Looks a superb little motor Phil, another gem saved which is always good news, good luck with the renovation and look forward to seeing the finished lorry .
Loved that pic of your uncles F86, proper job all over is that.
My mates dad drove one for W Smith haulage of leicester, and we both went out with him once in the early 70s, couldn’t believe the difference between that and my grandads LV ERF with a 180 gardner, we actuaaly went over 50mph, i thought it was a racing car compared to the ERF.
There`s FB86 flatbed rotting away in Leeds , i pass it every day i think its a N reg .Good luck with the restoration i remember my dad getting 1 it was ex Gordon Tune FFU *** L like a Rolls Royce compared with the Mandator he had ,power steering ,heater and radio but didnt pull any better than the AEC , mind at 6.7 litres its hardly suprising .The Carruthers F86 is a credit to its restorer
Good luck your do it when you start to get poxed off with it stop and carry on another day There worth it when there finished
ncooper:
I remember when this was the lap of luxury.
I also remember that when the cab interior changed to a cream colour, the cabs rusted even faster.
Loved these trucks, I had an L reg one at John Formans in Hull.
Power steering, synchromesh gearbox, suspension seat, you could hear the radio( if you brought your own),
the mirrors actually contained a whole view to the rear, if you were really slim, you could sleep behind the seats,
you could tilt the cab with one hand on the handle at the back…Regards,
Nick.
Hi Nick,I remember John Foreman running posh F86s when A E Evans were running AEC MK5s out of BP Saltend.
I also remember Foremans satellite depot - the Woodside Cafe at Rawcliffe. 
Chris Webb:
ncooper:
I remember when this was the lap of luxury.
I also remember that when the cab interior changed to a cream colour, the cabs rusted even faster.
Loved these trucks, I had an L reg one at John Formans in Hull.
Power steering, synchromesh gearbox, suspension seat, you could hear the radio( if you brought your own),
the mirrors actually contained a whole view to the rear, if you were really slim, you could sleep behind the seats,
you could tilt the cab with one hand on the handle at the back…Regards,
Nick.Hi Nick,I remember John Foreman running posh F86s when A E Evans were running AEC MK5s out of BP Saltend.
I also remember Foremans satellite depot - the Woodside Cafe at Rawcliffe.
It was surprising the number of Tanker drivers that you can get in the cab of an 86 on it’s way back into Hull at about 17:30 during the eighties
FH13:
Wheel Nut:
When we thought the F86 was a proper motor and it looks like a toy on the back of that motor
Yes Wheel Nut the F86 looks really small but back on its days i wasn’t so small. It was a ■■■■ good Lorry I think. Your in Great Britain was a much larger buyer / user of F86 than we were in Sweden. As we say in Sweden: “It is difficult be prophet in its own homeland”.
F86 was too weak and underpowered to haul timber on a gross weight of 52 ton but as a tree axle Lorry could it very well be used as a timber hauler alone. 13 ton and 210 hp would not be any problem. We use to have both two and tree axle Lorries carrying diesel/gas and to distribution of food but we use never two axle trailers and fifth wheel but instead could it be such configuration as two axle Lorry as pulled a two axle pup trailer.We had two types of F/N-models. One had hood and were sold as both two and three axle models. It was called N86 (Normal build) and NB86 (Normal + bogie) here in Sweden and in Britain as F86/FB86. Both N and F86 had some components, beams and engines. The only difference was N-models had hood and 192 hp SMMT not SAE hp.
If the Lorry’s have fifth wheel and trailer it is in Finland or other country’s.
Brochure F86/FB86 veteranlastbilar.se/phpBB3/v … =12&t=1913
Brochure N86/NB86 veteranlastbilar.se/phpBB3/v … =12&t=1912
Brochure N86/FB86 II veteranlastbilar.se/phpBB3/v … =12&t=2033
N86 was a popular lorry. It was never sold in Britain and I don’t know why, if it was for the length regulations?
Lars-Gunnar
Before the F86, it was known as the F84 and 210hp in the UK was a huge jump after we were used to 150 and 180 Gardner engines 
My heart was in Volvos and the F86 was a smashing truck. I would still be proud to drive one now, I am afraid the F7 was a backward step for me, even though I got a proper bed
Hi Phil.Excellent project,lots of luck with it.Iremember in 1972 i was given the nr 1 motor on the firm[the previous driver left to become a TM].It was an f86,i just came off a Guy big J non sleeper.Ithought i had won the pools with it.Going up to Scotland from Essex i felt like a king.In 1974 i ran with a guy in an f86 all the way to Kuwait.It didn’t miss a beat.
Not wishing to appear rude but what did it cost.If it’s private ok.Mike
has any one got any interior pic’s of a f86 with a home made bunk set up,lot’s of tales about these adaption’s,but never seen one,there does not seem a lot of room back there,did you have to push the seats forward 
GAZ70:
has any one got any interior pic’s of a f86 with a home made bunk set up,lot’s of tales about these adaption’s,but never seen one,there does not seem a lot of room back there,did you have to push the seats forward
Hi, The bunk was easy to make from some planks, cut…rough as you like!, and balanced on the back of the engine cover, the seats stopped it all moving forward. I slept on them OK ( 6’2’') but better than accross the seats. I locked myself out once at the Red Lion M1 J16, as we used to lock the door from the outside, due to the button inside not working.
I cab hear that rattle of the gearstick now…LOL
thanks steelboy,just been thinking that i have seen a factory sleeper for a 86,can’t remember where though ,any way your’s sounded good enough mate 
.
steelboyf10:
GAZ70:
has any one got any interior pic’s of a f86 with a home made bunk set up,lot’s of tales about these adaption’s,but never seen one,there does not seem a lot of room back there,did you have to push the seats forwardHi, The bunk was easy to make from some planks, cut…rough as you like!, and balanced on the back of the engine cover, the seats stopped it all moving forward. I slept on them OK ( 6’2’') but better than accross the seats. I locked myself out once at the Red Lion M1 J16, as we used to lock the door from the outside, due to the button inside not working.
I cab hear that rattle of the gearstick now…LOL
hi m8,
here’s an f86 conversion 
.courtesy of bubbleman .
thanks pete,do you reckon this is a factory job,or maybe a jennings jobbie
GAZ70:
thanks steelboy,just been thinking that i have seen a factory sleeper for a 86,can’t remember where though
New seen a factory sleeper, although a n owner driver, terry Weldon, grafted an F86 crew cab onto his unit from an ex Flintshire CC binwagon, looked a bit odd, but did the job!
Did some striping out of the cab today and its about as bad as I thought the floor has a few holes in and the wheel arches
have had a lot of patches over the rusty bits, so will need to get all of that of to see what underneath, you can see that the
wheel arches have droped about 30mm so that will need to be lifted up before the rear of the cab panels can be sorted out
Thanks for the info about the truck in leeds and the pm about the others, so will try and scorce afew bits
Phil
Todays photos
GAZ70:
has any one got any interior pic’s of a f86 with a home made bunk set up,lot’s of tales about these adaption’s,but never seen one,there does not seem a lot of room back there,did you have to push the seats forward
i remember my first day as a hgv driver,it was for Ponteland haulage in the north east and if i remember it was NCN *** L although it was an L reg,the cab was off a J reg as the origional was fire damaged,nothing seemed to work but i did’nt care cos i was now a wagon driver,i had 4nights out that week(with no gear whatsoever)fell asleep in the pub on the friday night,anyway the bunk was a length of plywood maybe 18 inches wide with a hindged bit behind the drivers seat,bought an air bed to go ontop b****y luxury.they also had a T reg 86 and that had a proper 86 bunk much like the ones in the half cab ERF’s,you might have much better cabs and driving conditions nowadays,but them were much better times,less hours and a pint with yer mates every night,what have you got now 15 hour shifts and bloody exhaustion.sorry for pratteling on but i’m like a lot of drivers, see something from the past and miss them good times.Anyway there will be a proper bunk out there somewhere,if not see a joiner for some plywood.
We made our own bunks narrow behind the drivers seat but a support made for the wide bit in the middle carried everything you do these days telly etc,managed away all wk no prob. There was actualy a volvo bunk you could buy for them with a fold down bit. On getting locked out Steelboy the secret was to leave the keys on the rubber pad bottom of gearstick. When you got back to moter lift cab & get your keys.
Somebody mentioned speed, top speed 54mph things haven`t moved on much just had our Mrecs knocked back to 52mph
Hej drivers and non-drivers!
Its so nice and exciting read about yours experience of Volvo F86 so continue tell your story from the past and let your hearth be nostalgic. If we want to be nostalgic we talk about N86 as not was sold in Great Britain. I wish I had a story to tell about and around a work driving F86 but you guys is good tellers/writers.
Thank you
Lars-Gunnar
Suprised nobody mentioned the white deposits that built up over the top of radiator & front of engine
Phill make sure you give the engine a good steam before you start to restore that bit 
& keep the pics coming of the resto, I do the old vintage & steam rallies meself with an old Mk1 Transit camper
Just another nice looking example on a Polish website. Drivers complain of huge mirrors now, when these came out the comments were similar, they gave the best view ever
The F88 behind is on the F88 thread