[Breezeway2021]

Made a deal today on another ford. Pretty stoked about it.

This is the best pic I got right now since the ads been taken down already. Hopefully get the title changed tomorrow and bring it home.

It’s a 95 1/2 ton with the 300 I6, 5spd, and 4x4. (So for sake of conversation can we pretend this a bronco so I don’t feel like this post unwanted lol)

This is a truck I’ve wanted for a long time after first seeing how great a manual 300 I6 is and it’ll hopefully be my daily. Found it yesterday online and looked at it earlier today. I followed the owner in his Jeep through some country roads and test drove about 10mi or so.

With 266k it’s got quite a few miles but it ran super smooth and like a top and when I started it up I couldn’t even hear it running over the door buzzer... which will be the first thing I remove lol.

The interior is next to perfect. Dash pad has no cracks, vinyl floor still shines and no cracks anywhere. Bench has just a couple cracks from right elbow. Got some rust over rear wheel wells but that’s to be expected.

There’s really not a lot wrong with it. Rear fuel tank has a pump out but no big deal for now since front tank is fine. It could use shocks and probably shackle bushings.

I’d like to swap in a 3/4 suspension or helper springs in the rear for hauling stuff. Also a bull bar maybe. Other than that it’ll probably stay the way it is.

Any ideas for upgrades/mods feel free to comment. Never had a 300 I6 so if you know any tips please share. I did noticed it has SD intake not Mass Air but I don’t feel like that’s a big deal.

I’ll put up some more pictures later.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Made a deal today on another ford. Pretty stoked about it.

View attachment 182189
This is the best pic I got right now since the ads been taken down already. Hopefully get the title changed tomorrow and bring it home.

It’s a 95 1/2 ton with the 300 I6, 5spd, and 4x4. (So for sake of conversation can we pretend this a bronco so I don’t feel like this post unwanted lol)

This is a truck I’ve wanted for a long time after first seeing how great a manual 300 I6 is and it’ll hopefully be my daily. Found it yesterday online and looked at it earlier today. I followed the owner in his Jeep through some country roads and test drove about 10mi or so.

With 266k it’s got quite a few miles but it ran super smooth and like a top and when I started it up I couldn’t even hear it running over the door buzzer... which will be the first thing I remove lol.

The interior is next to perfect. Dash pad has no cracks, vinyl floor still shines and no cracks anywhere. Bench has just a couple cracks from right elbow. Got some rust over rear wheel wells but that’s to be expected.

There’s really not a lot wrong with it. Rear fuel tank has a pump out but no big deal for now since front tank is fine. It could use shocks and probably shackle bushings.

I’d like to swap in a 3/4 suspension or helper springs in the rear for hauling stuff. Also a bull bar maybe. Other than that it’ll probably stay the way it is.

Any ideas for upgrades/mods feel free to comment. Never had a 300 I6 so if you know any tips please share. I did noticed it has SD intake not Mass Air but I don’t feel like that’s a big deal.

I’ll put up some more pictures later.

Welcome to the big six club! Unfortunately, there isnt much you can do to that 300 while keeping the SD system happy. The good news is its already the most powerful 300 ever built in the ford factory. You have 9:1 compression with a factory swirl head and the good efi exhaust manifolds. About all you can do is swap to 1.73 ratio rocker arms. Scorpion offers a set of roller tip rockers for your head. Add a better flowing exhaust system too. For technical posts all about the 300, join up at Ford Six.com. They know more about 300s than we all know about broncos... Im not kidding.

I would look at two things for the load capacity. First would be 10ply tires. Second would be air bag helpers instead of F250/F350 leaves. What gear ratio is in the diffs?

 

[miesk5]

Yo Breezeway2021,
Congrats! Looks very good and will run very well as our #4 songs experienced with his F 150.

ASAP, find out if speed control recall work, if equipped was completed. If you still have concerns about Recalls, please contact the Ford Customer Relationship Center:
US: 800-392-3673 | CA: 800-565-3673
Note: 3673 spells "FORD" on phone keys
For the hearing- or speech-impaired: Please contact the Telecommunication Relay Service by dialing 71
"Summary: ON CERTAIN PICKUP TRUCKS, PASSENGER VEHICLES, SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, AND MOTOR HOMES CHASSIS, THE SPEED CONTROL DEACTIVATION SWITCH MAY, UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, LEAK INTERNALLY AND THEN OVERHEAT, SMOKE, OR BURN. THIS COULD RESULT IN AN UNDERHOOD FIRE."

1995 Ford Trucks Dealer Brochure @ https://www.xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1995-Ford-Trucks.pdf

1995 Bronco Drivetrain, Powertrain Service Manual - Google Drive with pertinent and applicable F150 info; and same for
1995 Bronco Chassis, Service Manual - Google Drive
To switch between folder list & grid views, click the button to the right of the "DOWNLOAD ALL" button in the upper right corner of the window) by HawkDriver

Haynes Red Manual for 80-95 Bronco & F Series @ Hanes guide 80-96 bko f series.pdf via BroncMom

Good fortune!
Al

 

[Breezeway2021]

Welcome to the big six club! Unfortunately, there isnt much you can do to that 300 while keeping the SD system happy. The good news is its already the most powerful 300 ever built in the ford factory. You have 9:1 compression with a factory swirl head and the good efi exhaust manifolds. About all you can do is swap to 1.73 ratio rocker arms. Scorpion offers a set of roller tip rockers for your head. Add a better flowing exhaust system too. For technical posts all about the 300, join up at Ford Six.com. They know more about 300s than we all know about broncos... Im not kidding.

I would look at two things for the load capacity. First would be 10ply tires. Second would be air bag helpers instead of F250/F350 leaves. What gear ratio is in the diffs?

Thanks for the info! I’m really looking forward to seeing how she pulls when she gets a little work to do. I did look at the Ford six website last night. It did seem quite extensive and the build threads were a little over my head until I can get some study time lol.

The high miles is the only thing making me curious about light engine work (and a small valve cover leak) other wise I’d not touch it. But since large engine work is newish to me I want to be sure to do my homework before I touch anything. I’ll look into those rockers.

Do you know of any exhaust kits that are good options?. I’d rather it not sound like a ricer like some do on the YouTube clips lol

Don’t know rear end gearing ATM. Will dig into it more when I get it home.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Yo Breezeway2021,
Congrats! Looks very good and will run very well as our #4 songs experienced with his F 150.

ASAP, find out if speed control recall work, if equipped was completed. If you still have concerns about Recalls, please contact the Ford Customer Relationship Center:
US: 800-392-3673 | CA: 800-565-3673
Note: 3673 spells "FORD" on phone keys
For the hearing- or speech-impaired: Please contact the Telecommunication Relay Service by dialing 71
"Summary: ON CERTAIN PICKUP TRUCKS, PASSENGER VEHICLES, SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, AND MOTOR HOMES CHASSIS, THE SPEED CONTROL DEACTIVATION SWITCH MAY, UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, LEAK INTERNALLY AND THEN OVERHEAT, SMOKE, OR BURN. THIS COULD RESULT IN AN UNDERHOOD FIRE."

1995 Ford Trucks Dealer Brochure @ https://www.xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/1995-Ford-Trucks.pdf

1995 Bronco Drivetrain, Powertrain Service Manual - Google Drive with pertinent and applicable F150 info; and same for
1995 Bronco Chassis, Service Manual - Google Drive
To switch between folder list & grid views, click the button to the right of the "DOWNLOAD ALL" button in the upper right corner of the window) by HawkDriver

Haynes Red Manual for 80-95 Bronco & F Series @ Hanes guide 80-96 bko f series.pdf via BroncMom

Good fortune!
Al

Thanks Miesk. I’ve seen you post that recall notice many times, not actually sure what the speed control is... if it’s cruise control related then this truck won’t have it being base model with no cruise

 

[miesk5]

Thanks Miesk. I’ve seen you post that recall notice many times, not actually sure what the speed control is... if it’s cruise control related then this truck won’t have it being base model with no cruise

Yo,
Right on, cruise control!

 

[BigBlue 94]

Thanks for the info! I’m really looking forward to seeing how she pulls when she gets a little work to do. I did look at the Ford six website last night. It did seem quite extensive and the build threads were a little over my head until I can get some study time lol.

The high miles is the only thing making me curious about light engine work (and a small valve cover leak) other wise I’d not touch it. But since large engine work is newish to me I want to be sure to do my homework before I touch anything. I’ll look into those rockers.

Do you know of any exhaust kits that are good options?. I’d rather it not sound like a ricer like some do on the YouTube clips lol

Don’t know rear end gearing ATM. Will dig into it more when I get it home.

Ah good! Yeah, there are retired ford engineers and other smart types over there that really know their stuff. For 300/4.9 engine questions I go there, no offense to my FSB home! But dont let them intimidate you, they are all real nice. Nothing is "too little" to post about.

The 300, in carbed form, is about as simple as it gets. The EFI adds some complexity that I cant really help with.

The aftermarket for the 300 is very small, but actually growing. We finally can get an aftermarket performance head, after 55 years!

As for the exhaust, you are best making your own. Or having a shop custom do it. But there are some tricks. As I mentioned, the efi exhaust manifolds are very good. A nice cleanup of the outlets with a grinder is all you need to do. Then use the factory headpipes cut off the cat and mate them with a flowmaster y-collector or similar y-junction. It should be 2.5" or 3" from here back, into your choice of cat and muffler, and single tail pipe.

A turbo style muffler keeps the raspiness down vs a straight through muffler. Chambered sound pretty decent on them too.

BTW, ive also got a blue single cab long bed XL pickup, a 96 F350 with a 351.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Ah good! Yeah, there are retired ford engineers and other smart types over there that really know their stuff. For 300/4.9 engine questions I go there, no offense to my FSB home! But dont let them intimidate you, they are all real nice. Nothing is "too little" to post about.

The 300, in carbed form, is about as simple as it gets. The EFI adds some complexity that I cant really help with.

The aftermarket for the 300 is very small, but actually growing. We finally can get an aftermarket performance head, after 55 years!

As for the exhaust, you are best making your own. Or having a shop custom do it. But there are some tricks. As I mentioned, the efi exhaust manifolds are very good. A nice cleanup of the outlets with a grinder is all you need to do. Then use the factory headpipes cut off the cat and mate them with a flowmaster y-collector or similar y-junction. It should be 2.5" or 3" from here back, into your choice of cat and muffler, and single tail pipe.

A turbo style muffler keeps the raspiness down vs a straight through muffler. Chambered sound pretty decent on them too.

BTW, ive also got a blue single cab long bed XL pickup, a 96 F350 with a 351.

Cool beans I like a nice single/reg cab.
I’ve not really done any exhaust work before so I appreciate that info. Am I correct in believing that the longer your system is the more toned down and deeper your exhaust note will be?

 

[BigBlue 94]

Cool beans I like a nice single/reg cab.
I’ve not really done any exhaust work before so I appreciate that info. Am I correct in believing that the longer your system is the more toned down and deeper your exhaust note will be?

The longer it is, the smoother the tone. The bigger the diameter, the deeper the tone.

Every bend adds friction equivalent to adding so much straight pipe. It varies with diameter, but a 90° bend adds the friction of like 3ft of straight pipe. Think about it like a pipe organ with all the different sizes and lengths of pipe. They all produce a different tone.

There are other tricks such as helmholtz tubes with or without dead ends or plain old resonators.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Got it home! For a couple grand it’s got a new owner. I’ve driven it maybe 60mi so far and I’m loving it. Every once in a while it has a bit of a miss at start up so I picked up some plugs to put in as well as an oil change and Lucas oil stabilizer.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Found a vacuum line broken on the switch box thing for the AC blower. It probably broke from me trying to see if the ac worked lol. Got it fixed and it hasn’t had that miss/rough idle since. Also found that it had no air filter so I borrowed one from the bronco and threw it in. I was only able to get one spark plug changed due to my socket being too big. The only one I had was a 1/2” drive impact socket so it’s really thick. I’ll have to pick up a designated spark plug socket for the rig. 13/16” if anyone is curious.

It could have just been my imagination and fast growing love for this rig but after putting in the air filter it felt like it made a tremendous difference in the throttle response and volume of the motor. I think also my ride home on the parkway is the most it’s been driven in a while and it’s starting to put pin holes in the rusty exhaust. Anyways...
The frame is a little more rusty than I realized but I’m not gonna let it bother me. Can’t complain for the deal I got.

Love this truck. (Dare I say more than my bronco...?? ) I guess it’s fare to say that since it’s not running right lol
I’ll shut up now and post some cool pics.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Got a free cooler too. Nice Coleman.

Headlights are fantastic for its age. (High beams in pic) also all of the air vent louvers are still in tact. Wow!

 

[Breezeway2021]

I would look at two things for the load capacity. First would be 10ply tires. Second would be air bag helpers instead of F250/F350 leaves. What gear ratio is in the diffs?

Front looks like a Dana 44 and rear looks like 8.8 same as my bronco. Not sure what that means for gear ratio but I’m sure it’s still stock. Here’s the door sticker

Tell me more about these air bag helpers. I’ve heard of them but not heard much. I guess it just lets you keep regular soft 1/2 ton suspension for no load but gives the help when you need it? What’s a ball park figure for a decent air bag set up with self install?

 

[BigBlue 94]

Front looks like a Dana 44 and rear looks like 8.8 same as my bronco. Not sure what that means for gear ratio but I’m sure it’s still stock. Here’s the door sticker View attachment 182248


Tell me more about these air bag helpers. I’ve heard of them but not heard much. I guess it just lets you keep regular soft 1/2 ton suspension for no load but gives the help when you need it? What’s a ball park figure for a decent air bag set up with self install?

Tag tells me it has 3.55 gears with a limited slip rear differential. Clutch pack style limited slip.

Regional code puts it being born for the Cincinnati area, just FYI.

Paint code LA is a gorgeous color, my 94 bronco was that color. When shined up it transforms between blue and purple in the sunlight.

Air bag helpers are just that, air bags you can control the pressure of, and help keep the truck level with a load on. They mount inboard of the factory leaf springs. Idk much about em, though as ive never owned any.

 

[hstrymkrs]

Funny as I was just looking through Craigslist in the Lexington area and thought I saw this truck. Nope. It was a similar blue with limbs in the back with similar set up. Yours has nicer paint. Glad you found it and are enjoying it.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Tag tells me it has 3.55 gears with a limited slip rear differential. Clutch pack style limited slip.

Regional code puts it being born for the Cincinnati area, just FYI.

Paint code LA is a gorgeous color, my 94 bronco was that color. When shined up it transforms between blue and purple in the sunlight.

Air bag helpers are just that, air bags you can control the pressure of, and help keep the truck level with a load on. They mount inboard of the factory leaf springs. Idk much about em, though as ive never owned any.

Well that explains why with shades on it almost looked purple I was a little confused. Thanks for the information @BigBlue 94 ;!

 

[Breezeway2021]

Funny as I was just looking through Craigslist in the Lexington area and thought I saw this truck. Nope. It was a similar blue with limbs in the back with similar set up. Yours has nicer paint. Glad you found it and are enjoying it.

It may very well have been this truck. The ad was up as late as 5 o’clock ish yesterday. It was in Springfield. Yes this powertrain package is one I have wanted for a LONG time and basically, if I could only have one OBS ford this would be my choice for powertrain. Would prefer 3/4ton but beggars can’t be choosers lol. Needless to say I was happy happy happy when my wife said “why don’t you message him?”

 

[Breezeway2021]

Tag tells me it has 3.55 gears with a limited slip rear differential. Clutch pack style limited slip.

Regional code puts it being born for the Cincinnati area, just FYI.

Paint code LA is a gorgeous color, my 94 bronco was that color. When shined up it transforms between blue and purple in the sunlight.

Air bag helpers are just that, air bags you can control the pressure of, and help keep the truck level with a load on. They mount inboard of the factory leaf springs. Idk much about em, though as ive never owned any.

I’m assuming the trans code “M” is m5od? It’s a 4sp with OD. Is this the same as the Mazda trans I have heard about? I’m guessing it’s not a very heavy duty trans. That would be the zf5 and 6 correct? I’ve not had a manual OBS ford until now so I don’t know as much about the different transmissions they used.

 

[Breezeway2021]

Bed is almost as clean as the interior. Tail gait sticker looks brand new, and it sits nice one the 31x10.5s firestone destinations in the back and Michelin’s in the front. The paint on this truck looks a lot like a Ranger bass boat my grandpa had back in the day. Love it!

 

[miesk5]

I’m assuming the trans code “M” is m5od? It’s a 4sp with OD. Is this the same as the Mazda trans I have heard about? I’m guessing it’s not a very heavy duty trans. That would be the zf5 and 6 correct? I’ve not had a manual OBS ford until now so I don’t know as much about the different transmissions they used.

Yo Breezeway2021,
AFFIRMATIVE!