"Blue" my 1994 F-350 dump truck

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So with winter finally here, this may be a little slow of a build thread to start with, but it should pick up as the weather does so I'll go ahead and get this started.

Dad bought this truck brand new as a Cab & Chassis from Ford. It is a 1994 F-350 XL, 7.5L/460 EFI, ZF5 manual transmission, 2wd dually. Supposedly 4.10 gears and limited slip but I have not verified. Dad has all of the paperwork somewhere including the window sticker and I'll get it off of him at some point.

Since it was a work truck at the time, dad took it and had a dump body built from Imperial truck bodies since he hadn't been really happy with the Thiele dump body that he had put on his 89 F-350. Of course, Imperial ended up not exactly doing what was requested either, so I'm probably going to end up doing something about that during my build.

Dad ran the 94 that he dubbed "Blue" for years as his primary work rig and when I came of age I drove the 89 "Ol Blue" or my 00 Ranger "lil Blue" until towards the end of dad's career when "Blue" developed an oil drinking problem, to the tune of two quarts per tank of gas, or about every 120 miles. At that point it got parked pending repairs and that's where it ended up sitting since dad never ended up doing anything with it. Well, I could really make use of a dump truck, so a few years ago I handed dad the cash for it. Had a bunch of other things to deal with so once I discovered that the problem was the valve guides, it took awhile to get back to the project. That time has arrived though, since my Ranger and Choptop are both on the road currently and my F-150 is essentially walking wounded at this point. I really need the dump truck for continuing work on my property and I need to have a full-size truck around. To rebuild my F-150 is on the plans, but it's going to be a far more extensive project than fixing the dump truck hopefully will be. Anyway, on with it...

Current Specs:

1994 F-350 Cab & Chassis with dump body
7.5L/460 CI motor
ZF5 manual 5-speed

Current Plans:

Pull heads, have a local machine shop refurb them
New cam, RV or better
Probably roller rockers
Headers - ideally
e-fan - likely
Extended Radius arms - likely
Custom front winch bumper
Bed repairs

I'm not trying to make this thing some sleeper monster powerhouse really, but it needs some help. The 89 dad had was a nearly identical truck, all the same options just different years. The 89 would run circles around the 94 and had a lumpy idle. Dad knew someone at Ford way back when and they confirmed that in 89 Ford used RV cams in a lot of the 460 motors. If I'm doing a better cam, then I might as well give it a little love all the way around. That said, I'm open to suggestions on this project.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Funny you mention the brick being stronger.

My dad (then me) had an 88 F250 HD with a 351W/C6.

My one cousin had a 94 F250 HD with a 351W/E4OD.

Both 4.10, Both 2wd, and that 88 would stomp its ass.

Both identical trucks. Ext cab/long beds.

Its odd though cause i believe 94 was when all the V8's got a power bump and should of, in theory, been stronger.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Funny you mention the brick being stronger.

My dad (then me) had an 88 F250 HD with a 351W/C6.

My one cousin had a 94 F250 HD with a 351W/E4OD.

Both 4.10, Both 2wd, and that 88 would stomp its ass.

Both identical trucks. Ext cab/long beds.

Its odd though cause i believe 94 was when all the V8's got a power bump and should of, in theory, been stronger.

Almost like Ford was quietly building better motors than they were admitting to in the last 80’s

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Almost like Ford was quietly building better motors than they were admitting to in the last 80’s

I always kinda felt that way.

300, 302, 351, 460 whatever seemed to be their strongest (post emission anyways) right when they first started getting EFI (85ish to 88ish), and seemed like as time went on they atleast felt less punchy.

I would love to see a fresh factory stock rebuiid of say a 88 351 vs a fresh factory stock rebuild of a 94+ roller on a dyno. It might be surprising

 

[Curious Hound]

I really liked the 302 5.0L in my 88. Though I would have preferred a 4.9L straight 6 with the manual transmission that had that granny low gear. That 5L did everything I ever demanded without complaint.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I really liked the 302 5.0L in my 88. Though I would have preferred a 4.9L straight 6 with the manual transmission that had that granny low gear. That 5L did everything I ever demanded without complaint.

4.9L, manual transmission with a low 1st, you are describing my F-150 good sir! The ZF5 was an excellent replacement for the M5OD that was not a work transmission.

 

[Brain75]

I dated a girl that had a '79 LTD with a 460 (not native, it was an replacement/implant) and loved that motor...
classic drag racers comment:

"There's no replacement for displacement!"

... I only learned a few things from tinkering on it's cousins that crossed over. If you mess with the cam, you need better flowing heads I believe. Someone said DOVE casting marks needed - which was some of the earliest before 70's emissions started (like '68 or something around there).

I would say no need to mess with the displacement making a stroker out of it. IF the heads need replaced for whatever reason then do the cam and heads together, otherwise just fix your valve issue and love the beast.

As far as under-rated power of the 80's, the emissions controls of the 70's kinda caused that. From what other builders said the engines were so strangled by the close of the 70's from emissions crap that mfg. had to overbuild a ton just to get to the advertised marks, as they figured out more efficient (less strangling) ways of meeting the emissions in the 80's the power started being more than advertised.

Can't comment on why the 90's feels less powerful, I was done wrenchin' on stuff once OBD2 came out - kinda went to a "give up and just drive it" attitude.

Are you hoping to do all this in-situ or were you gonna pull the motor out and go over it all?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I dated a girl that had a '79 LTD with a 460 (not native, it was an replacement/implant) and loved that motor...
classic drag racers comment:

"There's no replacement for displacement!"

... I only learned a few things from tinkering on it's cousins that crossed over. If you mess with the cam, you need better flowing heads I believe. Someone said DOVE casting marks needed - which was some of the earliest before 70's emissions started (like '68 or something around there).

I would say no need to mess with the displacement making a stroker out of it. IF the heads need replaced for whatever reason then do the cam and heads together, otherwise just fix your valve issue and love the beast.

As far as under-rated power of the 80's, the emissions controls of the 70's kinda caused that. From what other builders said the engines were so strangled by the close of the 70's from emissions crap that mfg. had to overbuild a ton just to get to the advertised marks, as they figured out more efficient (less strangling) ways of meeting the emissions in the 80's the power started being more than advertised.

Can't comment on why the 90's feels less powerful, I was done wrenchin' on stuff once OBD2 came out - kinda went to a "give up and just drive it" attitude.

Are you hoping to do all this in-situ or were you gonna pull the motor out and go over it all?

I was hoping not to have to pull the motor. Pulling motors is a real pain since I don't have a garage yet. If it ends up having to come out, it will though. The machine shop is pretty confident my cylinders will look fine since dad was sure not to run it out of oil. The valve guides are terrible though. Machine shop also believes the heads can be re-worked with new guides and a valve grind which beats buying heads.

This truck is OBD1, the F-series doesn't seem to have gotten the OBD2 until 96.

I was figuring probably do a gasket match on heads and intake. Figured something along the lines of an RV cam should be perfectly acceptable to it in stock form since the RV variant would have got that cam anyway. I'm not trying to make this a crazy monster, but I would really like if it ran more like the 89 did. Especially since I'm considering buying a backhoe at some point. If I understand things correctly, this truck is rated to tow something like 12-14K, so I'd like the 460 to be nice, healthy, and happy.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Iirc the cam timing is retarded 4-8°. Put in a new double roller chain with adjustle cam timing,

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This truck is OBD1, the F-series doesn't seem to have gotten the OBD2 until 96.

The OBS never did.

Ford sweet talked their way to hold it off a couple years until the new bodystyle trucks came out.

 

[scotts90ranger]

The OBS never did.

Ford sweet talked their way to hold it off a couple years until the new bodystyle trucks came out.

My '97 7.3L technically has OBD II but there's very little info there

 

[racsan]

Dad had 2 351’s at the same time, a ‘96 bronco he bought new and a ‘94 F250 reg cab 4x4 he bought used. both ran stock tires, 3.55’s & the E4OD. The F250 had over 150K miles, the bronco might of had 40 when he got rid of it. The truck absolutely had more power than the bronco, pulled better more kick when you stabbed the gas from a dead stop. Didn’t make sence. But Ive had several 2.3’s and they all have been a little different from each other. The ‘94 truck still exists, its behind the barn. It spit out one of the spark plugs, power steering line rusted through & when it was last on the road it was starting to have transmission issues. Was a former oil field truck so it is a rusty mess underneath.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The OBS never did.

Ford sweet talked their way to hold it off a couple years until the new bodystyle trucks came out.

My 96 F150 was OBD II.

My 97 F250 HD is not.


The 1/2 tons and LD 3/4 tons got it in 96.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My 96 F150 was OBD II.

My 97 F250 HD is not.


The 1/2 tons and LD 3/4 tons got it in 96.

Yeah, dad's '96 F-250 is OBDI

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Yeah, dad's '96 F-250 is OBDI

The OBD II port on them is in an odd location to, its basically clear over on the passenger side