It’s a Frankenstein, how to figure out what it is

[WarMachine]

It’s a Frankenstein! I found my bucket list truck a 1970 f100 with a Manuel tran with a 390FE, 4x4 truck, well that’s what the for sale sign said. After researching the VIN belongs to a 1970 F250 built in San Jose California 2 wheel Drive automatic transmission with a small block. But the side says f100 but the grill is for an f250 and under the black paint it is the original color. The top is accurate but how do I find out what the bottlm belongs too. I checked for the VIN on the body but couldn’t find them. Any suggestions thank you

[idaho_cowboy]

Sorry nobody else has chimed in to help..

Whatever you're looking at sounds like a piece together. But let's clear a few things up to help you out.

1.) No 67-72 4x4 came with a 390. So eliminate that on you're list, unless you're not looking for original. Also assume that every tom dick and harry will lie to you and ignorantly say "it has a 390". They probably don't know.
2.) Hood badges interchange. Don't look at them! You need to really look at the truck! F100 4x4 will have 5 lug wheels, light duty frame, married transfer-case, and coil spring front suspension. It will have 3" factory blocks on the rear. Not to mention other differences. An F-250 4x4 will have 8 lug wheels,the frame will be much taller, thicker, stouter and have an extra cross member easily noticed under the front bumper, with big factory rivets in the front, two on each side. It supports the leaf spring suspension in the front. It would have a divorced transfer case. These are the easy identifiers.
3.) F100/F250 grille, no difference. Grilles are the same.

Unless the seller openly stated what was what, I probably wouldn't buy anything that didn't have a VIN warranty tag on the drivers door, and a factory vin to match stamped on the frame rail. (Twice, passenger side. Easiest place to locate is to look under passenger side inner fender on the top of the frame. Bring wire brush.)

Based on what I'm reading, you should study up, save your money, and wait unit the right truck comes along.

- Joseph

[WarMachine]

Thank you very much for your response Joseph, sorry on the delayed response father in the hospital.

Okay I looked over the truck and It has 5 lug wheels, married transfer case and front springs but could not locate the VIN, you mentioned its stamped on the frame so its not a plate like the door im assuming a hard to read indention in the frame. The upper frame matches the VIN for an f250 the original color is under the black paint on the truck.

So I know the top body belonged to a 1970 F250, so now I need to narrow down the lower half now that its identified as a F100 I need to find out the year?? and engine size??

The motor has 352 stamped on the front and is a V8 big block with a 4 barrel carburetor. I don't know if this helps but when I went to bleed the brakes I wanted to replace the bleeder valves at the parts store it showed there were two different sizes for front and back but when I worked on the brakes all the bleeder valves were all the same size as the fronts.

Thank you again

Thaddeus

[idaho_cowboy]

Sounds like you acquired the truck. Now the fun begins!

The Vin on the frame is stamped in two places. If you're title matches the body (door) then you probably don't need to worry about it too much. However if you want to find out what you have, look on top of the passenger side frame rail. it will be once in front of the firewall, under the inner fender. Scrape and clean until you see it. Will have a star on either side of the number. The second location is even harder to see, it's also passenger side top frame rail under the cab and would require lighting and a mirror to find.

"352" on the front of your FE block means nothing.

To determine if you have a 352/360 or a 390 measure the stroke. Rotate until engine is at TDC. When the #1 piston is at the top, #4 will be at the bottom. Stick a brass or other non abrasive rod down the spark plug hole and be careful to rest it on top of the piston, not in the piston dish.mark the rod off a fixed point, like the valve cover flange. Then stick the same rod down the #4 hole. Mark it at the same place along the valve cover flange. Now measure the distance between your two marks.

3.5" = 360 stroke, shared with a 352 though it's unlikely that you have a 352.
3.78" = 390 stroke.

It's literally the difference of 1/4 inch we're talking about, so be accurate in your measuring!

4 v carb means nothing. None of our trucks ever came with a 4v., so you know it's been transplanted there along with the intake. Possibly the whole engine.

As far as brakes, did you get it figured out? There's probably four different wheel cylinders used.

- Joseph

[MadJoe]

Is there not a VIN plate on the dash? Also, could you post the VIN you do have so we can decode it and also tell us where you found it on the truck? I'm curious how you're so sure the body is from an F250 instead of an F100 since there's no difference between the 2 except badging that can easily be swapped out.

Anyway, congrats on the truck, regardless of what it turns out to be, it's still a bump and that's the important part.

Oh, and definitely verify that you have a 390 because if I'm understanding you correctly, you were sold it as a 390. If an unscrupulous person sells a 352 or 360 as a 390 it could go unnoticed for a good long time until someone rebuilds it, or manually checks the stroke. Literally the only difference is the rotating gear between the 360 and 390 (easy way to remember it is the 360 is a bored 352, and the 390 is a stroked 360).

[idaho_cowboy]

Never were there any vin plates on dash ...