After a long and dedicated hobby of working on GM cars, I just recently acquired a 1980 F-100 Stepside. You might have seen this truck on ebay awhile back and it was just too good of a deal to pass up. So far,the plans are to do a quick and dirty restoration on it, primarily interior and body, although they are both in great shape for an old Tennessee farm truck. Whenever I manage to find one, I'll be pulling the stock straight 6 and putting in a Cummins 4bt and a 5-speed in place of the 3 on the floor. Anyway, I look forward to learning as much as I can about Ford trucks and getting active in the KY chapter.

 

Welcome! From a fellow Kentuckian. Looks like you've got a job doing some fabricating. If I'm not mistaken, the 4bt engine is basically the same as the 5.9 with 2 cylinders cut off, is that right? Good luck on the project. John

 

It's basically a 5.9 with a couple of cylinders off of it, yes. From what I've read though,it's a direct drop in if there was originally a 300 six in it. Thanks for the welcome!

 

A friend of mine has said that the 4 cylinder cummins is a standard engine in some type of van/boxed truck. I know he was telling me that some Jeep owners are swapping that engine into their jeeps. Apparently they are readily available so it shouldn't cost too much. I didn't know they would just drop in where a 300 6cylinder sits. You will be one of a select few that have a diesel powered 1/2 ton pickup. Congrats. John

 

There's a guy in Owensboro that sells the whole van on ebay, but it's pretty expensive. I'm hoping someone on here might have some idea where a bread van might be pretty cheap. This whole diesel thing is pretty interesting, it's alot more simple than a regular gas engine.

 

Good Luck! And welcome to the Kentucky board. Whereabouts in Kentucky do you call home? You might be surprised and find out one of us is a neighbor.

 

I'm in Winchester, we moved out here from Lexington about 6 months ago. I am loving the country living, especially after being in a bad neighborhood. Where are you guys from?

 

Congrats on stepping up to a Ford. And a diesel conversion is a great idea. I am getting ready to put a 6.9 in my 88 Bronco along with the all the suspension out of an 86 f250 I just bought. You should check into biodeisel, the bio diesel forum on this site is an excellent source of info on it.

 

Northern Ky, florence specifically is where I call home. Kenpobuck is down the road from me, HI Buck.

 

I was from Ft.Mitchell originally and came down this way for work, so I know all about Florence. As far as the biodiesel goes, my father-in-law is a big hippie and has been making it for a few years now. The hardest part is finding places that'll let you have their grease. I need to get down to the Cantuckee diner sometime and see if I can get my truck to smell like frog legs.

 

I'm in the Melbourne, Camp Springs, Alexandria area. Just off the AA Hwy.

 

I used to run the AA all the time during college going back and forth from Morehead. campbell Co started a massive cleanup of speeding there so I started going on I64 instead. That's a fun road to drive when the fuzz isn't out there. Go to Bobby Mackey's much?

 

Welcome to the Ky. chapter from Louisville

 

Thanks for the welcome, I just posted pics of the truck on my gallery if you'd like to take a look. It's got a long way to go, but so far from what I've done so far it's pretty easy to work on.

 

I had been to Bobby Mackey's a couple times, but it's been many years ago. Don't do the bar scene any more since I've got a wife and kids.

I assume when you went to Morehead, you went to Maysville and took Hwy 11 to Flemingsburg and got on Hwy32 to Morehead. Have you ever taken US27 to Paris and then take 627 to I-64? You hit I-64 one exit west of the Mountain Pky.