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Willee Special HQ

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Wasaga Marine Truck

Ford

F-Series

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1987 F250 460cid 4 Speed manual 4x4
Very obvious where it came from. Yes indrove it home from there on trailer wheels.
starting to clean it up.
shot over the rust and decals to make it more presentable sitting outside.
Parts planning and getting a game plan together
tucked in the shop and ready to dig into it
Front end stripped down made the motor pull very easy
One tired big block. Roughly 380k on the odometer.
Heads have been gone through previously. Some of the guides were replaced.
water pump was on the newer side so just like most of the stuff, it gets cleaned and goes back on.
Im 99% sure this was the original timing chain. Lots of missing material and i could get the chain to skip a tooth by hand before it was removed. No idea how i didnt grenade it when i investigated the burnout situation.
Block was carboned up as expected but really wasn't that bad. Had a few people look at it and check out the decks for "flatness". It was good enough to clean up by hand with a stone.
New Ford Grey engine paint on everything engine. Wanted as original of a look as possible
Pistons were removed, crank was sent out for polishing, block was honed, and all new bearings were installed
all 8 had extensive but even wear on the rod bearings. 3 spun main bearings though.
Some of the new stuff soaking before installation
Finally got my heads back. Decked, new guides, full lap job, and heavier springs to match the cam i selected.
These heads flow like junk, but they came off the truck and they're going back on.
Picked up a 1970 D0VE 4bbl intake originally from a 429. This flows a bit better than the original one and gets rid of a few nuisance ports that i dont need.
All back as a complete unit. Was quite the learning experience and id highly recommended diving in to one of these. It took a while, but it got there.
washed 30+ years of grease and grime off this front clip and this was the result. No major rot anywhere just lots of solid steel and surface rust.
Starting to paint everything up.
Had some cans if Ford Implement Blue so i used them up on the gear box and bell housing.
Firewall was half sprayed half done by hand. I color matched some Home Hardware rust paint to the color "Light Jade" and slopped paint on the firewall, inside of the fenders, and eventually underside of the hood as well.
Hopefully my 100 dollar marketplace centerforce clutch and refreshed flywheel hold up!!
bellhousing back on with new bearing and reworked clutch fork
I thought for sure I'd be fighting to the bitter end...
dropped in, lined up perfectly and sunk right into the mounts perfectly!
Starting to look like a runner again!
New marketplace find core support went in.
fenders back on temporarily to hold up the core support.
pushed it outside for the first time 9 months later to break the cam in.
These hedders were a NIGHTMARE to get in. Drivers side went easier.
Passenger side required 4 hands, removing the starter just a bit, and jacking the motor up till its crunching into the firewall. We got er in though.
The bed was junk so off it comes
Stripped many years worth of gunk off that frame. Best tool was an oscillating tool with a scraper blade.
Im no body man but I did want this thing to be the same colors all the way through.
2 new tanks, cleaned up all the wiring, painted everything, caked it in Fluid Film.
The straighter, slightly less rusty bed that came off my parts truck.
cleaned up the bottom, repaired a rotten bracelet, and rockerguard everything.
Looks good back on the truck.
Decided to butcher the side of it and weld in a patch panel. Would have been a good idea to try it on something less obvious because I heat warped it to oblivion.
Cut a whole chunk of floor out of the parts truck and grafted it in. The floor was completely gone on the drivers side including the body mount. This was quite the mission having minimal welding experience and never having done something like this before.
Eventually the jams got sprayed to match the parts truck colors. Floors got seam sealed and soundproofing.
Started painting the body parts with a 40 dollar p-auto gun and the smallest compressor known to man.
The Calypso Green Metallic/Dark Tourmaline Metallic has always been my favorite color combo on these trucks.
Scored an old Superior "The 500" Steering wheel at a swap meet for 10 bucks. cleaned all the interior and replaced all the lights in the dash with LED's
Breather is off of a 80s 5.0 mustang that I gutted and patched up.
Back together as a complete truck again. It's a ways from being done, but life gets in the way. Suspension is definitely needed before it's ready for the road. The leafs are all 1 ton packs and without any sort of payload it bounces all over the road.

Build story

Its a 1987 F250 XL
460 7.5L
Borg Warner T-19 4 speed with granny 1st
Borg Warner 1356 Transfer case
Dana 50 TTB Front diff 3.54 gears
Sterling 10.25 Rear diff 3.55 LSD
Its very slow, it's very uncomfortable, it's very loud, and I love everything about it!

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