Ford F150 Flareside Stepside
Description
1986 F150 Flareside with 4.9L (300ci) inline six cylinder and 4 speed manual transmission with granny gear. It has power steering and power brakes, no AC.
The good:-zero rust anywhere on it-wood bed is in serviceable condition-no cracks in fiberglass fenders-almost new tires-clean, straight original wheels
The bad:-the seat is ugly, cracked and split under the seat cover and needs a bolt in the adjustment track-no radio-various interior trim pieces missing-likely has bad head gasket-bad water pump
I picked this truck up in non running condition and was going to use a spare 300 six that I had from a past project. I bought this one because the body really was in fantastic shape--no rust, no cracks in the fiberglass fenders, etc. It does have a flat black rattle can paint job on it. I didn't do that, don't blame me--though it's actually done pretty well considering it's a rattle can job.
Out of curiosity, I got the truck running and it actually runs pretty well all things considered. The water pump hemorrhages water from the snout and a compression test showed cylinders 2 and 3 as being low. The other 4 cylinders were +- 5 psi of 125 psi. The two weak ones were at 60 psi. All that together sounds like a blown head gasket. There was not any water in the oil when I changed it.
My guess: the water pump went bad and someone continued driving it and it got hot and blew the head gasket.
This is a decently easy fix since it's a straight six. My wife recently laid down the law and said no more kids in the front seat of old trucks, so all of my old Ford flaresides are being sold.
The truck starts, runs and can easily be driven up onto a trailer without concern. I would not advise trying to drive this one home without a new water pump and a head gasket swap.
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