Hello FTE!

I'm new to new the board, and new to taking on a project. I wanted a clean classic pickup truck to do random hauling and I'm now the new caretaker of an 88 F-150 that was well taken care of, BUT, it's been sitting outside for nearly ten years!. It's a V8 automatic with 85k original miles.

Now, I'm trying to come up with a checklist of everything I need to have done/checked before I even attempt to crank it.

What I can tell so far:

1) Tires are dry rotted, need replacement
2) Gas is bad, needs to removed
3) ALL fluids need to be changed
- transmission flush
- engine oil
- oil filter
- engine air filter
- brake fluid
- engine coolant
- ac/cooling system fluids
4) Spark plugs
5) Drive belts
6) Brake system lines
6) Radiator hoses
7) New battery

Few questions:

1. Am I missing anything?
2. What should/can I do to get this thing running?
3. I'm a novice, what should I consider doing myself vs taking to a shop?
4. Is there any particular order I should do things in?
5. Anything I should be mindful of?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to sharing my progress with you all!

 

If your tanks are rusty internally just replace them. They are fairly cheap and you could spend just as much or more cleaning them as just purchasing new ones. Ask me how I know.

There is nothing on that list that a novice can't do especially with help from here. Get a repair manual and a decent set of tools.

Also a truck that has been sitting will have a lot of little things that crop up.

 

I mean, it might help to try and crank it before you put money into it. That way you know where you're at!

 

Got this project running when my mentor/mechanic passed. Huge setback. Not sure if I'll be able to finish this project or another we had started.