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This page is for my 1976 F-150 that you can see on "my projects" page. I will be posting pictures
of what is did look like and what is does look like now. Plus a description of what i have planned for the next stage. It
was born a regular cab, long box fleetside XLT Ranger with a 390/C6/9" with 3:25 gears. I bought it, being my first truck, for
$300 when i was 18 in 1993 and the 390 had a spun bearing so it was pulled after driving it for a couple months.
I installed a 1977 460ci 4bbl engine out of a 2dr LTD. I didnt have the proper motor mounts for it so i turned the 390 mounts
vertical, bolted the top side of the mount to the engine and the post to the frame mounts. I dont know why it never came apart,
i put thousands of miles on that engine and it finally started burning more oil than gas which might have had something to
do with the 5000+rpm it saw regularly? In 1994 i put on some 275/60/15s on the back and i had a 2.5" stainless dual exhaust
system with blue bottles installed for $300 after my farmered dual exhaust fell off on main street lol! I lost
my license because of a little incident involving a Yamaha 750 Special and a cop car doing 140mph thru the mountians but that
is another story. However, as a result of that incident, my truck sat all of 1995 in my parents yard (i was 20yrs old). In
the spring of 1995 i bought a 1967 4dr Ford Custom 500 (Galaxie body) which had a 289-2bbl engine. With a home made tripod
and a 2ton chain hoist i pulled the 289 and the 460, installed the 460 in the car which ended up my first derby car, and
kept the 289 out. In the spring of 1996, the 289 was sent out to the machine shop ofter dissasembly to be line bored, bored
out .030 over then brought home to be assembled with TRW 10:1 aluminum pistons, a mild cam and headers. A friend and i welded
on new box sides and cab corners and then installed the engine with the 67 Custom's original rear pump style FMX transmission.
It was fitted with a split driveshaft and the same dual exhaust from before. I then drove it up north where i had moved and
had the exterior professionally painted. I installed a Pioneed cassette deck, an Alpine amplifier and a pair of Rockford Fosgate
truckrider speakers and then drove it all summer of 1996 like that. Then in 1997 i took the truck totally apart again and
had all the underhood, interior and dash painted, installed a Cougar sunvisor i bought used from a guy who was parting out
his 1979 F-150 and installed a rear slider after having it tinted locally. I spent a couple weeks putting the truck
back together with a dyed black interior, and a recovered $300 bench seat and new Auto Custom Carpets loop pyle carpet. I
also installed a rebuilt front pump style FMX automatic transmission with a 1000rpm overstock stall torque converter
and a TCI Stage 1 shift kit. Im not sure what i was thinking but i bought a roll bar for it and installed it in
the front of the box. See, in northern Alberta redneck guys do that and at the time i didnt know better but i came to my senses
in a few months and sold it to a guy who used it properly and put it in a 4x4 in Idaho. I drove the truck until 1999 when
i decided it was time to park it due to some serious wiring issues and a very bad set of kingpins. It sat for a while, i pulled
the engine and put in a 302 just to move it around... see the original plan was for me to find a smaller car for the 289 and
to put in another big block. I dont know exactly when i decided, but eventually after learning more and more about cars and
engines and whatnot i made up my mind to move on to the next stage: to convert the truck to a short wheelbase F-150 with a
428-8bbl and a C6 transmission. I found a shortbox frame in the local junkyard for $120, i found a 428 out in a field (still
to be determined if its usable) for free, i will be using the original C6 which i still have (still have the 390 too!) and
i found a 6' box up north for $100. I also lucked out in finding a nice Offenhouser 360 degree Aluminum dual 4bbl intake
manifold for $150! The plan was to sandblast the frame, weld up the holes in the box, rebuild the engine to about 450-500hp
and put it all back together. In the meantime i have been restoring my 69 Superbee (restoration in progress page) and the
truck has been waiting for its turn. A working man like me cant afford two projects like that at the same time. While waiting,
i located a 1978 F-150 SWB Fleetside pickup which wasin very nice shape and had been brought up from Texas! It has a much
nicer box which ill be using instead of my holy one, a nicer frame and i will be switching cabs. I fought with a guy to get
that truck home but after 7 months it was mine at $600 more than i had originally agreed to pay for it. Not only did
i lose money on that deal but also a trusting friendship. Anyhow, these things have their ups and downs as everyone knows
and that is as far as i have gotten. I will post more as it happens, stay tuned!
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