Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire black betty (1977 F250)

Always had a soft spot for those old F250s Dad had a '73 with a 390 factory 4 barrel. He let me drive it in the field when I was 7. I'm sure the kid will love whatever motor the two of you decide on, but there is just something special about those old "fe"s...

Watching all of this reminds me of something I did back in the 70's.
Took an old ford truck with the cab up front a gas truck from So. Edison took out the little 200 and put in a 289 (people told me it couldn't be done) my next door neighbor was a shop teacher,
next we put in a 4 speed every body said you can't do that, so did. I used the shifter(for the 4) on the column and put reverse on the floor, next I had to put a bigger rear end on it as the little spicer(sp) rear end would have been all over the road, a few other touches, but left the ratty old paint job on it. When the young bucks pulled up along side and went voom, voom waiting for the light to change boy did they get egg all over their face as I left them standing there. That machine was hard to bet to 75 and then I ran out of go. It was fun sold it to a different neighbor, but he just never could get it to work for him like it did for me. Those were the days. Good luck with black Betty. Cheers NC

First car I drove was a 72 F250 4x4 with a 360 big block. It didn't have power steering and in 4wd the steering wheel would buck back so hard I thought it could break my arm. My Dad bought it new for $4000 and finally sold it in 2006 for $6500 and he said it's the only car he ever made money on - well sort of.

70's Fords are the best, though mine have always had an enclosed back ala Bronco. You'd better head over to Whitebear's place and snag that 400 lest I swing down and snatch it to put in my remaining 79 bronco that is sitting in semi retirement at my folks' place in OK.

I don't mind the 335 series engines so much, lots of guys hate them but I've had good luck. My first and best 79 has a 400/C6 and after I scrapped all the smog nonsense and put a Edelbrock 650 and performer intake along with some head work I saw 14mpg pretty regularly. Not an econobox by any stretch but same mileage as my 98 f150 4X4 and looked cooler getting it. My wife has a 79 bronco that was originally sold in California. It is complete with goofy dealer installed stripe kit and more hoses and doodads on the 351 than I've ever seen. Before we drove it into the ground, ie back when it had oil pressure at idle, I saw a legitimate 16mpg more than once on the highway. It was always a dog in the performance dept though.

Someday I'm going to get a nice, hopefully rust free, 70s Ford 4x4 pickup to fool around with. Boats always look cooler at the boat ramp when they're tied to a slick old ford with dual exhaust blowing bubbles in the water.

PS. Not to be that guy Dave, and I know he's got a one spare eye, but please ask the boy to put some glasses on when he's grinding. He'll pick up more chicks in his badass pickup if he doesn't have a glass eye.

We like the old Fords too.

Yep, you are right. I try to keep an eye on him and keep after him. I have a full box of safety glasses and a full face shield for the actual grinding with the sparks and carnage.

Cool, what are you running for front springs on the one in the top photo?

Yep, that's the good stuff.

I was taking a 300 mile round trip drive to my BIL's gun shop last Saturday and was asking around the house for a travel companion. My 8 y/o son spoke up and we made the trip together. "I didn't want you to be alone, Dad, so I came with you. I'm glad when we do stuff like this together."

You set a good example for us fellow Dads, Dave.


Back to the truck. Maybe I missed it in the description, but since you're drilling all the spot welds along the bed rails I'm assuming you're going to put new skins on the outside of the box, yes? Is that a time-saver overall when compared to dealing with dents and minor rust?

Hi Scott.

I can take pictures later this morning, I don't consider anything that's rusted through "minor rust" that said, this one is the best of 3 mid-late 70's ford trucks we own.

But still the fact remains it is ate through all the way over both rear wheels and in the bottom corners below tail lights.

One of the outer wheel houses is also ate through. I could have purchased patch panels but I feel this is the right way to do it on a truck that will be used for hunting/fishing and winter driving.

We will take extra steps to prevent rust from occurring in the future.

Back sides of panels, bottom side of the truck etc will get special rust preventive coatings. Stuff it never had from the factory.

Thanks for the explanation, Dave. I couldn't really tell how much rust there was from my smartphone screen.

10-4 on treating the backside of the panels. It's a damn shame that nothing like that was done at the factory. I recall Dad's '77 ,(nicknamed Black Diamond)having rusted through the side at the top of the WW's, rusted through cab floor door corners and at the bottom rear of the back WW's.

Old Black Diamond was a beat to crap wood hauler that I occasionally drove to high school. It had the 351M and topped out at about 85 mph. I recall having the pedal to the floor and watching a buddy cruise by me in his Chevette. That's some embarrassing chit and hard to live down.

Anyway, thanks again for clarifying. Love these old Ford bodies, even into the early 80's and am looking forward to seeing how this one looks when you roll it back out into the sunshine.

Lol. I think our dads grew up together.

Hell yes!!

Hey, nice work Dave & Nate !!

We need more black betty!!

Yes, ignition. People ALWAYS overlook optimizing their ignition curve. They'll throw $$$$ of parts into it, but not take the time to set up the initial, vacuum, and mechanical curves. They are CRUCIAL to performance and economy.

I agree, a lot if performance is to be had by having that spark come in at the right time all the way through the range.

I used to do a lot of ignition timing work with a single point ignition distributor on a 327 Chevy. I knew that engine very well. The static timing, then the vacuum, I had an adjustable vac advance on that one because I was running ported vac, my static plus the vac advance was too much at idle so my vac advance was adjusted back a little. Then I experimented with weights and springs for the mechanical.

When you get it right, it feels like you found another 30-50 HP hidden in the engine somewhere.

Most folks these days figure an MSD sticker will take care of it all.

OK.

Are those Hankook DynaPro MT tires?


I have a set on my Samurai.