1963 Ford F100 292 Y Block

[John Morris]

Folks, been saving and scrimping for years and finally my savings matched the price of a truck I am looking at. At 9000.0 my wife and I are heading out today to view a truck, after much back n forth with the owner, and getting a level of trust with him, I feel this is a good candidate for my driveway. Solid body, no rust, no bondo, I'll bring a magnet and cloth .

This truck will be our fun truck and trips to the hills and desert to go shooting with, not looking for a creme puff, I want to use it. When I retire it'll be my daily driver.

 

 

My question to the motor enthusiast here, the 292 Y block, from the research I have done on it it seems like a good engine, it certainly has its fan base in the Ford Motor Enthusiast Forums and some even call it bullet proof. My biggest concern is accessibility to common components, I want to perform my own tune ups and hang new parts on it when the time comes to replace those parts, so replacing plugs and wires and access to the distributor at a minimum would be desirable. But it appears there is a manifold in the way of it all, that I would have to remove if I needed to perform maintenance in those areas.

 

The engine just had a valve adjustment done by the owner mechanic, that's his shop in the image above, he says it runs very smooth.

 

This truck is just like my dad's truck I learned to drive on, 3 on the tree manual, I love that, but he had a V(block)8 where everything was easy to get too, I was replacing and hanging parts on his truck when I was a teen, and I remember there wasn't much to it.

 

So, again, anyone have any opinions on this particular motor? Maintenance, etc? Thanks in advance! @Gunny, @Larry Buskirk and anyone else with an opinion.

 

 

 

Decent interior too, but this is an entry level restore truck, I'll eventually have the truck interior repainted to match the exterior.

 

 

Non stock items will go away and be replaced with stock items such as the gas peddle, and the after market AM radio you see here, I'll look for an original. A new seat and new carpet have been done already.

 

 

I'll also get the stock hub caps on there as well in lieu of the moon caps.

 

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

My first car was a '55 ford with a 272 V8, basically the same engine, Yep, the plugs are under the exhaust manifold, the distributor is tucked away on the back of the intake, and on my 55 the oil filter was a spin on canister..it was a can you removed and put a cartridge into it. (I'm sure that was eventually changed, but I don't know when.) Also, the valves had to be adjusted annually or they had an annoying rattle. Man, I loved that car...those days were fond memories. Anyway, the tune up stuff was a headache, but not impossible. It was just points, plugs, condenser every so often and of course the oil change every 3000 miles (back then). Adjusting the valves was a trick I was never able to accomplish, you had to loosen a locking nut on the valve stem...then turn a screw to adjust the valves, while the engine was running, and put a feeler gauge under the rocker arm/valve stem checking clearance. When it felt "right" you locked it down...and the danged thing always shifted when i tightened the locking nut. So I wound up having that professionally done every 18 months or so. The oil change was the worst part, getting that canister back on so it wouldn't leak sometimes took 2-3 tries. But for the tune up stuff, no problem...though I'll bet I was a lot more flexible back then; and my eyesight was a lot better as well.

[John Morris]

@Fred W. Hargis Jr, excellent information, exactly what I was looking for, I think I can handle the tune up then based on your description. So you did not have to remove the manifold each time for a tune up? How did you get your wrench on the plugs, by braille?

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

No, you don't pull those off...that would be a nightmare. You do want to change those plugs when the engine is cold. (Don't ask)

[lew]

Can't help you much with this- not much of an auto mechanic. My fist car was a '56 Chevy. Later a '58 Ford with the big V-8 engine. The only thing I remember about the Ford was that the design engineers hung the oil filter from the ceiling and designed the engine around it. It was very difficult to change.

[John Morris]

2 minutes ago, lew said:

design engineers hung the oil filter from the ceiling and designed the engine around it. It was very difficult to change.

OUCH!

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I don't remember having a problem putting the socket on the plug and removing it....other than I seem to think I used a flex head ratchet and maybe an extension. One thing, the heads on that engine are cast iron so the plugs didn't get stuck like the do on today's aluminum heads. One other things, at car shows I see a lot of cars with that engine series show up, I have to think the parts aren't all that hard to find, though they may be expensive.

[lew]

1 minute ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

plugs didn't get stuck like the do on today's aluminum heads.

or cross threaded like in a  '65 VW Beetle... Don't ask....

[HandyDan]

Definitely doesn't have power brakes.  Probably still has the drum brakes.  Care needs to be taken at today's speeds.  Going down long steep hills can be a problem.  I had a 1968 GMC and lived with the same attributes.  I sold it a few years ago and miss it.  It is doable just be aware.

 

[John Morris]

9 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Definitely doesn't have power brakes.  Probably still has the drum brakes.  Care needs to be taken at today's speeds.  Going down long steep hills can be a problem.  I had a 1968 GMC and lived with the same attributes.  I sold it a few years ago and miss it.  It is doable just be aware.

Thanks Dan! Didn't catch the window washers and the horn. Ya, nothing on this truck is powered and you are right, no brake conversions, I asked

And thanks for the encouragement that you miss yours, I know I missed my dad's all these years!

[Larry Buskirk]

What , no "Thunder Chicken" valve covers and other chrome goodies? 

[John Morris]

23 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

What , no "Thunder Chicken" valve covers and other chrome goodies? 

Here in SO CAL, this was hard to find, without it being slammed to the ground and full of aftermarket chrome this and that and bucket seats out of a Lincoln with a steering column and wheel to match. Nobody can just leave these ol trucks alone anymore.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I think it's really a cool truck, reminds me of a 1960 F100 my FIL had. His wasn't in that good a shape, and this was 40+ years ago!

[JimM]

Nice find, John.  

 

I've owned a 68 MGB for close to 50 years.  I'm a member (more like a lurker) of an MG forum.  It's similar in many ways to TPW, where people willingly share their vast experience and knowledge.  Some are professionals.   

 

I mention this because it wouldn't surprise me to find one or more forums about old Ford trucks.   Along with the knowledge, you'll probably find suppliers, local clubs, and maybe even people who will share spares sitting on their shelves for the cost of shipping.

 

Hope this works out well for you.

Jim

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

1 hour ago, lew said:

The only thing I remember about the Ford was that the design engineers hung the oil filter from the ceiling and designed the engine around it. It was very difficult to change.

 

 

A practice they still use to this day on some models.

[Larry Buskirk]

8 hours ago, John Morris said:

Here in SO CAL, this was hard to find, without it being slammed to the ground and full of aftermarket chrome this and that and bucket seats out of a Lincoln with a steering column and wheel to match. Nobody can just leave these ol trucks alone anymore.

I prefer the sleeper look.

Think 46 Dodge PU with a 56 354 HEMI hid beneath those fold up hood sides.

[forty_caliber]

Very cool truck.  I've been looking around for an old Chevy truck.  They are very hard to find and looking at the prices, they must be made of 24 karat gold.

 

.40

[Cal]

Can't help you too much with the Ford stuff John.  A couple observations though.  The brake system has been upgraded to a dual master cylinder, that's a plus.  Wheels have been upgraded to replace the old split rims.  No need to go backwards on these items!  Is that a metal bar being used as a battery hold down? The wiring as a whole looks like it's been spliced into a time or two...

But the truck sure looks nice!  Look into a classic car insurance company, it will be much cheaper and offer full coverage.  Some of them have mileage restrictions, some or all of them require that you have a garage to keep it in.  I use Hagerty myself, but there are others out there.

[Grandpadave52]

Well @John Morris did this one follow you home? Cool truck. My dad had a 1961 with same Turquoise and white color scheme.

[John Morris]

Gents, thanks for all the wonderful feedback, and sorry for taking so long to get back on this one, still hurting over losing this truck, but there will be more in the future, these are however coming harder to find at a reasonable price, this one was a great deal, for the truck it is.

Unfortunately last minute bills went up, and some other lucky soul is the owner of this beautiful truck, but not to fret, the future will produce another!

In this topic I learned a lot, so it wasn't a complete loss.

 

Bottom line, and it's crazy how this worked, last year at this same time our company was in open enrollment for us to choose or keep a health care plan. And at this same time last year we were almost heading out the door to purchase a 1966 GMC in awesome condition for around 8500.00 bucks, then last minute I got an email from our open enrollment team that our health care plan went up by 400 dollars a month, and the other plans went up even more, so that event put the cabash on us leaving home to pick up that truck.

 

So here we are this year, right before open enrollment, and I found this beautiful truck, and our health care plans went up again! Literally a day before we were heading out to buy this truck, crazy right! So the lesson here is, don't hunt for a vehicle just before or during open enrollment!

 

We've all been through these things before, and usually, what you thought was a good thing, and got taken from ya, is replaced by something even better, with patience.