The Deuce Build Thread

The next step in the development of the truck is mostly complete. This was a conversion to fuel injection, using the Edelbrock Pro Flow IV system. This has been an ongoing process for a few months, with a lot of steps to prepare for it.

I took the truck on the semi-annual GOAT trip in the fall. Prior to leaving, we found the gas tank to be leaking. It was rubbed through by a bolt on the transfer case or its motor. We lost a day of the trip dropping the tank and trying to move it back about a half inch. We thought we were successful, but when we got to OK, we checked and the tank had again shifted forward. We tried all manner of repositioning, wedging, etc. but the truck was having none of it, and it was going to rub through the patch we put in it. We decided to abort the trip in the name of not going up in a fireball, and headed back to TX under very meek braking.

The sidesaddle tank would need at least an inch taken off it to fit in there comfortably. So rather than try to modify that tank or a new one, a rear tank seemed like the easy solution. So I ordered one up and installed it, it came with the high pressure pump. I got lines from the Bronco graveyard, and routed all that up towards the front. During this time, the truck was semi-functional via a 6 gallon boat tank in the bed. Short hauls only, at about 11mpg.

The rear tank install was relatively straightforward, with the exception of the filler. There is of course no filler door on the rear of a shortbed stepside, so right now I have a 4 foot filler hose going from the front filler door to the rear tank. I have not tried it at the gas station yet, and I'm not sure it will work, based on how slowly I have to fill it with a funnel and jug. So that remains to be worked out.

Another unfinished part of the installation is the mounting of the computer and relays in the cab. They will go high up on the hump area, right now they are just sitting there.



Next was the installation of an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I got this one from Summit, it's a Tanks Inc. unit.



Then the intake and distributor could be installed, and all the wiring run into place.



That install was pretty simple, and the wiring was clearly labeled and easy to figure out. The truck started up and ran smoothly at this point. However, there was an issue with the TPS, in that both the EFI system and the Quick 2 trans controller needed a TPS input. Previously the trans controller was getting its TPS signal from a unit attached to the carb. But that was gone now. I spent a good bit of time trying to work out how I might gang 2 separate TPS sensors together, as I wasn't sure that both systems could share a single signal source.

There are 3 wires on these TPS sensors, ground, 5v, and signal. The TPS is just a potentiometer that sends 0 of the 5 volts back when off the throttle, and 5 of the 5 volts when at WOT, with throttle positions in between being represented by a voltage commensurate with throttle position.

So you would only need to share the "signal" wire. First I tried tying the signal wires (to the trans controller and the EFI) together, and using the ground and 5v from the trans controller. The EFI system did not like that at all, barely ran, stumbled, fat rich. But reversing that and using the EFI systems ground and 5v seemed to work. I was able to calibrate the TPS in the trans controller, no problem, and on the test drive, it kicked down gears as requested by throttle. So all seems good at this point.

A lot more driving is necessary to make sure all is good, so far I have only taken it about 8 miles. And I need to work out the filler neck situation, permanently install the EFI computer, and reinstall the trailer hitch (had to drop it to get the tank in). More to come.

That’s a lot of work. Good job!

Pete - Bummer on the GOAT.  But what sections were you going to go on?  I ask because I might join you if you are going to do it later.  Janey and I have done most of it in Big Blue.  But we did parts of it loooooong before there was a GOAT.  She grew up on E 335 Rd out of Jay/Grove and that's part of the GOAT.  In fact, we were married at Butler Baptist Church and my inlaws are buried in Butler cemetery, both of which are on the GOAT.

Anyway, that was probably a wise decision given the problems.  But the rear tank should solve that.  However, if you are going to put a front tank back in you might want to talk to Dave/FuzzFace2 as he put two tanks in his truck and added a filler door - although his is a Flareside.

Gary, I picked up an axle housing from another forum member in the OK city area for this trip, his handle on here is Ol' Blue. After picking that up, we headed generally northeast to intersect the Goat/Groat trails and planned a northerly route over the top of it, ending back up at my friends place near Talahina. I recall that we were near Sallisaw at one point, he pointed out that it was where the family in a Steinbeck novel had come from.

We are trying to cover all the Goat/Groat on segments, we've only done a little bit so far. We chose this particular route because it would allow going past OKC. I don't know the route we will choose next time, but I'll let you know when that time gets closer. My friend is the navigator and is keeping track of what parts we have done and what parts we still need to do.

My truck is a flareside as well. Not really sure whether I should move the fuel door, or just add a new one at the rear. Getting rid of the one in front would be more work, and if I ever do want to run 2 tanks, I would need it, so it seems easier just to leave it. Depending on what my mileage is with the FI system, I may decide I want a 2nd tank.

Sounds good, Pete.  

Who said flare side's dont have 2 tanks?

I will tell you the doors & filler box are different between style sides and flare sides and do not interchange.
The style side is smaller and has a curve to it where the flare side is larger and more flat.
I have pictures if you want to see this.
My parts truck, style side, had dual tanks and the rear tank, wiring and dash (switch) came from it.

I was lucky that my brother sent me part of a flare side fender with the door & filler neck.
I then cut & fit the door to the fender and glassed it in place.
I cant remember now just what I used but the filler neck that came with my truck had been hacked so I think I used the box & neck my brother sent for the front tank.
For the rear I used the flare door & box as the holes matched the glassed in part.
I may have used the metal neck from my parts truck, but cant remember front or rear neck or the hacked part from my truck?
But used what fit the best between the box and the hose from the tank.

As you and others know you MUST HAVE the inner vent hose to fill the tanks.
Front was no issue but the rear I did not have enough to make it 1 whole part, same for the filler neck / hose.
For the vent I used copper pipe and hose clamps to join 2 parts of the vant hose together.
On the neck / hose I used a short piece of muffler pipe and 2 clamps.




Now for the switch for front or rear tank on the dash.
My parts truck being dual tanks all the wiring, yes it is different for dual tanks and non-dual tanks, was used main / dash harness and frame harness.
Same went for the fuel lines, used the parts truck lines and made shorter where needed.
So it was plug and play to the fuel valve for both fuel lines and electrical.

You can get the tank switch and splice wires to it and the gauge / senders / valve to look and work like factory it would be a matter of finding the gauge & sender wire and running a wire to the new sender and to the valve. Oh the HVAC panel would need to be changed to have the slot for the switch & front/rear.


Just a thought on your filler neck set up till you come up with something better.
The older trucks had the cap sit on the outside of the body and the neck was held to the body with think 3 screws like ours are to the box.
If you can find an older neck and put a hole in your fender where the door would be you could use that now and look for a flare side part of the fender, door neck & box to graph on like I did.
The flare side part would fit where the hole is and you would never know it was not factory.

BTW it was the best thing I ever did to the truck.
I avg. 15 MPG and have a range of over 300 miles between the 2 tanks.
My 02 Durango has a little over 300 mile range with 21 gallons.
Dave ----

Thanks for sharing that, Dave.  Obviously you are the poster boy for dual tanks on a Flareside.

As for how far you can go, Big Blue has two 19 gallon tanks and gets 13 MPG.  My math says 494 miles.  

It could be high 300 been a while since I went over my gas sheets in the glove box.
Between the pick up, the Durango, a 83 Honda GL650i Silver Wing Interstate bike and work truck I cant keep them all straight LOL
Dave ----

Dave, thanks for all that good info. I don't know if I will ever actually run dual tanks or not. I am partially set up for it, my hvac panel has the switch in it (not original to my truck obviously).

Right now I am just concerned with being able to fill my truck up. I tried at the gas station yesterday and that did not work. Took about 10 minutes to slowly squeeze in 2 gallons. So I need a rear filler door along with a vent. The idea of using a neck that sticks out of the body might be a good stop-gap measure, thanks for that.

Aside from prowling the junkyards for an old flareside, and probably having to buy the whole bed side, any clue where I could get the parts to do what I need to?

Pete, is this what you're looking for.

Seen it on LMC's site.

I was aware that LMC sold some of the components, but critical ones are missing. The door and the "tub" behind the door are shown in those diagrams, but don't appear to be available.

 I had an '85 F-250 that had that problem when filling up with gas on both tanks. I "solved" my problem by keeping a short piece of 4by6 with an angle cut on one end so I could drive up on it after putting it in front of the right rear tire. Iwas then able to set the gas nozzle on the first stop and then wait for the tank to get filled. You might try that and see if it helps until you can solve the issue.

Pete Whitstone wrote

I was aware that LMC sold some of the components, but critical ones are missing. The door and the "tub" behind the door are shown in those diagrams, but don't appear to be available.

Besides NA from LMC for a flare side the door and box / bucket has to be for a flare side as they are different between flare & style sides.



The top door / silver (smaller, curved) is from a style side. the brown(larger, flat) is the flare side.

Because the doors size different the bolt hole spacing & box / bucket is also different.
If you can find Ford part numbers for the flare side door & box / bucket maybe you can find them from a dealer, also check ebay.
Dave ----

The other thing is to cut your fender / door from the front and cut the same size out of the rear you can then just swap the 2 front to rear.
This way you have the right size / shape door and the part cut out can be used as a filler part at the front.
The first cut is the hardest


Now I did not try this but wonder if you could flatten the style side door to fit the flare side fender?
Before I knew the doors were different my plan was to use the style side doors from my parts truck.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

Now I did not try this but wonder if you could flatten the style side door to fit the flare side fender?
Before I knew the doors were different my plan was to use the style side doors from my parts truck.
Dave ----

This is exactly what I ended up doing. The 95 donor truck had a number of bullet holes in the front gas tank door, but the tub behind it was ok, one major bullet dent and one through-hole, but nothing that affected its functionality. So I got a new filler neck and gas cap from Bronco Graveyard and put it all together. Ford purists look away now.

I cut the donor gas filler tub from the '95, cut a hole in the flareside fender, and used some 3m panel bonding adhesive to stick the tub back there. Of course, this set it in a little deeper than normal, so where the filler door attaches I moved the holes forward by that amount so the door would sit roughly flush. Sourced a fuel door from eBay. Finished it off with some fauxtina spray bomb paint, which is too shiny now but will look right at home in a couple months.

Yeah it's kind of crude, and it sits up higher than a normal filler door. I was concerned that if it was lower, the gas could slosh on a corner and out the filler tube. Plus, where it landed was kind of dictated by the filler neck I bought. Anyhow, took it to the gas station and put the pump on full blast and it did not click off until it should have, which is a vast improvement over the side tank. I imagine I will glass over the front door eventually but it's not a high priority right now. And if I ever get serious about the truck cosmetically (kinda doubtful) then I will do a better job of shaping the opening to match the door.

Looks good, Pete.  And the fact that it works so well makes it perfect.