mfr1003

Hello! First forum post on F150 forums here. I was just considering picking up a 1994 V8 8' bed 4x4 from a friend of my dad's, really a family friend. his son bought it to exchange out his cab and put the cab from his 2WD onto this one, which he was more than capable of doing, but even though the wheelbase was correct, it still didn't fit.

His loss is my gain. Apparently there's nothing wrong with this thing mechanically, just body rust. I still don't know the mileage, but I've been looking high and low for something 4x4, 8' bed, and cheap. Rounding out at $500 asking price, I see no immediate reason why I should turn him down. according to KBB (not that reliable for older vehicles, I know) it would have to have over 300k miles to even come close to being worth merely $500 USD. More like 400k.

I'm hoping I can come across someone else with some experience with this MY, the V8 modular engine type, key things I need to watch out for, given a few different potential mileage ranges.

I'm not opposed to putting cosmetic work into this, I'd like to get some AM panels to remove the rust, repaint, bigger wheels. Raise it, lower it, I'm totally open to anything, but the cosmetic stuff will be HARD BACK SEAT to full mechanical corrections. I wont touch the body, except to spray for underbody and protect against any future rust, until I know the insides are good.

That being said, if the engine does breakdown and there's no sense in fixing it, I am also not opposed to tearing it out, rebuilding to run on Lithium or on E85. I've made Ethanol fuels and Biodiesels before, so the chemistry isn't unfamiliar to me. Like I said, totally open. My mechanical skills are good and I'm a quick learner, and I have many guides to EV modifications, as well as access to some of the country's best automotive electrical engineers, being located in Detroit/Auburn Hills, MI.

Whew, that was a lot, so let me know if you can think of anything.

Questions, comments, concerns, aches, pains, soreness, stiffness, swelling?

Thanks,

Mike

I wont even be able to see it for another two weeks, as the truck is in Illinois and I am in Michigan.




Small wheels, that may have to change





Standard look, nothing special





Rust around the fenders, It is the Midwest afterall

fltdriver

I doubt that is a 94, they started using clear coat on the red option in 94 so to me it looks like a 93 (could be wrong but that's what I see when I look at it). For $500 in this area that's a good price for a working 4x4. Battery conversion would basically be a waste of time of this heavy of a truck, don't get me wrong I've seen it done to a 90's Eldorado (close to the same weight) but it had very low torque/top speed and couldn't go very far on a charge because of the weight. These are pushrod engines, not modular, and are a dime a dozen around here so if it does take a crap on you swapping a new to you running engine in could be done in a day for a few hundred dollars. With all of that out of the way now I can get on to what I enjoy, recommendations.

https://www.f150forum.com/f10/what-l...6-f150-278425/
what to look for when buying a 87-96 F150

A quick list of what should be done IMO to a high mileage F150:
* Clean up all of the electrical connectors with quick drying electronic clean

* Clean up all of the chassis grounds

* Replace battery terminals

* Replace all of the small diameter vacuum lines, 22ft of 4mm hose and a 4-way vacuum tee. Takes about 30 minutes.

* Replace all of the fuses (120ct assortment is just $8-15 online)

* Full tune-up: plugs, wires, cap, rotor, belt, idler and tensionor pulley, all fluids, clean TB blades, all filters, replace rear brake lines.

* Replace inner/outer wheel bearings, upper/lower ball joints, tie rods, pads, shoes, rotors (hub assembly), drums, bushings, springs (coil and leaf), shocks.

* Efan conversion, one of the best things I've done to get a little better MPG and remove the airplane sound from the engine. With this you are pretty much required to upgrade to a 95 or 130amp 3g alternator.https://www.f150forum.com/f10/e-fan-conversion-273073/

* Upgrade to a 2row radiator
This is not an end all list, just what I can think of at 6am, those that are underlined are highly recommended before you do anything else. They will save you hours of headaches down the road by getting rid of common issues before they become a problem. My other suggestion to you is to look for a motorcraft TPS online, I got a NOS motorcraft TPS off of ebay for $6 shipped, and buy one when you find a good deal. TPS is a motorcraft only part for these trucks, anything else will just give you problems, and they can get pricey when ordering from a dealer or auto parts store. If you find one for under $10 buy it and hold on to it, you may not need it but chances are you probably will, kept mine in the garage for almost 6 months when one morning while I was working the original on the truck gave out and I got it home and back out on the road in less than an hour instead of waiting a couple days for the dealer/autostore or a week for online shipping.

Also don't let mileage affect your thoughts on the truck, mine has 310k miles on the original engine/transmission and still runs strong, never had a rebuild. Most of the other parts on the truck I've replaced through preventative maintenance, very few parts replaced out of necessity.

BTW: You have a nice score there, that truck has a F250 bumper with the cut outs for fog lights, those are really hard to find around here as everyone snatches them off of any truck in the junk yard or they get mangled due to being on a work truck.

Ron94150

For 500 dollars? I would sell/save the bumper, build me a cow killer, sawzall what was left of wheel wells and put the biggest set of mud tires I could fit under it. Then I would 4wheel the crap out of it. When it finally died you could part it out and make more than your money back.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

Not bad. Has some potential. First thing to chase down on that will probably be the steel brake lines. If they're not new, they're probably rusty. Gas tanks too.
Other than the cab corners (and probably the driver's floor), most of those rusty pieces unbolt, so if you get to really like the truck you can throw away the rusty parts and bolt on some better ones.

olie

I'd recommend AAS copper nickel brake line, you can get it on Amazon. The stuff is so easy to form and flare, and so much cheaper than buying pre-bent lines. The only downside for me is it was about impossible to find some of the fittings you need, but maybe your area is better.