1965 F250’s Rejuvenation

Thanks wee-allis, your description sounds correct for what I was referring to.

Had a bit of a go today, feels like progress has been made.

Anything that could be greased has been greased, front and rear (for now, question about that down further) ends have been put back together with all wheel cylinders, brake lines/fittings in place and secured, brakes have been bled and seem to be holding at this stage, fingers crossed.

The brake pedal has surprisingly good feel. Thought it could be a bit play dough like but it just goes solid, sounds like all corners are working, haven’t physically checked them yet. The rebuilds on all master, slave and wheel cylinders seem to be doing their job, that’s pleasing.

Next on the list........The other day when I gave the motor a run there seemed to be a slight tapping noise from the motor. Not concerned at this point, assume it’s something simple like not enough preload on a lifter, hoping for an easy fix. As soon as I get that sorted the old wheels will go back on and I will relish my first drive up and down the fence line.

The Dana 70 axles had silicone creating a seal on the end flange and around the bolts. Is it standard practice to do something like this? I will use RTV if it’s required.

Shopping for it tomorrow. Also going to talk to an importer about some parts I need. Rockauto doesn’t stock everything so before I do my next order thought I’d get a price comparison from this place which can get other parts I require.

A bit more done today and a milestone reached.

First up I dropped the oil out of the Dana 70. It was black as could be but still liquid and no metal found so no issues there. I put 2.5 liters in although only 1.8 came out. That was not ideal so I waited for the leaks to show. Shortly after the pinion seal started to drip. It has already started to eased up so I will keep an eye on that. Used some RTV on the axle flanges, will see how that goes.

Found a cause for the smoke. I pulled the spark plugs and cylinders 3 and 4 were wet. Will keep an eye on that situation also.


I learnt from a mistake today which is the best way I’ve found through life. Thankfully there was no bad consequences with this one. I investigated the noisy lifter situation and decided to just set the preload on all of them again. I found to get an accurate gauge on when there is no lash prior to setting the preload it’s best to remove the socket from the nut or it gives a false positive. After figuring that out I’d say that’s why the noise was there to begin with. Seems to be gone for now. Once put back together a new air cleaner was installed.

The milestone is..........wheels turned today. Have temporarily thrown the rims on it so I could test out the work complete so far. I did need to nip a brake fitting up this morning after checking over the work from a couple days ago. That was an easy fix. Great feeling to be able to give it a few trips up the fence line. Needs some tuning as the idle is up a bit, other than that, it all worked well.

Good lesson learnt, now for the hardest part, remembering it. I think it might be normal that your tune up will change over the next few runs as things loosen up and bed in again.
Glad you have had the 'maiden run' it is a big step forward and makes you feel so good and as if you are getting there.

I had a 350 in that same green colour,already faded by the mid 70s,and Im sure I never heard any engine noises because if you own a 350 ,you gotta play tapes of hillbilly music as loud as it can go.

That’s it cobbadog, hopefully it won’t be forgotten. I did expect the tune to be over the place a bit in the beginning. I’ll try to have a look at it next week.

JOHN.K, I’ll start making my mix tape for when it hits the Highway, well that’s if it also applies to F250’s.

Today I gave the inside a much needed clean out. Put all the tools I had been dragging out of the shed and just leaving it back where they should be. Was going to leave it at that but decided to hit some rust areas with the wire wheel on the grinder and rust converter. Question on rust converter, if you have used it, in your experience will it penetrate a bit or only work on the surface stuff? Thanks.

Thye rust converters I have used you must knock off any flakey or loose rust then clean up the surface as best you can and apply the converter. I leave it over night then hose off the excess. Some of the converters say a shorter time then was off. It does work well and lately I think it is Bondall Rust Converter from Bunnings is what I have been using. They nearly all give a deep purple hue when treated. (not the old rock group either).

Thanks cobbadog. A bit of ‘Deep Purple’ in the background might help the hours pass.

Deciding which direction I go for attacking rust. The wire wheel is going well, I have sanding discs also but I’ve struck a couple sections I didn’t realise was as bad as it is, e.g the internal side of the drivers door has a few holes in it. Thinking I should get something inside the door to pull the rust up. I’ll likely treat the rust and add a kick panel along the bottom for now.

On another note, Gryphon has kindly updated the title for this thread to accurately reflect the F250’s year model.

Anything to oblige Urchy, this is probably most apt although Black Night would have been my first choice.

Urchy, I have used the rust converter plenty of times and followed the instruction for ok results, but I usually follow up with fish oil and wait a few weeks for it to dry off before painting. Inside my doors a d pillars where I can't see properly or access I jst drown them in fish oil. It does seem to stop the rust.

Great progress.