My truck kicked my butt the other day.
New water pump, upper and lower radiator hoses, new thermostat,
heater hose, all new hose clamps and two new fan belts.
While putting the water pump on one of gaskets slipped out and I didn't
notice it until it was all put back together and filled up with some fresh
antifreeze.
Then I noticed a small drip. Everything had to come back off to get the
gasket back in there.

I know, the rest of the engine is looking pretty bad.
Two cans of degreaser and a pressure washer and it barely put a dent in
the grease. Its thick and 45 years old.
Its going to take a high pressure steam cleaner so that's not going to
happen for a long time.
Just too many other things need fixing.

I hurt this morning. I'm getting too old for this kind of work.

I ordered two new belts for it and they were the wrong belts.
I had two matched sets of Motorcraft belts that I had for my '72 F-250
and to my surprise they fit this truck.
The alternator and power steering take the same belt.




I got offered $6000 for my truck the other day.
Sorry, but its not for sale.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I finally got my new tail lights in.
I had to do a little "body work" to get them to fit.
The left one the body was all bent up from the previous owner
using a huge screwdriver or such to get the tailgate open.
I fixed that with a new $40 latch and clips and now the tailgate
works perfectly.
The right one was just some light body damage.




My new j-bolts arrived too so now the battery wont be going anywhere.
The battery, battery tray, hold down and bolts and the + cable are all new.



The new pintle hitch showed up too.
I will use this and my recovery strap to help out my friends
when they get in over their head.

I have some new Spicer u-joints waiting for the rear and
intermediate drive shafts.

I have doctor appointments in Salt Lake next week and snowcat
training so they'll have to wait until the following week.

The truck is coming along nicely.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Bought some oil while I was in Salt Lake yesterday.
I was hoping to find some blended oil with zinc but no luck this time.



New shocks, front brake pads and new u-joints for the two front drive axles arrived yesterday.

All I need now is some time to work on it.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Finally got my plates.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I just took it across the scales this afternoon.

Myself, a full tank of gas and two spare tires in the bed weigh roughly 400 pounds making the truck about 5000 lbs dry.
The truck also has an aftermarket auxiliary gas tank but it is empty so it might not even weigh 5000 lbs from the factory.

So with a 7700 lb GVW rating it is capable of carrying around 2300 lbs.

Its kind of a light weight for a 3/4 ton truck.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

My daughter named my truck Lurch.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I had some other things come up that put the old truck on the back
burner for a while.

Well yesterday I finally got a little time to work on it and I replaced the
valve cover gaskets that were leaking profusely.

I was quite pleased at how clean the inside of the engine is. I was
expecting to see a lot of sludge build up for some reason. Maybe
the Amsoil engine flush that I used did what it was supposed to.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I guess its time for an update. I've done a lot but too much to post.

Most recently, I bought this 1966 Mercury 410 for my truck, the
red and blue engine.
These 410s are just a stroked 390. The block, heads, connecting
rods are all 390.
The crankshaft is a from a 428. They were first offered in full
size Mercurys in Oct 1965 until the end of 1967.
Pistons are unique to the 410.

This one was rebuilt in 1972, taken from a totaled low
mileage Mercury and it has never been started.

It was in CO Springs, an 1145 mile round trip.






I bought these like new 1966 Mercury valve cover off eBay,
most likely NOS as I can't see any evidence that they have ever
been installed.




The red had to go.






Too bad that back in 1972 they didn't have hardened valves and seat.




I took the engine over to my friends shop yesterday where we'll do the swap.
This is like the doctor letting you carry your new heart into the operating room.




This is who and where I bought the truck from. Funny it comes back to Geof's place for the transplant.




Checked all the cylinders with a bore scope and found dead
critters in cylinder #2.




Very pleased to see that he used domed pistons like the factory
did rather than some flat top pistons.
It stil retains its factory 10.5:1 compression.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Nothing will stick one faster than that old red dirt in the west, and the black gumbo here in the south. The standard is a huge help along with the tires. If it ever breaks loose and you lose forward momentum—or the ability to get it rocking back and forth, you are on foot! And a good 4 x 4 makes for LONG WALKS!

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

Been there done that.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Really like this post, keep them coming...

__________________
OGCA Member.

I got a "Marti Report" for my truck that listed the options that were ordered
for this truck. It also listed the date it rolled off the assembly line and
which plant is was assembled at.



So I got personalized plates with the truck's birthday.

Back on April while in for my doctor visit and treatment my doctor said, "your next appointment is may 10th".

I said great, that's my trucks birthday. LOL So I explained it to him.








At my next appointment, May 10 his nurse Casey said, "we have something for you" and handed me this card.

A birthday card for my truck!!! How awesome is that??

I can't believe that he remembered let alone bought a car for my truck.

My doctor is awesome. Cancer hates him.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I figger it was already worth it just for the broken-in work gloves on the front seat.
keep on trucking!

I rebuilt the carburetor that I an going to use on the 410 today.
Its a Motorcraft 4300 that came off a 1974 Ford F-250 with a 460.
These are 610 CFM carbs and should work just fine.
Maybe an upgrade later on.
I ran it for a few years a long time ago on a 400 that I had in my '79 F250.




The phenolic carb spacer that I picked showed up the same day as the carb kit.




I got my new clutch today.
I bought the new flywheel the day I made the deal on the 410.
The crankshaft used in 410s and 428s (same crankshaft) are
externally balanced unlike all the other Ford FE engines that are
internally balanced so the flywheel on the current 390 wont work
on the 410. I bought new flywheel bolts too.




Its getting closer to getting dropped into the old truck.
Hopefully next week.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Ought to as good if not better than new when you are finished!

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

it will definitely run a lot better but it will never look any better than it does now.

I love the color, I just don't have the funds for the body work and paint.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I'm going to start the engine swap in the morning.
Hopefully have the old one out and the needed parts transferred over to the 410 tomorrow and then drop the 410 in Wednesday.

Kind of funny I'm replacing the 1966 Mercury 390 with a 1966 Mercury 410.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

^ bigger is better.

Time for another update.




I got the 410 installed about two weeks ago. Filled all the fluids
and went to crank it over to build up some oil pressure and get
some oil where it needed to be before actually starting it and it
would turn over, not even a tiny little bit.




So yesterday it came back out. I thought the new flywheel I had
bought was the problem so I had ordered a different brand to
have on hand just incase.

We couldn't see that there was any contact with the flywheel and block
so I pulled the pan thinking there was a problem inside.



I had to remove the flywheel so we could mount the engine on
the engine stand. The second bolt I removed I noticed that it
had bottomed out against the block.

I 'd bought new flywheel bolts and didn't compare them to the
old ones, they looked the same.




So I used the old ones off the 390, got it bolted back in and fired it up.



It sounds great with a great throttle response.

This was the first time this 410 has been started since being
rebuilt 50 years ago. I am very pleased with how it sounds and runs.

I'm off to town to get some hardware to fix the clutch linkage.
Then bolt the hood back on and take it for a spin.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Nice looking truck and a great project OP. Please post the details on those tires. I have not been able to find any even close to those in years.

They are bias ply Deestone Extra Traction in 7.50x16.

I bought them on-line from Simple Tire and had them mounted
and balanced locally.

I believe that Dunlop still makes these types of tires too.

Just a moment...

^^^^^^^ Simple Tire Link

I get more compliments on the tires than any thing else.

They rock.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Kemmy:

I love this thread and have enjoyed reading about your progress.

Maybe I missed something but I did not see any explanation as to why you did the engine swap. You put a lot of time in effort in the first engine. What happened? BTW, the new engine looks and sounds great.

__________________
Charlie Flick
SWCA 729 HF 215

Thank you.





I bought the truck with this junkyard 390 2v out of a 1966
Mercury Monterey. I was told if had a miss and burned oil.

What I didn't know was that #5 was blowing oil out of the
breather cap, a lot of oil - a quart every 100 miles.
Neither did the guy I bought it from.



You can see the oil blow-by on the new washer fluid reservoir.

That water pump started leaking and the valve covers leaked
too so I replaced them because I didn't know how or when I was
going to deal with the engine.

It actually ran pretty good. It took about 800 miles to fowl the
#5 spark plug.



I drove the truck into town twice today, that's the first 100 miles.
It ran great and pulls pretty hard.

They were rated at 330 HP at 4600 RPM and 444 lb ft torque at 2800.
I'm hoping the RV cam bumped those numbers up a little.

I feel very lucky to have found the 410.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Thanks for the explanation on the engine swap, Kenny. I admire your technical skills and willingness to take on this interesting, fun project. That is a neat truck!

Charlie

__________________
Charlie Flick
SWCA 729 HF 215

My first truck was a 76 ford f100 302 auto 2WD
It was alright , wish I still had it
I was a young guy then and my only modification was an alpine stereo lol
It died in a ditch on highway 20, results of my speed and inexperience
Sad end to a good truck

__________________
the rules? there are no rules

Thanks for asking and following the thread Charlie.

I hope no one was hurt on the last day of you're '76 F-100 kamoops67.

My background is automotive. I worked on a lot of these many moons ago.

I'll be 68 soon. I pulled the engine out, took the pan off, new gasket and
reinstalled the pan, changed flywheel bolts and put the engine back in and
got it fired up and running and it took me just about 10 hours
and my back still hurts.

I started out looking for a used 1/2 ton 4wd regular cab.
Regular cabs are hard to find these days and the ones I did find
that were in my price range were old, junk and way over priced.

Then I thought, gee - Geof has that old Ford sitting in his field.
I wonder if he would sell it to me?

And that's how it all started.



Its nice to have it back in the driveway.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

This is where my truck sat for roughly 20 years. I got started maybe
once or twice every couple of years nd driven a few miles a couple of times.

Geof lives about 2 1/2 miles up the canyon from me.




Some loggers owned it and they used it to fight a fire while logging if
one ever started. So it used to be a fire apparatus.

That's a 300 gallon water tank, the pump and the hose. We lifted out of
the bed of the truck with his tractor the day I bought it.

When I asked Geof it he would sell it to me and he said to let him think about it.
The next day he told me he'd take $800 for it.

I went to the bank and got some cash out and gave him $1200.
He asked why?? I told him I still felt like I was ripping him off.

He's the one that provided the space and told to do the engine transplant.

Geof is always going the extra mile for people.




This is his project. We were talking a while back and he said the
only thing he was lacking in the engine department was an
aluminum intake manifold. So we talked about the different
ones and he said he was planning on buying a Weiand intake.

Its a very healthy 1970 460.




I surprised him with a new Weiand Stealth manifold.
He said that's way too much.

Not quite so Monday I'll pick up a gift card for the best steakhouse in town for he and his wife.

They are both wonderful people.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

You’re a good man and yes 1200 is way cheap for that truck in this market
You could get 4 times that up here all day long
Yeah a good steak might sweeten the deal lol

__________________
the rules? there are no rules

Thank you, he's a good friend.

He never "owned" the truck. The owner asked him if he could
leave it on his property while he finished up his logging operation.

Then the owner got sick, left for CA then later to NY. Geof tried for
some time to contact him but he never could find him. So the
truck just sat there for 20 years.

I had to fill out all kinds of forms to get a title for it.

Another good friend is an LEO and he ran the vin # and said
that was the first time that absolutely nothing came up. Nor
could he find an info on the owner, even with his SS# and
birthdate. Weird.

Geof said that was one of the reasons he didn't want much for
the truck, that and it needed a lot of work.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I’ve owned several mid and late 70s F150 and F250. There’s just something about them that looks right. I’d love to find a truck like that. Up here in the land of salt covered winter roads that truck would bring a pretty penny. It’s hard to find a 15 yr old truck that isn’t rusting through the panels. Congrats

They are good looking trucks for sure. I've always liked them too.



The truck looks better in pictures than in person.
You can see this side of the bed has some damage and surface rust.
It is the factory paint but the hood and cab are pitted bad.

What's most amazing about the body is that the re is no rust in the wheel wells, back cab corners or cab mounts.

There is some rust in the fenders but not much. I never plan on
painting it.



It runs and sounds good.

I have about 125 miles on the new engine and I am very
pleased with how well it runs, actually I'm pretty impressed.

Some time down the road I'll replace the single exhaust with
something that breaths better. I did order a new carburetor for it.

I still have lots of projects for the truck. The next big upgrade will be "vintage air donditioning".

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I still think I stole it and he keeps reassuring me that I didn't.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Well sounds like it went to a good home and that’s the most important thing

__________________
the rules? there are no rules

Thank you. Geof said that was the biggest reason he decided to sell it to me.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Let's see, I've had 2 '76 F100s, both 2 WD, one was a SWB 360 3 speed and the other was a 300 six automatic. My first new vehicle was a '77 F150 4x4, SWB with a 351M and 4 speed. Next was a new '78 F150, set up the same way as the '77.

The '76ers and the '77 were all good trucks. The '78 was a real dog. No power, clutch went out at 13,700 miles (NO off roading), power steering started leaking, fuel pump went bad at 30K. I thought about painting it yellow and having Sunkist put on the side.

Glad you're get yours fixed up, Kenny.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

That's more pickups than me.

1958 1/2 ton Chevy Apache, 1979 F-250 Ranger XLT 4wd, 1972 F-250 Ranger XLT 2wd, 2011 Chevy 2500HD and this 1976.

They have all been great trucks.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I also dig your signature tag lol
“ endeavour to persevere “
“We thought about what it meant for a long time , and when we had thought about it long enough , we declared war on the US army “

__________________
the rules? there are no rules

I ordered a new 650 CFM double pumper with an electric choke for my truck.

It will arrive today but I can't install it until Monday when I get back form out of town.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

You need to put a large winch on the front of that truck so you'll have something to pull your friends out when they get stuck.

I bought a pintle for the rear receiver and I already had this
recovery strap so I can pull them up the steep hills.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I bought a new carburetor, its a Brawler 650 double pump with an electric choke.
They are made by Holley. Its cast aluminum rather than their
traditional pot metal and they are quite a bit less expensive
than a regular Holley. Its the same carburetor as a regular Holley.






I got it bolted on yesterday and it runs great. Very pleased with just how
well this 410 runs.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I had to get a new air cleaner because the factory one wouldn't fit the new carburetor.




I also lost the lid to my washer fluid reservoir going into or back from town today.

Its only about 10 months old.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Oh, that was just the '76 and '77 Fords. I've also owned a '53 F100, a '66 Chevy C10, a '75 Dodge D100, an '80 Ford F100 and a '95 Isuzu P'up. All of these were 2WD.

I have also owned a '98 Ford Ranger and a '01 F150. These two were 4WD.

Then there were the 4x4 SUVs-an '80 Bronco, an '04 Ford Escape, a '70 GMC Jimmy, an '84 Isuzu Trooper, a '88 Trooper and a 2000 isuzu Rodeo.

My current pick-up is a '88 LWB F150 4x4. My momma gave this one to me when my dad died.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I tend to buy a vehicle and drive it until there's nothing left. LOL

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

Oh, I forgot about my '63 F100. Worn out steering box, leaky brakes, no parking brake, 240 six engine smoked badly. However, it would haul a load of firewood out of the forest whereas my buddy's '79 F100 with the 302 got stuck.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I was accused of that once. Went to buy a new vehicle in Calif. where I was stationed. The dealer told us they did not like people like us. We drove the vehicles to long and used them up. They wanted to see people that traded vehicles every year or two years..........

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Lol that’s me as well , I despise monthly payments so usually buy vehicles for cash .
Current truck is a 2002 Sierra that I found a few years back with only 140k on it for $5000 so far it’s needed a fuel pump and an alternator , just did the brakes
Still way cheaper than a new truck and I don’t have to cry when I find a new scratch
I have a 83 cutlass supreme bought for $4000 that I’ve been fixing up as well ,so far just wheels ,window tint and full paint job ( Dodge Challenger b5 blue pearl) half done the interior then onto suspension:-) .
I have considerably more cash tied up in the car but a guy’s gotta have at least one cool ride right ?

__________________
the rules? there are no rules

I bought this very clean, low mileage one owner Lincoln Town Car about 2 1/2 years ago.
It has been an excellent car.




I initially paid $800 for my truck and I am into it more than the Lincoln.

I thought I would be into the truck about $3000. Boy was I wrong. LOL

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I’d imagine the ‘66 Marauder engine could be a 410.....

Standard FE look 4.05 bore (390) with a 3.98 stroke (predecessor to 428)

With a 4spd tat should be a real stump puller. Long live the good ol high boys!

J