Jumping in headfirst! 1972 F250 LWB

[Swegner99]

I picked up a fairly clean 1972 F250 a couple months ago from craigslist, thinking it would be a fun little project. The guy I picked it up from told me it had a good running 390, all it needed was a water pump. Long story short, he spun me a huge tale about how great it ran and blah blah blah... I got it towed to the dealership that im Service Manager at and the engine is actually a 352 and its got a huge hole in the water jacket of the block and a broken cam. I was a little embarrased that I didnt notice the difference between the small and big block, but thats my own fault.

At that point I kind of lost motivation, tried to sell the truck but had no interested parties. I spent an afternoon here on the site, reading up on everyones project updates. Now I know for sure that I dont want to sell this truck, last night I had her towed to my house and tonight she is going into the garage to start the teardown process. I feel like im a self proclaimed expert after reading everyone elses accounts of teardown and restoration. So I wanted to oficially say thank you to everyone who inspired me through their updates and hopefully I can document mine as fully and maybe inspire someone else down the road.

Thanks again

[Swegner99]

I almost forgot! The before pictures!

[jimmy828]

good luck with truck.This site has motivated me to keep going on mine even though i have a ways to go.I am doing a complete restro on it so i need all the help i can get.

[FoPAR]

good luck, glad your going to stick around

[tylerb43]

Welcome, and good luck with the project! This place is the mecca of all information on these trucks, and it's packed with great people who are willing to share and help any way they can.

And btw - Sorry if you already know this, but a 352 isn't a "small block". It's an FE block, exactly like the 390. 352's weren't installed in '72's. (but who knows if it's the original engine) And, the 352/360/390/428, etc. all had "352" stamped on the front of the block. So I guess it could be a 390, the only way to confirm is if your guys measured the bore and stroke. Of course, not that it matters now, because it sounds like it's trashed, but I'm just saying - don't be hard on yourself. Many here have put a little too much trust in a seller before, I'm sure.

Keep it up!

[Swegner99]

Welcome, and good luck with the project! This place is the mecca of all information on these trucks, and it's packed with great people who are willing to share and help any way they can.

And btw - Sorry if you already know this, but a 352 isn't a "small block". It's an FE block, exactly like the 390. 352's weren't installed in '72's. (but who knows if it's the original engine) And, the 352/360/390/428, etc. all had "352" stamped on the rear of the block. So I guess it could be a 390, the only way to confirm is if your guys measured the bore and stroke. Of course, not that it matters now, because it sounds like it's trashed, but I'm just saying - don't be hard on yourself. Many here have put a little too much trust in a seller before, I'm sure.

Keep it up!

I agree completely that this is the place for any info necessary, thanks for the info on the FE blocks, I should do a little further research into that area. But like you said, the block is trash, I cant even use it as a good core. So im not too worried about what it was before. But again, thanks for the info

[Swegner99]

Update:

Last night I put the truck in my garage, clipped all the sheet metal off of the front end, pulled the doors, removed seat. All I have to say is wow! I think I am blessed with an almost rust free truck! Zero rust under the carpet, no rust on frame, no rest under cab. I am going to need radiator support mounts, cab mounts and new seat belts, but for the time being thats all I need to add to my list. Well, besides needing a fender liner for the passenger side, the battery tray must trap a lot of water because that inner fender liner is completely rusted through.

Also I noticed how simple it is to tear these trucks down, it is time consuming, but not a lot of skill involved. Maybe I can attribute that to good research and planning before hand, I owe everyone on here a thanks for that. I have a bunch of pictures to post, but dont have the cable here at work to download pictures to my computer. So pictures will be coming this afternoon hopefully!

[Ranchero50]

Ok, send me your sheetmetal and I'll send you mine, even swap. Then you can complain about some rust

Give me a mechanical fix any day...
Jamie

BTW, all FE's in our trucks are 390's and sometimes 428's

[Swegner99]

Still working on getting pics put onto the computer for upload. But have a new update:

Drained and removed fuel tank, removed dash pad (remarakable how the paint and sheet metal underneath are so pristine), got 7 of the 8 bed bolts removed, lucky me the last and final bolt wouldnt come undone. The right side bolt, closest to the cab, the sheet metal of the bed was pretty rusted so the bolt just spun in its hole. So tonight I get to pull out the cut off wheel and go to town on that guy.

I have an idea that I think will kill 2 birds with one stone, let me know what you guys think: I want to repair the floor of the bed, its only a section about 12 inches away from the bulkhead. At the same time, my girlfriend isnt too fond of having the gas tank right behind the seats. What I was thinking of doing is to cut out that section of the bed and replacing it with plain sheet metal, then putting the fuel tank on top of it and building supports around it and skinning the whole thing with sheet metal. This would avoid me having to replace that section of the bed with an actual bed floor due to the ribbing. Would also keep the girlfriend happy, which coincidentally I could make her think I'm doing all this extra work just for her .

Any thoughts on my plan would be appreciated

[elgemcdlf]

You can also grab what you need from a '73-'79 and put the tank under the truck. If you are feeling adventurous cut the fuel doors out and weld them into your bed. Unless braced somehow I would still replace with ribbed especially under a fuel tank. The ribbed section adds strength.