Bronco638

Thanks! You should have seen them when I got them. They were Ford blue with a lot of rust & goo. They got a good cleaning, a coat of grey primer, a coat of silver and then a coat of grey. They turned out plenty good for my truck. I was thinking threaded, too. I'll try that first. Glad you're OK even though you have to siphon gas out of your truck.

I was curious about my existing starter relay and if it was still good. So, I found some YT videos about how to test them (pretty simple). One of the videos was made by a manufacturer of relays (Wells Vehicle Electronics). At the end of the video, they state that using a temporary duty solenoid (i.e. a starter solenoid) isn't a good idea in situations where continuous duty is required (i.e. to supply the distributor with power). They suggested a constant duty solenoid instead. The Ignition page has links to a Bosch relay and pigtail. The constant duty solenoid ended up being a little less expensive so I went that route.

I found these valve covers on FB Marketplace for a song and they were close by, to boot. Can anyone tell me what oil filler cap it may take? The guy I bought them from said he was going to use them on his (now gone) Fox body Mustang. But, he had no idea what car/truck they came from. I recently saw another Marketplace post where someone was selling valve covers from a 1990 351 Windsor and they appear to be the same. If I do a search, I see filler caps with full threads and filler caps with the 1/4 or 1/2 turn threads. Does anyone know for sure? TIA

😁 I gotta admit that even I forget about the key release at times......

Wouldn't have been my choice either, the engine came that way. Switching to DS2, at this point, seems to be not the best idea, with respect to monies spent.

In situations like this, "too many cooks can spoil the soup". So, it's probably best to let one or two respond with suggestions/advice. I'm not expert, so I'll leave you with this: any chance that the brake pedal switch has somehow failed and is providing power, bypassing the flasher unit(s)?

I know this is a six year old thread but I wanted to provide some insight for the future; there are two shift boots on the Bull Nose trucks with the SROD transmission. First is the one we're most familiar with, the one in the cab (as the pics above show). The second is the one that no one is aware of; the one that attaches to the shift tower on the trans and seals the top of the shift lever. This secondary boot is between the trans and the access panel in the floor. It's smaller, ~3.5" dia. at the base and .75" dia. at the top. It's held in-place by a thin metal flange with three fasteners. There is also flange which bolts on top of the thin retainer. It has an anchor point for a spring (to keep the shift lever aligned with the 3-4 gate - not sure why). Extended, the boot may be 2" to 2.5" high. If you were to remove the boot in the cab, you could easily see this secondary boot. I'm on the search for one (or a replacement similar in dimension). There's one on eBay (NOS) that's $85 which is a bit steep for me.

I was on the Ignition page earlier, as you know. I did see something that was "under construction". Is that something from the old site or something that didn't convert? Also, one of the tabs on that page couldn't load the Word file. EDIT: it's the Factory Shop Manual tab.

Would a lack of current cause problems with the HEI? So, instead of using the larger gauge wire and a relay, say you used the W/LB H wire to power the HEI. Could that, in and of itself, cause the HEI to fail (eventually)? Now I'm asking just because I want to understand. I have no issue with carrying a spare HEI coil & cap if it means I'll never need to use them...

I would have considered DS2 if the engine didn't already have an HEI in it and if my DS2 module-to-distributor harness wasn't in sad shape. I know you can get everything to re-create a DS2 harness but it wasn't going to take much to complete the wiring for the HEI. I just needed to ID the correct wires.

I'm getting to the point that the engine compartment wiring is almost squared away. So, I should be able to get a battery and do some testing. Those wires are present. It's interesting that the sentiment over at FTE is that the W/LB H wire, connected to the BATT terminal on the HEI, is good enough. I've read several threads where that wire "solves" the problem. That said, I'm not interested in being stranded and if wiring up another starter relay, to use the correct amount of current, is the solution, I'm on-board.

Thanks @Gary Lewis. I just finished reading the Ignition page and think this might be a better approach. There's an image on that page of an engine compartment with the auxiliary starter relay near the master cylinder. Can a starter relay be used in place of the Bosch unit? I have a couple of spare starter relays, which is why I ask. If so, would the W/LB H wire be attached to the S terminal on the relay (to trigger the power from the yellow wire to the HEI)?

I took a look and I think it's just easier to "jump the gap" like the factory did. There's a bit of mechanical interference in my truck's engine compartment preventing a re-route of the harness, like the early Mustangs. If the W/LB H wire, that originally went to the DS2 box, doesn't have power in both the Start and Run ignition switch positions, I'll look into the yellow wire w/relay.

PERFECT Does that harness run thru the loop created by the power steering hose? If so, geez Ford.... 😄

@Starliner Joe, I'm in no rush to get rid of anything. So, let me know when you're ready. With any luck, I'll be further along with my truck and will have cleaned/organized stuff to the point where I can easily find parts. 😃 I know I saved the vacuum switch from the brake pedal but cannot seem to locate it right now. In case you missed it, I have rotator cuff surgery scheduled for December 18 and work on my truck will stop for a few months thereafter. So, I'll prolly have time in January to get things sorted and shipped, if you want to wait that long. Otherwise, I can send things sooner.