Well , I’d say someone broke it in nice for you . They say you can’t kill a slant six Plymouth motor but the in line 300 ford will always get you home . Only way to kill one is to skip a few oil level checks until the temp light comes on . This guy I worked with had a two wheel pick up he drove anywhere decided to check the oil when I was around . He said “ woops! Down about three quarts at least “ . Topped it off and kept the truck for at least another year . He sold it to a gas station for , you guessed it , a service / tow truck . He didn’t like it anymore because it had a C6 and not a t18 . Will say though , the sides got no weight reduction and the bed will hold all of its cargo without losing any of the load . You know the bed is shot when you got to put a full sheet of plywood in just to hold the load from falling out . Definitely SEMA approved . I think it should do some summer cruises and hot rod tours myself 👍 . Barely leaks any oil , just enough to keep the floors from rusting . We know it’s going to get some backyard style refurbishing so a set of Firestone treads can fit under it for those off road recoveries . Yes sir , this truck has got a future in your backyard ✌🏻
I had one just like it but it was grey in 1991. It was a great truck. I sold it in 93, I bought it back in 2001. The 6 cylinder was shot. I bought a 78 with a 400. I swapped all the running gear into the 86 with a some hot rod parts in the motor, new paint job, midnight blue. . I sold it again in 2012 and I haven’t seen it since. This video makes me wanna look for it.
The V8's are good, I had a 1976 with a 351 and that was great but for low down pulling the 300 inline 6 can't be beat. That will make a good service/recovery truck and rego and insurance are a good idea for on the road work. I will stay tuned to see progress but I will probably see another vehicle before then.
The Alaskan kid is back I’ll have to finish watching this video later but it looks like you got your hot water six with a corn shucker in the floor that ought to make a tough recovery rig look forward to watching the video tonight my nephew is over here hooking up my new TV it’s even got a feature that I can hit the like button when I’m watching RU-vid on the big screen TV have fun with it enjoy it you’re only young once
Congratulations you got to steal of the deal on that truck. Absolutely cannot wait to watch you build this truck it's going to be a lot of fun starting out with pretty damn solid trucks so we should go pretty easy for you be interesting to watch see how you build it. There's always another kick ass video thank you.
The ol'e 300 6'es are tough engines. Besides the stuff you mentioned doing, I would put a locker in the rear and a winch in the bed or rear bumper. That would make one tough recovery truck. Perhaps beef up the front springs if you plan to add a heavy bumper. Regards from Ody Slim
Awesome deal man! I have deleted every Ford 300 that I own, but had to change out the carb to a Carter YF non-feedback as the stock ones run too rich and can't be adjusted down enough to lean it out without the smog junk. Had to upgrade to an HEI ignition and that even burned out as well; as before I kept burning through TFI modules before I got everything dialed together with the different carb and ignition. So watch out for that. Also I deleted everything smog related including the computer. I love these old Fords, they just keep going and going. Happy truckin'!!!
I have *exactly* that truck, but in grey and with even less options since it's a Base and a 6' bed. Absolutely love it to death, drove it 900 miles last summer from Phoenix to Southern Utah and back after swapping to HEI ignition, and other than it being a road wanderer, it was perfect the whole way.
When you put that pipe of front make sure you get caps on both ends and put a fitting in it so you can fill it with air and it might make it easy to air up a tire. I knew a fellow who did it, it worked great.
Last year of that body style! I had an 82 f250 as my first 4x4 in high school. That thing was a tank…And a REAL truck. No plastic parts there! The 70s Ford trucks were even tougher.
Rough but, starts, drives and stops. Has usual 4x4 deficiencies, but it all can be fixed. The wi-fi lower seat belt mount in the cab corner would top my repair list. nice buy
The sheet metal is pretty beat up, but the chassis is quite solid still. The 300 I6 is quite a good choice here as well, with the 4x4 and low gearing it's definitely capable of towing/hauling off road. That is one thing about the Ford square bodies, parts are cheap and plentiful for these still. She'll work quite well for what you have in mind, and frankly I'm quite excited to see how she turns out! Will be the little truck that could!
Just bought me an 86 for $250. Just a 2 wheel drive though. Gonna hopefully get it running this weekend. Wish it was a 4 wheel drive though. Sweet truck Brother.
LOVE IT!! Great find. You're head is in the right place sir! Thanks for sharing the experience. Of course looking forward to the next video, and all the best to everyone!
The 300 Straight Six is quite a stout motor. A buddy had an 83 F-150 that had the 300 6 and four speed trans like your own rig has and went almost 400,000 miles before giving up the ghost. It was all due to routine maintenance but he did replace the trans once. It served him well for almost 20 years since buying it used in 1989.
That's the fire wood finder edition.I had a identical 86 f150 4speed 300 inline 4x4. Except it was spray painted over the same blue rusty paint. Watch your fuel line dosent get hot on the top of the motor. It starts vaporizeing the fuel and running bad. Otherwise I loved it.
I found that rigs of that age are really underrated for the amount of easier starts in the winter, Peg swears by his.. Old zip ties and bias plys up in spirit lake got his started before any of the rest at 47 below zero..he is a hoot to swap lingo with. That 4.9 seems to be something no one will deny.. its indestructible for the most part and doesn't have a massive brain box system. I am a fan of electronic distributors as points are at best, always corroded bad if they set unused for a long time. Now if your in a hurry, it will keep up but sounds like a handful of bobcats thrown into a burlap bag. I bought one new that year and same setup for right at eight grand an beat on it for years.. it got ran over cause it was white and a grader operator didn't see it in the driveway. Like you, I much prefer the mechanical clutch linkage.. cold weather seems to kill them yet if it is working right seems to always get the job done, goes right down fire trails in the woods... you got a fine deal there... I know one thing, afore long, demorats will have us plugging into a tree stump for recharging if they get their way... dang female presidents.
Sweet find Backyard! You have an unstoppable off-roader now. Growing up my buddy had an 85' Bronco that he bought for 500 bucks and it had the 300 6, a four speed, and 410 gears. That truck was a tractor and we four wheeled the hell out of it even with the factory suspension and 31/10.5 mudders. It even had the custom in cab exhaust option because there was no passenger floorboard left and the exhaust was rotted off. Anyhoo enjoy the truck and I can't wait to see you build it into a recovery rig. F*ckin Mint👌
Had a 92 e250 with the 300 in it had a little over 300000 when I sold loved it it was almost as fast as my Express with the 4.8 LS and you didn't have turn it 9000 to get power 👍
tmscheum - Tell me about it!! BackYardAlaskan and I are somewhat near each other, and our lumber prices are through the roof.... and I’m trying to build
