By Marcal Eilenstein
Today’s Truck Thursday is brought to you by the word RED, as in “how much red can you handle on one truck”? Take a look at this ad below the jump and see if you can answer the question.
Red. Acres of glorious red.
From the ad:
This is one of a kind 1980 F150 you may find for sale, it’s in excellent both mechanical and cosmetic condition,
runs and drives excellent! Odometer reads 56,235 miles.
Don’t miss it!
What we have here is a 1980 Ford F-150 Custom, which was the base model F-Series truck. As you might know, the F-Series was completely redesigned and improved for the 1980 model year, sharing nothing with the previous generation. The 1980 and 1981 models have the FORD logo on the leading of the hood, which is one way of dating this truck. The Custom trim level tells us that this is a basic truck, with a rubber floor mat, crank windows, and most likely the classic 300-cubic inch straight-6 under the hood.This particular truck has the 8-foot bed and an extended cab, make this big red rig both useful and comfortable.
I’d be curious to see under that seat cover, but otherwise, the interior is in really good shape for 33 years old. The trash pouches are a nice touch.
This truck looks like it’s ready to load up your family of four, all of your camping and fishing gear, and hit the highway for a weekend getaway. With a mile of running boards at your feet, you’ll have no trouble loading people or their stuff! If the odometer is correct, you could get years of use and enjoyment out of this truck.
So, how much red can you handle? For just $2,500, I think I could tolerate it just fine. How about you?
[Source: Seattle craigslist]
Jeff Glucker
I always liked the front end of these
I think the '80-'81 style was the best of the bunch for that.
I like a lot of red on trucks.
<img src="http://www.wehonews.com/z/wehonews/files/Engine71in1940slarge.jpg" width=500>
It would be fine if you lived in a cool place like Seattle, and didn't have to worry about air conditioning. They only had five-digit odometers then (my '95 had a six-digit LCD), so it's probably 156,235 or 256,235 miles – the brake pedal pad on my '95 didn't show much wear, even after 214,000. It could also have a 302 or 351, rather than the Big Six.
Yep, all good points. These trucks are incredibly well-built for the most part. My 92 has the digital odometer as well.
Yes, the careful wording of "odometer reads 56,235" rather than saying it actually has that many miles – seems to point to your theory.
Needs a red interior.
No.
Yes.
<img src="http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8439/7925966396_1b569d64d7.jpg"> I agree.
Makes my eyes hurt. I liked my Opal Grey.
Bordello Burgundy makes it Better.
I'd have a red velour seat with the grey dash/carpet'n'vinyl/door panels, personally.
I'm seventeen and my dad and I are working on a 1980 f150 for me to drive. Its a two wheel drive white and red F150 with the Ranger package. It has a stick shift(!) and has the 351m V8.
A Ranger, in red and white? Sounds nice. Is it the four-speed overdrive (floor shift)?
Yes it is. The pickup has runs fairly well but its been having problems with the fuel system. It was originally a farm pickup so it has a few dents and one larger one on the door that needs to be popped out where a cow leaned on it. It only cost us about $300 though from someone we know and its been a lot of fun working on it. Its a great way to learn how to work on your own vehicle.
Sounds like you're doing it right, serowman. That is a nice truck – I'd drive that any day.
You should share some pictures with us.
Does the '80 have the electric in-tank fuel pump(s), or is that one still mechanical?
Its still mechanical. That was the first thing replaced on the engine when it started having problems. It runs fine now if its getting fuel. The problem is that it has rust in both tanks so with a new fuel filter it'll run for about 10-15 minutes before the fuel filter or fuel line gets plugged up. The current plan is to bypass the switch and only use the front tank and either clean it out or replace it.
Dropping the tanks isn't that difficult – I dropped the front one twice (sender issues), but never had to drop the rear tank.
One thing I know about is rust. I know rust and undoing rust from living it day-in day-out at my day job. I just picked up a '66 F-350 with nearly two-year-old gas in the tank, and a (possible) pinhole leak, so I've just planned out how I'm going to fix it.
I've got a varnish problem. If you're lucky, you don't. My first step is going to be denatured alcohol up to wherever the fuel was before it dried out. It's just about the only thing that will cut varnish, and I use it as a soak to clean carbs on generators.
Once that's cleaned out, I'm going to use a solution of oxalic acid to remove the rust from inside the tank. You can use muratic acid from a pool store to a similar effect, but it's much more caustic. Oxalic acid, however, is quite poisonous. It acts in the body just like cyanide, so don't get any of it on or in you. I've heard that phosphoric acid is neither poisonous nor excessively caustic, but I don't have any experience with it. Oxalic acid also leaves a corrosion-resistant layer on the surface of the metal. It works just fine for my in my shop, so I'm sticking with it.
After a good twelve hours or so of soaking with that, I'm going to use a TBD coating to protect the inside of the tank and close up any remaining pinholes. That is, of course, if the whole thing isn't swiss cheese by the time the oxalic acid is done with it. Sometimes the only thing holding in the fuel is rust.
Good luck. Remember, any rust that's left will make for more trouble down the road. You can end up with flakes of coating clogging your filters instead of flakes of rust.
Nice price!
I bought a 1985 F-150 for cheap from my wife's cousin. He'd had an engine fire and the truck was immobile. Cause was the previous owner (wife's grandfather) who decided he liked points style ignition, hated emissions equipment, and liked carbs but hated mechanical fuel pumps. The aftermarket inline fuel pump was plumbed to the carb with non fuel rated hose, and the hose deteriorated until it failed. Gas spilled onto the retrofitted points-style distributor, burning it down, and what few wires left that hadn't been chopped up in an attempt to remove "anything computerized" burned up.
continued…
When I took delivery of the truck and popped the hood, I found a charred and blackened mess of a 302. It was a real challenge figuring out what wires needed to be replaced due to fire damage, and which had been chopped up before the fire. I wasn't about to try to make the emissions systems work again, as all the plumbing and wiring had been shredded already and a lot was gone. Fortunately in this state it is not required, as long as you have catalytic converters you're okay. Random vacuum hoses were scattered everywhere, burned in the middle so I had no idea of the routing or if they'd originally been intact, and the halfway removed A/C system complicated matters even more.
Most of the mess cleaned up well with a wire brush and shop vac. I managed to get a working PCV system put together and eliminated all the vacuum leaks. Wiring was repaired as necessary and it seemed this tough old electrical system was in good shape still. Next obvious problems to fix were the burned up carb, burned up distributor, and miscellaneous stuff like belts.
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Off to the junkyard I went in search of a rebuildable (non-scorched) stock carb. Rebuilt the junkyard carb (2-barrel Motorcraft, think a 2150 series?) and added an automatic choke kit that used exhaust manifold heat. I'd never messed with an automotive carb before so this was all a lot of fun. I have experience with hobby model engines and their carbs, so that helped. Bolted on the freshened up carb and immediately broke one of the carb's mounting ears off and cracked the base. Ugh. Rebuilt the stock carb after extensive wire wheel dremel cleaning. Installed more carefully.
The distributor was a solid lump of plastic fused to its metal shaft base. After carefully marking everything I could, I bolted in a reman'd stock distributor. Unfortunately the stock ignition setup was gone along with required wiring, so I had to return this to find a points style distributor like what had been retrofitted in. No way was I going to buy a sketchy junkyard points distributor and learn how to deal with points. Picked up a reman'd complete unit at the parts store (from a 50s model Ford I think, fit perfectly) and dropped it in with new plug wires. Progress!
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After taking care of miscellaneous other things like belts and hoses that needed replaced, replacing broken windows, and installing a good junkyard mechanical fuel pump to feed the carb, it was time to fire it up. Much cranking ensued and it finally started. But it ran really poorly! Seemed to backfire, and it would barf flaming fuel back up through the carb to splatter everywhere as the truck tried to self-immolate once again.
I played with timing. I tried to tune the carb. I learned how to properly set timing. I learned how to properly set the carb. Still no luck; the truck barely moved under its own power and was still a major fire risk.
I had my eye on a nice Explorer on Craigslist that the owner wanted to trade for a pickup. I called and offered the pickup, with the agreement that if I got the truck running right then the Explorer's owner would likely do the swap.
I don't recall how, but I finally realized two spark plug wires were swapped. Instantly the truck ran smoothly. Some carb and timing adjustments and it was ready to go. I hit the road for a two hour road trip to go meet the Explorer owner.
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Continued in below comments, my reply chain got broken 🙁
Too much cab. Too much shell. Too many vacuum lines. Not enough red interior.
You are basically saying you wish it was my dad's old truck. I can get behind that.
The 1985 model F-150 ran like a new truck. No rattles, no lack of power, no squeaks, even over bumps. Everything worked including the factory radio with its single dash speaker. This truck felt solid and very well built, and really didn't feel 26 years old at all! Gradually I relaxed on the comfy bench seat as the miles ticked by and the truck purred along. The feeling of carbureted fuel delivery was a new sensation to me; in tune and with a working choke, the truck started easily and did not have any of the symptoms of carb'd vehicles that I'd heard so much about. "You'll have to learn to drive with a carb" I had heard, which was untrue. Power delivery was just as smooth as my fuel injected vehicles, but you could tell that no computer wizardry was fine tuning the mixture. It had a very… mechanical feel. Not unpleasant at all, just different.
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I made it to my destination without trouble. The Explorer turned out to be nicer than the pictures indicated, and the trade was done. Both parties left the trading grounds satisfied, but I felt a tug at my heart as I drove away from the old truck. It had survived a literal test by fire and thanks to my labor, lived to drive again. In return it gave me easy wrenching and I learned how to tune a carb and time a distributor (among other things). I learned not to fear carbs just because I grew up in the age of fuel injection. Most of all, I gained new respect for how well Ford could build pickups even in the 80s.
the ford I6 is in my list with the GM 4.3 V6 and the Porshe 968 3.0l 4-banger as engines with displacements that are way out of step with cylinder count (discounting diesels)
in other words, they're fricken cool and i want them all
Which is also why so many Ford truck owners still like the straight-6. Good mileage, good horsepower, good reliability.
It is one of the very few production engines that uses timing gears. Gears that laugh in the face of broken timing belts and stretched timing chains.
that is so neat! the only other engine i know of that uses gears is the honda VFR750 V4
Add GMC's series of V6s to your list. The smallest one displaced 5.0 liters, the biggest one 7.8.
AMC's 258 is 4.2L. There was a Mexico only version that was a 282 (4.6L). I really want to find a 282 to build and put in my Spirit someday.
That truck is the spittin' image of my father inlaw's old '86 F150, except that his was a standard cab. Last year of the original front end, first year for EFI on the 302 IIRC.
Not enough pedals on the floor and not enough stops on the HVAC controls. Needs a stick and A/C, at least for Georgia. I would worry about the automatic transmission needing a rebuild. The straight six would run forever.
I had one of these in 1986…it was purchased new by my idiot father in 1980. Brown, regular cab, long bed.
It was to be a work truck, though it was also our sole motorized vehicle, so that was a drag.
Not. One. Option.
No radio, itty-bitty rear-view mirrors (the passenger's door one may have been another mistake made, as those were still pretty typically optional, even if they are the size of a 3"x5" index card), a rear bumper was installed mistakenly by the dealer, who my father did taxes for, and said father said, "if you charge me for that, it's coming back to you in a few months…" Yucks were had…
It was a complete POS. In fact, the column shift lever hung up in an area which netted no gears other than 2nd, on the way home from the dealer.
He'd owned only column shifts, up until then, save for the 4 speed 348 CID '60 Chevy Bel-Air, so it wasn't lack of knowledge/skill. I put a floor shift in it when I was cursed by ownership. interesting how a 3-speed column shift pattern transfers to a floor-shift layout.
One other thing, in '80, the _basest_ of base models was the F-100.
I will say, the hydraulic-only brakes, no power booster, felt 'right'. Though, they had issues of their own.
Trivia: The 1980 model ones are easy to spot because they have clear front turn indicators. After this, amber was used.
All it's missing is two sticks sticking out of the floor!
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after checking through some of the post I
realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!