1984 F-150 302 Windsor 2WD - "Old Red"

Rembrant wrote

The only input I have on the topic is gasket selection. I did away with the old 4pc cork/rubber oil pan gaskets, and installed a 1pc Fel-Pro Perma-Dry Plus p/n OS13260T. The down side is that it costs 4x as much as the traditional 4pc gasket set-up, but it's one of those things that was worth the extra cost to me. There are likely cheaper 1pc options available...just look up the oil pan gasket for a newer model truck...maybe 1992 or there abouts...not sure when they actually switched over to the 1pc rubber gasket.

That's actually the exact gasket I was eyeballing. Figured since I was going to be in there, the pickup tube/screen might be an easy replace as well - give me a good baseline there. $30 for a quality gasket doesn't strike me as too terribly expensive.

JMUBullnose wrote

Figured since I was going to be in there, the pickup tube/screen might be an easy replace as well - give me a good baseline there.

I know the oil pump, tube, pickup was all like new in my engine when we took it apart. It had very low miles for it's age...35k maybe.

There's a guy on FTE that says if he EVER gets the desire to change a pan gasket in situ he'll just pour gas on the truck and light it.

Seriously though, it is not a fun task.  However, it depends on the engine and your 302 is probably the easiest there is.  That's because it is the smallest, and room is the main issue.  Brandon and I did it on his 351W, which is a bit bigger than your 302, and it wasn't fun.  But we did get it done.

The main things are to pull the exhaust, air cleaner, and the fan shroud.  Then you'll disconnect the motor mounts and jack the front of the engine up as high as you can go.  That should get you enough clearance to drop the pan and get it out.

But, you are going to have a continual oil drip (rain?) that will make working in there a serious pain if you don't plan ahead.  I think draining the oil several days ahead of pulling the pan would be a good idea.

On the dip stick tube, where is it leaking?  Dad's pan was leaking at the flange that was riveted to the pan.  I drilled the rivets out, tapped the flange, used The Right Stuff as the gasket, and put it together with loctite to ensure the screws won't back out.

Gary - I replaced the cowl seal last night. Super easy...probably one of the quickest and easiest repairs I've done to this truck!  All in all it took me 20 minutes or so. Then I used the left over adhesive to finish up some roofing on my kids playhouse - how bout that??

Old seal was definitely worn out - Looked like the factory original. I used a plastic scraper to get off any remnants of gasket material that were stuck to the truck still. Came off pretty easily with a little persuasion.

After scraping I applied the adhesive straight to the truck instead of the back of the seal as I had visions of accidentally smearing this stuff all over my engine and engine bay!


Then I cut a section of the garage seal using the old seal as a template, poked holes through with a screwdriver and reused the original screws with new washers like you did.

After that, I worked my way driver side to passenger and installed the screws one by one. Afterwards I too had some waviness and was worried that some of the seal wouldn't adhere to the neoprene adhesive so I ended up adding two more screws (should be obvious in the photo).


All in all - it looks like it seals up nicely to the hood when closed. I'm going to test the seal today and pour some water on it to see if I need to add some more adhesive along the top of the cowl where it meets the frame.

Gary - I actually am not sure where the leak is. I seriously hope it's not a rear main seal.

I'm going to clean the whole area up first and then see if/where I might be seeing some leaks.

Your cowl seal installation looks good!    I'll bet it seals nicely w/o more screws.

On the oil leak, I've read that the parts stores have a chemical you can add to the oil that glows with black light to let you find the leaks.  But I've not done it so don't know.

Gary - I had forgotten about the dye! Thanks for the reminder.

I don't plan on any more screws in that bad boy! Just maybe some more
sealant if I need it - overall very happy with finished product. Kind of
bummed - it was supposed to storm last night (but didn't) so I didn't get
to see if it worked or not.

Finally got around to taking photos of the plugs I pulled when swapping out plugs and wires a week or so ago. What do y'all think? I looked at a few resources online and overall I think they're showing okay/normal wear & run conditions.

Thoughts? First photo is Driver's side, Cylinder 1 on Left, 4 on right. Second is passenger side, same orientation: 5 on Left, 8 on Right.

I’m not an expert, but they look good to me. 👍

Actually took the truck out to a Cars & Coffee on Saturday morning - truck ran great. Started on the second crank and ran great the whole trip. No stumbling whatsoever! I noticed on the way home that it's shifting into gear a bit early (~35mph and my acceleration is slow to get up to 40/45 mph). If I remember right - not too difficult a fix.

There were some impressive classic MG's, Healy's even a classic Maserati and an Aston Martin DB2. So the attention to Old Red was negligible but I don't mind too much as I was drooling over the other cars and talking to owners. Once I get the engine bay all gussied up, I'll be happy to prop the hood like a lot of people were doing.

Good times!

JMUBullnose wrote

Actually took the truck out to a Cars & Coffee on Saturday morning - truck ran great.

....the attention to Old Red was negligible but I don't mind too much as I was drooling over the other cars and talking to owners. Once I get the engine bay all gussied up, I'll be happy to prop the hood like a lot of people were doing.

This is one of the joys of owning an old vehicle, going out for little events like this. We have a car night here on Thursday nights, and I've been getting out to it as often as possible. My truck still has a pretty blotchy and chalky appearance...lol, but my engine bay looks good. The truck gets more interest from the old guys than anybody else, but I'll let the old truck have it's attention wherever it can get it;).

Well - I've been admittedly negligent of Old Red during the winter. Getting the truck started and keeping it idling has been troublesome and I just haven't had time to rebuild the carb yet and do all the engine cleaning I've been wanting to do.

I can get the engine to turn over after a couple pumps to the accelerator to prime it - but then I have to feather the throttle for quite some time before it will idle on it's own (50/50 chance). Not sure where the issue is coming from either. I should probably spend some time on this as now that the warmer months are here, I want to get the truck out more! Once I can get it idling proper, want to to a spring fluids drain and refill (oil, radiator, etc).

I'm also considering removing the cap and getting a semi rigid folding tonneau cover. The old cap, while useful, is beat to hell from a serious hail storm that happened 10 years ago and I'd like to be able to get things like bulk mulch, etc (had to use my dad's Silverado yesterday to get a couple scoops of leaf mulch!).

Sounds like it might not be choking properly.  Do you use fuel stabilizer &/or system cleaner (Berryman's B12, Techron, etc.)?  Do you keep ethanol-free gas in it?

Steve -  I haven't been using fuel stabilizer (or cleaner).  As part of the upcoming carb rebuild I also intend to replace the choke pull off with a new (same type) pull-off as it didn't seem to be working properly the last time I went to adjust the tune.

Is your hot air choke hooked up properly?  Look at the passenger side exhaust manifold and you should see a chamber with one [fresh air] tube going up to the air horn of the carburetor, and another [hot air] tube going up to a fitting behind the choke cap.  This tube will have insulation on it.  If any of this is missing, your choke isn't going to function properly.  You also should have a wire from the choke cap that connects to the back of the alternator.  This is your electric assist.





If everything is set properly, and you drive your truck daily, it *should* start right up with only one pump of the accelerator.  And it should continue running without feathering the gas.  A hot engine should start right up by simply turning the key.

The next time you start your engine for the day, try this.  Put the key in the ignition, and wait for the FASTEN BELTS buzzer to stop.  Then, press the accelerator down 1 time, but do not start the engine yet.  Remove the air cleaner lid and observe the choke plate.  It *should* be completely closed.  If it isn't, you need to adjust the choke cap so that it does.  If it is closed, then start the engine.  It should start right up without doing anything else.  When the engine fires, go back and observe the choke plate again.  Now it should be cracked open just a little bit.  As the engine warms up, the heat from the exhaust manifold will warm up the choke cap, which will gradually open the choke plate.  Also, check your fast idle speed when the choke is on.  Depending on the weather, it should be between 1250 - 1500 RPM at initial start up.

Alright - I finally got some time to pop the hood and do some poking around.  

I did as Lariat prescribed and pressed the accelerator once - checked the choke plate. It was completely closed as expected. Vehicle fired up after about 10 seconds of cranking - and held fast idle. The choke plate cracked open as expected. However, after 3-5 minutes of running - the choke plate did not open up any more.

I also noticed something was missing from my passenger side exhaust manifold....



Absolutely nothing running up from the exhaust to the choke! I think it's been that way since I got the truck from my grandfather. No idea when he and my great uncle might have pulled it off....I have a feeling it may have gone when they pulled the smog pump.

The other big surprise was that I had water sitting on and in my air cleaner!  I've already replaced the gasket along the back of the engine bay to seal against the hood when closed. Not sure where the rain is getting in. In addition to the water on the air cleaner...I think I need to redo the gasket on the lid - that may be letting the water into the air cleaner housing. What do folks use for that? RTV?

Other thing I noticed is that I think my fuel filter is leaking.  That or the assembly right next to it.
 

I'm going to be pulling the carb off sooner or later to do a rebuild as it is - so hopefully I won't discover that the threading for the fuel filter is goobed up.

Another question I just remembered: How loose should the parking brake cable be when the parking brake is off? I've been getting an odd 'slapping' noise when driving that I thought was from an axle or something rotating and hitting the plastic on the underside of the driver side firewall - but I'm not seeing anything loose that would be smacking in time to the RPMs of the engine while driving. Thoughts?

Sorry for the delayed response.

On the choke, I don't see a spot on the exhaust manifold for a hot air line to the choke.  So it is possible that yours had an all-electric choke.  I have some info on chokes here, but there were three styles, and all-electric was one.

I believe that the all-electric chokes had a 12v heater in the black cap instead of the 6 volt heater.  And the wiring would be different.  So can you check the cap and see what it says on the passenger's side?  If it is an all-electric choke it is possible that there's no power to it.

Also, the electric assist chokes had a connection on them for the hot air line attachment.  Does yours?  Maybe show us a close up pic of the choke?

As for the water, that isn't too unusual.  What seal did you put on?  The aftermarket ones leave a lot to be desired.

The thing you have circled in red isn't your fuel filter.  The filter is immediately to the left, or passenger's side.  The thing in red may be part of the emissions system as it looks like it has a vacuum line attached, so shouldn't have fuel in it.  And the thing to the right in the pic is the accelerator pump, which is known to leak.

And the parking brake cable should not be that loose.  Mine are slightly less than taut, and no where near loose enough to slap.

Gary - not a problem, I appreciate the feedback! Sitting in class all day today anyhow, so it's not like I'm going to run right out and try it.

Luckily I had the forethought to take a photo of the back of the carb/choke. Includes the cap.

I can get back in there tomorrow and look at the actual back of the choke.

For the cowl seal - i used your DIY process with the garage door seal kit. I may need to go check and make sure it's sealed nicely along the firewall. What about the gasket on the actual air cleaner lid? Is that a make your own type of seal? Mine is missing a chunk - letting water into the air cleaner bowl.

In the second photo - the left hand side of the cleaner has .5" - 1" of water standing in it!

So - regarding the fuel filter - I realize now that I wasn't clear what I was circling! I replaced the fuel filter (on the left) about a year ago and am pretty sure it's seated nicely. The drip I kept seeing looked like it was coming from that vacuum port I circled but like you said that shouldn't have fuel. I'll know more when I get around to pulling the carb and rebuilding.

I'll have to take a measurement of how much slack goes into the parking cable line when released. (just measure droop from the top of the rail when engaged and not engaged).

Thanks as always, you guys have been great. If I'm having choke heating issues, might explain why in the cold I had a very hard time keeping the truck running but yesterday when it's warm...no problems at all.