Gary Lewis

Yes, BB is 'spensive to drive - especially since I have to run premium in him. Blue is a much more reasonable truck to drive as he gets about twice that and does anything asked of him on regular - although he gets better MPG towing with premium. And, he rides better, his A/C is much more effective, the radio picks up Sirius so I can listen to the oldies, and he's quiet enough to really listen to them. But, he's just like every other Ford truck on the road, so where's the fun in that?

I went to the fastener shop yesterday to get a bunch of stuff on my list, and I grabbed 4 new 7/16" X 2.25" bolts to replace the long ones in my bellhousing, only to find out my existing bolts were 2.25", lol. (I thought I had measured them previously to be 2" long). Oh well, this is how I roll. Buy once, then measure, and then buy again! I took a look at them again, and maybe they're not quite as bad as I thought, but I think I'll get longer bolts just for peace of mind;). I got everything done on my list yesterday except wire in the M5OD reverse switch. A wire in the harness was broken, and it was too close to the plug to do anything with, so that's another plug that is getting deleted. It's a 4 wire plug, but the two red wires have a factory jumper in the plug, so there's only the two purple wires for the reverse switch to actually worry about. I have some 16ga 2-wire Belden cable here, so that will work perfectly. I'm pretty sure that factory wire is only 18ga? Now, something I was mildly worried about was bleeding the new clutch master, line, and internal slave. That turned out to be a non-issue. I filled the master, and pumped the pedal by hand a dozen times, and then repeated that two more times. After that, it was gravity filling fast enough that it would drain the master reservoir in approximately one minute. Once fully filled, I ran another 8-10 oz through it, and then closed the bleeder. It seems to be working fine...I think...I can't really tell until I get the thing running. On the clutch bleeding. even after doing what you did Big Blue's system wouldn't fully release the clutch. But everyone told me that driving it would finally get the air out, and it did. After perhaps 2 miles of lots of shifting, and double-clutching to do the shifting, things got better. And after maybe 5 miles it got good enough that it was shifting fine. So don't give up on it if it doesn't fully release the clutch at first. As for the wiring, I had that connector in my hand yesterday and would have to agree that the wire is no larger than 18 ga - if that. I gather you are going to cut in above that connector, loop the red/light blue wire back to the starter, and extend the black/pink to the backup light switch with the Belden cable. Should work fine. And on the fasteners, I made a pledge years ago to buy 1.5x however many I needed for a project, and put the extras in a drawer so I'd have what I needed later. That has worked marvelously and I now usually have what I need. However, the "drawer" is now a series of plastic trays with lids that let me take all the bolts of the needed size to the job and do the selecting there, plus a cabinet of smaller drawers for the smaller fasteners. Works a treat. I say all of that to say keep the short bolts when you go get longer ones, and start accumulating.

Dave - You are making great progress! Wish I could say the same for me. But, I do have some progress to report. I'd previously told y'all that I took the radiator support that Jonathan gave me up to John to have it media blasted and then painted. He uses an epoxy primer and then a satin black. Well, I also had several other smaller pieces that go with the radiator support, like the corner pieces that tie the fenders to the radiator support, and wanted them painted to match. So I blasted those a couple of days ago and took them up to John - in Big Blue. All in all, over the last few days I've driven BB over 70 miles running up to John's and out to the boat multiple times. And I filled him up today and got a whopping 9.15 MPG. I probably got the tank more full than the last time, so maybe, just MAYBE, it would have been 10.0. But, that's pretty poor. Abysmal to be exact. Hopefully the EFI/ZF5 combo will bump that up significantly. Anyway, I'm taking it to the Fordification show in Anderson, MO tomorrow, to pass out fliers for our show. The round trip should be about 225 miles and I'm going to take it easy, keeping the speeds down to 65 max, to see what I can get. Oh, and I jumpered the fuel gauge circuit through the 6-port valve's connector today, so the gauge may be working. The tank is FULL and the gauge now goes off the scale, but the sender is showing 15 ohms, so maybe it'll give me some kind of indication instead of laying on the bottom peg.

It would be great if they add those seats to their product line.

Jose - You have the dreaded computer-controlled ignition system. And I'll bet that it is upset with all the things that are disconnected on your truck. What happens is that the computer gets its knickers in a twist and locks the ignition timing at 10 degrees BTDC. That kills power and economy. The way around it is to replace the distributor, coil, and ignition box with a DS-II setup. And, you will need the DS-II wiring harness. I don't have a write-up on this site, but there's one on FTE: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1012000-duraspark-ii-conversion-how-to.html. As for the choke, the second link David/1986F150Six provided may be the closest to what you need to get the hot-air part of it working. But, if where you live doesn't get very cold you may not need that. I'd hook up the stator wire from the alternator as previously discussed and see if that works for you. If not, then look into the the hot air.

The easy answer is that your bolts aren't long enough. The rough rule of thumb says you should have at least one full diameter of the bolt in engagement. And those should be 7/16"x14 bolts so you need at least that much engagement. As for why they aren't long enough, I'm going to guess that the originally tranny had a cast iron bell housing and that the M5OD has an aluminum bell housing. Cast iron wouldn't need to be as thick as aluminum to provide the same strength. But I'm not finding the proper bolts in the catalog. So, just get longer bolts - which probably are G5's.

I actually have that brochure on here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/1981-pickup-brochure.html But I'll warn you that the colors in the brochure itself don't match reality. And the colors I see on my screens, plural, don't match the brochure itself, and every screen has a different color. By far the best approach is the color paint chip chart - in your hand. They have chips of the real paint attached to them, at least the ones I have do, and that is much, MUCH more accurate than the printing process that begats the brochures. And completely side-steps the scanning/display problem.

I had the high-back Captain's chairs recovered in Tulsa a few years ago and they were able to get the original '81 material from a supply house in Tulsa. Everything matched. Yes, it was expensive to have someone sew the stuff up rather then get replacement covers, but they also completely refurb'd the seats with new foam. And they even added neat little map pockets on the backs. But, perhaps you could start stitching up covers for folks using your sewing machine? Become that middle man they wouldn't sell to?

That's an ingenious solution and I don't see anything wrong with it. Lots easier than my approach of pulling the cab bolts, raising the cab by 4", and drilling new holes in the frame with a right-angle air drill and a cut off bit. Looks like you'll have all that stuff buttoned up today.

I did see that, and I may end up actually doing it, even if it's only temporary. Things have gotten way out of hand with this truck, and I'm trying to keep the spending down to a dull roar right now...lol. My wife asked me the other day: "You're keeping this truck for a while, right? RIGHT?". I saw that as well, and might actually suggest it when working on someone's truck that needs a bit of sprucing up right now. However, never use white zip ties. Nylon is not UV stable and white zip ties fail in about a year when outside. Black zip ties have carbon added and that makes them UV stable. I don't know what is used to make red, blue, or any other color zip tie, but the filler may also stop the UV from penetrating, although I don't know that. Anyway, you did say YES in answer to your wife's question. Right?

Excellent! Your wife is going to love driving it, and the lady from Deutschland will have a blast. Will they take the dog - it seems to be right at home. But, where are you getting your blue vacuum line? And, what is it made of? I'm not sure I want blue, but I'm also not impressed with the quality of the stuff I've purchased. And, how 'bout a pic of the truck w/the new wheels and tyres on? Also, maybe a pic of the ladies driving it?

Yes, I'll happily eat popcorn and watch you toast your extremities. So far, I've not had a carb fail the cold test unless the accelerator pump was truly bad. But, it is your call.

That is a good one. But the warming up bit is questionable in my book. First, the accelerator pump usually (always?) has its own supply of fuel, so if the accelerator pump doesn't have fuel when the engine is cold there is a problem. Second, it isn't much fun to kneel on a hot radiator and put your hands on a hot engine. Anyway, test it and let us know.

Jose - I thought you were "south of the border", just from the picture of your truck. The setting just looked like it might be Mexico or even Nicaragua, where my daughter lives. Anyway, let's start on diagnosing your truck. Here's your first engine pic, and from it I can tell that things aren't as I would have expected them to be. First, the A/C compressor is a later style than a 1981 US truck would have had. Second, while I can't be sure, it looks like you have the EEC-III ignition system. I could confirm that if you took a shot where the red arrow is pointing so we can see the front of the distributor. Also, if you took a pick of the ignition module, and especially the grommet through which the wires pass when going into it. Next, on to the choke. As the yellow letters say, the metal tube should go to the exhaust manifold. And, from the exhaust manifold there should be another tube that goes to the fitting shown by the red circle. What happens is there is a vacuum at that port with the red circle and it is supposed to draw clean air from the air cleaner, down through a passage in the exhaust manifold where it heats up, and then into the choke housing. That tells the choke spring if the engine is hot or cold and it can adjust the choke accordingly. But you don't have anything hooked up, and are probably drawing dirty cold air into that port, telling the choke that the engine is cold. So, if you adjust the choke to where it closes it'll never come off. All of that is better explained here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/chokes.html. But your choke cap has an electrical connection (green circle) that may work for you. That carb is probably a hot-air with electric assist model, but sometimes they will work ok on just the electric portion. There's a terminal on the alternator called "S", which is short for stator. You can run a wire from the S terminal on the alternator to the terminal on the choke and see if it will heat up enough when the engine is running to pull the choke off. There are lots of other things we can discuss, but let's stick to figuring out what ignition system you have via the pictures, and fixing the choke. Then we can move on once we know what we are working with.

Just pull the air cleaner, climb up on top of the engine, and look down the carb while opening the throttle briskly. With the engine off, I should say. You should see two streams of gas squirt down the throats of the carb if the accelerator pump is working.

Check the accelerator pump. If it is split or the check ball is stuck the engine will stumble when you apply throttle.

Glad you found the pic. Sometimes that's all you need - a reminder of what went where. Good luck!

Carl - Welcome to the Bullnose Forum. While we specialize in the Bullnose trucks, meaning 1980 - 86 versions, we do know a bit about the earlier ones. For instance, I have a friend that comes over frequently with his '78 F150 w/a 351M, which is the little brother to your 400. We've done quite a bit of work on it, so I do have some experience with them. Speaking of the 351M, it is part of the 335 Series of Ford's engines, and that is my favorite series. The engines are lighter than a 460, but the 400 has slightly more stroke than the 460 so puts out considerable torque. In fact, the 400 for Dad's truck puts out 500 ft-lbs at a relatively low RPM, which is perfect for a truck. And, those engines are "underdogs". But, in the right hands they can really shine.

Actually, I should have said "Yes, buy a color chart." They are frequently available on-line to purchase, and don't cost too much. That's the only true way to see the colors that I know of.

I don't have color chips for 1980 or '81. I do have for '82 and '83 if I remember correctly, but those colors are different than your truck. And, I don't have those scanned and on line either. Plus, there's the problem of color shift in the scanning as well as the monitor on which you are viewing it. I've scanned things and then compared the real thing to what I see on my various monitors and the results vary widely - in my own shop with pretty high-end monitors, much less to someone else with who-knows-what monitor. Perhaps I need to spend some time figuring out how to at least get them scanned in a way that ensures accuracy, but that still leaves the viewing monitor as the weak link, and there's no way to control that.

To find the info from the Certification Label go here: Specifications/Body Codes. Then, go here: Specifications/Interior Paint and you can find the SEM # for the paint you need. And, for 1980 and 1981 there was only one blue - A1B. (Looking at that now I realize I might be able to merge those two pages. And, I know that there are other paint manufacturers out there that make paints to match, so I probably ought to add their info. )

Yes sir, good point. I get it. All I have to compare to is how the truck was previously with the stock 302 and a sloppy shifting 3-on-the-tree, and anything will be an improvement over that I am certain! 3.55's or 3.73's may end up being a better fit, but I'll play with it a bit and see how it feels. Swapping gears isn't a big deal or a big expense, so it may very well end up on the to-do list. I'll be back with real world driving results in a couple weeks;). You may find you like your current combo. Getting the R's down to 1900 at 60 MPH should work nicely for most driving, unless you live in a really hilly area. And the lower R's will help both the MPG and the noise.

You mean this one: Fuel Systems/Air Cleaners? I just shared that link on Facebook as the discussion there was going off the rails. It is amazing how much misinformation there is out there on this subject. Someone asked the question if there was such a thing as a cold air kit for these trucks. What?!?!? That's exactly what the factory air cleaner system is! Another person in that conversation said that's only for fuel-injected engines. Whoa! That's actually the exact opposite of where the need is. EFI systems have air temp sensors and compensate for the incoming air temp by varying the amount of fuel injected to get the right mix. Yes, they can also benefit from the added oxygen that is in the more dense cooler air. But it is carb'd engines that need cooler air the most as the carb has no way to know the air temp and, therefore, can't adjust for that variable. (I know a very few carbs did have temp compensation, but they were few and far between and weren't very effective anyway.) So a carb'd engine gets a double whammy with hot air - reduced oxygen in the cylinder as well as the wrong air/fuel mixture. There's an interesting article that was done several years ago by Four Wheeler magazine. They were trying to get MPG and HP out of a 460. And while it was an EFI system, their work on the intake air plumbing was relevant to carbs.

Jose - Welcome! Glad you found us. Where are you located? Perhaps someone on here is close to you? As for the 2150 carb, you can find info on it here: Fuel Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Motorcraft 2150. The 2150 is a pretty simple carb and is about as easy as they come to rebuild, but you said "adjust". What adjustment do you think it needs? For enhancing the performance of the 302, there isn't much to do beyond a good tuneup. However, can you show us a picture of the engine and, especially, the distributor and ignition module on the driver's fender? That will let us ensure we know what ignition system you have. (A 1981 should have the blue-grommet ignition module and a distributor with a vacuum advance, but let's make sure.)

O'Reilly's carries a Gates 11/32" (.34375") hose that says it is a "Light-duty hose specially engineered for power brake applications on passenger cars and light trucks." And later it says "Vacuum rating 30 In. Hg." As for the PVC hose, I don't know what the size is supposed to be. Here's what I find in the catalog for the 302. Note that it tells us that you are supposed to cut to fit from bulk hose (4090), but it didn't bother to tell us what size 4090. Anyone know?