Now onto my truck! I have recently come into possession of a fairly straight 1972 F100 Ranger XLT LWB RWD with the 390FE, C6 automatic and 3.50 ratio open diff. A good friend of mine has owned the truck for a couple years and let's just say his current '96 Legacy Wagon EFI is a MUCH better fit for him than this truck was. He neglected the truck and did only oil changes for two years until he rear ended someone because the master cyl had failed a couple months before and he didn't have it fixed.. it sat for 4 months when he called me up and told me he had received a ticket for it sitting on the street and wanted to know if I'd tow it off for him.
DUH!
So yes, I am way ahead on cost for this truck, I felt bad so I bought him a set of tires for his Subaru (~$200) and he signed the title over.
After inspecting the truck I replaced the radiator (damaged in the wreck) and it started with a 'jump'. Since then I have performed this work to it:
New Radiator & Hoses
Swapped out the 2bbl Holley for a 4bbl Edelbrock 650 I already had (holley needs rebuilt badly, but it worked--sort of)
New Belts
New Cap, Rotor, Motorcraft Plugs
MSD Coil (still have the stock one)
Power Steering Pump
Brake Master Cyl & Reservoir
Front Brake Wheel Cyls
New fuel lines and inline fuel filter from all 3 gas tanks (one in-cab, two bedside) into the main hardline running into the engine.
Valve Cover Gaskets
Right Side Header Gasket
New tires and powder coated the old farmer white spokes.
~$1000 invested to date, most of that is tires and having the wheels powder coated
Basically.. maintenance.
I should mention that this truck has either Hooker Headers or Crager Headers (based on stickers on the vehicle) and farmer duals out back(fully divorced,quiet mufflers, 2" diameter side exit).
Now after that long editorial I come to my questions... some of which I already have answers to but like to hear things twice, sometimes you get a different opinion that leads you in a different direction.
This truck will be used for general transportation, also as a shop truck, loaded with tools, will have an on-board compressor and tank, maybe a hoist in the bed too for engines, rear ends, etc. FUNCTIONAL.. useful. It will also see some action towing with a car dolly and a flatbed car hauler. In addition to that, I live at ~6800 ft elevation, we experience an approx. 25% HP drop compared to sea level, so stouter the better.. haha.. who DOESN'T want more anyways?
I want to build the 390 and C6 to handle this type of work.. and still be able to mess with the 16yr olds with 150k mile honda's with fart cans and 75 shot of nos. I have read a lot about turning the 390 into a 428 or even bigger (survival's 445 kit comes to mind). I'm not sure I want to go that route.. yet. I'm still young and raising a family so I don't have tons of money to drop all at once. The truck is a secondary vehicle so if it's out of commission it's ok, I don't need to keep it on the road during certain stages of the build. My question for the engine revolves around.. what type of power am I capable of producing without boring and stroking.. ie. heads(maybe), intake and cam. Or.. would it be better to stroke it but use stock heads with a little machining so they flow better with aftermarket intake?
IN THE END.. I want to have one of the super-stout trucks I've read about here and elsewhere running 500+ ft lbs etc.. but I'd like to do it incrementally over the next couple years to offset costs. I will be locking the rear end (detroit or similar) and building the transmission.. So anything I do I don't want to have to redo or replace at a later stage if possible. If I end up doing new heads but have to machine them later with new valves, so be it.. but I don't want to do the heads twice.. if that makes sense. Also I'll be upgrading/overhauling the brakes and suspension during all this but the tech articles here have that pretty well covered so no questions yet.-
Ok.. that is WAY to much for one post so I'll keep the transmission questions for LATER..
-~Eric
. I do have the bug, just after the little bit of work I have done. I got it with the idea of 'get it running decent and turn it'.. now I'm way past that and looking into getting the R/F damage repaired and rhino lining the bed and so on and so on. My wife is P1$$ED.. moreso than she was when I got the motorcycle.. I told her, hey, at least if we wreck this into a bar ditch at 40 you won't get road rash and a broken bone (already done that on the bike).
