Hello. Some time back, a friend of mine bought a 1984 F250 for $500. The truck has certainly seen better days. It appears to have a leak from the steering box, the hood release doesn't work right, the odometer no longer works and he doesn't know what engine it has in it, other than it's a V8. He is thinking about moving next year and said that he would sell it to me for what he paid for it. I went over to look at the truck today to see if I could learn anything. There is apparently a trick to getting the hood to open, but I don't know it, so I crawled around under it to have a look.

Are there any tricks I can use to learn which engine this truck has in it? There is enough debris at the front of the dash that the VIN can't be seen. From reading online, it seems that it could be anything from a 302 up to a 460. It has a Borg Warner transmission behind it, with side plate access and reads 13-09-065-911.
If I buy the truck, the first order of business is to strip it to the frame and rebuild the engine.

 

Given the markings on the side of the transmission, I believe it's a T19, so I'm thinking the engine is probably a 460.

 

Try looking for the VIN on the door jamb sticker or on insurance / registration cards.

 

I found the VIN and did a lookup to confirm the 7.5L engine. If I buy it, I likely won't drive it much. I want to do a restomod and possibly pull the engine, replacing it with a 347. I've ordered an LMC truck catalog for any parts that I need to replace, but I'll remove the bed and the cab, strip them and repaint them, and fix all of the mechanical issues while I have it apart. I see blocks on the rear axle which makes me think it's been lifted, but I don't see anything on the front axle that would indicate that. And it appears to be an '86 instead of an '84.

 

if you end up keeping the truck the first thing you should do is get yourself a decent dana 44 for the front with all the steering from a pre 80's ford pickup then you would be set. 84-86 is the worst years imo for the ford trucks. the front axle is a split axle which is horrible. u would be good with a dana 44. and id keep that 460 if u are looking for power because a stroked 302 will be just as hard on gas as that 460 with half the power.