Craigslist: First-Gen F150 Lightning Muscle Truck

Bradley Brownell

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Yeah, it’s got a lot of miles, but it’s a Ford F150, it’ll probably run forever without any problems, right? Too much wishful thinking? I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been a really big fan of these first-gen Lightning trucks. There’s something about 1990s ‘sport trucks’ that I really dig, and the fact that this “full size” is about half the size of the current F150 is a laughable concept. Remember when you could get a small single cab pickup with a hot V8 up front, and rear wheel drive? Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember.

The concept is stupid simple, so why don’t trucks like this exist anymore? I would be a truck buyer, but I don’t really want anything bigger than this (This F150 is smaller than a midsize pickup these days). It chaps my bum that I can’t walk down to a dealership and get a 2-wheel-drive bench seat pickup truck with cloth seats and the same engine that was in a high-performance mustang. Can you imagine a truck about the same size as the old Ranger with the current 400 HP Mustang Coyote V8 and a grind-em-and-find-em tall stick 6-speed? Sign me up. Gimme roll up windows and manually adjustable mirrors, too. Now get offa my lawn!
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From the ad:

Selling my black 93 Lightning. I really wanted to build this truck but after dumping a ton of money into a twin turbo/built motor Mustang and purchasing a Gen 2 Lightning to have some fun with as a daily driver I won’t be able to build this truck the way it deserves to be built. I drove the truck daily up until a month ago and I still drive it a few hundred miles round trip down to the GoPro Motorplex when I race my kart. It’s a good high mile (206,000) truck that just needs some TLC. The truck has been repainted, I’m not sure by who or the quality (probably Maaco or something cheap like that), it’s a 10 – 15 footer.
Pros –
Roller block F4TE (Stock motor)
Punisher VB (agressive)
Truck runs good
StruckBy battery cable
130 amp alt
New Belt
New HD radiator, FRPP water pump with ARP bolts/studs
Gen 2 Wheels 18″ with very good Toyo Proxes STII tires all around
FRPP plug wires with motor craft plugs
MSD cap and rotor
MSD coil
7″ NAV/TV/DVD with Kicker Speakers (needs an amp to sound better)
Hedman long tube headers with cats & two Hooker Aerochamber mufflers passenger side exit in front of wheel.
Bilstein shocks and struts all around less than 2000 miles
New master cylinder and booster
New layered oil pan gasket
Percy aluminum exhaust gaskets and percy locking header bolts
Black locking fiberglass tonneau cover
New headlights and taillights
Cervini Cowl Hood (steel)
K&N intake
Roll Pan
A/C works good
Cons –
Trans just started shifting rough in all gears, it needs ($61 on Amazon) MPLS switch. The trans is fine but the switch is bad. It shifts hard because it goes into a fail safe mode when the switch goes out, pretty common issue.
Rear main seal is leaking and needs to be replaced
Paint has scratches and the passenger side lower cab has a little rust on the surface.
The exhaust needs to be replaced, the place I took it to did a ****ty job. The long tube headers are good and the mufflers are good, sound great. But the piping hits the frame in one or two spots and one of the cats has blown out. The cats are welded to the mufflers and not where they should be. If you have a welder just buy another cat and re-weld the piping. The piping is all mandrel bent.
The inside drivers door panel clips are broken so the door panel rattles
Drivers side window needs help rolling up, 3 hardware store nuts can fix it
Needs the steering box either adjusted or replaced (steering is loose feeling)
Needs new carpet, interior is pretty good other than that
Previous owner put an Excursion center console in it and did a poor job, it’s wood mounted underneath so may need to be either removed or mounted better.
Parts I will include in the sale –
Summit Racing cross drilled and slotted rotors, EBC pads, Russell lines/fittings, New Calipers, bearings & seals
New Heater core
$3000 firm, I already reduced it $1500 for a quick sale I will not go lower so don’t ask. If I find the time to fix some of the minor issues the price will go back up. This is a very good price for a decently rare truck that just needs some elbow grease put into it.
If you want to see the truck I’ll be more than happy to arrange for you to stop by and check it out. My recommendation would be to tow it due to the trans switch but it is drivable, just shifts hard is all.
I also have some brand new parts that I meant to install but never got around to it. These parts are not included in the price listed but I could cut someone a deal if interested in the whole lot.
Kenne Bell 2.2 Polished Supercharger kit, complete with instructions and all parts, even has some brand new parts like the VS assembly and wiring NOS from KB. $3000
Complete Energy Suspension black Poly bushings (every one available for our trucks) $$???
Mark VIII efan with struck by controller and wiring $250

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Source: Raleigh Craigslist

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Bradley Brownell

Bradley Brownell

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  1. 7FIAT's Later Avatar
    7FIAT’s Later

    Not a bad deal at all and you are right, my old 73 F-250 Ranger, XLT, Camper Special looks small compared to all the new stuff although I don’t think the hauling or towing capacity is that much more with a new truck. I don’t sweat it though, my truck usually gets nicest truck of the day when I pick-up feed at the loading dock of the local farm store.:)

    Reply
  2. Cameron Vanderhorst Avatar
    Cameron Vanderhorst

    My friend has, like, three of these. Apparently Jackie Stewart helped with chassis tuning, and I can vouch for the fact that a Lightning handles better than any truck should. It uses a worked-over 351W that is similar to either the ’95 Cobra R engine or a marine engine depending on who you ask (and both of those might be wrong). All in all, a solid alternative to a similarly-priced Cobra of similar vintage.

    Reply
  3. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
    PotbellyJoe★★★★★

    I had a 94. Do not buy a 93. You actually want to buy a 95.
    One, the 94 was the first year for a clearcoat on the paint (hence why this thing was repainted) and the high mounted center brake light.
    Two, the 95 received upgrades to the E4OD transmission.
    Also your chance of finding a truck with a center jump seat are improved in 94 and 95. You want it. There is storage under that seat still, so you don’t lose that, in fact it conceals your storage better, so in my thoughts it was better because of that.
    The 351W had the right go-fast bits like the 95 Cobra R except it was running 19# injectors and non roller cam, the Cobra R had a roller cam and 30# injectors and a serious jump in HP because of it.
    The steering box issue is not a steering box issue. I had that problem, it is actually the suspension arm bushings. It feels like bad steering, but no. I replaced everything trying to find it and all it was was bushings.
    BTW, it was an somewhat easy project to put the needed bits in the engine for it to be Cobra R spec.

    Reply
    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      Do you mean the radius arm bushings? I replaced the driver’s side one twice, but the passenger side one never wore out, even after 214,000 miles. It had the front seat with the fold down center (the dealer’s order book called it the “J” seat). And did these use the E4OD? My ’95 XLT used the 4R70W, and I know the second-gen Lightning used a specially built E4OD, to withstand the supercharged 5.4. It’s good to see the guy selling this one didn’t screw it up any worse.

      Reply
      1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
        PotbellyJoe★★★★★

        Yes, radius arm bushings. It might have been an issue because of the lower and much stiffer suspension. They wound up very misshapen and it caused problems. Especially at speeds between 25 and 40.
        Yes, All Gen1 Lightnings used the E4OD.

        Reply
    2. Spencedaddy Avatar
      Spencedaddy

      just as a correction, none of the factory First Generation Lightnings used Mass Air. 93-95 Lightnings all used a Speed Density EECIV computer, ICY7 was one code IIRC. If you have/had a mass air lightning it is aftermarket or a factory retrofit, which is not uncommon.
      Source: Owned a 93 and a 95L, used a Moates Quarterhorse tuning apparatus on the latter and had to learn Speed Density tuning.

      Reply
      1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
        PotbellyJoe★★★★★

        You’re correct, I guess I had thought they came with it as essentially every truck I saw had it here in NJ, or they would talk on the forums with “If yours is a Mass Air truck…”
        Thanks for the correction.

        Reply
  4. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I thought the F150 Tremor would’ve counted as a half-decent follow up to this. I assumed it couldn’t really be that much bigger than an old F-150, the problem was just that every new pickup was obligated to have an enormous back seat. Nope, apparently a short-box F-150 is the same length as the 9th generation (re. this Lighting’s generation) with the single cab and 8ft box.
    I’ll put this out there though – take one new GMC Canyon, take one of GM’s twin-turbo V6s (like the one in Cadillac V-Sports), and a whole bunch of black pain, and mix thoroughly

    Reply
  5. JayP Avatar
    JayP

    A truck this old- you’re going to replace the entire suspension anyway. Engine updates too. May as well get a solid, run of the mill truck and replace everything but the bench seat.
    Ford could have finished the Ranger off with the 305hp V6, LSD and 5 speed. A run of 7500 would have sold out in hours.

    Reply
  6. Grant Linderman Avatar
    Grant Linderman

    Ah man. I generally see posts like this and dismiss them for being a thousand miles away from where I live… But this one’s in my hometown. Even though I fall on the Chevy side of the Ford vs Chevy debate, if I had the money I’d have called that guy already. Sounds like he cared about the truck and spent a lot of time thinking through repairs and upgrades.

    Reply