Darth Vader

Gary has asked me to do a white paper on what I have done with my 1986 F350, nicknamed Darth Vader by my son and a group of his friends.

I purchased the truck in April 1994 after my late wife and I bought a 30 ft. 5th wheel trailer. I had originally planned on pulling it with my 1977 F150 that I had re-engined from a 300 and C4 to a .030 over camper special 390 and C6 while keeping the 3.25 gear in it. While it pulled the trailer fine, it had a slight issue with stopping. While she was taking a week off and staying at a campground near Gordonsville VA, there was a gentleman there with a truck he wanted to sell. Both front fenders and one door were pretty rough and one of the rear dual fenders was broken up.

He had been getting it repaired at the local Ford dealer, who had a 3 day a week part time "mechanic" working there. First thing he said was they did some work on the carburetor and it will hesitate and sometimes backfire. Accelerator pump wasn't even put together right! Agreed to buy it, paid $4500 for an 8 year old F350 crew cab dual rear wheel truck with a 5th wheel hitch and brake controller.

I took my son with me in our 1987 Horizon that I had set up to tow behind the F150 with a pickup camper so we could get it home and we took our tent. Bought Darth, went back to the campsite and fixed the accelerator pump. Hooked up the Horizon and headed to Suffolk to a friend's place so he could fix the fiberglass fender. Found the oil filter adapter leaked, nothing underneath was going to rust! Fixed the steering (both tie rods outer ends were shot) while Roy did the fender. Tightened the oil filter adapter and did an oil change.

5th wheel hitch was not as good as the one I had, so I replaced it with the one from the 77. Also bought a new, Kelsey-Hayes hydraulic operated brake controller to replace the damn electronic one. I was going to give it a chance till I hit a rough area in York County on US17 and the brakes pulsed so bad I thought they were going to break something!

If anyone wants to comment on this you can go here: http://bullnose-enthusiasts.12971.n8.nabble.com/Darth-Vader-td246.html#a271

I will do this in a number of posts and will put all the pictures in an album rather than try to put them in the posts. The truck was originally owned by a local horse breeder in Suffolk VA, Delmar stables and the sides of the bed said Delmar on them, the interior had a pair of Pyramid bucket seats that leaned slightly toward the outside and were manual, but could be reclined, back seat was original. Truck had the factory AM-FM stereo with speakers in the front doors, manual windows and locks. One of the first things I did was to get a right front door as the lower mirror mounting holes were rusted out and the mirror was just sort of hanging there.

Once that was done and after discovering my water leak was from the timing cover gasket, it was time to go into the front of the engine. The "mechanic" at the Ford dealership had brazed the swivel joint on the heater return pipe necessitating removal of the pump to get it out, this now involved removal of the huge cast iron alternator and Thermactor pumps bracket on the right side of the engine. Loads of various size hoses and small vacuum lines! Since everything was open, and the truck had about 85000 miles, I decided to replace the timing chain. After some digging at a local independent jobber I was able to order a pre-1972 timing chain set with a steel cam gear and install it. Went ahead and rebuilt the carb, new wires, plugs, cap and rotor so everything was fresh before we went to the Pennsylvania Good Sam, state Samboree up in Centre Hall PA. Getting there requires either a rather long route to come in from State College PA, or driving up US 322 W from Harrisburg up a stretch called seven mountains grade towing a 10,000 lb trailer. Sister-in-law routed us that way as they took their rig up that route.

I had wisely tossed a spare DS-II module behind the back seat, and it was a good thing too! 3/4 of the way up the no-name one expired so I pulled over while I still had momentum and stopped, popped the hood, quickly swapped modules, didn't bolt it to the fender, just shut the hood, fired it up and went. While we were checking in, a fellow RVer came over and asked what kind of speed and what gear climbing the grade, he had an almost identical setup, except a Chevrolet truck with a 454. When I told him 37 mph in 2nd on the C6 he looked shocked, he was at 22 mph in first with his Turbohydramatic 400. Turned out he had 3.73 gears to my 3.55, hmm, item #1, 460s have gobs of torque.

Coming back down, I used 2nd, and braking as needed to keep the speed to the recommended level. I used the truck that way from 1995 until 2006 when I decided some "improvements" were in order biggest was to convert to EFI because unless I drove Darth fairly regularly, even with the in-tank pumps it would take a bit to prime the carb and start. The Holley was also starting to show it's age as far as warped accelerator pump, secondary metering body and just getting balky. Due to the elaborate evaporative system, putting a different carb would be a royal PITA. I had a friend in Virginia Beach with a 1990 F250, 460 and E4OD along with power windows and locks that he wanted to sell, we agreed on $845 and he would bring it over to me. So "Big Ugly" arrived to add to the truck collection (neighbor had a 4WD S-10 he was fixing).

In the mean time, some of the usual items cropped up, original starter finally expired but a lot of those issues I lay on Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999 flooding most of Hampton and Newport News VA. Newmarket Creek had been used for years as a drainage system in those cities and it meanders across from Hampton into Newport News crossing under most of the main North-South roads which as a side note have bridges named for the "Mercury Seven" where they cross. My son was using our 1980 Diesel Bonneville, I had driven the 1987 Horizon to work and my wife had driven the 1990 Lincoln Town Car to work. Son had gone home from AutoZone to get lunch and in returning got caught in the wake of a Pentran bus, luckily he was idling through the water so when the wave hit the engine just stopped dead, fortunately with no damage! I got a frantic call, left work, drove home in the Horizon as both the shipyard and the house are below Newmarket Creek, and got Darth out of the back yard, rain was coming down so fast I had 2" of water standing in my yard! Drove up to where my son was with an old tire casing thrown in the bed and some rope so we could push the Bonneville. When I reached Newmarket area there was a policeman stopping people from crossing the flooded area, I could see daylight under the Bonneville and had already called a wrecker company I knew and found he wouldn't be able to help me till the next day. I told the officer, as I am looking at the top of his head that it was my car and I had come to push it out of the way and he allowed me to do that and suggested I push it up and onto 82nd street and he would make sure it wasn't removed. I pushed the Bonneville, my son climbed from the hood of Darth onto the Bonneville trunk, slid up onto the roof and popped the driver's door open and slid in so he could steer the car. After that I picked up my wife at work and told her just leave the Lincoln there. End result, while driving across to the wrecker company, water was deep enough the tail pipe submerged and sounded like a big motor boat. Probably a year later, my son was driving to Norfolk for a Halloween event he and his friends did (they are the ones who named the truck Darth Vader) and the left rear wheel bearing locked up, then spun on the axle tube leaving him stuck on I-64. This ultimately resulted in having to replace the axle housing.

Next phase after acquiring Big Ugly was to start disassembly. One of the issues I had found was either some metal eating termites or ferrotics had been attacking the sides of the bed right above the dual rear wheel fenders. After calling several junkyards I found out that the 1985-86 dually bed is unique to those years due to Ford introducing their own rear axle instead of the previous Dana unit. The changes were twofold, removable drums, no longer needed to pull the axle and disassemble the rear hub and a slightly wider track width. Anyone who has had an older DRW pickup should be familiar with the quirk of the space between the inner fenders being less than 48" meaning a 4' X 8' sheet of plywood will not sit flat. What Ford did was instead of the center line of the rear wheel set being directly behind the front wheel, the inner rear wheel is directly behind the front like a single rear would be. This allowed the bed floor and inner side walls to be the same for all long bed pickups. The upside though, Ford did not change the bed bolt locations from 1980-1997 on these trucks so any 1985-1997 DRW bed would fit. Problem is, the tailgate latch system changed in 1987 from the old plunger lock to a nice dual rotating latch like the doors used for years complete with a large round pin.

I called some more yards and found a fairly nice bed for $850 from a 1996 truck that had been totaled by running onto a concrete culvert at a good clip, tore the underside up pretty badly and one fender was destroyed. I found a tailgate later so I had everything to put on. This was put on hold till some of the other stuff was done. When I started looking at the Dee Zee running boards, I found that the bed ones were somewhat precarious, the rear was supported by a piece of angle attached to the frame by a mud dauber (at least that's what it looked like) and a long brace from inside the wheel area out to it, front was on with some flimsy braces and sheet metal screws. They are strong enough now to jump on!

My then 14 yo "granddaughter" was helping me as she loves working on things. She helped strip the two axles, the one from Big Ugly and the used DRW one I bought from Pete's used parts so I could install the 3.55:1 traction loc set in the housing in place of the 4.10 it had in it. She helped take the front part of the Dee Zee boards off so I could replace the rusted supports. Dee Zee no longer makes either the front or bed side running boards I have, they are extruded aluminum, newer ones are stamped and no where near as strong. They were able to supply me with mounting hardware that between the new and what I had I was able to remount them solidly.

My original plan was to use the 1990 dash as it was red and matched my interior, mine had more than it's share of cracks due to the design of the 1980-86 dash so I was going to drop the 1990 in, a couple of minor glitches, first the pedal support and column mount is slightly different, two bolts securing the dash to the pedal support, minor change in the parking brake mount, but the big thing, on the 1980-86 dash, it is "built up" from a bunch of stamped metal parts with the ductwork and dash facia attached then the padded top fastened over it. This dash is attached at the top by 4 screws going into horizontal tabs at the windshield base, the 1987-97 dash attaches by 4 long screws into plastic holders that sit at an angle. Lower attachments are also different. I came up with a solution for the upper mounts, some angled brackets to duplicate the later mount.

Then came electrical, I fully believe Ford's electrical design group was smoking something, or popping something when the 1980-86 front end wiring was dreamed up, first, it was a step backwards, the 1973-79 models had a front and engine harness that plugged in at the firewall, for 1980, Ford reverted to a continuous harness, started at the right headlight and battery, went back along the right inner fender than dove under the A/C casing where it went inside. The right front had several fusible links, and in 1986 thi flaming 2G alternator. After it entered the cab, it went up into the dash and crossed to the fuse box, headlight switch and ignition switch. Went out through the firewall on the left and provided a power stud for options then forward for ignition and left side lights. In order to remove the dash, all this had to be removed with it! 1987-1991 uses a round connector on the left side of the dash, still had the flaming 2G alternator, but more individual fusible links. As a result the first order of business was to get the power relocated to the left side through the round plug. In the mean time I had found a 1992 or 1993 truck at Pete's with a nicer looking dash and the same to mounting points as the 1990 dash. This truck also had a nice power distribution center underhood with maxi fuses and relays located there and some smaller fuses. There were some other similar trucks with an auxiliary relay box some with 2 some with 4 relays. Further, up through 1991, the rear chassis and frame harness along with the trailer tow option harness plug into the front harness near the firewall, from 1992-97 the rear harness has a dedicated 24 pin connector and the front harness has a 76 pin connector. Anything that goes from the front harness to the rear harness passes in one and back out to the other one. Trailer lights and marker lights are via relay and there is a trailer battery charge relay. I ended up using this system.

Gary suggested I put these here so others can see them. The walk around was made 3 years ago, the 0-60 run 2 years ago. I recorded the walk around for a member on FTE with my Sony Camcorder and the 0-60 by starting record on my phone and holding it on top of the horn pad while going down a straight road. No Chevys were harmed during either of these recordings

One of the issues I found in trying to update things was even though the basic cab is the same from 1980-1997 there were some detail (like door locks) and some major (like the dash design) changes over the years. For the most part the major changes tend to be with a body style change, from bullnose to coffin nose and from coffin nose to aero nose. Electrical changes sometimes followed the body changes and other times were in mid run for a given style. The biggest change was from the 1980-1986 front harness design to the 1987-1991 and then 1992-1997. 1980-1986 the front harness is a continuous run from one headlight to the other with the dash as part of it, rear chassis harness plugs in near the frame/inner fender/firewall junction and the connectors are not weatherproof. 1987-1991 the front and dash harnesses are separate and there is a large round connector with 53 0.110 pins in it. Rear harness, engine harness and on 1988-1991 models with the E4OD the transmission harness plugs in to it. At least on the early ones, the rear harness did not have weatherproof connectors, but everything else did. Starting in 1992, probably with the need for air bags the front harness connector was changed to a 76 pin, 28 0.110 pins and 48 0.060 pins and the rear harness now went to the firewall through a 24 0.110 pin plug.

Power distribution was also changed, the 1980-1986 trucks, everything went through the alternator harness through fusible links and the only fuse box was inside on the driver's side attached to the firewall. In 1987-1991 the fusible links were still there, but the power distribution no longer went through the alternator harness, it was a separate unit with only the charge indicator light tying it the main harness with a plug, inside the fuse box was moved to the bottom of the dash with a removable panel covering it. 1992-1997 the whole system changed, a power distribution center (PDC) was mounted on the left inner fender fed by a pair of gray fusible links into a probably #4 wire across the top of the radiator support. The PDC housed a bank of fuses, provision for 14 maxi fuses, 7 ATC fuses, one diode and 5 Bosch relays. There is also an auxiliary relay box of either 2 or 4 additional Bosch relays, inside the fuse box is still in the dash, but now has a snap in cover and has provision for 18 ATC fuses or circuit breakers and two flashers.

After starting to use the 1990 front harness system (I actually had it installed) and was running the engine with it when I came across the later system. One of the reasons I decided to use it was the EEC location. On the EFI 5.0L trucks mid 1985-1986 the EEC and it's power and fuel pump relays were mounted just the right of the driver's knee up inside the dash area and the harness ran through an oval rubber penetration near the accelerator pedal pivot. 1987-1991 the EEC sits about halfway into the left side air box and would require a major bit of bodywork to install on an earlier cab. From 1992-1997 the EEC is close to the same location but a little more to the right and the parking brake pedal is no longer part on the dash bottom and part through the firewall. It is on a large aluminum casting bolted to the left side of the cab A pillar and a forward brace. This also supports the new stub column and the left end of the dash. Since I also liked the look of the newer dash and HVAC controls, I decided to use that setup. Rather than try to make, first a set of three holes, all roughly rectangular and second eliminate the indent for the parking brake pedal bracket I made a new section for the firewall using a back from an old Sears washing machine. I made a template after some measurements in junkyards and did some trial fitting After I was sure of the dimensions, I made the plate large enough to go from next the the brake booster to overlap the edge of the left air box and high enough to go from the bottom of the flat face of the firewall to overlap the cowl area just below where it bends back at the air inlet section. I cut the old piece out flush with the air box edge an the inside small ledge where the angled part of the floor joins the firewall. Coated the edges with RTV sealer and attached it with self drilling tech screws.

After getting the engine running and most of the bugs out it was on to some other items, first was to get the E4OD mounted. I had built a bit of a rig to allow the E4OD cable shifter to work the C6 which of course had a mechanical shift linkage. I pulled Darth around front on my driveway as there was no way I wanted to wrestle with the E4OD on a gravel pad. I had done some preliminary measuring and found that (a) front section of the driveshaft was 3" shorter (b) the crossmember for the E4OD is a completely different design due to the size and length and the exhaust on the 460 being dual at this location. I found that the mount sits 7" further back than the C6. Ford installs the upper bolts from the top on the assembly line before the cab is installed. This makes things real interesting, I was able to use several long bits to reduce the angle drilling from below, but still had to stick nuts back on the four C6 crossmember upper bolts, put two of the E4OD bolts in from below and two I could reach from above. After getting it installed, I found the front driveshaft section I had was the wrong U-joint size for the existing rear section, off to the machine shop to have the old front shortened to match the E4OD front one.

Now it was time for the running boards,  DeeZee was kind enough to sell me the needed brackets and fasteners for the running boards. I went to Fastenal and matched them all in stainless steel so they wouldn't rust and weld themselves into the aluminum running boards with a mixture of iron and aluminum oxides. The original mounting on these consisted of two plates bent to fit on each side under the door area. These are attached to the bottom of the cab. The front of each board is attached with an aluminum "mud flap" that is screwed into the front fender lip where the optional chrome trim attaches. Due to the change in wheel opening contour between 1986 and 1990, I had to reshape these 3/16" thick plates. The center portion of the boards have two long braces that go from under the boards to the inner joint just outside the frame area, these were the pieces that were badly rusted. Since DeeZee no longer makes the extruded aluminum running boards, only stamped ones, the brackets didn't exactly fit and required some reshaping. The rear of the boards at the cab back I used some of the old brackets and some of the new to get a solid mount at that point. I as much as I could avoided using self tapping screws but opted for 1/4-20 stainless bolts, self locking nuts and flat washers on thin areas. All fasteners were coated with anti-seize before assembly.

During the interior modifications for the dash, in doing some reshaping of the mounts, I slipped and hit the windshield, since I knew it would be a royal PITA to deal with, I removed the Lund visor over the windshield and discovered that Lund used #7 self tapping screws with caps over them. Ever try to find #7 self tapping screws? I ended up installing 1/4-20 rivnuts in place of the holes and now have stainless steel button head Allen screws holding it on. Safelite in Hampton VA was supposed to come to the house, but the day of the appointment was a drizzly day so the asked if I could drive the truck to their location. I did, but in cutting the old windshield out, their wire caught the VIN plate and half split it (no attention to detail). They started at first with the disclaimer that due to the age of the truck they could not guarantee no leaks. When they were done I asked how much rust they found (I pretty well knew the answer as I had pulled the trim first). They said almost non and all surface that they wire brushed and primed before installing the new windshield.

Before I installed the bed I bought a long enough piece of square tubing, I think it was 2" X 2" with a 1/8" wall to suspend the back end of the bed running boards from as they were really wobbly the way they were mounted. Once I had all the fuel lines and the axle work done (more on that later), I got three friends over and we picked the 1996 bed up and set it on the frame, all the holes matched perfectly. I had to get 4 of the bolts from Ford, the ones LMC truck sells only fit the center set of holes, the other four require a special bolt with a shank that looks like it was stepped on. This fits snugly (in theory) in the square reinforcement tubes between the bed floor and frame contact point so the self locking nuts can be tightened from below. I had a friend who I had helped straighten out an issue on his show truck wiring do the rear fenders, I had 3, my two originals and one that came with the 1996 bed. I didn't, nor did he realize that Ford had made two changes in the dually fenders, one when the 10.25" axle was introduced in 1985 and another in 1987 when the bed was slightly redesigned. The second change was a styling change making the two fender styles completely different, components are the same, fastener locations and fuel doors are the same design, so most parts fit. Since I already had the 1996 style rear harness and the bed had come with the taillights and wiring along with the clearance light wiring that was just a matter of plugging things in. Now things were looking like a truck again!

One of the problems I had already discovered was needing to do something about the damaged tube on the left rear hub. It was repaired by old fashioned methods, my NNS group leader had started as an apprentice millwright and he gave me a good plan of action. In order to repair it, I first had to get the damaged inner bearing off the tube. Since it was no good, I split the retainer for the rollers and removed them, many of which were pretty bad. I then used a 1/16" abrasive cutting disc and an air grinder to carefully cut an angled notch in the inner race until I could crack it with a cold chisel. At this point, with it wedged slightly open I was able to get it off. The bearings on the full floating Sterling 10.25" rear are intended to be a snug fit on the tube, depending on that and preload to keep them there. When the bearing seized at 60 mph on I-64, it actually stopped the left rear wheels briefly, then spun on the tube with a shower of sparks. The tube where the bearing sits was not pretty. With a new bearing in hand, I was working with hand tools, large draw files, some good sized sharpening stones and lots of coarse and finer emery paper starting with some 80 grit. It took about 4 days of working in the evening to get where the bearing would go on, then some high spot dye to see where it needed some more dressing for as even a contact as I could get. The alternatives were, another axle housing or have someone come and retube that end. After that was done and the seal surface polished I could reassemble everything. I ended up having to replace the left seal every year before inspection as it would leak.

After I purchased Big Ugly for parts, I found it had a 3.55 limited slip rear, but, referring back to the first post, it was too narrow for the dual rear wheels. I called a few places looking for just a used axle housing with no luck. I finally found one at Pete's, a complete 4.10 open gear one that had been wet. After I stripped Big Ugly, I had a junkyard pick up the remaining frame and body parts and let me come pick up the axle later. By this time I had the bed off so the back of the frame was open and made a perfect work stand. I ordered a shim kit for the 10.25" axle, hub seals etc. and placed both the axles on the frame. Drained the oil by removing the covers and inspected what I had. The axle from Pete's had bad rust and pitting on the gears, but the actual housing was perfect, it had sat with the pinion up and the water sat away from even the bearings. First problem was getting the yokes off the two axles, the one from Big Ugly came off easily, the one from Pete's I wasn't sure it was going to come off, it sat with the nut on just enough to keep things from flying and my biggest puller as tight as I could get it with lots of penetrating oil for two days before it finally moved.

After disassembling both axles and cleaning everything, carefully keeping bearing pairs together it was time to start fitting the innards of the 1990 axle into the dual rear wheel housing, apparently a 1993 one. I removed the pinion bearing races from both axles, and installed the races from the 1990 into the 1993 housing. Since I had a new pinion nut, I took an old one and a large tap and cleared the prevailing torque "squeezes" from it. I installed the pinion, no crush sleeve and outer bearing, slid the 1990 yoke on and snugged the nut to eliminate any play. I assembled the carrier and ring gear, shimmed it according to the procedure (backlash then preload) and with fingers crossed, put high spot dye on the ring gear and started running a pattern, both drive and coast and amazingly enough they were both near perfect. My then 14 yo "granddaughter" was helping so I showed her what I was doing and the pictures in the service manual. Asked her what she thought by looking at the pattern and the pictures. Her opinion after looking at both was like mine, it was an almost perfect center on both side of both gears. I removed the carrier assembly and the shims used and carefully put them aside. I removed the yoke and outer pinion bearing, slid the crush sleeve in and put the outer bearing and yoke on. I started slowly collapsing the crush sleeve until I had almost no play in the bearings and went and got my in-lb beam torque wrench. I gradually collapsed the sleeve until I had the proper no seal preload for used bearings, then repeated the process after installing and lubing the seal to verify I was correct. This was done with a new self locking pinion nut. After that I reinstalled the carrier assembly and made sure everything was torqued. Wiped down the sealing surface and installed the better of the two covers with black RTV sealer, stuck the ABS pickup in it's hole and left both axles sitting on the frame.

Now that the axles were ready it was time to (a) remove the surplus single rear wheel housing and (b) get the replacement with the traction lok and ABS sensor installed. The top plates on the springs were rusted through in a couple of spots. When I had bought the axle from Pete's they had cut one U bolt on each side, leaving the other one and the spring plates along with the brake cables attached. I found that like a lot of items on the truck, the U bolts are metric, M16X1.5 if I remember correctly. This is close to a 5/8-16 so that will give you an idea. Since mine were a bit rusty, I bought a die nut from MSC Supply so I could clean the threads as much as possible. At the same time I started soaking the nuts with PB Blaster. After managing to get all eight of the U bolt legs clean and doing the same on the extras, it was crunch time. With my 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar and a deep well socket it was time. I jacked up one side and removed both wheels, slid the socket over the nut, put the breaker bar on and pulled, nothing, no squeak, pop, or anything. Ok, time to get serious, I grabbed my "multiplier" a piece of exhaust pipe about 4' long and slid it over the end of the breaker bar, this time I got a loud pop, and it started to loosen. I did the other 3, just breaking them loose and reinstalled only the inner wheel with 4 nuts. I repeated the process on the other side.

I got my cherry picker and lifted the "new" axle off and lowered it to where I could put the other 2 wheels on with 4 nuts and sat it on the ground with a block under the pinion area. Now, I removed the brake hose to the old axle and the brake cables. I slid a hitch bar in the receiver and used the cherry picker to raise the back of the truck, then released it and finished removing the old retaining nuts and spring plates along with the factory overload leaves. At this point I was ready to play "musical axles". The brake cables are different on the later axle, not a large amount, but enough that I had already obtained the parts. The 1986 E-brake uses a spring loaded equalizer and a return spring to keep the cable snug when released. The 1992-1996/7 uses a simple bridge equalizer and from 1994 up a self adjusting pedal assembly. The front cable also changed from what I think was a chassis specific cable (length varies with the wheelbase) to a two piece cable with a short pedal to frame cased cable then an extension cable that varies with the wheelbase.

Now came the fun, with the old axle just sitting under the frame and the springs sitting on it, no rear fuel tank in the way, the last thing left was the load compensator linkage. Rather then take the lever off the valve and having to readjust it without the gauge, I opted to remove the bracket and linkage from the back of the axle and swing it up out of the way. With the frame raised high enough to clear the tires, I rolled the old axle until it was parallel to the frame then rolled it out to the right and over by the fence. Now I started saying some crude and rude things about the Traction Lok, the "new" axle was a royal PITA to get positioned correctly as both sides wanted to roll together making it almost impossible to "slew" it enough to get it positioned side to side. I finally got it lined up and lowered the frame enough to get the aligning bolts on the springs into the pockets on the spring seats. Once I got both sides in place I released the cherry picker and moved it back. I used some small ratchet straps to pull the axle as far back under the springs as it would go and put the overload springs and "new" upper seats back on and hand tightened the 4 nuts on each side. Then it was big torque wrench time, specification is 150-210 ft-lbs, I have an old 250 ft-lb Craftsman torque wrench that was my dad's, so I torqued them in 50 ft-lb increments to 200 ft-lbs. Now it was back off the ground and do the rear brakes. I had removed all the pieces from all 3 axles as I was preparing things and sorted them  fairly well (I thought) I knew that Ford had increased the width of the rear shoes from the 2 1/2" 1986 brakes, I assumed it was to 3" so I used the excellent condition set from the 1990 axle, then when I started looking at the drums, found I had to used the ones form Pete's as they sat deeper and the 1986 and 1990 ones didn't reach the backing plate. I set everything up, sanded the devil out of the biggest drums and put them together. After I had a wheel cyl leak later I found I was only using 3" of the 3 1/2" drum surface, so it was new shoe time anyway. End result, when I step hard on the brakes, it will nearly put you through the windshield!

One of the issues I ran into as I was going through my EFI change, first I wanted sequential, not bank fired EFI, second, due to some research, I wanted MAF control not the speed density system. The reason is the MAF is more "tunable" for cam changes as it does not depend on manifold vacuum for part of the control. Ford introduced MAF/SEFI systems on the trucks starting in 1994 on the 5.0L engines and 1995 on the 4.9L and 5.8L, it was used on the 7.5L engines, but only 1996/1997 and almost exclusively in California with automatic transmissions. On the East coast, hen's teeth are more common.

I had previously joined a couple of Ford EFI tuning groups and found that I could use an EEC from a 5.0L or even 5.8L as long as it had the E4OD circuits. I had several suggestions of "use a Mustang A9x for it" one big problem, no car ever came with the E4OD, it is strictly a truck transmission. In order to run a Mustang computer, I would need a second computer for the E4OD, at the time that was around $1500 by itself. A contact on one of the EFI groups found me a WAY1 EEC from a 1995 Bronco 5.0L with E4OD, the other group I had joined, TwEECer, is a group for use of a piggyback tuner for the Ford EECs. I was good to go, or so I thought. Wrong, the 5.0L E4OD is set up for a small, higher revving engine than the 7.5L, I really didn't want to be buzzing a 100,000 + mile 460 up like that. After asking numerous times, I was contacted by Adam Marrer at popsracing and he offered me a very comprehensive package.

It was to go to an EEC-V system (OBD-II) and use Binary Editor software and a Mongoose pass-through cable to direct flash the EEC-V box. The package included a compatible EEC-V from a 5.8L truck. All I really needed to get another one was the hardware code, ML1-441. I will document the rewiring and adaptation of the EEC-V and MAF in the next update.

One of the issues, which some other people have found out the hard way, is the MAF for the 460. The smaller engines use an 80mm MAF which is easily found on cars with the MAF/SEFI systems. The other is the intake system, the Ford truck engines use a dual throttle body which means the large single hose from the MAF has to branch to connect to the dual throttle body. On the 302 and 351, the intake manifold has a large upper plenum with tuned length runners. This sweeps to the right and sits over the valve cover on that side with the throttle body in a vertical position on the front, it is angled toward the left so the air inlet hoses  can connect without too much of a bend. On the 460 EFI system, the lower manifold is basically a aluminum 4 barrel carburetor intake with holes for injectors and sensors. The upper plenum is a question mark shaped piece that points the throttle body straight forward and the IAC valve sits on top of the lower portion. The throttle body on the 302 and 351 engines has the IAC on one side and water for anti icing running through it, the early 460s had this, then it was eliminated.

Due to the location of components and the physical size of the 460, the air inlet ducting has to pass over the A/C compressor further complicating things. I had an extra 1995 Lincoln Continental 90mm MAF, and in doing some research found that it and the 460 MAF are listed by rebuilders as the same part. Now came the fun, no MAF 460 stuff anywhere, so how to make something work. I found a 302/351 MAF air filter missing the MAF at Pick-n-Pull in Virginia Beach. Using that and the inside mount portion of the extra Continental air filter I was able to build an air filter with a 90mm MAF attached, now how to get it to the throttle body? On the 460, the IAC air inlet comes off the bottom of an H in the air hoses, this also has two restrictor horns, probably to eliminate the "drone" of the 460 at larger throttle openings. First thing to go! After that, I took a 302 wye for an MAF system, a 4" PVC elbow and a section of 4" conduit, one 1/2" PVC street elbow and a short length of 1/2" CPVC pipe and built a 90° inlet for the throttle body with the IAC and crankcase closure hose connections (on an MAF system ALL air going into the engine must pass through the MAF). I found some nice silicone 4" bellows hoses at a truck parts place that are for intercoolers. Now I had the parts to build the MAF system! I built it and used this as my air inlet while I worked on the electrical changes.

When I did the initial harness for the engine, since I was planning to go to MAF/SEFI, I had done the engine part with the injectors wire individually and used the chassis side to gang them for bank fired, I did some playing around and regrouped them from the normal truck configuration of 1,4,5,8 and 2,3,6,7 (end 4 and center 4) to grouped like a 180° manifold, 1,4,6,7 and 2,3,5,8 which is how a TBI system would work. This made the engine idle smoother and I hoped would prevent the #5 cyl problem the EFI 460s have.

Since I had updated the wiring to the 1992-1996/7 design, I essentially built two front harnesses, one for a BF/SD EEC-IV and one for an MAF/SEFI. I had my local muffler shop install two O2 sensor bungs, one on each exhaust pipe just below the flange and plug them as with the EEC-IV I was using the single O2 sensor near the transmission mount. I found the longest O2 sensor leads listed and ordered them and still had to use an extension on the right side to reach. When I got ready to switch, I took the old harness off, installed the new one (OBD-II port was already mounted and wired) and installed the dual O2 sensors, put one of the plugs in place of the single sensor and installed the new harness. This took maybe an hour. Adam Marrer provided good support for the "teething" problems and Darth does quite well on the MAF/SEFI system and I can make changes to parameters such as spark advance, fuel under open loop, EGR levels and shift points along with lock-up converter lock/unlock points. I have the unlock set at 80% throttle (let the 460s torque do the work) so the transmission doesn't overheat and boil the fluid.

After getting the mechanical and electrical setup the way I wanted it, it was time for some interior work. Original interior color was a dark red, looked ok, but kind of dark inside. Since I had done the electrical upgrades I was able to use the later ignition switch with it's 5 power sources rather than the 2 from the same fusible link system the 1986 used and the 1990 also used. Mounting the dash required some work, 1986 and 1990 both attach the dash to the steering column and brake pedal support, the dashes are also mounted to the cowl at the windshield base. The difference starts here, the 1986 dash has 4 vertical screws holding a set of fore and aft braces that are hidden under the dash pad, the 1990 up has 4 angled screws and an alignment pin at the cowl. The 1992 up dash that I had decided on for several reasons, one being the OD cancel switch on the shifter, the other being the column in the 1980-1991 trucks sits at a slight angle toward the left side of the truck and due to it's design can't be repositioned without a lot of work.

The 1992 up dash has a large cast aluminum steering column and parking brake pedal support that bolts to a brace on the left side of the cab and the left door post. There is nothing at all like this on the 1980-86 or 1987-91 cabs, and since I did not own a welder I was going to have to fabricate something. I used a piece of 1/8" flat bar to make a piece I could insert into the left A pillar so the casting's two rear outboard bolts had a location. Once that was done I stuck the stripped dash onto the previously built upper mounts and loosely mounted the casting to the side and installed the 4 M6X1.0 bolts w/washers attaching the duct assembly to the casting and supported the dash at the correct angle so I could locate the front bolt attachments. I used some more of the flat bar bent in a rough "L" shape to line up with the holes. I used one existing air box cover screw and added one for the lower bolt. After I had everything located, I took the flat bar sections off, took some M10X1.5 nuts and had them welded to the flat bars to emulate the nut plates Ford used. Ford actually says to R&R the dash on the 1992 up models as an assembly with the steering column by removing the 4 M10 bolts, two M6 bolts on the bottom and 1 more M6 at the right end then taking the 4 self tapping screws out of the top and with a helper rolling the dash and column back far enough to reach the HVAC cable and vacuum harness and antenna cable. This is after disconnecting all the wiring harness plugs.

On the wiring, the 1992 up system has two bulkhead penetration connectors on the left side of the steering column, two smaller ones to the cab interior harness, one lead to the brake switch and on M/T trucks a clutch position switch, and another set on the right end for power locks, windows, roof clearance lights and the fuel pump inertia switch, both side have a nice big ground connection, also on the right end there are the HVAC electrical wires for the blower and A/C compressor, it is a 6 pin one basically the same as the older models and can be a royal PITA to get apart. The courtesy light wires have to be removed at both ends of the dash. The basic idea is the dash harness is no longer like the 1980-1986 models, no rubber grommet penetrations and everything unplugs. There were two lower attachments on the dash, one is a pretty strong brace from the top of the transmission tunnel area on an angle to the dash just about the edge of the driver's seat on split seats. The other is just inboard of the glove box on the bottom and is a thin bent flat bar that is definitely not structural and may just be there to keep any loose wires from hanging down. I left it off.

Once I had the dash and column located I hooked up the lower steering shaft to get an idea where the boot and bearing needed to go where the shaft penetrates the firewall. It is in a rubber cone shaped piece so it has a bit of give. The actual column is referred to as a "stub column" and is pretty universal assembly. My 1994 Taurus has the same basic unit as did my 1990 Lincoln Town Car and 1995 Lincoln Continental. It can be built with or without a column shift, with or without a clockspring for an airbag and many different steering wheels. People have put later model clocksprings and super duty steering wheels with radio and HVAC controls. The steering column now sits parallel to the frame and sides of the cab and is a tilt wheel. The wipers are now on the combination switch and are actually controlled by a module on the right side of the dash near the glovebox.

It uses a set of three rotary knobs for HVAC control rather than the levers on the older trucks and is much easier to reach and change when driving, there are two versions of the temperature blend door, 1992-1995 used a push-pull wire cable similar to the older trucks, in either late 1995 or 1996 this was changed to a pair of very flexible cables like bicycles use for brakes, these run left from the controls then back across the bottom of the dash and loop back from the right end to the top of the inside HVAC housing allowing enough slack to roll the dash back enough to remove the housing end.

I know this is an old thread, but other than driving Darth, replacing all 6 tires and have to replace a portion of the dual exhaust pipes not much has been done. I had been given a set of 1994 Ford OEM Alcoa rims for a dually, so when the tires were replaced I had four of them mounted to the Alcoas.

Electrically, I added some Lincoln parts, a Lighting Control Module that incorporates delayed interior light shut off, and allows automatic headlamps. I also installed a right front door module that gave me remote keyless entry and the magic keypad. Since the module is from a car, it has a "trunk" button on the key fobs, I have a remote start system I removed from a customer's used Dodge Ram as he had no remotes for the alarm system that tied to it. It takes either a + or - signal to activate, so the "trunk" button will become my remote start. While I was pulling Lincoln parts locally I also got a nice automatic day/night mirror with a compass. Since my front seats are from a Lincoln Continental, I am hoping that the driver's door module and the memory seat module will be able to talk to each other. The seats currently sit a bit higher than the should, so the base needs to be lowered. When that is done, I will probably remove the center seat and replace it with a Flex refrigerator/freezer module which is also a center armrest.

Since one of the other members on here had ordered and received a Marti report, and due to the driver's door replacement I no longer had the OEM VECI label, I ordered a deluxe report and replacement label which arrived Friday. Once Darth is painted, that will go on in place of the one we did on the fancy label printer at the Shipyard laboratory.