Gary Lewis

Yes, if that switch had power it could/would be bad. I really thought the front would drop 2", so was surprised at just 1". I even rocked it back and forth and pushed down on the fenders checking to see if it would settle. Nope. But, the bumper, winch, radiator and support, batteries, flywheel clutch, pressure plate, transmission, t-case, drive shaft, and exhaust surely add up to at least the weight of the engine, so surely it'll come down at least another inch.

Happy to help, but was there something else? You said he has bearing #'s. Can we cross-ref them to Ford parts?

Well, I had a good day. Torqued the banjo bolts on the front brake lines to 25 lb-ft, and then installed an engine. :nabble_smiley_wink:And, by the way, the top of the front wheel opening is now 42" off the floor. IOW, that beast of an engine only dropped it exactly 1". So it is possible that the rest of the kit will drop it another inch and the front and back will be level - before I pull leafs out of the rear.Anyway, installing the engine wasn't nearly as easy as it sounds. I know I've said before that my shop crane and my engine stands do not play nicely with each other. But today underscored that, big time. That's 'cause I started out attaching the crane to the engine the wrong way, like shown below using my load balancer. And the balancer hit the hood long before the engine got into place.So back on the stand the engine had to go to remove the balancer and rearrange the chains. But boy, was there a battle with the stand. I'll spare you the details, but I had to lift the crane's legs with the floor jack, set the casters on 2x4's, and pick up the stand and twist it to get it below the crane's legs. :nabble_smiley_cry:But, that approach looked like this finally, and the engine went in. Things to note are the ratchet strap to keep the engine from twisting sideways and the floor jack under the axle to get clearance for the crane's legs.And, here 'tis after getting the crane and jack out of the way - in and the nuts on the mounts are torqued down. (Note the coffee can.)So, why the coffee can? I was finding brake fluid on the fender apron and tracked it down to this rascal. Note that the back side is wet - the brake fluid was leaking out around that crimp. Anyone want a free brake pressure switch? (Was it significant that the radio was playing "Light My Fire" as I took these two pics? Seriously it was, although it wasn't the long album version, nor even the short version, by Jim & the boys, but was instead by Jose The Fleece. )

Dad had one of those in the late 50's or early 60's. If I remember correctly he went from a '34 Ford, which I learned to drive on, to the Henry J then to a '50 Plymouth. The Henry J wasn't much of a car, and not nearly the car the Plymouth was. $11,800!?!?!?!?!?

I'm going to work on installing a 460, but what did I miss? Surely I did, but I'm distracted.

First, there's no problem doing the discussion here. We talk about Chryslers, boats, etc. Why not an early Ford? On the bolt pattern, from 1949 on it looks like the smaller trucks used 5 x 5.5". Here's the car front wheel hub illustration: See if that helps while I look for more info..... Here's the 1953 and later truck illustration:

First, there's no problem doing the discussion here. We talk about Chryslers, boats, etc. Why not an early Ford? On the bolt pattern, from 1949 on it looks like the smaller trucks used 5 x 5.5". Here's the car front wheel hub illustration: See if that helps while I look for more info.....

I'm not sure how to answer the question of "Any antique Ford experts on here?" I've taught my grandtwins that I'm "antiquated". But I don't consider myself a "Ford expert". Having said that, I have the MPC's back to 1949 for the cars, and 1948 for the trucks. So, could I maybe look something up that would help?

Oh no!!!!! So sorry to see that, Jim! PLEASE BE CAREFUL! I'll keep you in my prayers.

Happy hunting today. Pretty frosty down here. Probably worse up there. Gonna get wet tonight/tomorrow, so time is of the essence.

Yipes! Yes, I'd plug it too! The pops or explosions should be in the exhaust as that's what that system connects to.

Ok, I ended up buying it. After a nights sleep and your comments I decided to grab it. To be honest it had kinda fallen off my radar as I moved on to other things. I went out and looked at the existing bracket some more and figured that it would be nice to get rid of that. I had already hacked the smog pump portion of it off, but it's still not a pretty piece by any means. Thanks for being a fan of the truck Rick...lol. Truth be told, I think you'd probably be disappointed if you ever saw it in person. It's not as nice as it looks in the pictures. It's nice for around here, but it no way would compare with a southern truck. I will be taking it to some shows this summer, but it was never really supposed to be a show truck. It was only meant to be a nice cruiser. The frame is the biggest eyesore on the truck. It was rusty and I cleaned it up and painted it, but it still looks like a rusty frame that was painted. In any case, thanks for the heads up on this Rick. I've been stealing some of your ideas, like the 5.0 GT air cleaner and valve covers, etc. Now the ALT bracket. I also just noticed something else in your pictures. The valve in the heater core hose...is that something you added or was that an option with AC in 1985? I am working on getting the parts to install factory AC and I was thinking of just putting a manual valve there to shut off in the summer. Cory - I'm not Rick, obviously, but I do have some input on the heat shutoff valve. First, it never came on these trucks, but should have done. Second, there are lots of ways to do that valve, and we've discussed several ways to do it, including in the thread called Vacuum Controlled Heater Core Valve. Also, we have a page (Documentation/HVAC/HVAC Systems) that has a tab called Heat Shutoff. Unfortunately the only tab within that which has any info in it is the Vacuum Valve tab. (I've just added an entry to the Forum & Website Upgrades spreadsheet to flesh that out from the thread above. )

Yes, checking things off the list is FUN! Some would say I'm creating a list with lots of things to check off just to feel good. And, while there may be some truth in that, the list helps me think through things. For instance, I'm not going to connect up the hydroboost system for fear of having leaks during the cam break-in. And that had kept me from delaying the step of filling the brake system and bleeding it. But I just realized that there's no hydraulic connection between hydroboost and brakes, so I can move that step up much earlier and check the big box called Brake System!

Scott - That's a neat approach. But I have a question about the Start in crank and run. This is just input to the security system and not a remote start. Right? And on the horn, unless you just want to use factory colors there's no reason to hunt for the yellow/light green jumper. Just make one up with one male and two female 1/4" connectors.

Michael - I sent you an email with my Paypal account info. Are you ready for me to send the tracing to you in Germany? If so, please provide your address in an email response to me or in the Paypal transfer. Otherwise, I don't have enough money in the material to worry about. Happy to help, even if it didn't help.

Priced too high, apparently.

Somehow we need to turn this into a page in the documentation. And, toward that end, Steve/FoxFord83 asked me the other day where to connect his system to be able to flash the hazards. I told him that the white/red wire between the hazard flasher and the turn/hazard switch would be the best place as that would be just one connection to get all four lights. EDIT: The previous connection at the hazard flasher did not and cannot work. However, Scott suggested this connection, which should work just fine.

Dropping 2" would put it dead-on level with the rear with the current load and suspension. But by the time the engine, transmission, winch, two batteries, etc are all in there I'm guessing the front may drop a bit more than 2" However, the rear is going to drop some as the transmission and all the stuff in the cab, like the carpet, seat, inverter, etc are going to bring it down some. Plus there are no fuel tanks nor fuel in the truck now. Nor spare tire, and it is HEAVY. And then I plan on removing leafs. But, I'm hoping to start on this journey tomorrow by installing the engine.

Randy - Do I understand correctly that you turn the key to Start and the engine cranks, but it doesn't actually run/fire until you turn the key back to Run? And that you've replaced the ignition switch itself and it didn't change? If that is right, then I think you have a wiring problem in the area circled. I say that because if there's no power to the red/light green wire in Start then you won't have any spark until you turn the key to Run. The way I'd test it is to pull the little red/light blue wire off the starter relay so the engine won't crank, put a meter or, better yet, test light on the coil where the red/light green connects, put the other lead to ground, and turn the key to Start. You are supposed to have power there in Start as well as Run. But my guess is that you don't have power there in Start. Just watched the weather on Channel 8 and tomorrow looks to be a good day to do that testing.

Don't sell yourself short. You are one of the experts.

I'm at 45" to the flats. So definitely a bit higher than BB, but it's basically where I want it (sans engine). How much do you guess our trucks will drop with everything in/on?

Yes, that rotor is toast. As for the vacuum line, that's the air bypass valve. It sends air from the AIR pump into the exhaust manifold to help the catalytic converter burn any hydrocarbons that didn't get burned in the cylinders. And the vacuum to it tells the valve how much air to put in the exhaust. The diagram below is from our page on Documentation/Emissions/Thermactor Systems. The PO may have plugged it if part of the system isn't operating?

Yippeee!!!! Congrat's! In the words of Paul Simon, “Say, ain’t we walking down the same street together On the very same day?” How far is it from the ground to the flat on your wheelwells? Big Blue's are at 43" w/o the engine.

You are now on the map. As for Midsomer, if you see DI Barnaby's wife and daughter, Betty, coming you need to look around 'cause something's about to happen. My wife, Janey, made that statement last night as we watched Series 21 Episode 3. Yep, we've misspent a lot of hours via PBS or, more recently, Britbox. We've been Waiting On God, tasted The Last Of The Summer Wine but didn't like it, had One Foot In The Grave, been told "your parrot's dead", "mentioned the war but think we got away with it", and so on. As for Ireland, we didn't get that far north. Hoping to go back again. Don't know what Brexit is going to do to all that, but are headed to Blighty this autumn once again.

Bill - I love it! Those inserts are much better than my paper towels.