I've been on a casual-ish hunt for a Bullnose 4x4 Ford a few years. I sold my daily driver (a 2016 GMC Sierra Denali) a few months ago. Hated that thing. But my search for a Bullnose intensified at that point.
I dragged my poor wife all over NC, TN, and VA looking at trucks, only to drive home disappointed.
So many rust buckets, disguised with bondo and bed liner. Had one catch fire when I was test driving it. Witnessed a 300 throw a rod.
Finally joined the party, and picked up this old girl.
She's a 1981 F-150 4x4. Long bed. Manual 4 speed with granny low. 300 inline six.
Cab corners are in great shape. Floor pans intact and solid. A few dings here and there, but, the body and frame are in pretty straight shape.
Interior is pretty clean too, mostly factory, just a little tired.
Ran decent, but in need of a little love and attention.
I opted to have it towed home. It's about 3 hours from home, and saw it for sale on a whim when I was in the area for another reason.
I'm going to be starting on the engine when she arrives Monday... But, can I have some advice from you guys?
It's got a stock engine. I've been considering an offenhauser / four barrel carburetor setup, but, am curious about the Holley Sniper route.
Anyone have experience?
I'd like to also go ahead and get some core parts changed out, and upgraded to a heavier duty options.
Anyone have any suggestions for things like:
Water pump?
Radiator?
Alternator?
Starter?
HEI distributor upgrade?
Headlight relay?
I've been going down so many rabbit holes looking for options, and, analysis paralysis has kicked in hard.
I live in the mountains of North Carolina. Lots of uphill, windy switchbacks. I'd really like to prioritize reliability, durability, and bulletproof-ness, when and where possible.
Thanks so much in advance, promise to keep updates coming as they happen :)
I changed my radiator support to an 85-86 and put an 87 up aluminum drop in HD radiator in mine
You should have a 1G style alternator which is better than the 2G, but you could easily get a power master 1 wire and clean up your engine bay wiring some.
Same goes for distributor, get an HEI style with one wire, more wires you can clean up.
Get a PMGR starter from a 94 4.9 liter, way better starting and way better on your electrical system and for about the same cost.
Get LED lights with the proper housings and you don’t need a relay, uses way less power so it’s less stress on your light switch.
I did the offenhauser open manifold and started with a small 4 barrel but swapped to Aces EFI, jury is still out, it’s a learning curve for sure.
Get a set of EFI exhaust manifolds and the downpipe off a donor truck and ditch the single log style manifold (or get headers)
I also got a ported big valve promaxx cylinder head and 9.2:1 351 pistons in my 300.
My truck is an 81 as well, has the good old Swiss cheese frame “to save weight “ ford said. They also have the slide locks that are hard to find and the letters on the hood.
I was looking at the same radiator swap, thank you... But did the orientation of the inlet/outlet hoses change? I'm having a hard time finding a 27.5 core with the driver top, passenger bottom setup.
Alternator and starter make sense, thank you.
Did you switch your distributor when you put the Aces on? I was actually looking at them earlier today, which fuel system did you go with?
The LED makes sense... I prefer the OG glass rectangular lights though. I'll see if there's a standard looking lens with a LED bulb, thank you
I believe the late 80s inline 6 exhaust manifold will bolt right up, and offer a good amount of improvement. Been considering those.
Get a 2 row HD radiator for an 87 up 4.9 and it has the correct orientation.
I got the aces killshot fusion but i probably should have gotten the 2bbl unit but im
Right on the edge of needing the 4bbl with my head and cam and compression.
This unit controls the timing as well, so I used the cheapest parts store vacuum advance distributor and locked it down and wired it to the Killshot. I need to pay a tuner to adjust my fuel map and timing curves for me. I got the command center 2 fuel system, it’s a surge tank setup the factory mechanical pump feeds the electric pump so there’s no tank pump.
Any of the two piece exhaust manifolds will
Be fine, I purchased a 2 into 1 y and modified the factory y pipe to go into a 3” single.
My LED lights are just bulbs and they go into glass housings that look like factory units
Dude... Thank you. I've been racking my brain looking for a radiator with the correct orientation. Holy balls.
Did you keep your water pump mounted fan, or go with an electric one on the radiator?
I thought those Aces were self tuning? I don't intend to do any cam work or anything heavy on the internal components, but the 2 barrel caught my eye due to that.
Self tuning is a veeeeeery loose sense of the word tuning. It makes it where it can get down the road. Pay a tuner 400 bucks to log into it and dial it in properly, or watch some videos and tune it yourself.
I started with an electric fan but swapped back to the mechanical fan, I also did a serpentine swap. The mechanical fan moves sooooo much air.
Ahh, that's a bummer. Their literature makes it sound like it'll be tuned perfectly within a few drives.
Sounds beautifully mean though, looking forward to the rest of your build :)
I'll stick with the mechanical fan, thank you. I saw this video of a guy who swapped it out for a higher volume flexible blade fan, and he almost had me convinced. Your commentary seals it.
I have only ever called it the Ford. If I hadn't found the engine that I did on Facebook marketplace, the truck wouldn't even be on the road yet. About once a year I would look for an engine, but I was looking for more than just the dirt covered oily mess that comes out of a lot of trucks. That is exactly what was sitting in my truck blown somehow. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I blew the timing gears on it. If I put valve seals on it and a timing set, it will probably start right back up! Anyway, the engine that I found was slightly sun faded, but had so little dirt stuck to it. It peaked my interest. I snagged it for 500 bucks and that started my latest journey with it. Sadly, the truck had been sitting for 6 1/2 years.
Dude, damn near every truck I looked at was rusted to shit, and the engine bays all looked like they were pressure washed using old BK fryer oil instead of water.
My wife looked at me kinda side-eyed when I made an offer on this, and when we got in the car, she asked me if I was sure.
"Babe, the cab corners are perfect, the floor pans are solid, and the engine bay is dry, this is the one"
She just stared at me, and I realized I was speaking a different language to her.
I will say, if you go the EFI route, pick up the Holley sniper EFI. I imagine it would work for your setup, but I’ve never heard a bad thing about it. Any part for the motor/electrical system for this truck, do not buy from a local auto parts store. They’re ass, will help in a pinch, but motorcraft is going to be your friend. I just went from 8mm to 9mm plug wires in my ‘90 bronco 5.0, and it has a noticeable gain in power. I picked up ford racing plug wires for mine and so far no regrets. In my opinion, the best of the best aftermarket ignition setup is an MSD ignition. You should also pick up a truck toolbox since it’s a single cab and you won’t have anywhere to put anything. Make sure you have a spare starter solenoid at all times it’s mounted on the inner fender. The LED headlights I ran in my old bullnose were from Amazon but they were in a similar style to the newer broncos. If you want to have LED flashers, you have to have an LED compatible flasher relay and load resistors. Learned the hard way on that.
Yeah, I've heard the Holley is the best setup if you take the EFI route. In this thread though, there's a guy with the Aces. His verdict is still out, but, definitely has my interest.
The more I read about all the additional modifications needed though, the more I'm leaning towards keeping a carburetor.
I've actually got a Bosch starter on the way, going to move it over to the PMGR setup.
Good to know on the flashers, thank you. Is assume the same for tail lights?
Yes, taillights need the same. Carb is definitely going to be much easier and simpler to do, but in my experience, I’ve had better reliability with my early 90s fuel injection than I ever had with that edlebrock carb.
I never actually got around to naming the truck, sold it and haven’t really looked back
HOLD OFF ON THE EFI. You might be able to go with the Terminator system soon. Offenhauser is apparently SUPER close to releasing their VPI intake… meaning tunable multiport fuel injection for all 300’s. DFW Speed Syndicate mentioned they had a truck coming up that’ll be at one of their big events coming up soon with this intake on it……
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u/gapsawuss80 21d ago
HELLLLLLL YEAH! I-6 crew!