1985 F150 XLT Lariat RCLB 4x4

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Caspian

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So I got my taxes back. Had it narrowed down to a 1992 RCLB LD 2500 4x4 with 5.7 and 700r4, or a 1985 Ford F150 RCLB XLT Lariat(top of the line for the year)4x4. ****** flute with the LD 2500 never replied to my messages asking to look at the truck with cash in hand. Then he upped the price by $500 on it, and after a day still never replied but viewed my message.. hate people like that..

So the other truck I found was a 1985 Ford F150 XLT Lariat 4x4, I'd started out on these and the 1973-1979 F-Series when I first got into trucks at like 13 or 14. I messaged this dude the previous week and he still had it when I got my money. It wound up being 2 blocks from my house lol.

I had initially agreed to buy the truck for $1000 and then he had another 351 Windsor and C6 transmission for an additional $400 that I was gonna buy. I got to the place where the truck was, he didn't tell me it wasn't running until about an hour or two before the agreed meeting time. Said it was the coil. So I bought a coil, bought an ICM cause they are notorious for going bad in these trucks. Neither got it to run, so I paid him the $1000 cause the truck was worth that as it sat anyway, he left to get the title and then I towed it home. My dad messed with the harness coming out of the distributor and got it to fire for a sec and then it died again, so I determined by the rust on the pickup inside it and messing with the harness I needed to replace the distributor.

The truck also needed intake gaskets, it was letting water/coolant into the oil and the intake has coolant routed through it. Simple enough. Well while I was at work, my dad and brother found the rearmost freeze plug on the passenger side of the engine was rusted out and gone.. I couldn't get one to go in, so it got a rubber plug after consulting a couple friends. Today I ripped the Holley 4160 off, it's missing it's choke plate and never would've let the truck start.. I rebuilt an Edelbrock 1406 I found in the truck for it. Took off the ported vacuum switches and am plugging one hole and installed a coolant hose nipple in the other. Discovered a bunch of white powder **** in the intake and coolant outlet, plugged the t-stat with it where someone tried to stop the leak. Thankfully it didn't make it passed the t-stat. Found original, IDK how old, Ford branded intake gaskets and no sealant except for the very bottom, some kind of super sticky **** stuck them to the heads and I almost never got them off lol.

So it's all back together, intake painted, Edelbrock installed. My new distributor will be in tomorrow. I've gotta get vacuum caps, a 3/8" NPT plug for one of the ported switches I removed, a throttle return spring, change the oil and filter, fill the radiator up with fresh coolant and distilled water, and get the distributor stabbed and that all done.

So about the truck:

What I've been able to surmise, the truck was purchased in 2009 by a couple in Missouri from a dealership. There is numerous receipts from all kinds of work being done, axles replaced in the rear, the transfercase completely overhauled for a $1000, a lot of new parts installed, a 3" body lift installed, tanks cleaned and the senders replaced and verified the switcher works and tons more. The guy I got it from bought it from them. It's still in it's original colors of Dark Charcoal and Silver, it's got a red interior. Has the Sport cluster with a factory tachometer. C6 Auto with a deep stepped pan, dual tanks, transfer case skid plate, 32x11.50x15's, 351w, shorty headers with true duals and slowmasters with no tailpipes. Has power windows and locks, the factory digital clock bezel. Someone has installed new window motors, they run quick lol. It's got the 9" rear with a Limited Slip and 3.50 gear ratio.

I haven't been able to take any pics of it except these so far. I've been busy with it and so many other things.

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TexasRebel

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Good looking start for a project. Been looking for a bullnose myself for a little while.

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DerekTheGreat

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Nice looking truck. I dig the tu-tone paint scheme. If it was a 302 it should have been FI from the factory, '85 was the first year for it. Don't know if the trucks got CFI (Like GM TBI although not as good) like all the other 302's or not though. I'd like an '86 with the FI 302 set-up. Or a '91 with a 351 FI set up or a 94-96 set up similarly. They sure look nice but ride like **** compared to the GM's.
 

TexasRebel

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Nice looking truck. I dig the tu-tone paint scheme. If it was a 302 it should have been FI from the factory, '85 was the first year for it. Don't know if the trucks got CFI (Like GM TBI although not as good) like all the other 302's or not though. I'd like an '86 with the FI 302 set-up. Or a '91 with a 351 FI set up or a 94-96 set up similarly. They sure look nice but ride like **** compared to the GM's.
I used to have an 89 F250 sclb 2wd with a 351w and c6. Had 5.13s in the rear end so it wasn't fast whatsoever but we couldn't find anything it wouldn't pull besides a full tank of gas.

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DerekTheGreat

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I'd consider trading the '89 K1500 in my sig for a 1991 or 1996 F150 RC|SB 351, Five speed 4x4 or same truck configuration but F250/350, mandatory long box there. It is real hard to five 351 five speeds around here though, definitely not as common as a 350 five speed GM truck.
 

Caspian

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'85 was a weird year for Ford, I've personally seen a computer controlled 2bbl carb 302 with the TFI-IV ignition(what the EFI engines used) and then I've seen EFI 302's but with the filter box in a weird place. The 351w and the 460 didn't receive EFI until 1988. This truck has a 351w H.O. which is nothing more than a 4bbl carb 351w.

Someone has done a lot to it, and some of it has left me scratching my head.... I got the engine all slapped back together, found another damned freeze plug missing.. rubber plugged it for now.. I think this damn intake is warped.. I installed Fel-Pro gaskets and used Blue RTV around the coolant ports like I always do, along with Black RTV on the china walls. ******* thing is spewing coolant out between the intake and head on the driver side.. So once all this damned snow we've got moving in gets gone, I'll pull the plugs and see if they show head gasket failure. It was blowing smoke out, but I attribute that to the ****** carbs and the 6" of spacers someone ran on this engine.... So far I've ordered a couple other sets of Fel-Pro gaskets from Rockauto and order a new set of intake bolts since the old one's are crusty as hell.

I also put the new distributor in and it still didn't fire, wound up cutting the wires to that stupid connector Ford used on their coils and put spade connectors on the wires and put them right on the coil and it fired up.

Went and got it tagged yesterday too so it's legal. I'm thinking if this thing winds up puking it's guts out still after I change the intake and get a different carb rebuild kit for this Edelbrock, that I'll just yank this 351w and either budget go through it IE if no cylinder taper or ring ridge just a dingle ball hone job and new bearings and a complete regasket and re-ring and obviously new freeze plugs. Or I'll find another 351w that's a known good running engine and just swap it in.

I'm fixing to get a 1986 Bronco as well that's a 302 and 4spd Manual, so I'd like to get this truck going so I can move it and put this Bronco in it's place.
 

Caspian

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Bronco fell through but oh well. I found an intake I'm gonna order on Friday, already have the new gaskets and the bolts sitting here. I'm gonna order another Edelbrock rebuild kit since the kit I ordered came with improper gaskets, rebuild the 1406, pull the choke off and put the manual choke on from the 1407 since it's throttle shaft has some pretty good wobble and we'll see where we are.
 

Redneckgeriatric

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no sealant on the intake gasket. it is easy to slide the intake when you install, if you dont have big grunt to drop it down evenly. beware if someone had "shaved heads". the gorilla snot that glued the previous gaskets in place may be a hint. no freeze plugs would make me pull and tead down the engine to send to machine shop for magnaflux BEFORE spending any time or money on a probable frozen engine. stop leak in cooling system, white stuff, (running without anti-freeze coolant) and smoke paints a picture that says, rebuild. since you have a spare, just rebuild it and swap out the original . thats a great truck that will outlast lots of newer ones if you fix it right! oh, and get some new long tubes if you just dig headers, or cast manifolds and single exhaust if you dont want to have to work on that part any more, you will also put the tq where u use it most! the FI 5.8 is a ggreat motor, if you ever decide to update.
 

Supercharged111

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Those kinda look like Fox Mustang shorties. The old man brings up a good point, and there may be more PO isn't letting on about, i.e. the real reason he had a spare engine.
 

Redneckgeriatric

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Those kinda look like Fox Mustang shorties. The old man brings up a good point, and there may be more PO isn't letting on about, i.e. the real reason he had a spare engine.

see the big dimples choking the tubes at the port? v-8 explorer headers , stock! they were bolted to GT40 heads, stock! they suck all the power. they were also smaller than the ports! saw some stock on a ford granada station wagon 5.0 (302) and they sucked there too! lol.
 
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