1966 F-250 Rat Rod Truck

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1966 F-250 Rat Rod Truck

Description

Click the arrows under the pics to see the slideshow!

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What you have here is my ratty old 1966 Ford F-250 Camper Special, with the Custom Cab package. This project is drive-able, but still underway with help from my brother-in-law Jeff, my son Jake, and my nephew Christopher. My friend Jack is my technical consultant, and his son JD helped out with some critical welding needs. My Friend Jeff M. is my audio consultant. He used to do that for a living, and he donated a nice system for the project. My neighbor Will is a Chevy guy (???) but he helps when he can too.

Many years ago, in the early '80s, I was a "Certified" Ford mechanic at a local dealer here in Glendale, Arizona. I went through the apprenticeship program and they sent me to the local Ford school for technology based training. (computers, EFI, automotive electronics, etc.) At the time I owned a 1965 F-100 and I really enjoyed that truck. It was my first vehicle. I sold it three years ago. (regrets)

Last November, (while I was supposed to be looking at cars for my daughter Becky) I found this F-250 on e-Bay and I made a bid on it. Unbelievably I won the bidding for $400. I was so happy, and it was just like my old one, 8-FT Bed and all. It needs a complete kit for the exterior moldings and chrome parts, but all the interior parts are there, even the beer cooler door panels.

The e-bay posting indicated that the engine was a Lincoln 460 (??) a friend of mine wanted the engine. I intended to find a 302 and hop it up and be done. When we got it home and saw the emissions tag, we ran the engine codes, we found that it was a 400M. The castings are 1975, but the engine tags indicated '77 as the year this one went together.

Having worked for Ford, and having done some additional research, and with help from my friends, I found that this was a very torque-y block. Typically used in big Lincolns, Mercurys, and some trucks. After some additional reading, I decided to rebuild it and put in a little extra power. I will eventually add different heads - either iron Aussies or some of the new Edelbrocks that just came out for this series block. But heck, it has a 4-inch bore and a 4-inch stroke. It literally "POUNDS" when it's running. The whole house shakes when I fire it up, and the dogs hide under the table. My wife just puts in her earplugs.

The guy who owned it had done a lot of work to it along the way, and except for some surface rust, the exterior was in great condition. The guy was a welder and perhaps a machinist too, but some of the stuff he did was funny. As an example he used a length of chain to hold the engine in, and he used steel fence posts for dual exhaust pipes.)

I took a Saturday morning and did some basic tune up, lube, and prep stuff. I bolted a donated Holley Carb on it and it started up! It sounded perfect, I couldn't believe it. No knocks, no lifter noise, no overheating. I ran it for about an hour and got it to temp. No problems at all. The oil even stayed clean. When I tore it down I found that it had recently been rebuilt. There was no lip on the cylinder walls and I could still see fresh cross hatch markings. So I just went through the top end. When I pulled the heads, I found that it's been bored .20 over stock at a Ford facility. It was stamped on each piston and there's a brass re-builder's tag on the engine. As for the rest of my work, I've included my build sheet below.

I decided on the 500 cfm Edelbrock carb to take advantage of velocity, and believe me it's plenty.

Rat Fink would be happy to drive this thing if it had a blower.... hee, hee. I have a donated K&N stub stack too.

My brother-in-law was school trained in body repair. He's teaching me and the young boys that skill. He's pretty good too. We pulled out some dents by hand, sanded it down and rattle sprayed it with black primer.

I took it to a local "Cruise-In" three different times, and it gets a lot of looks and nice comments. Everyone marvels at the engine, not too many people would build based on an old smogger 400M block. But hey, I'm a Ford guy, I'll try anything for fun if the budget is tight. They used to put these in the Broncos and some of the F-trucks in the '70s, so I figured that was good enough for me. The Aussies have developed a great deal of parts for these (no emissions over there) and they are actually gaining popularity in the U.S. more recently.

I haven't dyno-ed it yet because it needs some additional work before I trust it enough for that, I want to go through the tranny and re-work the driveline. It needs some electrical work too, and suspension work. But, it will smoke the tires for thirty feet (we measured it) and, it will chirp 'em in second gear. It's got a C-6 tranny (A Lincoln console shifter is modded in the floor) and 411's in the rear with two legs, so it's really fun off the line.

Two months ago, it was vandalized and the rear window was smashed out, but I didn't let that distract me. The new glass was in the next day, and we moved on with the work. It was a good excuse to replace the cracked windshield at the same time, and the glaziers put in the sun shade version for me at no extra cost.

The previous owner put the gas tank in the bed. I recently received a donated aluminum beer keg which will replace the stock tank. It will be bed mounted too.

By the way, since this will be read by the folks I care about most... I want to thank my friends for their donated time, research, parts, and help, without them this would take a lot longer. You guys know who you are! I would also like to thank my family members for their work and contributions. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife Penny for her patience and love.

Eventually I plan to finish the body to full restoration quality, but you know how it is, I have a budget. So for now it's a little at a time. While I wait on my allowance for paint and interior, it will be my "RAT ROD" Ford.

That way it's fun to look at, fun to drive, and fun at the "Cruise-Ins." The horse blanket seat cover really gets the looks!

When it's done, I plan to have added a vintage a/c kit, and some modern accessories, but I want it to have a stock look. It will be really cool by then. Hey, it's really cool now... I love to drive it. Registration and insurance is sure cheaper than my daily driver.

As you can see, everything is old-school. No computers, no EFI, just raw work. Dual Points are good enough for me. My step dad was a hot rodder and that's how I got started, I had some good older guys who trained me when I worked for Ford, now I'm passing that on to the two younger boys and Jeff. We're gonna' try for the "Route 66" run next year. Good family fun.

Sincerely,

Don Smith

‘66 Ford F-250 Engine Build - 1977 400M Lincoln Engine

Part
Type
Block
1977 Lincoln 400M with unknown mileage, not very much wear on cylinders
Air Cleaner
K&N 11941Velocity Stack
Carburetor
Edelbrock 500CFM 1404
Intake Manifold
Edelbrock Performer 400 Aluminum Intake (Non Emission)
Rockers
Ford Racing SVO 351C Roller Rockers
Cam
Summit Brand 278H
Lifters
Summit Brand Set matched with Cam
Timing Chain
Summit Dual True Roller Set
Distributor
Mallory Dual Points Distributor #2556701
Coil
Mallory Promaster #29450
Cylinder Bore
Standard Ford 400M Bored at .020
Heads
Standard Head Rebuild on Iron 400M Heads
Exhaust
Stock Ford 400M Exhaust Manifolds