A build 7 years in the making (1981 f150 stepside)
Posted: Wed May 19, 2021 9:50 pm
Well, finally after 7 long years I finally get to mess with this truck. I know it’s been out up for sale a few times over the years but now it’s time to officially make it mine. My dad and I got this as my 1st car back in 2014 with no motor or trans for $900. I put a battery in it and spent hours listening to the radio.
We eventually took it to a junk yard and had then put in an electric carb 302 which was the biggest pos ever haha. Leaked tons of oil, no power, maybe 5 mpg and would not pass smog. Fast forward 3 years And we then eventually got around to getting the truck LS swapped with a gen IV 5.3 vortec which was our next mistake as the drive by wire made the swap a pain and we took it to a shop who was not familiar with the swap and spent almost 6 months in the shop. As well as having an alarm system installed by a very unskilled electrician and having suspension done by mechanics with low attention to detail. Finally after getting the truck back it had continuous issue with fuel delivery, brakes not functioning and rode terrible. But it did get a fairly decent paint job. Mind you this is my first car and have no idea how to actually work on it or diagnose issues. It sense was stored away as I never had time to fix it or make it how it should be.
Fast forward 7 years and 16 cars later I’m ready to attack it. I’ve had 4 long travel trucks since then, multiple crawlers and worked on countless friends cars that I felt competent enough to do a stage 1 rebuild on this truck. Plans are install drop hangers, extended shackles, build my own leaf pack, bump and strap the rear, redo all wiring for the truck int/ext, install some proper seat brackets and some mastercraft Baja rs seats, sound system, overhaul the front end and pull the motor out and essentially redo the whole swap but correctly. Also make sure brakes function well enough to lock up the wheels
Already ordered most of the parts to get the rear put back together so should have the rear done in the next week or so. Running stock placement bilstein 5100s I should be pulling 13” of travel in the back. Drive shaft needs to be shortened about 3” and will have to go back to 33s as I believe the stock stepside bed is not wide enough to tuck 35s I’ll be checking that next.
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We eventually took it to a junk yard and had then put in an electric carb 302 which was the biggest pos ever haha. Leaked tons of oil, no power, maybe 5 mpg and would not pass smog. Fast forward 3 years And we then eventually got around to getting the truck LS swapped with a gen IV 5.3 vortec which was our next mistake as the drive by wire made the swap a pain and we took it to a shop who was not familiar with the swap and spent almost 6 months in the shop. As well as having an alarm system installed by a very unskilled electrician and having suspension done by mechanics with low attention to detail. Finally after getting the truck back it had continuous issue with fuel delivery, brakes not functioning and rode terrible. But it did get a fairly decent paint job. Mind you this is my first car and have no idea how to actually work on it or diagnose issues. It sense was stored away as I never had time to fix it or make it how it should be.
Fast forward 7 years and 16 cars later I’m ready to attack it. I’ve had 4 long travel trucks since then, multiple crawlers and worked on countless friends cars that I felt competent enough to do a stage 1 rebuild on this truck. Plans are install drop hangers, extended shackles, build my own leaf pack, bump and strap the rear, redo all wiring for the truck int/ext, install some proper seat brackets and some mastercraft Baja rs seats, sound system, overhaul the front end and pull the motor out and essentially redo the whole swap but correctly. Also make sure brakes function well enough to lock up the wheels
Already ordered most of the parts to get the rear put back together so should have the rear done in the next week or so. Running stock placement bilstein 5100s I should be pulling 13” of travel in the back. Drive shaft needs to be shortened about 3” and will have to go back to 33s as I believe the stock stepside bed is not wide enough to tuck 35s I’ll be checking that next.
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