailer heading to her new home. My home.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...297045554b.jpg

While it isn't quite exactly like the last truck, it is pretty much the same except for being an F100 and a step side. Same engine, same transmission. I'm excited to jump in and get to work. I know it has engine problems, water in the oil and it blows blue and white smoke, you might notice a faint fog in the air in the picture, that was from the truck. If there were any mosquitos in Beaverton before I started the truck, there aren't any now. I'm hoping that it is just a head gasket, time will tell.

I'm going to try and detail the work I do on the truck here so I'll have a log of what I've done. FTE is a fantastic resource, I can't wait to get going on her.

-Matt

Welcome to the forum, Cheesecake!

That looks like a great starting point for you project. By the way, in Ford-speak, it is Flareside, not step side. :)

In what part of the country are you located? The maple trees leaves are a pretty sight.

Hmmm... you joined FTE almost 10 years ago but this is your first post?

Haha, you caught me. I joined about ten years ago when I bought the awesome grey FX4 in the picture. I think around that time, you had to have an account to search the forums and I was interested in things I could do to it. As you can see from the picture, I haven't done anything to it, except heat up the fender flares to try and revive them.

I think I was also on this site a few years before that, when I had the other '81 F150. I seem to recall that my account needed to be renewed (or something like that), but since I was driving a 2001 Neon, I was frequenting www.neons.org. Unfortunately I elected not to renew, I wish I had. If I would have renewed then you could have asked me why I hadn't posted anything for 14+ years!

Yes, it was a beautiful rainy Portland, Oregon day last Sunday when I picked up my FLARESIDE. I drove it through the Columbia River Gorge on my way to Kennewick, WA, where I reside now. I have a feeling that our dry climate will do wonders for the rust, not so much for the rubber pieces. Regarding the stepside/flareside: my apologies, I knew better, I've been snooping around the site for about a month now, gathering information and saw a lot of people being corrected about heir stepside/flareside usage:).

Also, I'm certain that ctubutis will soon be admonishing me for not having a signature, so I'll do my best to get that taken care of soon!

-Matt

Nah, not at all! In fact, I don't even display signatures, some people put too much crap in them that takes up way too much real estate IMO so I just shut them all off.

It has always been considered good form to post all the pertinent information about your [ insert object here ] when asking for help on the Internet regardless of a signature, and some people will just move on to the next post if all the information isn't right there in front of them in the question....

Well. I've done some work on my new 1981 FLARESIDE... My goal with this truck is to do my best to rebuild it into decent condition that I can enjoy as a daily driver or partial daily driver.

Since I would like to start driving the truck, I decided to jump into the engine. As you may recall, I noted that it had an issue with smoke and I thought it might be the head gasket. Since this was my hope (expecting the worst) I started tearing down the engine while in frame. After removing the air cleaner this is the condition the engine bay was in:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22574723455/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/656/22574723455_25e000c378_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22387906759/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5725/22387906759_8a16fbfeeb_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22585954401/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/602/22585954401_b4530abbd9_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a>

I don't think the pictures do it justice. It is really rough. It has... well... had California emissions on it. I'll be doing away with that, most every vacuum line was toast, so I demolished the CA stuff as best I could:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/21953509153/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/602/21953509153_bd21f481f6_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/21953509153/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/602/21953509153_bd21f481f6_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Untitled"></a>

That looked like something that I don't really want to deal with in the future, so it is going away. Anyone interested? I'll probably go ahead and see what I can do about getting the EGR valve working and the air pump. I seem to recall from my original truck, you didn't need all of the CA stuff to run the smog pump. Then again, I did take the belt off on the Original truck...

I digress, after getting jiggy with the smog stuff, I wanted to see how the inside of the engine looked. Again, not pretty:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22386763040/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5829/22386763040_03d7ce68b9_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22585913701/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5664/22585913701_6962006dd7_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"></a>

Definitely not what I was hoping for. Disgusted, I tore into the head and intake/exhaust.

It does appear that the head gasket was no good. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the head gasket, I had a mechanic where I work take a look and he identified where the water was entering the cylinder. It was on number 6... Here is the head at number 6:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22603897391/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/22603897391_cefd61fa33_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Untitled"></a>

He also thought there might be a burned valve there too on the intake. It also looks like I have an issue with the valve guide on 1 as well.

Here is where I am at now:

The mechanic at work recommended a machine shop, so I dropped in Friday with my head (to get cleaned and checked for cracks) and two valves that I had cleaned up. He agreed that the valve guide on 1 needed work, and that we should probably do a valve job and new guides with either new valves or refacing?? of the old ones. I might be wrong about refacing, but I can't remember what he said and I didn't bring my pad to take notes... Also, probably going to need new springs, I can compress them with my hand as well. We also had a discussion about if I should pull the engine and do a full rebuild. His answer was yes. His final consensus was to rebuild the entire thing. He suggested that without going to crazy on budget that an "RV" cam would be a good power adder and that clifford products would be a nice addition down the road. He didn't commit to a price but stated it would be around $1700 for the head work, bore the block and turn the crank (if needed) and all parts to rebuild. He'd put in the cam bearings and press the cam gear in that price as well. I'd be on the hook to get everything else back in/on the engine. Also, he stated that they would press the pins into the pistons for me.

I'd be interested to hear from others if they think this is a good deal or not. He didn't recommend purchasing a long block unless I knew who rebuilt it. In other words he didn't trust the national auto parts stores.

While he is cleaning and checking the head for cracks, I'll have some time to think about it. I'll probably visit him Monday and get a game plan together.

Take care everyone,

Matt

Given my profession (mechanic), and seeing what I see. I would definitely do a rebuild.

IMO you are better off having somebody local rebuild it, you will know exactly what you have and can have confidence in it.

Yep, all signs point to a rebuild. Not what I was hoping for, but what needs to be done. So it shall be... Probably going to get it back to stock with a bit more aggressive cam with bolt on power adders down the road. My goal is to get it into driveable condition and then worry about the fun stuff.

My dad is coming to visit from Las Vegas this weekend, I think I'll put him to work for an hour or two and make him help me get the engine out. We'll relive old times from the original truck.

Since I didn't feel like getting greasy this weekend I decided to tackle the drivers side door. It wouldn't latch. So I pulled the door panel and set out to take apart the door mechanism.

This is what I found:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22507715309/in/datetaken/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/668/22507715309_ab023e2e82_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Untitled"></a>

It appears that someone had left the window open for a length of time. The seat and door panel are ruined and the floorboard is rusted out in places on that side... I thought for sure that the door would be bad, but it is in great shape, it looks as though the holes in the bottom did their job.

After removing the latch mechanism from the door, I decided to see what it would do on the striker. Seemed to work just fine. So I decided to do an inspection on the outer door handle, very rusty and would hang up/not release. I removed it and gave it a nice shot with penetrating oil to free it up... Works very nice now. I think that was the problem. The return spring on he latch mechanism wasn't providing enough pressure to release the door handle catch, thus not allowing the mechanism to latch properly.

Since I had the mechanism out, I dropped it into the ultrasonic cleaner and let it do it's thing for a few 8 minute rounds. I gave it a nice shot of brake cleaner and penetrating oil to displace any left over Castrol Super Clean from the ultrasonic cleaner and reinstalled. Again, no pictures, I get to moving so fast sometimes, I forget to document my work.

Feels like a brand new door. I'll do my best to show off some pictures of the interior. Just like the engine, it is really rough.

So for anyone following along:
Does $1,700 for machine work and parts seem like a fair deal? I still have time to find a different shop to do the machine work.

Also, I appreciate the feedback from ctubutis and smilts.

Take care everyone!

-Matt

In my view, now is the time to be looking at pistons and cams and what can be done from a performance standpoint; bolt-on stuff can only do so much, but you're dealing with the foundation during a rebuild and this is the time to be looking into what can be done here.

My opinion is, find somebody who knows how to build an engine, not just somebody who knows how to drill holes....

This would be another good place to ask:

Ford Inline Six, 200, 250, 4.9L / 300 - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

ctubutis,
I totally agree (now is the time to decide) and thanks for the link, I've been snooping around there for a month or two daydreaming about a huge horsepower 300.

I'm really not sure how I want to proceed. I've got some time to think about what I want to do. More than likely, I'll go pretty much stock. My wife is pregnant with my first, so we are doing our best to save money. So maybe sometime way down the road, I'll go for big power and torque, but it might not be in the cards right now.

Yes, yes, buying a truck in the first place isn't probably the best idea with a baby on the way, but I thought that if I don't get it now, I'll never do it. My wife agreed, sort of... She knows that tinkering around makes me happy, so she was all for it. Also, she was the one who was sure that it was more than a head gasket.

On a side note, I met with the machine shop yesterday. He cleaned up and magnifluxed the head. It's good to go, no cracks. I authorized him to start work on valve guides, exhaust seats and cutting a few thousands on the deck. I am pretty confident he is a good engine builder, he has a lot of work backed up and he does a little bit of everything (industrial, race and street). He had a few nice engines sitting in the shop ready to go out that looked like they belong in a Nascar or dragster.

So, like I said before, until I get the block out of the truck, I've got some time to do some research and decide what I want to do.

When I make a decision, I'll keep everyone posted

Take care everyone,

Matt

Cool. :)

I wouldn't focus on "big power," mine got what is called a mild rebuild - just something with ~9.5:1 compression, an RV cam and straight-up timing set.

But that's a 335-series V8, and I have absolutely no idea on what to do with a tractor engine like the 300. ;)

Given your priorities (rugrat on the way) maybe that money is better spent elsewhere, you'll hafta decide that. ;)

Well, I finally found some time to work on my F100. About a week ago I dropped in to the machine shop doing the work on my 300. I was bringing in head parts to see what Bruce (the owner of the shop) had to say about them. After handing him the valves, springs, rocker arms and push rods, it became evident that they were all completely wore out. It didn't take much to show me where the push rods ends were starting get awfully pointy, and the valves were not salvageable. So we'll be putting all new parts into the head. While I was there, he offered to let me borrow his engine hoist. So, I ran off to another fellow's house to pick it up. I met a nice man and we had a nice discussion about working for the railroad and a bit of discussion about how we both hate traffic.... But that's another story.

I didn't have anything going on Saturday, so I set off to start pulling the engine. Here I am posing for the camera (and my wife).

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22619818533/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/639/22619818533_0d4118fc93_k.jpg" width="1066" height="800" alt="Untitled"></a>

The engine came out with minimal frustration, I was able to pull it and the transmission in one piece.

After getting the engine out of the truck, I tore down the back end... Transmission, bell housing, pressure plate, clutch and flywheel. I've been using sandwich bags to keep all of the bolts in order, and have been making sure I'm marking them as I go. It seems to be working well. After working through the back end, I started on the front. Here is a picture of how dirty the engine was:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22618478274/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/583/22618478274_15e640c57d_k.jpg" width="800" height="1066" alt="Untitled"></a>

Pretty nasty, regardless of how hard I try to keep drop cloths and cardboard under the stuff I'm working on, I keep tracking grease all over the garage, I'll probably do a really good scrub job after I am ready to get everything back into the truck, but I digress.

The only issue I had was the bolt that holds the alternator on, I couldn't get it to break loose, I'm worried that I'll have to grind the head off and then drill out the threads. Before I do that, I'll be soaking it in WD and give it another shot.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22951082380/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/594/22951082380_fa800dc881_k.jpg" width="800" height="1066" alt="Untitled"></a>

Timing Set:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22951063030/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/763/22951063030_99d9e5c2eb_k.jpg" width="800" height="1066" alt="Untitled"></a>

Nastyness:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/23246905985/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5686/23246905985_c6c3d41dea_k.jpg" width="1066" height="800" alt="Untitled"></a>

Here is a good view of the wear on the main bearings:

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22951050400/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/754/22951050400_82164e162b_k.jpg" width="1066" height="800" alt="Untitled"></a>

and a main journal (they all look like this)

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22618443524/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5681/22618443524_11193987e9_k.jpg" width="800" height="1066" alt="Untitled"></a>

It was a fun process to tear the engine down, the crank journals didn't look like they had any gouges, so hopefully there isn't too much damage.

Also, I dropped the block, crank, camshaft and some tins off to the machine shop today. I had a nice conversation with Bruce, and he showed me the head, they've got all the new guides in and it is looking really nice!

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mak1979/22660057363/in/album-72157658615320634/" title="Untitled"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5814/22660057363_6ec1070ec3_k.jpg" width="800" height="1066" alt="Untitled"></a>

It's the only picture that I was able to take, my phone was completely full and I needed to get back to work...

Now that I have the engine out, I'll be setting off to clean the engine compartment and do some work on the interior. I'll try my best to keep everyone posted!

Take care,

Matt

Thanks for all the pictures!!! :)