Project 84 F150 Fishing Truck! AKA: "The Blue Horse!"

[ghost]

So the last thing I need is another project but when a friends post something up you think could be perfect you have to check it out. My son and I have been looking for a 4x4 to put at my parents house in Aiken, SC. They have about 50 acres there and I have a few aunts and uncles with 5 or 10 ponds to fish. So today we went and looked at and picked up this 84 F150. 300 straight 6 with a 4 speed. It currently has 265/70/17 tires and Pacer rims. It’s supposed to have all the parts needed to fix the damage. I should have the title in the next week or so. Plans are a 31” or 32” mud tire. Fix the damage and strip anything under the hood that is absolutely not necessary for it to run.

 

[rodney eppes]

Wow! That looked so much like 1 I sold about 3-4 years back! But mine had the light blue color & 302 engine. So much rust, & who knows when 4 wh dr had been used. The shifter would barley move & wouldn't catch 4 low. It was the rust, in the shifter, plus I had to buy a new bushing for it. Luckily, Ford still carries the bushing.

 

[Creekin]

Looks good.
Were you able to drive it up on the trailer?

 

[ghost]

Looks good.
Were you able to drive it up on the trailer?

Yes. It was funny watching the new dirtymax stuck in the slick field and this one to crawl in fist and low right out.

 

[Creekin]

The icing on the cake would have been to use the fishing truck to pull out the stuck GM truck

 

[XJsavage]

That trans shifter looks very T-19 ish.
I've got a few 435/205 combos laying around if you get the itch to do a swap. There would be little to no benefit other than getting rid of the 208.

 

[ghost]

My son pulled the dented fender last night. Today we pulled the radiator support. Found the fan bent. So far everything but that was in the bed. He wants it driving in the next week. We shall see. My goal is Christmas. Oh yea he choose a name. “The Blue Horse!” Supposedly the truck hit a horse. So what can I strip from this motor/under the hood? I crawled under her today and confirmed a 208. What manual came in these trucks? I saw a PTO plate on the driver side.

 

[C.Berry]

Tell ya a story since title is fishing truck, my father wasn’t around much past age 5-7 and when he was it was a fight so he just wasn’t around, Now he was a truck driver and parents split up when I was 2 so I’m sure y’all know how that goes! But one thing we did when we did spend time together was fish and I mean hardcore wading med size rivers in spring-fall as a small kid which are memories I’ll never forget to this day! But the truck we took on these trips was our official fishing truck 1972 Chevy k20 custom deluxe camper special. It had a small toolbox for lures “plastics” bc all my ole man used, extra reels,waders,etc and a spare tire in bed It had a distinct smell to it like plastic lure lubricant and engine oil burning in a crock pot slowly... lol great smell, we took that truck up in every nook and cranny in the offsets of va,to,nc when we got the chance to hit the river.
My old man passed two years ago and I’ve searched for the truck When he started fighting cancer still to no luck unfortunately, so if any way possible make sure he has that truck to take his son/daughter out in one day bc I bet he won’t forget those trips, that truck specifically tho bc your obviously a 4x4 folk on here and all the monsters y’all will catch along the way even if there’s only a few!! This was my childhood fishing truck just not as shiny and lifted lol I may get lucky and start a fishing truck thread one day if I can hunt his old ride down!

 

[skyhighZJ]

Make the “smog” pump disappear!

 

[a_kelley]

You can pull the heated air intake hose/actuator flap & associated hoses. Makes pulling air cleaner easier.

 

[ghost]

Make the “smog” pump disappear!

I assume that is the pump on the top left of the motor.

You can pull the heated air intake hose/actuator flap & associated hoses. Makes pulling air cleaner easier.

Not sure what that is but I'll look it up.

What are the metal tubes across the top of the head that go into the head?

 

[skyhighZJ]

I assume that is the pump on the top left of the motor.

Correct. It recirculates exhaust gasses to the intake. They are real good at locking up and smoking belts. They are also real good a drawing HP off the belt line and unless you have a different 300 than I had they aren’t exactly “flush” in the pony Dept.

 

[ghost]

After work I pulled the smog pump. Son will clean up the radiator support donor and paint it this weekend we hope. WTH do I do with that rats nest of vacuum lines? Can I cap them at the card etc and remove them?

 

[ghost]

This looks like vacuum lines coming off the thermostat housing where it goes to the heater hose.

All these look to be vacuum lines going into the carb. Can they go away? What is the big round thing below the carb here?

What is this on the driver side of the motor? Can it be removed and discarded?

 

[XJsavage]

It's...... Ford stuff.

 

[Tim C]

The egr valve is below the carb, the other pic shows a vacuum canister touching the plug wire with the vacuum lines going in the top, just behind it looks like the egr vacuum amplifier. That's how emissions were crudely controlled before computers.

Edit: I'm talking about your last two pics.

If you have no emissions test you can get rid of it all, but it may require rejetting the carb and playing with the distributor curve.

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[ghost]

Ok. So yesterday while I was shopping with the wife my son got the core support and radiator in. Today we are working on getting the fender on. He ordered a battery tray and front grill and headlight buckets and other things from LMC Truck. It’s teally nice to have a son that works and makes money I can help him spend on old junk trucks! Lol!

 

[ghost]

And she is alive! I'm not good with this whole video thing so maybe this will work.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="1984 F150 - YouTube" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ghost]

The boys order from LMC came in last week. Friday and Saturday he put it all on and drove it some in the field.

 

[ghost]

Small update and question.... no headlights. I hate wiring issues which I think it is. No fuel level. So need to research the sending unit in the tank. I assume its rusty from sitting empty. Next. Once it gets driven for a while it does not want to go into first. Is that typical of an older granny geared 5 speed or is that the sign of a problem?

 

[Tim C]

Small update and question.... no headlights. I hate wiring issues which I think it is. No fuel level. So need to research the sending unit in the tank. I assume its rusty from sitting empty. Next. Once it gets driven for a while it does not want to go into first. Is that typical of an older granny geared 5 speed or is that the sign of a problem?

No headlights, first thing I'd check is the floor mounted dimmer switch. One wire should be hot whenever the headlights is on, the others are high/low. They corroded bad from wet shoes stomping on them over the years, if that's good you'll have to trace it out with a test light.

Fuel gauge, un plug the sender wire, ground it to frame gauge should go full, if so wiring and gauge are good problem is in tank, these had a brass float that will get a pinhole like a carb float. Ford should still have the float for $20 or so. It fits pretty much every Ford car or truck pre 1992ish. If the gauge doesn't move post back up and I can walk you through testing the gauge and instrument cluster voltage regulator.

And no the trans should not be hard to get into gear hot vs cold. It should shift the same all the time.

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[ghost]

Headlights and fuel sender will have to wait. She started running rough and not starting. Exploded the muffler. There is a vacuum line coming off the distributor. Should it be hooked to something on the card? Smells like varnish at times. I’m thinking when we filled it up we knocked some old fuel loose. We tried a new coil and new plugs. I’m thinking clean the carb and pot fuel stabilizer in the tank. Thoughts?

 

[skyhighZJ]

Not sure of the input but yes the line going into the carb needs to have vacuum applied as it advances the dist. for spark advance as the motor revs. Very nice work on the muffler by the way I’m laughing cause I did the same thing on an old 2wd Scottsdale I used to bomb around in back in HS. It was a 6 cyl 3 on the tree. If you revved it up and cut the key off it would usually let out a bang. Last day of junior year I was leaving the HS parking lot and gave it a REAL good send off and blew the shit out of the can. Cops were not impressed and I got a stearn talking too and a phone call to my folks for my behavior on school grounds. My dad just laughed and gave me a high five then told me to go fix the POS cause it sounded horrendous.

 

[ghost]

So there needs to be a vacuum line from the distributor to the carb? Just need to know which hole on the carb.

 

[Creekin]

Muffler looks good.

Long time ago, this guy would do the same thing ZJ was talking about to folks who were walking down the road... just to scare folks.
One day, he blew up his exhaust. Karma...

Have you run a compression check and a vacuum check?