Ford F-Series Part V – The 80s in Specs

July 12th, 2007 by Shenron

With the new ford redesign giving it the box-o-matic look along with its large teeth-like grill this era of Ford F-Series trucks had some better engines and transmission updates to boot. The Big Block 460 was dumped; however they did add a 6.9L engine, along with the entry of a 7.5 V8 engine, both of which were powerful for their time. The engines the Ford F-Series used in this era were the Windsor V8′s at 5.0L, 5.8L, and the addition of the V8 FI 5.0L that had a nothing-to-laugh-at 185 horses. The Cleveland’s were still included too, with the 5.8 and 6.6 still optional; there was also a V6 and V8, a Straight-6 4.9 and finally the two new contenders. The 7.5 V8 engine rocked out a bold 245 horses and its 6.9L Diesel V8 counterparts held up at 170 horses. Over all this generation saw not much change in the Ford F-Series as far as GVWR goes, so listing it would be redundant. Engines that were discontinued during this models run were the 255 inch V8, the V6, the Windsor 5.0L V8, and all the Cleveland V8′s.

In 1987 when they redesigned the vehicle to streamline it they made the mechanics job easier, and added more safety features like anti-lock brakes becoming standard and on all their models (they were the very first to be able to say they had anti-lock brakes on all their trucks as a standard feature) along with the manual being revisited and looked at, making it five speeds and dumping another system. The trucks now all used fuel injection systems, the carburetor was dead – so were a couple of engines, as the 6.9L V8 Diesel was scrapped for the 7.3L diesel made by International Harvester. The updated design and engine culminated in a new GVWR for most the vehicles, along with their new numbering lines. The Ford F-Series F-150 with its half ton rated at 6,250 GVWR, the three quarter of a ton F-250 rated at 8,800 GVWR, while the one ton F-350 rated at a large 11,000 GVWR, and the one ton+ F-Super Duty rated at 15,000 GVWR. Unfortunately for this generation the poor coverage of anti rusting materials, and the very use of these materials, gives this era a bad rap for high instances of rusting on the bed side wheel well.

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