Soldato
He's a drug runner for one of the cartels. 
My shed of a 1978 Ford F-150
- Thread starter geekman
- Start date
That is awesome. Apart from the steering, what's it like to drive?
Also you've probably answered this somewhere before, but what brought you to Mexico, out of interest?
I haven’t pushed it that hard because of the steering, but it feels relatively quick for what it is from 0-50, although the exhaust exit is directly under the cab, so progress it not made in a quiet fashion
. The transmission is 3 speed so it holds onto the gears for ages - around town you almost forget that it has gears at all. It’s very rattly over bumps, although that seems to be more from the body and interior trim than the suspension. The previous owner had it up to 90 which I’d imagine is about as quick as it can go, but I won’t be trying that until the steering is sorted. It’s a real “event” to drive - you feel like you’re stepping back in time, particularly when driving around poor areas where all the cars are 20+ years old.I came here because I started dating a Mexican girl I met when I was living in France. She initially wanted to stay in Europe but we came here for a while and decided to stay. There’s a lot more opportunities and freedom here than in most places - the house project I bought this truck for would have been impossible for me to afford in England, for example.
Soldato
As I understand it, the various ancient American transmissions shouldn't hold onto gears much at all and should shift out of 1st at even fairly low speed. Given you think the steering is a bit knackered it could well be that the trans has some issues with the valve bodies and/or the linkage to the throttle/carb is a bit janked.
Hmm, that could be something to look into then. It does shift out of 1st at about 10mph, but everything from 10 to about 50 seems to be done in 2nd, then anything above in 3rd. So when you’re driving around town, unless you come to a complete stop, it tends to stay in 2nd.
Soldato
One thing at a time though, if it's shifting that's something. 
I don't know a huge amount about their transmissions or if the one in that F150 should shift more often. I understand it to be something like in high by about 40mph or something if you're just lazily driving about, though obviously if you mash it, it should downshift / hold onto the gears longer.
I don't know a huge amount about their transmissions or if the one in that F150 should shift more often. I understand it to be something like in high by about 40mph or something if you're just lazily driving about, though obviously if you mash it, it should downshift / hold onto the gears longer.
One thing at a time though, if it's shifting that's something.
My main thought during the test drive was “it has gears, and they change, this is good”. It downshifts correctly as well so whilst I’ll get it looked into, as you say, it’s not a priority considering the state of the rest of the truck.
Definitely need to get a new grille as it's so badly damaged in one corner that the indicator can't be secured properly. A family member has a bodyshop, so I'm planning on dropping it off with him to get it sorted - he seems to think that he can rebuild the grille and will then paint the entire truck and remove all the dents. OEM grilles in good condition are very expensive, so it would be great if he could repair it. Only problem is that he has CV19 right now, so it'll be at least a couple of weeks before I can get it to him. I don't need it to look perfect as it's going to be a work truck after all, but I would like it to look a lot better than it does now.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 7,606
You could bash most of that out on a bag of sand
Caporegime
Excuse me but... Cable ties, self tappers, glue, duct tape, string, these are all things which exist.
You don't need a new grille to secure the indicator, come on man, keep with the spirit of the thing! Haha
You don't need a new grille to secure the indicator, come on man, keep with the spirit of the thing! Haha
Excuse me but... Cable ties, self tappers, glue, duct tape, string, these are all things which exist.
You don't need a new grille to secure the indicator, come on man, keep with the spirit of the thing! Haha
I can get it fixed up so cheaply though that it seems stupid not to. I had my Caliber totally resprayed with all dents removed for £200. Turned out pretty well, until someone went into the back of it a couple of weeks ago anyway.
Obviously I don’t want it to be mint, but it would be nice for it to look well preserved at the least.
Caporegime
It would probably be cheaper for me to ship my car to Mexico, have some guy there paint it, then have it shipped back, than just paying someone local to do it.
Just needs a little bit of work and then it look like this one
https://hornblasters.com/pages/coltons-1978-f150
Just needs a little bit of work and then it look like this one
https://hornblasters.com/pages/coltons-1978-f150
I'd love it to look like that, albeit with different wheels. The stock ride height is high enough for the off roading I'll be doing, but I'd eventually like to lift it, fit 4x4, and put massive off road tyres on it.
Associate
Nice truck. It's got money pit written all over it, but it looks nice regardless
I used to have a thing for pickups when I was a kid, and would still like one if I'm ever in a position to have multiple cars that I don't need (which I probably won't be...).
I used to have a thing for pickups when I was a kid, and would still like one if I'm ever in a position to have multiple cars that I don't need (which I probably won't be...).
Caporegime
Just needs a little bit of work and then it look like this one
https://hornblasters.com/pages/coltons-1978-f150
Why dont we have a vomit emoji...
Nice truck. It's got money pit written all over it, but it looks nice regardless
I used to have a thing for pickups when I was a kid, and would still like one if I'm ever in a position to have multiple cars that I don't need (which I probably won't be...).
Never had a thing for pickups myself but I spent awhile in one in the US and found I liked it (I also much much prefer a high up driving position which also makes me lean towards them) - it isn't exactly smooth sailing owning one in the UK but I find myself more attached to mine than I thought I'd be.
Nice truck. It's got money pit written all over it, but it looks nice regardless
I used to have a thing for pickups when I was a kid, and would still like one if I'm ever in a position to have multiple cars that I don't need (which I probably won't be...).
If I wanted to get it to concourse condition, or I lived somewhere where it was hard to get parts, it would be money pit. As it is, parts are cheap and readily available, labour is sub £10 per hour, and mechanically it’s actually a pretty solid truck. I paid £1k for it, I reckon with another £700-£1k invested in maintenance and cosmetics I can have something that looks decent and can be used every weekend for our projects. I’ll be sure to report back if that isn’t the case though
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 13,924
More updates please, every time this thread is bumped I hope there's going to be some more progress.
Back to work, thanks.
Back to work, thanks.
More updates please, every time this thread is bumped I hope there's going to be some more progress.
Back to work, thanks.
Update as requested.
Picked it up from the garage - they rebuilt the steering box, changed one wheel bearing and greased the entire suspension. He said that the front kingpins were very stiff which was one of the reasons the steering felt so bad. Total cost was £80, so I’m very pleased with that. They also gave the truck a general check over and said that the front brakes should be replaced within a few months, but other than that it’s all good. The steering and suspension felt massively improved on the way back - I no longer fear for my life every time I approach a corner or uneven surface.
Mechanically it’s pretty much where I want it to be now, but I might get the LPG system checked and serviced. It seems to be working fine, but I’ve seen enough accidents with them that I’d like to be sure it’s perfect, and I have no history about who installed it and when it was done. A friend owns a trucking company and all his 3.5t - 7.5t trucks run on LPG, so he’s going to send me to his LPG specialist to check it over.
I did a short video for those of you who wanted to hear the noise. Needless to say, there’s a lot more noise than there is acceleration
I also went to pick up my Caliber from the insurance body shop after it got rear ended, and they had this in the workshop. Kind of tempted to go two tone now, but I’m not sure.
The only thing I’m having trouble with at the moment is sourcing the seatbelt buckles. Most people who have older vehicles here remove the entire assembly and then tell the police that the car doesn’t have seatbelts if they get stopped. Mine has the proper, original 3 point seatbelts on the door pillar, but nothing to clip them into as the buckles have been unscrewed from the floor and thrown away by one of the previous owners. I’ve contacted a lot of breakers, and nobody seems to have the exact one that I need. I could buy a whole assembly, but they’re not that cheap and it seems a shame to get rid of the belts I have when they’re perfectly fine.
I’ll probably be driving down south in the coming weeks, where there’s a lot of breakers who have multiple examples of this truck, so hopefully I can get them then. In the meantime, I’m going to concentrate on getting a stereo fitted, eliminating the worst rattles from the interior, fitting the door cards and refurbishing the dash top / headlining. Oh, and putting a shift indicator on the steering column as I have to guess where park, reverse, drive etc are at the moment which can be a bit embarrassing when you have to do a 3 point turn