That 'barn find' 1987 F-150 I pulled out of a field in Ohio back in April

Man, I wish I took a photo the day we dragged it out of that overgrown lot. The inside was full of mouse nests and the carb was just gummed up solid. After cleaning out the fuel system, swapping the dried out hoses, and rebuilding the carb over a weekend, it fired up on the second crank. What got me was the paint - the clear coat was completely gone on the hood, but the rest of the truck buffed out to a nice patina look. How long did you guys spend on your worst barn find cleanup?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenny_coleman1mo ago

Wait, are we calling a weekend cleanup the "worst" barn find scenario? Because I gotta say, that sounds like a dream compared to some of the stuff I've seen. I pulled a '72 Charger out of a shed that had a tree growing through the floorboards, took me three months just to get it to roll on its own wheels. Rebuilding a carb and swapping hoses over one weekend is practically a miracle, man. I mean, the patina paint job is a nice bonus too, but the fact it fired up on the second crank is just lucky. You got off easy, count your blessings.

eric_murray261mo ago

Hooked up a battery to a '68 Mustang that had been sitting since the late 90s and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree for about five seconds before everything went dark and the smoke let out. Spent the next two weeks just getting the wiring harness sorted, found three different spots where squirrels had chewed through the insulation. The dirt daubers had filled every single vent hole in the body too, took me a whole afternoon with a can of compressed air and a coat hanger just to unclog them. Your F-150 sounds like a blessing compared to that mess, honestly.

leelewis1mo ago

Wait, did you have to re-pin the whole connector block on that Mustang or just splice in new sections? I'm curious how deep the damage went if the smoke got out that fast.