r/BullnoseFord

Just wanted to show off

Looking to potentially join the ranks...there's an '86 F250 with the 5.0 near me for about 4k. It's pretty straight, has some rust showing through in the rear wheel wells but the cab corners are solid. A little bit in the floor under driver's side (not rusted out though). Guy says it's at around 125k miles but he has only owned it for a short period of time, and bought another project he'd rather work on (thus selling this one).

Any advice from the veterans of these trucks? I have no idea if $4k is overpaying or if that's how much an example like this costs. Any tips appreciated, thanks!

I see alot of people with the 300 inline 6 that either dont have any of these vaccum lines or very few. Im curious if people are deleting them or how necessary all of them really are. Until I know im obviously leaving everything as is😂

Not my first bullnose, but the perfect one for me. 85 F250 6.9 T19 4x4. Canadian import 160k original miles. Won this bad boy on BAT in the spring and drove it 500 miles back home from the Tetons. Has been my daily driver for work now where I restore other ford trucks.

Edited to add: These vent temps were taken with an ACTUAL thermometer.. if you’re using those laser thermometers, they’re not measuring your air temp, they’re measuring the surface of the air duct, which will read colder.

For anyone who saw the “Radio Shack Ford”.. this is my 1981 F100 that still has all the original R12 equipment. I’m on the third year of running keyboard duster in this system. Today was a decent day to show off the performance after my matinee show here in Branson, MO.. although we have a day coming up that’s supposed to be around 97ish. I’ll check vent temps again if we reach those ambient temps. If any of you bullnosers out there have thought about trying this refrigerant conversion, I just want to verify that you can absolutely get satisfactory results. Just do your homework, be safe about it, and know that there’s always risks to evaluate when going against “factory recommended yadda yadda etc etc”.. For any of you AC gurus out there who understand the lingo, I actually own the Ford service manual, and I’m right in spec with their graph charts.. Here’s Ford’s stable specs vs MY stable results.. (keyword, STABLE)

Ford specs:
Maintain steady 1500 RPMs
Cabin temp: 70-80 degrees F
Blower motor speed: HIGH
Low side pressure - 24-52 psi (wild range, I know 🤷🏼‍♂️) on a zero slope chart.
High side pressure: 200-290 at 95F ambient on a sloped graph.
Left center vent temp: 37-47 F regardless of ambient temp. Just like low side pressures, this chart is also a zero slope- i.e. regardless of ambient temp, the values stay the same horizontally across the graph.

My results:
Holding 1500 RPM for about 20 minutes
Cabin temp: Consistent 72 degrees F (I have NO tinted windows, by the way. Heat soak is REAL.. tinted windows would significantly lower cabin temps, obviously.. but I love the stock look.)
My Low side pressure: 27-28psi
My High side pressure: 240 psi
Left center vent temp: 37.7F was the lowest temp I got as you see pictured, but that was on a lower blower setting (slower fan speed always equals colder air) And 46.5 on high blower setting at 1500 RPMs. That 46.5 is right at the upper range of Ford’s “expected” temps.. but I can’t verify exactly what their controlled environments were. I’m doing this in my driveway, in the sun, with 53% humidity, not in any sort of shop building or anything like that.

Cruising down the road at that same 1500 RPM, yielded a steady vent temp of around 42F, which is perfectly in the center of their recommended range 🙌🏼 Driving forces much more air through the condenser than the radiator fan will pull at 1500 RPMs sitting still.

I don’t know what the long term results will be of using this keyboard duster, but I’ll keep this truck as original as possible, for as long as possible 😎

Got the starter problem addressed, has compression, spark and is getting fuel but carburetor is still locked up. Probably just going to order a dual plane 4 bbl intake and put a Holley 4160 I have on it.

Gauge system says diesel fuel only and is priced at $225. Radio bezel is $75

I was lucky enough to score this single owner 1981 f150 custom for $400. I drive a tow truck for work so It made picking up even easier! So far it's one of the smartest choices I made.. You can see the change I made with a bit of off and on work in a week and it's back to a daily driving life!

Anybody do any meets with these here in Washington? If not I'm thinking maybe I should set one up 😁

85 302 efi. One end of the ground is cut the other is completely hanging. They both mount to the stud on top of the subframe it seems.