The Shop Truck - 1989 F150 shortbed

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Some of my friends on here know that about a year or so ago I started a side business flipping project cars and stripping cars for parts. Needed a little side income, so it has been working out nicely.

Well, sold my Silverado and bought a Tahoe a few months back so I didn't have a truck. Started getting annoyed having to haul nasty junk in my nice Tahoe, so I've been keeping my eyes open for a truck. Well, on the sly because my wife wasn't wanting me to spend too much money on another truck. :lol:

Got a call last week from a shop that had some cars they wanted to get rid of. Went out there and made a deal on two cars as a package. One is a 03 WJ that is a fire salvage and another is this truck. It is kind of cool, and I got it so cheap that when I got it home my wife suggested I keep it as my shop truck. So, of course, I said yes. I will probably be asking some questions as I go because I know nothing about Fords, this is the first I have owned. Have owned dozens of GM cars, never a Ford.
So here it is: 89 shortbed, standard cab F150 with an EFI 5.0L and AOD trans. Not crazy about the AOD, but will stick with it for now. The best part is that it is rust free and the bosy is perfectly straight.

Plans are to repaint it hot rod black, red steelies, red bedliner. It hasn't run in a couple of years, so I'll work on getting it running and then see what else it needs. Someone stole the cat off of it a couple years ago, so it needs that.....or not.....

Here it is in all its beauty.

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get it running and leave the rest as it and keep making money on other cars.. dont spend money on your shop truck unless it is to keep it running
 
Oh, not planning on spending that much on it, paint and bedliner will only set me back a couple hundred bucks. Kind of hard to see in the pics, but the paint has worn off in a few spots and I don't want it to rust through. The bed also has a drop in liner and underneath it looks like crap and I don't want it to rust through.

Red steelies will come as I find a smoking deal on them.

Really just trying to preserve it in the best way I can as cheaply as I can. It will be a good beater shop truck, but it is also is really straight and I don't want it to end up looking like an old beater shop truck.
 
Aren't those wheel covers? If so, there should be steelies underneath them already (just not red).

As Bruiser said, I wouldn't spend much on it until you are at a point with your business when it's your rolling business card, or the means to your business (i.e the vehicle you are using solely to work out of)
 
those are sweet ole trucks, that 5.0 is as tough as any motor ever built, should look sweet when you "hook it up" like you mentioned
 
If you want to save a little money, you could go with another paint than hot rod black. Last time I priced that stuff (which was years ago), it was around 110$ a quart. We started using tractor supply satin black. It is a 2 part paint which to me means it holds up well. We've done 3 vehicles this way any they've held up great if prepped properly. The best thing about it though is its near 60$ a gallon with the hardener.
 
Well, worked on the truck a little today. Something is definitely going up electrically.

The battery was old and shot, so I put a different battery in it that I know is good, but was low from sitting. I hooked jumper cables up to it and pulled the coil wire so I could turn it over a bit to get the oil moving before firing it off. It turned a few times, so then I reconnected the coil wire. After that it turned REALLY slowly and the positive terminal sparked and smoked every time I turned the key. It only did it when I turned the key. It might have been sparking before and I just didn't notice it.

Definitely a wiring problem somewhere, going to check the line down to the starter and see if it is grounding on something.
 
Since it's already black, I'd wet sand it to get rid of the shine that's showing in spots and get rid of the chrome if you are serious about the "rat rod" look. Personally, I think late model vehicles done in "rat rod" style look bad, even if done professionally, but that's just me. Instead, I'd look for a 50's truck cab to put on the existing chassis and drivetrain. Should be able to pick something up for less than $1000 and would actually look pretty cool when done, and still have all the functionality of a late model truck. Again, I'd only do that if you are wanting it to be a rolling calling card, since you will probably end up spending more on it than it will be worth either way.
 
Worked on it a little more, my dad and I worked on it for a little bit and then my bro-in-law and I worked on it. I think it has a bad battery cable or starter solenoid (whatever that block is on the fender). I have 14V at the battery and only 12 at the solenoid and no power at all to the truck. It turned over for two or three turns and then click and nothing. Tried again and click and nothing, cut power to the whole truck. The cable looks like junk so going to replace it tonight and see what happens.
 
Probably the cable. All the solenoid does is activate the starter. If the solenoid is bad, you can pay a screwdriver or something across the posts.
 
Kind of what we were thinking, I wasn't sure what it did, wasn't sure if it worked like a solenoid on a Chevy starter or what. This is really the first Ford I've worked on. :lol:

I have another cable I cut off a parts Jeep in the yard, going to try that tomorrow.
 
Well, she runs! Installed a new battery cable and it fired up. Was not happy to be woken up from its slumber, and it really needs a tune up. Going to work on it a little more today and see if I can get it running good. Would be nice if I could have it on the road this week.
 
Well, step back here. Doesn't run at all now. Sounds like the timing is way off. I think the computer may be dead, or there may be another wiring problem. Or the timing chain might be goofed up. :lol:

I have another computer here I am going to try. We shall see.
 
Oh, my son and I did get the drop-in bedliner pulled out. Surprisingly, the bed is in PERFECT shape. Couldn't believe it. Back when I did spray-in bedliners I saw new trucks that had worse beds due to drop-ins. Was pleasantly surprised.

And yes, he is wearing a bike helmet and his pants are on backwards. :lol:

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OK, I think the engine bay wiring harness might be shot. I still can't get it to fire back up again and I was looking at the wires and noticed a lot of cuts and nicks in the wires, like someone was chasing down a problem or something. The harness itself is also not great, and in one spot it looks like it may have actually had a small fire at some point although it only looks to have damaged the wire loom corrugation. I tried a different computer and had no luck, and now after putting the original computer back in it it seems like it doesn't want to even try to start, just cranks and cranks with no sputter.

Trying to decide whether to replace the harness or go old school and put a 4bbl on there. I miss hearing the secondaries open up......
 
Blaze said:
just cranks and cranks with no sputter..
Click to expand...

What's the story on the gas? Seeing as it's been sitting forever... what sort of crap was in the tank, is the fuel pump still working, are you getting pressure at the rail, etc, etc, etc...

There's not much can go wrong with those trucks. TFI module, fuel pump... that's about it.
 
I put fresh gas in it, and have pressure at the rail. I definitely have fuel and air and it seemed like occasionally it had spark.

I bought it from a mechanic shop, so it was parked there for some reason. I think this is the reason. :lol:
 
I was just going to suggest getting a TFI for it and keep a spare in the glove box. They're not expensive and they usually work again once they cool down. They sell a fancy little screw driver to get to the bolts on them too, they're a pain and the holes around them are too small for a regular deep socket.

I say some red D hole steelies would look badass, some short & fat tires, the flat or matte black paint, and maybe some pipes....then let it roll! My buddy drives an 89 F150 4x4 long bed that used to be his granddad's. We've slowly figured out all the problems these trucks have, but they're fairly reliable. You'd be in it less than 500 bucks, depending on tires. Some cheap ass Cobra GT white letters would look good :D


Your truck, as it sits in the pictures, reminds me of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop". I'ma take your grandpa's style, no for real ask your grandpa can I have his hand-me-downs! :huggy:



EDIT: Dude....actually, I have some 15x8 steel wheels out in the shop that came off of an 81 F150 that I scrapped a few years ago. You can have them! I could even take them to work and blast them first if you wanted. They were chrome and got painted black.
 
Have you checked the fuel system?

I had a 90 F150 with the dual tanks, and it began running terribly one day, then proceeded to get worse. I checked the fuel pressure, and it was crap, so I replaced the fuel pump. No difference. So I did a little investigating, and noticed that if you crimped the return line with vise-grips, it ran great. So I traced almost all of the possible points where it could leak back to the return, and determined it must be a pinhole leak where the fuel rail was welded together. On a Ford 300i6 replacing the fuel rail is a terrible job, but I got it done. Again, no difference, still ran terrible. Then I realized the one place I didn't check was the dual tank valve. My truck only had the rear tank, and whenever the PO had removed the front tank, they just plugged the lines. But something in the valve had screwed up and was letting most of the fuel return to the rear tank. I took that valve, threw it in the trash, put some straight fittings on there, and the truck ran great.
 
Well, I do have pressure at the rail and it is good pressure. It also will not start with starting fluid.

I am going to check timing on it, see where it is at. I'm going to also replace the TFI module and see. I really feel like something is seriously up with the timing, and at 198k miles it may just be the timing chain has jumped.
 
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