Gary Lewis

I like a round lights as that's what we had back in the day. But, I can see rectangular lights to match the headlights and turn signals. And that mount is interesting. I'm curious to see how it fits.

The only issue I have with quotes is that if the previous person has also quoted you get both quotes. But, it is pretty easy to take out what you don't want. Anyway, an impact gun does make it easy. All the ones I've hit with one come loose immediately. Swap the pulleys, remembering the spacer, and tighten it up. You are done.

What size tires and wheels do you have on there Scott? Are they Goodyears? I have a pic that Scott sent me some time ago and can zoom in. They are Goodyear Wranglers, but I can't tell what size. We will have to wait for Scott on that one.

That is a good writeup. But it didn't make me want that one for a truck as they apparently weren't offered for a truck. Not that they won't work, but there's no granny gear nor over drive. Having said that, it might be there perfect transmission for a 300 six in a '50 Chevy pickup.

Good point Jonathan. Here are some pictures of the 81's engine bay that I'm planning to go look at tomorrow. Looks like it's mostly all intact, minus some smog equipment. Seller says that it needs some carb work, which I am assuming means that the thing isn't running properly/well. Anything specific to check for on these things? Not sure if these pics will post properly... There's some funky wiring in there. Some to the battery, and something to the #1 spark plug wire. So I'd look the truck over to see what has been done to the wiring. Like trailer lights. Hacks back there can be a pain to fix after the dirt and wet have gotten into the wiring over the years. Anyway, good luck! Maybe this is your Christmas present? Oh, and there appears to have been a mod to the alternator belts. Perhaps a smog pump was taken off. But two belts to the alternator is unusual from what I've seen, and the back belt appears to sit down further in the waterpump pulley than the front belt. Not good! Not a reason to pass on the truck, but something that needs fixed - if I'm right.

Now it is official - MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you are with your family, or some thereof, and enjoy this special time of year.

A salvage will usually give you an exchange if you bring it back w/in a certain period of time. And most part stores will test an alternator for free.

That would boggle some minds.

Bill - You know far more then I do about carbs, and I was really just agreeing with you as well as supplying some background. And, were time not against me I'd like to build a 300 w/3 Webers. Hmmmm, just gotta finish Dad's truck & Big Blue, both with EEC-V, then the Bee and the '50 Chevy. Well, maybe the Chevy will have a big GMC 6 w/3 Webers?

I've never owned a 300 six, and certainly haven't had one built, so can't say "this is the way to do it". But, I'll give you my theories anyway. First, the main improvements you can make with regard to power as well as MPG are raising the compression ratio and achieving an even air/fuel ratio across all of the cylinders. Higher compression ratio makes the engine more efficient, and getting a uniform air/fuel mix lets you tune the carb to achieve best power and/or best economy. But from what Frenchtown Flyer said the heads for the 300 six all had the same combustion chamber volume, so changing heads isn't going to help the compression ratio at all. Given that, the only way to raise the compression ratio on a 300 is to use different pistons when you rebuild it. However, if you are running a stock engine you have what you have. That brings us to the air/fuel ratio each cylinder "sees". There is an air/fuel ratio that gives the best MPG, but one carb feeding multiple cylinders with dramatically different intake runner lengths and sharp corners can't possibly give each cylinder the same air/fuel ratio (AFR). This is because fuel tends to drop out of suspension more on longer the runs and around tight corners. There are at least three ways of combating that: heat; multiple carbs with shorter runners; and rounded corners on the intake manifold. Heat in the manifold helps keep fuel in suspension, but it reduces the efficiency of the engine, so there's a balance. And, you can only make the intake so hot w/o causing other problems. Multiple carbs can help if they are placed such that they reduce the difference in runner length, but you have to maintain a certain velocity of air across the venturi to get adequate vacuum with which to pull fuel into the air stream. So if you just add on more of the same size and type of carb the velocity drops and the ability to tune the mix goes away. But, you could use multiple smaller 1bbl carbs. Or, you could go with what's called "progressive" 2bbl carbs that have a smaller venturi that it runs on most of the time and then a 2nd, larger venturi opens when the need arises. Some Webers are progressive. However, you asked about running a 2bbl, like maybe a 2150, or a small 500 CFM 4bbl in place of the existing 1bbl. Personally, I'd go with the 4bbl. That's because 4bbl carbs are progressive and you'll be running on the small primaries until you need the secondaries. But a 2150 isn't progressive so you have the larger venturi on them always in play. Well, I'd better quit. I'm sure I've confused you. But, perhaps someone else will chime in and clarify things?

Welcome, Scott!!! That looks like Ben, Scott, and Chuck. I'm very sure on Ben and Scott, and pretty sure on Chuck. Right, Scott? For those that don't know, Scott runs a welding supply house in Tulsa, and is an excellent welder. Yesterday Ben said that Scott can weld chewing gum to chocolate. And speaking of Ben, he's my friend that owns a fabrication shop and is going to make the rear bumper for Big Blue. He also owns a '78 F150, and I hope he'll join here as well. Scott - Where was the picture taken? I used hunt pheasant just west of Goodland.

I really don't know as I've not been around the Broncos much. Having said that, I have a brand new 38 gallon tank that is supposedly an upgrade for the Broncos. It'll fit a pickup but sticks lower than the normal 19 gallon tank. If you measure your tank we can compare it to mine and see if they are close.

I don't know anything about that tranny - other than that it was used in cars for the most part. Is it a desirable tranny?

I'll edit something if I catch it right away. But I hate it when people completely change something in a post after others have read it and you end up with people responding to something that's not written there anymore. It's a much better way to get hard feelings than it is to avoid having people think you hadn't had your coffee yet (even though I don't actually drink coffee). And you reminded me that I probably should edit it at least enough to get people to read what I read after I was awake rather that get multiple corrections in the same thread. People are a lot more concerned about breaking things driving in 4WD than they need to be. When you go around a corner the front tires need to go father than the rear, and yes, something needs ti giv for that to happen. But especially with an empty pickup, traction at the rear tires is poor enough that what gives is just the tires slipping, even on dry pavement. Not that I advocate driving in 4WD on dry pavement, but mainly because it wears tires faster and feels really annoying. It's not doing your U-joints and axle shafts any favors, but it's really not all that risky to the drivetrain. That said, lock the hubs and put it in 4WD. As long as it's pretty smooth driving in a straight line you can count on the axle ratios matching and the test above will tell you what ratio is in both axles. I'm one of those worried about driving on dry pavement in 4wd. In fact, that was one of the reasons I bought Blue, the 2015 Platinum. The top-end trucks have a feature that is effectively AWD, where you can set it and forget it. Surely doesn't help MPG, tire wear, etc so I don't use it all the time. But when my daughter was driving it in what was sure to be a rain storm I had her put it in that mode. As for editing, I've been known to edit my error after people comment, but put an "EDIT" statement in so's you can tell later that I was originally wrong.

Bill talks about Darth's PO having parked by feel. That's what that person apparently does.

Good idea Gary, I wasn’t aware that there was such a thing as a 90A 3G that would work with our gauges and wiring. I still have the pulley issue to consider, but that shouldn’t be too hard. I will be running the Marchal fog lights but nothing to crazy. It’s mostly keeping up with the glow plugs and starter draw. I need to do whatever I have to in order to get rid of hard starting, dead batteries, dead starters and all that fun stuff that has stranded me in the past.... See the write up in Electrical/3G. (I can’t seem to paste the URL on this phone. 😩)

Ha! Gary, I'm on AST (Atlantic Standard Time)...one hour ahead of the USA east coast EST. I think that puts me 2 hrs ahead of you in OK? I am also usually up very early...4am most days, so that's when the bulk of my routine internet searches get done...during coffee;). Wow! That is EARLY! I was up at 5:30 to do my computing as the house is quiet then - as opposed to now w/7 year old twins rough-housing w/their father. Boy, am I going to miss that on Jan 3rd when they leave.

There's a man that takes the blame. You could have edited your post. But, instead you took the blame.

😰 But 100A must be okay... I am pretty much planning on running V belts on my IDI instead of trying to fabricate a serpentine bracket for the Saginaw. I know you can still run a 3G with V belts (odd Dodge pulley if I remember right) but maybe 100A is enough and I can leave the gauge alone. I think I was running a 60A before. W/o heavy-duty current hogs 100A is fine. But, can you find one of the 100A alternators? Why not a 90A 3G? Lots easier to find, newer tech, and charges at lower RPM. And with that last quality I'd bet you'd get every bit as much charge in normal driving from that one as a 100A 1G.

Looks like they are a bricknose thing, so I’m guessing they will not work with the stock Bullnose gauge. 100A looks like the max. Yep. A good 130 amp 3G will fry the shunt.

Well, that is interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it, but here are two instances of the same image. The first was uploaded directly to this thread from this tablet. The second is from the thread 1984 Bronco XLT [Candidate for highest asking price!!!] where I did a right click and did a "Copy Image Address". And here's what I got when I did that copy: "http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n19117/122418.jpg" Note that the "122418.jpg" is the name of the file on this tablet. And the "n19117" is part of the Permalink from that post, the whole of which is "http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/1984-Bronco-XLT-Candidate-for-highest-asking-price-tp18814p19117.html". That would imply that Nabble is going to get the file from the previous post. But, when I click the "Insert image" for both of the shots I get exactly the same code for each: nabble_img src="122418.jpg" border="0"/ (Without the before and after.) That suggests that Nabble uploaded the file twice for this post. Clear as mud?

Yep. They are in there. Just a long ways down the page.

The folks that run Nabble are said to be working on a new, open-source platform to which we could move if we so desire - whenever it is done. The beauty of the open-sourced approach is that people can write code that can be implemented if the user so desires. Anyway, hopefully they've learned that it is better to load an image once and then reference it each successive time it is used. Having said that, we don't really know how they do it. It is possible that when we give them a link to an image they already have the system recognizes the link goes to them and doesn't actually upload and save the file.

I agree that the Sterling was considered an upgrade to the Dana 60. And, good thinking on how to figure out the gear ratio.

If a person was wanting an EFI 300 six, that was the one year for MAF/SEFI. I found one in the flagstaff junkyard, but it had been well raided long before I got to it, and was far from complete. Now that I know the crank sensor isn’t a deal breaker I might casually watch for another one... for the day my diesel is done and the ‘81 gets its turn.... Yes, that truck could be a gold mine for someone wanting EFI.