Project 87 f150

[hedz]

i wanted to start a thread on a small project i'm doing for a family friend. he has a 1987 blue on blue f150. i'm sure they had a couple different blues available and i don't know which one it would be. i havn't identified the rear end or the transmission yet. i truly only know how to spot if something has a dana in it or a 9 inch. and i only know the 3.03 rat rod manual of all the different ford transmissions. so this will be a nice learning experience for me to grow my experience and knowledge on ford parts. the truck has a inline 6 4.9 that is fuel injected. it has a smog pump. it has a/c which isn't working. power steering. power brakes. 2wd. a plastic bed liner. immediate future plans are as follows: find a better condition bumper, find a better condition hood, recover bench seat with foam and cover offered by NPD - because what they offer is a exact match , and do something about the exhaust which from the muffler back is swiss cheesed, and tires. This truck is going to be for my friends son who is now 11 and has some time before he can start driving. i'll be teaching the son what i know as we go along. his dad will be purchasing tools and other things which the son gets to keep. hopefully he will be inspired a bit and take car mechanics as a hobby or profession. He seems real excited. I went over what repairs I would be showing him how to do that he will help me on today. This will be the dads truck until then. This truck was a family vehicle and owned by my friends father in Kansas. They shipped the truck from Kansas to AL. I don't think he was the original owner and must have been a military man because a military base did the most recent maintenance which was a oil change?

today i'm going to:

transmission:
drain transmission - transmission needs a new rear seal
pull the driveshaft
going to go ahead and put a new gasket and filter in while it's empty
i'll post what auto trans it has as soon as i know

power steering:
pull both power steering lines - theres a leak on one so replacing both for safe measure

remove smog pump

remove bench seat

pop off hubcaps and soak lug nuts with PB blaster

and kitty litter for any spills today.

i'll try to borrow a camera today so i can put on some pics soon

[hedz]

should have some pictures at the end of the week on this project. i'm not sure about some of the things under the hood and do not know the function of some of these parts. I will post engine pics tonight that the owner took for me and ask some newb questions. i'm pretty sure on of these is part of a smog pump. and theres a weird looking pulley on the front of the engine. it might be a compressor but i don't know. it's embarrasing that i can't identify some of these things. i've just never spent much time with newish vehicles(newer than 1980)

i rebuilt the driveshaft. spicer u joints. sealed it with some blue ceramic paint.

pulled the transmission pan and cleaned and sealed it in the same paint. cleaned out the c6 transsmission filter. installed pan and filter with a fresh gasket. installed new rear seal with a boot on the c6. restored the u bolts and clear coated them to slow down the corrosion. added 5 quarts of valvoline high mileage and lubegard. no leaks!!

checked the rear diff fluid. it's perfect. not even discolered from heat yet.

changed the oil. put my favorite mobile high mileage 15w40 in there and topped off the new wix oil filter with stp zddp additive.

changed out the power steering hose that has a sensor on it. it was leaking. i need to bleed the system today. i overfilled it because i'm a dummy

pulled the battery tray and have it soaking in vinegar with various rusty bolts.

pulled spark plugs and put anti seize on them and cleaned out the spark plug wires and put dialectric grease in them. the plugs looked great. cleaning up the distributor today.

tightened all the oil pan bolts to slow down a leak. they were all loose for some reason.

pulled battery cables. they were a mess. ordered some new ones. the battery is fine.

soaked the studs for 3 days in pb blaster before taking off the lug nuts. pb blaster is such a great product. all nuts came off without incident. greased all studs before reinstalling nuts. installed 2 new tires on the front. got them for $70 for both. great deal.

added bosch wiper blades.

pulled the bench seat. searching for a new one with legitimate headrests to keep the father and son safer in a collision.

scored a new hood at the junkyard to replace the rusty one! got it for $50. decent deal

front brake hoses look bad. when new battery cables come in i will test drive the truck and see if it needs a new setup. the rotors for the front discs has a very minimal groove. plenty of pad left on the front. no clue on the rear drum pad life.

on my way to pick up valve cover gasket i ordered yesterday. it's got a little leak.

more to come.