::P72Ford's 1997 Ford F-250HD XL::

[P72Ford]

Just thought I would start a thread for my newly acquired 1997 F-250. This was an eBay find which will replace the '75 Highboy that I sold in late October. I bought this just before Christmas.

Details
*1997 Ford F-250 HD
*7.5L (460) EFI
*ZF5 5 speed
*BW1356 Transfer case
*TTB/ Sterling 10.25" Differentials with 4.10 gears

The truck wears its original Oxford white color, and has very few factory options. The XL included a chrome front and silver rear bumper, dark argent grille and headlight doors. This truck has no tilt steering column, and no cab lights. The cab flooring a black vinyl mat, although it does have a factory tow package (relays under the hood, factory Class V jitch, and plugs for trailer brake controller and rear wiring). Although it has factory style Alcoa wheels, I highly doubt it left the factory with them. The center caps are nice, but not Ford originals, as the rears are missing the oval logo.

This truck sold new at Warren Ford in Nampa, ID, and lived in an around that area until it traveled 51K miles (2003). At that point it was relocated to Las Vegas, NV, where it lived up until I purchased it. Since '03 it has only traveled 14K miles. It currently has 65,XXX miles.

Plans:
I promise this won't be like other projects of mine...
*Steam clean engine compartment and undercarriage
*Full tune up (plugs, wires, cap/rotor, belts, filters, oil, etc)
*Chrome rear bumper; I have a good one I am going to sandblast and paint the back side, and swap my minty plastics onto it.
*NOS chrome headlight doors and grille (I just ordered these from Tasca Ford)
*Polish the OEM Alcoas; I will strip and do these at home. I'd also like to find an *affordable* set of OEM rear caps
*New 285 75 16 Tires; looking at the Toyo Open Country A/T2 as of today
*PDR; theres a small ding in the tailgate, and a small ding on the passenger's door.
*Repair bed rails and have an over the rail LineX liner sprayed in.

Long term:
*Bilstein 5100 shocks
*ACC Opal grey carpet and matching floor mats
*Autometer Sport Comp II pillar gauges (with matching opal grey pillar). I'll do LEDS in the rest of the dash at this time.
*Banks Stinger System
*Diamond plate toolbox for the bed
*Factory '08+ SD finned aluminum diff cover (service the entire driveline at this time)

Pictures:
First picture is of the day (night) the truck was delivered to my house. I used Montway Auto transport, as recommended by eBay. Shipping was reasonable, and the truck arrived without damage.

This is at home in the garage where she is currently residing. It was dirty after the journey, so it got a quick wash and wax before getting tucked away.

Another side shot.

Alcoa wheels. They are very photogenic, although the clear is starting to go. These will be stripped and polished before long.

Bed rails are kind of beat. I am going to repair these cracks and weld the holes up before having a LineX liner brought over the rails.

Drop in "Pendaliner" which will be removed.

Vinyl flooring and the plain cloth bench. The interior is incredibly mint, and 100% stock. I have the owners manual, and the original dealer paper work, although unfortunately not the window sticker.

Base model door panels don't cover the entire door; no power options here.

Another side shot

And the driver's seat area. The rocker panels on this truck are not even worn from entering and exiting the cab.


I will add additional images to this as I can.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Heads up on those front 5100s that I mentioned, they're apparently set up for 5/8" stud mount on the top eye (that's what the Superduties use), your truck has the 1/2" bolt-thru setup which requires a sleeve. What I did was just press a pair of sleeves I had laying around into the Bilsteins' upper bushings (use shop press and generous amounts of lubricant of your choice, Rem Oil worked great for me), no idea what the sleeves came out of but it must have been some old shocks as they fit both inside the Bilsteins' rubber and between the F350's shock tower walls perfectly. You can either do the same, or just bore your shock tower up to 5/8" and simply use a larger bolt. Other than that, they did a magnificent job controlling the overly-heavy nose of my 1-ton on some fierce washboard-like-feel "highway", so I think you will be very pleased with how they perform for you.

The rear 5100s I haven't installed yet, but IIRC they should be a simple bolt-on job with no mods needed.

BTW, on the D60 swap, may wanna look into the the '05-up axles. They are coil-sprung and they ride and handle much much better than the leaf-sprung OBS stuff, they also have the OBS-down D60 steering fuckups corrected quite nicely. Shouldn't be too hard to locate such an axle in reasonable condition for reasonable price, make sure you get the radius arms and the frame brackets if possible. Downside would be that you can't use your current Alcoas (damn metric bolt pattern on the Superduties), upside is 8 on 170 factory take-off Alcoas are usually reasonably priced and what you have is highly sought-after, plus with the rear axle swap you also get rear discs...

Yeah I know it sounds like lots more work than what you had planned, but if you're already talking RSKs and such it may actually end up being LESS work with better overall results, and possibly cheaper on top of it all.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Nice truck mang!

Oh, and:

http://www.midnightmods.com/2009/11/midwest-trans-short-throw-shifter-kit.html

Because.

[nfldfordltd]

That's the kind of truck I want at some point in the future to replace my tired '96 F-150. Beautiful.

[sly]

[sly]

[87gtVIC]

Nice truck for a nice garage.

[pantera77]

It's literally the perfect truck.

[sly]

It's literally the perfect truck.

once he gets the bed liner sprayed in... then it'll be perfect.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

http://www.midnightmods.com/2009/11/...ifter-kit.html

Actually the throw on these shifters even from the factory isn't bad. Especially if you're coming from something like the NP435 where 1st gears is an inch from the dash and reverse is half an inch from the seat.

Still, if you're suggesting it just for faster shifting, it probably won't work very well in his particular type of ZF5 tho - he's got the wide-ratio setup, the ratio gaps are large enough and the geartrain heavy enough that speed-shifting just doesn't happen cause there's only so good the synchros can do their job even if your force them. Now with the close-ratio gears things would be quite different, however the only way to acquire these would be by gutting a diesel transmission, and them things can be quite pricey for a low-mileage unit in good shape.

[P72Ford]

Thanks guys. When the time comes for the 5100s, and eventually D60, I'll be referencing this thread.

Tom, you are a bad influence! No short throw shifters for this truck; learned my lesson in the Dodge. When the gear spacing is wide, you can only shift it so fast. With the engine all wound up, you shift it "slow" leaving time for the rpms to drop. Slamming it in with a short throw and shock loading the driveline results in broken things. I had a short throw NV3500 in the Ram, and then a NP435 in my last truck. The ZF5 in stock form is much closer to the NV., so I can't complain.

Some more pictures, because I didn't have time to upload them yesterday.

The 460. Dusty/ dirty under here, but I'll take care of that. The main thing is that everything is stock and intact.

Apparently it gets really cold in Idaho; the truck is equipped with not one but (2) block heater plugs (one on each side).

These are certainly original plug wires, with 1998 dates. I forgot to mention that the door tag on this truck dates it 12/97, which is technically a '98.

This was my first mod to the truck. I just like the way it cleans things up. The only brass terminal dist. cap I could find was red, which I didn't want to look at. I was super bummed that Ford Racing wires can not be bought in black for the 460 engine; I went with red. I was going to do a generic aftermarket brand, but I really like the FRPP wires.

Battery is out and on the tender for the winter months!

A side engine shot.

This is not the original Nevada plate, although the PO did ship the truck with the front plate intact. Kind of a neat keepsake. On my highboy I had a generic Oregon front plate, because that's where the truck came from. I wanted to do the same for this truck, and while perusing eBay I cam across this. When you have a 460, Your Mileage Sucks.

The paint is in great shape; thankfully the second owner garaged the truck in NV, or else I'm certain the paint and dash pad would be whipped.

The donor rear bumper. These do not exist NOS, as near as I can tell, and finding this one was a chore. No dents, dings, or scratches, and not rusty. The plastics are beat, but I can swap my minty ones on. Still needs to be sandblasted and painted on the backside before install. The Ford box is a minty NOS Bronco tailgate panel (the big stainless one, with the red reflector). I bought it because it was a deal. If you know someone that needs one, $300 shipped for GMNers. These are $600 on eBay.

Rear Alcoa. I've been quoted $85/ wheel to strip and polish these professionally. Steep money, but I know they would be mint. I will more than likely do it myself, as I think I can get similar results.

[P72Ford]

Second modification to the truck, because I needed to kill some time on Sunday. I doubt this will make any significant difference, but every little bit helps. Eventually I will have the Banks are filter and air box lid (although I'll probably run my stock lid).

These are apparently suppose to quiet the intake down.

Looking down the barrel.

Those bellmouths though...

Using a precision Lenox hack saw I was able to remove the offending material.

Reinstalled and buttoned up.


No drive time on it yet, so I will have to report back on my findings. I suspect it will whistle a bit more.

[pantera77]

Knew you'd remove those stupid air horns first thing. Going to delete the smog pump and supposedly restrictive cat as well?

My 96 F250 arrived today. Bought it sight unseen from an insurance auction, what a POS. XLT SCSB, 460, E4OD, 4x4, 154k and it's one rusty puppy. Not sure if I'm going to cut my losses and part it out or try and make it road worthy. Any half decent OBS around here is 6k+ and anything cheaper is a rotted out old plow truck. I took a chance on a cheap one and man was that a mistake.

I still think you stole that thing, it's optioned perfectly IMO, you couldn't do better. Hell if it was a 7.3 it would bring 15-20k all day around here. It boggles my mind what these 20+ year old trucks can go for.

[Mainemantom]

I feel your grief ! My 97 F350 looked decent in the pictures. When I got it, the underside was just a rusted out plow truck. It was a perfectly set up truck for plowing when new. Cut your losses, break even and get out !

Knew you'd remove those stupid air horns first thing. Going to delete the smog pump and supposedly restrictive cat as well?

My 96 F250 arrived today. Bought it sight unseen from an insurance auction, what a POS. XLT SCSB, 460, E4OD, 4x4, 154k and it's one rusty puppy. Not sure if I'm going to cut my losses and part it out or try and make it road worthy. Any half decent OBS around here is 6k+ and anything cheaper is a rotted out old plow truck. I took a chance on a cheap one and man was that a mistake.

I still think you stole that thing, it's optioned perfectly IMO, you couldn't do better. Hell if it was a 7.3 it would bring 15-20k all day around here. It boggles my mind what these 20+ year old trucks can go for.

[P72Ford]

Knew you'd remove those stupid air horns first thing. Going to delete the smog pump and supposedly restrictive cat as well?

Most likely in the future; this still has to pass an e test here, and I don't want to foil that. Probably do a high flow cat when I do the cat back, and I may remove the smog junk at that time.

My 96 F250 arrived today. Bought it sight unseen from an insurance auction, what a POS. XLT SCSB, 460, E4OD, 4x4, 154k and it's one rusty puppy. Not sure if I'm going to cut my losses and part it out or try and make it road worthy. Any half decent OBS around here is 6k+ and anything cheaper is a rotted out old plow truck. I took a chance on a cheap one and man was that a mistake.

You win some, you lose some. Depending on what you paid for it, you may be able to part it for more than you can sell it whole. I met a guy here in CT that parts 8th and 9th gen trucks for a living 6 months out of the year (rest of the year he does landscape). You'd be surprised what you can get for stuff. Of course, selling as a unit is way easier. Does yours have Alcoas?

I still think you stole that thing, it's optioned perfectly IMO, you couldn't do better. Hell if it was a 7.3 it would bring 15-20k all day around here. It boggles my mind what these 20+ year old trucks can go for.

As a diesel it would definitely bring 15-20, especially at 65K. Diesels are nice and all, and certainly hold their value, but its not something I'd ever need. And why spend another 7-12 thousand dollars for something I'll never need? 460, standard transmission, and 4.10 gears have got to be able to handle anything I need to do. I think its just a good fundamental truck; everything you need and nothing you don't.

I used to be baffled by used truck values. And even guys on FTE who are out west or in the south will say "those things are a dime a dozen here". The truth is, clean, low mileage 20 year old trucks with no rust are not a dime a dozen anywhere. For the most part trucks get used up, beaten down, and then junked. People out there are getting smart to the fact that east coaster and folks in the rust belt will pay for these trucks, as the only clean low mileage rust free trucks available locally are garage queens that folks are either unwilling to part with, or are asking nearly what they would have paid for the trucks new. Its only when you look at the price of new diesels, and even gas HD pick up trucks that it starts to make sense. Buying a new truck comparable to my '97 would be close to $40K with incentives and everything. A better truck? Maybe, but it ought to be for 5 times the price, higher taxes, and higher insurance. But for someone like me who just wants a decent truck to do homeowner stuff/ tow a trailer, its an absolutely foolish decision. A new $60K+ diesel is an impressive truck; unbelievable power, performance, etc. The repair bills will be equally impressive when you have to take it to the dealer for anything beyond oil and filters. That's when a clean 100K mile 7.3 truck for 15-20K starts to sound really nice. You can work on it yourself, and literally everything is cheaper. By a lot.