Checking out the 86

Before he left on Monday my son and I got the 86 in the garage for a closer inspection.

First the good.

All the lights work, new rear fuel tank, new exterior fuel pump, bed in very good condition, tires fair, cab in good condition, only found 2 spots where rust is starting, both where the screws for the plate that covers the edge of the carpet. Fuel gauge is working, amp meter working. The motor turns over easily, I will do a compression check to see where it’s at. Power locks and windows work, though the windows are slow. Carpet and seat are both in great shape. The duel exhaust looks to be new.

Some of the bad.

The front fuel tank has been disconnected, and the tank switching valve is missing. the reservoir has the lower two intakes broken off. The rust on the driver’s door bottom in a couple of places is all the way through. There is no cap on the power steering pump, did not look good. Normal leaking from rear of the motor, could not tell if the transmission is leaking or just from the motor. Parking brakes cables are missing.

Lots of rust on the frame but it looks the be surface.

My short term gold is to get the motor started. Oil and filter change, plugs, fuel filter, finished the install of the rear fuel tank. And make sure I have spark.

If I can get it running or not, I can make a decision as to get it road worthy or, pull the bed and put it on the 84 as that was the original plan.

Can someone tell me where the fuel tank relay is, on this truck?

This is the calibration sticker


The reservoir


Duel exhaust


The bottom of the door




More to come as I get further into it.

The reservoir is the switching valve on 1986-89 trucks with EFI. Last time someone needed it Ford still had them (at a price). As far as fitting and working the 1987-89 is the same except for the internal filter in the 1986 one.

Fuel tank relay, if used, will be on the firewall, go here for information: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/electric-fuel-pump-control.html

There is an inertia switch on the heater duct, passenger side of the transmission hump that may be tripped or bad. You can jumper the plug for test purposes. You have two fuel pumps (actually three) one on the frame and one in the tank. The frame one is the high pressure pump for the EFI, tank pump is low pressure and used to fill the reservoir for the high pressure pump.

I like the upside down dual exhaust picture.

Thanks, For the location of the relay and inertia switch. I looked for that relay yesterday for quite a while, just did not really know where to look. I did discovered the fuel tank switch, the one in the dash does not appear to be working. But that could be cause by a bad relay or the inertia switch. More to investigate today.

So that's what a "Thermactor" looks like   My 85 had the bracket, but the air pump was long gone.  

Best wishes for getting it running again!

I missed the calibration code.  Here's the info: