Will be adding a new member to the family soon.

[HillbillySailor2]

And no, it's not that kind of family member. The wife took care of that after the birth of my daughter. No, the new member is my mom and step-dad's old Ford F-150 that I affectionately nicknamed "Ol' Blue" many years ago. My step-dad informed me of this yesterday. He said that he was "thinning out the fleet", and since he has 4 cars, I can understand why. He's giving the Camry to his son, the truck to me, and he's keeping the Hyundai and the 67 GTO. Onto Ol' Blue: she's an 80 model 400ci/4 speed 4X4, long wheel base with dual tanks. She's been in the family since 1984 and has seen 3 full-up rebuilds. The latest rebuild was completed not long before my mom found out she had cancer. With that being said, you can understand why this old truck has a special place in my heart. She's the kind of truck Brian would love: slow, lumbering, has enough torque to climb a tree and not break a sweat....she's just all "truck' for lack of a better phrase. My plan is to keep it mostly that way it is since it's just been rebuilt, but I'll do a few things to it to make it a little more road friendly and a little less severe on the wallet. But all that is just plans right now. I'll have to find time at some point to do all the paperwork and drive her down here. Once I do that, I'll take some pictures and post em' up.

[yannick]

Sorry to hear that about your mom!!

[67pete300]

Sorry to hear about your mom, but I can't think of anything better than inheriting a cool project truck and keeping it in the family!

[HillbillySailor2]

Thanks guys, and that's the plan, Pete...keep it in the family Since Mom passed away last year, the truck has just sat. My step-dad had considered selling it, but he just couldn't let it go like that. Since I've helped alot with the truck in the past and he can only drive one car at a time, I guess he just figured that he could kill two birds with one stone by giving the truck to someone who will truely appreciate it. This will give him more time (and room inside the shop) to devote to the GTO. Plus he has a "farm use" truck he could use in the event he needs to haul/pull anything.

[milner351]

Good news Shannon, I'm particularly fond of the "Reagan era" Ford trucks - the 400m can be made to scream if that is your intention - stroker kits and good heads are out there - she's a fine stump puller as is too.

I would pull the front cover and put in an real timing chain and gears so you can "un-do" the 4+ degrees of cam retard from the factory - or - if you want to pull the intake and dig in a little deeper you could swap the cam entirely for something more modern and in line with your sled and stump pulling agenda, that will help mileage too - as well as the basic exhaust and intake upgrades.... swap the mechanical advance cam inside the distributor as well - they have a long and short slot - the short slot is there to limit NoX emissions.... you want the long one for a total advance of close to 32-36 by 2800 or so.

[HillbillySailor2]

Good info and thanks! I don't have that much experience with the 400, so I'll probably be picking your brain about this engine in the future. The engine has been rebuilt twice. It has an "RV cam" in it, but I don't know the origins of said cam. It also has dished pistons so it will run on 87 octane. As to the timing gears, it wouldn't surprise me if it had a stock set in it. My step-dad is very conservative when it comes to modifying engines. He feels that stock, or mostly stock, stuff is best. He thinks that modifications hurt reliability. The man owned a car dealership from 1948 to the late 80's...and his father had owned it before that (started in 1926). I guess the "stock parts are best" mantra was ingrained in him early. I was deployed when the engine was rebuilt last, so I need to sit down with him and find out what all he did with/replaced in the engine, and to find out how many miles have been put on it since. It does have an Edelbrock intake and carb, and it also has dual exhaust with stock manifolds (he hates headers). And if I remember correctly, I think the catalytic converter and other smog stuff "fell off" some time ago. Yeah, I'll be asking alot of questions in the coming days...