Gary Lewis

It is correctly advertized - 1980 - 82 heater, not A/C nor Hi-Lo Vent.

Man, that thing had a lot of rust in it. But you are getting it clean. And I think your filters should work.

Yep, this 35 year old switch ain't working too well. I put contact cleaner down it and it got less bad. Finally put brake cleaner down it and it improved some. It still doesn't always work, but I'll keep playing with it.

You know of whom I speak, I'm sure. We were at The Mercantile in Pawhuska one day a year or so ago and she was there as well. I talked with her for a while and enjoy seeing her on TV. But she and Dan Threlkeld are now saying it'll snow tomorrow night, and so far they've been wrong every time.

Excellent! Man I'm glad I posted this.

Spruce? But for $7.50 + 5.27 shipping you could make it any color.

My speed control switch doesn't always work correctly and I'm thinking about getting another. Did you find a replacement for factory speed control? Or are you going with the dealer-installed variety?

Jim is onto something there. That could easily do it. And w/o the choke closing you won't get it to start w/o ether.

You may be onto something! If the cruise switch can mount on the same bracket that might solve the problem. I knew I needed to bounce this off others.

Jim - So the surgery was today? Was it successful? Ray - While those aren't the words I'd use I do agree with the sentiment.

Gary, that freshly painted transmission looks great! I love the look of new parts! For my M5OD-R2 swap, I obtained the correct crossmember for the trans, and I had to drill new holes 1 3/16" further back to install. I forget where exactly the mount bolts landed in the slots in the crossmember, but I'm pretty sure I centered them or close. I actually modified my offset braces to fit the new crossmember location. It wasn't pretty, but it was the quickest solution I could come up with at the time. The upper bolts could not even be removed without lifting the cab on my truck, and I didn't replace the cab mounts until a year or more later on. The mounts are good and strong, and even if they are a bit ugly, nobody can see them anyway. Cory - You drilled the braces to accommodate the existing holes? Interesting. By the way, it isn't too difficult to raise the cab ~4" to get those bolts out and relo them. There was enough slack in the wiring harness on Dad's truck to allow that. But I shouldn't have to do that this time as the braces I have are offset and are supposed to use the original top holes and then fit the crossmember itself when it is moved back to match up with the ZF5. Jim - Big Blue was gross underneath and under hood when I started this transformation. And I'm happy to say that's not the case now. But tomorrow I'll have to melt the crud off the crossmember and braces so they match their new environment.

I think I had an ahah moment today, and I want to bounce my thinking off of you. Also, I need to apologize to Bill/85lebaront2 as I think he said there is a speed control switch on the clutch pedal and I said there wasn't. Turns out there is on Big Blue. But.... Also, I now know why I couldn't find my NOS clutch start switch - I was looking for a clutch speed control switch. Yes, there are two switches associated with the clutch pedal/lever, as shown below. But, it appears to me that you can have one or the other, but not both. Here's a pic of the two switches, with the starter switch on the top and the speed control switch on the bottom. I say that because both of them mount in exactly the same place. I'm confident in that because I mounted both switches to Big Blue's clutch pedal today, and they certainly do go into the same holes. But tomorrow I'll do some more investigation and take some pics to show you what I'm talking about. And, I'll also suggest some ways to have both functions, which I need on Big Blue.

Rob - You've done a huge amount of work. On the issues with starting and running, is the choke closing? Without the it closing you aren't likely to get it started w/o ether. Next, do you know if the accelerator pump is working? If so, you should see two streams of gas shoot into the carb when you briskly open the throttle. (But do this with the engine off.)

Hey now!! Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery! To make a loooooong story short: Now for a few details. I pulled the pressure plate, clutch, and flywheel. Then I ran the engine plate from Big Blue through the parts washer and installed it and re-installed the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate. Then I lubed the splines on the tranny, installed the release bearing and release arm, and installed the tranny. It wasn't quite that easy, but I'll spare you most of the details. However, I will say that I had noticed that the driver's side transmission bolt that goes into the head goes right into the wet area under the valve cover. So I coated the top two with sealant. Boy are those two fun to get to! It took all of my long extensions to be able to get to them from behind. But I got all of the bolts torqued down. However, I ran out of time before I could clean the crossmember and mark & drill the new holes in the frame. The crossmember has to move back about an inch, but I think the offset braces will bolt up to the upper holes in the frame. So all of that is tomorrow's plan.

None of my trucks have traction bars. Nor do I think I need them - yet. My understanding is the traction bars are there to limit the wind-up of the rear axle, which frequently causes loss of traction and/or wheel-hop. But that's not been a problem for me and I doubt it would be for you. Having said that, with 400 HP on tap on Dad's truck who knows?!?!

Doni - The number on the MCU proves that your truck was surely built to meet California emissions standards. I found several hits on that # E1TF 12A651—C1A, C2A. (By the way, in Fordspeak, any number on a part is not a part number. Instead it is an ID or engineering #.) I got lucky and found that number in the Master Parts Catalog in the calibration parts lists for several 1981 trucks, but the list below is probably the one that fits your truck. Note that this list is for Calibration No. 1-52S-RO. That's the "calibration code" and you might actually have a label on the valve/tappet cover with that number. As for the connectors in your pic, they are probably for things like the courtesy lights, door locks, etc. And there's no other module except that MCU. You can remove that and anything it is connected to as it cannot be working with the connector to the carb unplugged. Luckily the early systems like that were standalone. So you can trace the wires from the MCU and remove whatever they are connected to.

Patrick - You are now on the map. But the turn signal lenses are the ones in front. Ford's Master Parts Catalog says that yours should have clear lenses. Right?

Thanks. I do appreciate it. But, laugh at this: Go look at the pic of the engine plate I posted and tell me what's wrong w/it. (Hint: It won't go over the crank. ) But, I do have what I think is the right engine plate. I'd forgotten that there was one on Big Blue, so went out and got it - and got greasy. Boy, is it a MESS! I'll clean it and I'm pretty sure it'll work. It is complete with the attached cup on the bottom.

Yep, I need to get them on order. As for today's mid-day report, I'm preaching to myself: Two steps forward and one back is still progress. Got the tranny ready to go in and realized I didn't have this on. And it looks like it is going to difficult to thread it around the clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate. And, in reality it isn't the correct one for a ZF5 as those for it have a "cup" on the bottom. I have the cup, which is cut off of the full plate so's it can be taken off if/when needed. So I need to cut this plate to accept the cup.

Speedo cables and the mechanism in the speedometer itself do strange things. Big Blue's speedo did similar things until I greased it. I'm not saying its a sure-fire fix, but that's where I'd start.

I think you need to grease the speedo cable(s). There may be two and, if so, the split will be around the brake booster as that's where the speed sensor for the speed control went. But you probably have only one, and it will most likely come out from the speedo end.

Michael - You are now on the map. But, I just used Pleasant Shade as I don't want people just showing up at my house, so assumed that you don't either. In fact, if I were you I'd edit that last post and take out your house address and just leave the town.

Ok, we will watch for your post. And we have several who know the diesels well. And your posts don't have to be perfect. But just try to lay things out clearly and use sentences and paragraphs so we aren't looking at big blocks of text. By the way, what part of TN are you in? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd add you if I had a city/town.

Cederman - I'm sorry for your loss and your problems. And, I'm sure that the members here will be able to help you. You've come to the right place. However, we have so many people to help, as well as our own projects to work on, that our time is limited. I usually gravitate to the problems that are well stated such that I can understand them. But I cannot get my head around your problem(s) for the lack of punctuation, capitalization, etc. It is one big blob of text that I can't digest easily - one huge sentence. So, if you want us to spend our time helping you then please spend some of your time giving us a clear picture of the biggest problem. We can work on it one problem at a time. But, you really should start a thread in the main section to do this as more people will see it there. This is mainly a required starting point so you see that we have guidelines we expect all members to work/type within.

Scotty has a carb adapter he's made to go to the EFI lower plenum and he'll loan me one. Brandon/Bruno2 has the Eddy on the shelf in a baggie. As for the headers, I sold the carb ones, and need to order in the EFI ones from L&M. Yes, it is to break in the cam.