metalbender

hi everyone
1977 f-150 6 cyl automatic. no cruise. power steering, ac,
welp here I go again, buying a vehicle that needs more work than I have know-how lol.
so lemme start off my endless questions with a crucial first one.
what manuals do you all recommend??
I bought the truck for 500 bucks from a fella that couldnt sell it at 1500 because
a) he was NEVER home for anyone that might have stopped or called
b) hed done a fair amount of resto on this truck but the body was still rainbow primer heh so it lLOOKED like a dog from as far back as it was sitting from the road ( sooo glad i stopped to look)
and most importantly
c) he needed cash badly, hes buying a house

its obvious from the custom built speaker box and gaping hole where the stereo was that there was some serious wire fiddling, which may be the cause of some of my problems im about to list
so here goes
1) hazards do not blink, directionals come on and stay on, no blinking.
1a) right turn works but indicator on dash does not
2) right side directional cover bulb etc need to be replaced, their a wreck.
3) when brake pedal is depressed theres a odd knocking sound but i THINK that might be a bad return spring, havnt crawled around on the floor yet as I litterally parked the truck, googled this site, and joined up ASAP lol...and the reason i think that might be the problem is that because the rear brake cablight and brake lights stayed on after I shut the truck off, although, the dome light stayed on too....called him right away after disconnecting the battery and according to him you have to lift the brake pedal slightly to stop that hrrrm Ill check that one tommorow, although that whole dome light thing staying on kinda makes me wonder.
4) when I brake while driving the truck SIGHTLY revs and idles back down really low and stalls.
my first steps are going to be fluid levels, filters, manual. then im going to go through the list o doom
so far these seem to be the "only" issues, and I cant wait to post some pics and tell you all the story of how I turned a 83 chevy diesel van into a 77 f-150 lol, had some nice luck
thanks ahead of time and talk to you all soon!

 

thefonz

It may not really be too bad. Brake lights staying on... check that the brake light switch is mounted properly. It is on the arm of the brake pedal. On the older vehicles they were adjustable
Check all the tail light and brake light bulbs. (One bulb out and they won't flash on that side) Also check the socket they plug into, look for corrosion.
Hopefully this will give you a good start.

metalbender

thanks fonz :)

thefonz

Oh yeah, welcome to the forums. Keep us up to date with your project.