1986 F-150 4x4 Shortbed thoughts..... What to do with it

[WILECYOT]

So I'm headed home next weekend to the great state of North Carolina to visit my family and spend some much needed time resting and relaxing without having anything to do with work on my mind. When I was in High School my grandfather gifted me he 1986 F-150 and it was truly my first vehicle. I loved that old truck and drove the crap out of it logging around 40,000 miles in 2 years on it. When I went off to college I purchased a 2wd Tacoma as it was much better on gas.

Anyway, my family is asking me if I want to keep the truck and what do with the old girl so I think I may take it back to TX with me when I return. I've always wanted to restore it somewhat and drop in a nice hearty V8 in place of the rock solid 300 I6 it has. Don't get me wrong, the 300 is a great motor but it doesn't quite have the same sound as a nice cammed v8.

That's where I'm hoping you guys will come in handy as I know a lot of you older gentleman here have experience with the older Ford motors that I don't have. I'm even open to the idea of dropping newer motor options inside or even a diesel. I don't know yet. The first goal of mine is to get the truck running while I'm home (shouldn't be a problem) and then get it here.

Obligatory pictures (the only one I have at this time).

 

[d3vst8r96gt]

My first truck was an 86 F150 too. I miss it. XLT Lariat with a 351.

I put a fuel injection kit on it and my MPG got worse and failed emissions lol.

took that off put a holley carb on it..... it caught on fire.

Thankfully it was easily fixed and i drove it for another 3 years. I left home and my dad sold it to my uncle who craked a head and sold it to "some illegals"

There are plenty of places to source a gasser v8 for a good price...

 

[Thinkkker]

I wish you could still get them, but there was a company that sold aluminum heads for the 300 through SVT Performance in the late 90's.

I honestly, have wanted to get a 300 i6 truck just to build the engine and put a couple of turbos off the side. It will never be a high revving monster, but that could make for a heckuva torque monster.

 

[WILECYOT]

I wish you could still get them, but there was a company that sold aluminum heads for the 300 through SVT Performance in the late 90's.

I honestly, have wanted to get a 300 i6 truck just to build the engine and put a couple of turbos off the side. It will never be a high revving monster, but that could make for a heckuva torque monster.

I've looked into that before and while it is quite novel it's more of a project than I want. I just want a nice cammed V8 that sounds good. I don't need gobs and gobs of tq as the most this truck is going to have to do is haul a dirt bike around in the bed on the weekends or the occasional drive to work. I just want to get it all cleaned up and back to its former beauty. I may do a mild lift and some 35-37" tires but nothing too ostentatious.

 

[joe_momma]

Shouldn't be an issue to swap in a 302/351...what transmission does it have?

 

[WILECYOT]

Shouldn't be an issue to swap in a 302/351...what transmission does it have?

It's the manual trans. I know very little about these trucks. It's been so long since I've even messed with it. Went home last year in Feb, the last time I saw my grandfather alive, and got it running. I drove it up to the house and took him for a ride in it. Took it back to it's shed and it's been parked since. Needs motor mounts and trans mounts from memory for sure.

 

[WILECYOT]

Well I already have a free 99 Ford 302 that will be going in the truck. It's coming out of my grandmothers old Ford LTD that my grandfather wouldn't ever sell. My aunt and uncle are going to scrap the car but before they do I'm going to tear the heart out. It was running last it was set up.

Should be able to squeeze 400hp out of it That'll be plenty I think for the old girl.

 

[GallopingFord]

Subb'd for build!

Any more pictures of the truck?

 

[WILECYOT]

Subb'd for build!

Any more pictures of the truck?

Not yet. I wasn't able to pull the motor out. I got started with it but got pulled into hauling all the other cars my grandfather had put out to pasture. Ended up not pulling the 302 as I researched prices in the Houston area. It shouldn't set me back but about 300-500 bucks for an EFI 5.0 out of an explorer. It'll have the budget gt40p heads that flow a little bit better. I wouldn't mind putting an EFI motor in the truck as well. It shouldn't be terribly difficult to run EFI in that truck. Worst case I get a carb intake manifold and a nice Holley 650.

A buddy of mine, an owner of an SVO thunderbird supercharged 98 mustang GT that runs 11s, has been trying to convince me of getting a 351w. At that point I might as well look at the 460 motors. They're pretty easy to come by.


Initial plans for the truck when I get it back to Houston are to get the straight 6 running well and new door panels sourced as well as a new dash pad. It has the lovely porno red interior. Needs a bath as it's covered in mold and mildew. Rust doesn't seem too bad though. Thankfully.

Buddy of mine in Charlotte has a nice '66 Mustang, 6 cyl sadly, that he's wanting to sell to me. I need to sell my ol' '93 240sx before winter. I'll be home again then and may try to pick it up. Sunday is going to be a long day driving back towing the truck on a uhaul trailer. I was hauling off one of the cars today and the trailer began to sway on me around 55 mph. My F150 has sway control, thankfully, and it nipped it in the butt. I've never experienced that before. On a dry road it wouldn't have been too worrisome but it's been raining all week and the asphalt is pretty saturated. A little butt pucker took place.

 

[GallopingFord]

351s are easier to mod to get faster. The 460s are towing engines, and are slugs unless you do a build from ground up. At least that's that's the conclusion I came to.

 

[WILECYOT]

Little bit of cancer





I think the frames in decent shape





That moldy interior though




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[Shotokan1509]

I dig it! There are very few of those left up here, rust destroyed them. I'd want one in that kind of condition, and yes 351 sounds good

 

[WILECYOT]

7 and a half hours down.... 8 and a half to go. Considering we are driving at or under the speed limit I think we are doing a damn good job. I'm pretty proud of my 2014 Lariat for towing this gal so far. She's done an excellent job. Trans temps hit ~205 up an incline. Not bad.


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[Jason09GT]

Pretty excited to see what you do with this thing. My first vehicle was a '82 f150 single cab long bed, that my grandpa bought in '82. Xlt Lariat, fancy as hell at it's time, vinyl seat and power windows, I mean luxuuuuryyyyy. I went through 3 rear ends, 3 motors, and 4 transmissions in that thing, trying to hot rod it. Sold it 18 years ago, and have Jonesed secretly for another '82-86 f150 ever since! Maybe one day I can snag up another single cab long bed, do a heads/cam 302, with a built AOD, and 3.73's, and have a decent mpg getting little hot rod beater. Those trucks are suprisingly light also.

 

[WILECYOT]

Tell it to my tow vehicle that it's light lol. 11 MPG from Andrews NC to Lumberton, MS so far. The trip home was 17.x so not terrible. I have my FZ-09 on the back of my truck as well. It's a good load for it. First time I've really towed with it.


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[Jason09GT]

I didn't look to see if you mentioned it, but ecoboost, or 5.0 in your f150?

 

[WILECYOT]

5.0. Kinda wish I had of splurged to get the 6.2.


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[WILECYOT]

Only 4 more hours. 3 dogs in the truck with us makes for a miserable journey filled with walk breaks.


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[WILECYOT]

Made it back to Houston and slept till around 8. Got up, did some laundry and went back to bed. This afternoon I'll take some better pictures and start gathering a parts list.

Does anyone have some links or references to rust repair? I've never done it before so it'll be uncharted territory for me. I've refurbished old trailers and such where we wire wheeled the whole thing, sprayed it with phospho and then painted it. Worked alright but it wasn't perfect.

 

[GallopingFord]

In an effort to stop it, you can wire brush, spray rust reformer, and then a color over top. This was a temporary solution for my 96, but now I'm spending the money to get the cab corner replaced.