introduced the rapter to the rest of the herd

[pirate air]

nope its a 78

Nice. I have a 79 with a big block, its one rowdy ass tank lol.

 

[JP7]

Nice Spot!
Don't worry about the neighbors - they all just jealous of your toys.
Sounds like you've played with your toys to make them ride well - I did as well, but found the bored and stroked 400M worked a lot better than the 351's. Still, it was always a guess whether the carb would cut out near the top of a 400 foot long hill run - but hell, thats half the fun!
Wonder if your name came from the Fords always leaving their mark - I ended up having all of mine having rear main seal problems so they always left a lil 'spot' where I parked...

 

[peppercorn]

Has that '78 been in your family since new? I remember the 351m, it was a different cat altogether from the Cleveland and Boss motors. It's been a long time since we worked over the 'm' in my older brother's '77 F150.
Great rigs either way, and for the neighbors, they probably need the perspective you provide them.

 

[pirate air]

Nice Spot!
Don't worry about the neighbors - they all just jealous of your toys.
Sounds like you've played with your toys to make them ride well - I did as well, but found the bored and stroked 400M worked a lot better than the 351's. Still, it was always a guess whether the carb would cut out near the top of a 400 foot long hill run - but hell, thats half the fun!
Wonder if your name came from the Fords always leaving their mark - I ended up having all of mine having rear main seal problems so they always left a lil 'spot' where I parked...

Has that '78 been in your family since new? I remember the 351m, it was a different cat altogether from the Cleveland and Boss motors. It's been a long time since we worked over the 'm' in my older brother's '77 F150.
Great rigs either way, and for the neighbors, they probably need the perspective you provide them.

Lol I shit canned the 351m out of my Bronco. Went straight for the 460 block and some Kaase heads

 

[spot]

I bought the 78 from the original owner in 85. It had 40k on it and looked showroom new. Garage kept and only used to tow his boat to and from the lake.. The 351m, 351C and 400 are all basically the same. the m and 400 have crappy heads that don't allow them to breath. A little head work, better intake and carb or a pair of aussie heads and you really make some big power gains. I built this one for torque and pulling power. Not big numbers but on the dyno it proved itself. the HP is right at 300 but the torque is 400ft/lbs and the curve is almost dead flat. It'll lug along in high gear with a load and keep pulling.
My name came from my first truck, a 65f100 ranger with a 352 police motor. I had started priming the hood and ran out of light gray and finished with dark gray. Came out kinda spotty. Someone called the truck "spot" and the name stuck. That's been close to 30 years ago. (still have the 65 in storage. waiting on time to rebuild it again.)