Gary Lewis

Yippee!!! Glad it worked. As for the hesitation, that sounds like an accelerator pump problem, like not quite enough stroke. The 1985/86 Fuel Systems Adjustment booklet has this to say:

Yep, mine as well.

Yes.

Something in the back of my mind says there was a y/lg jumper that connected the two horns. I think one end had a female 1/4" connector with a male tap, and the other end was just female 1/4". Put that on the two horns and the DB went on the male connector.

It does look like a piece of angle, but it is plastic. Don't know how effective it was, but Ford did use it on the trucks that were supposed to get the higher MPG. I think I'll try it on Big Blue. If those with it got 26 MPG then I may set a record for a 460.

That really is interesting! From what I understand of what I saw, he puts the blank in and turns it pretty hard several times and the pins leave marks on the key. He files down where the marks are until the pins no longer leave marks, and at that point the lock should turn. Did I understand that correctly? I'm embedding it here to make it easier for everyone to see.

Jein. (You are going to understand German soon.) There are two scenarios, as shown below. With speed control, which I assume you have, there is yellow/light green after the relay. But on the trucks w/o speed control the wire after the horn switch is dark blue. Further, C305(A/B) is on the steering column and the relay is under the hood. So why not say you'll tap into the dark blue wire under the hood? That'll work for both scenarios.

Did you tell use which relay/fuse box you are going to use? I'm still on the fence about how I'm going to do Big Blue's headlight relays. If I had the right box I'd probably put it on the passenger's side and do the headlight, starter, and blower motor relays in it.

Be careful. It says "Ford 86-96 F150, Bronco" and if you look around it says "8.8". But Ford's chart from our Driveline/Axles & Differentials page says the 9" was still used through '86. So you might have an '86 and they won't fit. Having said that, the kit should fit some trucks as far back as '83 since the 8.8 was introduced then.

Yipes! Don't be holding your coffee when you look! $575!?!?!?!?!? But, they also have the parts, although one of the bearings is $148.40 by itself. (Why do people choose strange prices like that?) I've been wondering if it is possible to replace that bearing in the plastic housing with an off-the-shelf ball or roller bearing. Anyway, we have a page on Steering Columns. Should we add a link to these people on it?

I used white LED's. But I suspect that it is the orientation of the LED's that's the problem in my case. And I also suspect that since there are dozens, if not hundreds, of LED layouts we could find quite varying results by using different LED's. So, I'm thrilled that you found some that work. That takes the hunting, and failure, out of it. And I can see that the lens on the brake light portion would cause it to be really bright. But how bright are the taillights themselves? And how well did they fit? Anyway, here's a link to what I think are the ones you found. Right?

Walt - That's wonderful. Good job!

The number of actual tire manufacturers is like batteries... there actually isn't that many. You will find a lot of tires made by the same companies under different names. Like the bargain priced Solar tires at Walmart are actually made by Sumitomo. You can actually go to safercar.gov and compare every tire sold in the US. I've been looking at Hankook tires myself. Didn't do a thing on any truck today. In fact, I didn't get out to the shop other than to retrieve the USB DVD drive. That's 'cause I took the day to set my laptop up as a replacement for Janey's antiquated desktop. And the DVD drive did the trick to install the several apps she has for quilting and sewing. But, I did make a bit of progress toward getting Big Blue going. The nuts with which to hold the spindles on came in. As previously reported, I got 50 7/16-20 prevailing torque lock nuts for $11. So tomorrow I'm hoping to get wheels on him.

I once owned a 1984 F150 with 4.9L, 4 speed manual OD and 2.47 rear gears. This truck came with the tiny air dam / spoiler on the front bumper. Driven @ 65 mph on the interstate, it routinely returned 26+ MPG. It was a dog when accelerating. This was before the widespread use of gasohol. I'd like to see a picture of that air dam, maybe we can find a Ford P/N. 29mpg average highway ford claimed though would denote it gets more than 29 mpg at some point and 19 city would be pretty impressive as well. I'm not saying it isn't capable of mid 20's but man I think Ford was inflating some numbers, unless the whole drive was downhill in OD with exterior modifications and the tallest gearing you could get. We've found the spoiler. You can see it in the illustration below, which is from the page at Documentation/Exterior/Bumpers and the Front Bumpers and Illustrations tabs. But you can see the part number on, of all things, the Part Numbers tab. As for pictures, I have one of the spoilers so could take some pics if you'd like.

Perhaps I should explain the Florida Man emoticon. Heretofore it has been meant sarcastically. In derision, in fact. The background is that I acquired Big Blue from a gentleman in Florida. He'd been fleeced by some of the worst "mechanics" around. For instance, it took one of them 4 years to build his 460, and then it used a quart of oil in the first 20 miles. Or, maybe I should say it "shed" a quart in 20 miles. Turns out they'd not put valve cover gaskets on. Fast forward ~5,000 miles and I pulled the engine because it was still shedding oil way too rapidly. And I discovered that the engine appears to have been pulled from a salvage, painted, and given to the guy as a newly-rebuilt one. Then I discovered that someone had used a sawsall on the engine crossmember to get access to some nuts. And, they'd left 3 of the 6 bolts out when installing the engine perch. Plus they'd used the sawsall to cut a piece of of the radiator support so they could mount the engine oil cooler where it shouldn't be, which then required that they cut a chunk out of the back of the grille for clearance. But, the thing that caused poor Vernon, the previous owner, to throw his hands in the air and part with the vehicle was because they'd bypassed the safeties on the engine and were running the fuel pump any time the key was on, not just when the engine was running. That caused the fuel to flood the carb and then run down into the cylinders and ultimately fill the crankcase with gas. And all of this was done by

Scott - You buried those questions pretty well. Hopefully I found them all: Thread: Yes, it is great to put info about other brands in this thread. Sub-section: Jein. I think we need a webpage for security systems, remote locking, and/or windows. That page could have info on all of the different systems we figure out how to use. Or, we might just give the basics and then let people figure out how to tie their system into the basics. And by basics I mean: Door Locks: We've figured out how to interface the system Steve bought. And maybe it is enough to show how to use the normally-open and normally-closed contacts, along with the central one, or "30" if you will. However, your system not only says "normally closed" it also says "87A", which is the terminal on a Bosch relay. So we need to add that to the documentation. Windows: Some of the security systems allow you to open or close the windows, so at some point we'll have address this. Security: We will need to figure out what the typical options are in security systems and document how to use each one. For instance, I think the Ground When Armed output on yours should pull in a relay that takes the tach wire to ground. There's no a chance that the engine is going to run in that case, regardless of the jumpering someone does. And we'd also need to figure out what Horn Honk goes to. And Switched Ignition Input. And...... Speaking of Switched Ignition, I think I'd use the red/light green on the right side of the schematic below. It will be 12v in both Start and Run, and it is the same for all gasoline engines. That way we don't have to figure out what engine and what fuel system they have. And, it could be connected to directly. All circuits are positive? I'm not sure I understand, but typically the power comes in at the top of a page and ground is at the bottom. Dome Lights: I suspect, but don't know, that it will work fine w/o a relay. Set H1/3 up so the relay supplies 12v to the dome lights, and then hook H1/4 to the black/light blue wire for the dome lights, which is probably accessible in the kick panels. But, note that the Ford door switches are not the typical ones that ground a circuit when the door opens. Instead they have 12v on one side and the lights on the other, which will be at ground when the doors are shut. So you need to take that into account in the setup. Does this make sense? Did I get them all?

I believe you are partially correct, not sure how easy it is to see this in my pictures. Ill take more tomorrow, working nights now. I think I need to look for a vac diagram. There are 2 of 3 solenoids present and connected on the valve cover. One of the connectors is part of this harness and shaped the same. The lower connector which is more oil soaked is on the run of wire below the head. If you look at the picture of the engine by the alternator you will see a loom run going up and below and behind it an oil soaked run along the bottom of the head. The top run goes to the solenoids. I found this picture but its off a bronco set up and doesn't 100% match. Also next to those connectors/ oil filter... is that the knock sensor? I can't tell much from those pics and that diagram. But if you get better pics and the wire colors I'll bet we can nail down exactly what the connectors should go to. But, is that an EEC-IV system? I think it should be as it is an '95. So I'll assume so and go looking for the connectors there when we get better pics.

You are now on the map. As for the engine, it is hard to beat the price of a crate engine. That won't get you any experience in engine building, but it is more likely that you'll have good results. I say that because there are many pitfalls in engine building. I've had the machine shop make mistakes on more than one engine. And I've gotten intake manifolds on incorrectly. And I've had core plugs come out right after a rebuild. You shouldn't have those problems with a crate engine. But if you do they should stand behind it, and someone on here recently had that kind of a problem and the manufacturer did stand behind it. However, this is a hobby, so sometimes learning how to do it is what is desired. And there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you want to do then we'll be here to help you along. You'll have to decide what you are going to want the truck to "be" when you are done. Is it going to be a daily driver and you want reasonable MPG? If so, then the 300 six or a 302 might be a good choice. Or, if you want it to be the king of the stop lights and you could care less about the MPG, then maybe a 460. But the sweet spot in my estimation is the 351W. Enough stroke to have good torque, but small enough to get acceptable MPG. Notice that I didn't mention towing. That's because an F100 may not have the brakes to do a good job there. Also, there's the transmission. The SROD isn't the strongest one out there, and won't bolt to the 460 and might not hold up behind a 351W. Bottom Line: You'll need to set some goals and then ask how you might achieve those goals. You'll get lots of opinions, and then you'll get to choose.

The are nice, that's for sure!

Alex - Glad you joined! Welcome! We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu), so would you like me to add you to it? Nice truck. Hope you'll start a thread about it in main section. On the engine, if you have to rebuild it I would consider going to a Windsor, like the 302 or 351W. I say that because I think you can build one of them for the same or less than you can the 3.8L. That's because there's very little support for the little V6 and there is lots of support for the Windsors. Having said that, the engine perches are different. So you'll have to change those out, but we had a thread earlier today for a nice pair of those for $100.

Good info!

I think that basic part number was used for at least two things. See below:

I didn’t mean they are gouging. And I did see where it is coming from. I just have an aversion to paying that much for shipping. But if that’s the only place to get them from and you want one, ....

I thought maybe we could have a new page on those transmissions and include a bit of documentation.