Gary Lewis

There was about a dozen water crossings where you had to drive through the water. That picture above is one of the larger ones, but it was only about 5-6 inches deep. All of them were concrete, so there was no chance of getting stuck in mud or anything. Here's what they typically looked like. Pete - I think you covered some of the same roads that Janey and I did on our two trips as that water crossing sure looks familiar. We did the lower 2/3 of what you called the GROAT, the bit from Locust Grove down to the Tenkiller Dam and then back up the east side to even with Grove. And the east side was the most fun/scenic. Then later we did the Ouachita Trail in Arkansas across to where it becomes the Kiamichi Trail, aka K-Trail. We were ready to do that one as Big Blue was easily up to it, but it was last winter and bitterly cold, so decided to leave it for my son and I to do this fall. Anyway, it sure sounds like fun! Good pics and trip report.

I think Jim is right about Loctite. Some blue should work well. As for the AFR, you aren't far enough off on cruise to worry about, but that 4th gear WOT is pretty lean. I'm not sure why it wouldn't go rich in 4th like it does in the other gears since I would have thought it is predicated on vacuum and not air flow. And I would expect the vacuum to go low even at lower R's. Do you have a vacuum gauge on it while driving? It would be interesting to know how low the vacuum goes at different RPM/throttle combinations.

Thanks, guys. Having never really thought about it until now I've not realized that there are two different modes of sealing for a hose. There's the seal the clamp creates by compressing the hose against the barrel of the fitting, and the seal the hose makes to the ring. As I've seen, if the hose is compromised in some way, like from a clamp with a ridge, the hose/barrel seal can leak. And I would think that if the clamp is far enough from the ring the pressure in the hose can cause the hose to expand and lose the seal on the ring. So that suggests that placing the clamp close to the ring might prevent the hose from expanding, and that would keep the ring/hose seal in tact. I used to think that the ring was just to prevent the hose from sliding off, but now it seems like it is really part of the seal. Does that make sense?

Not a bad looking Bronco. Has some rust to deal with, and needs a lot of TLC, but isn't too terribly expensive either.

Nice truck, but I don’t know if it is worth $8500. The rust over the rear wheels suggests it may have other rust, although the one cab corner that can be seen doesn’t look bad. But it has A/C. And I think it is the 300 six. So it might be a really nice truck.

Nice truck and, from what little can be seen in the pics, it is well worth the money. But I doubt it is a 5.8L. At least it didn’t come with a 5.8 and an AOD, nor 5.8 and EFI. However, it is possible that someone put a 5.8 in place of a 5.0. But in that case the original intake manifold wouldn’t have fit, and it looks like it is the original. And the AOD may not live long. So I’m betting it is the 5.0.

Glad you got the brake booster sorted. It is comforting when the hiss goes away. But did you notice any brake fluid in the old booster? If so it is likely that the master cylinder is leaking, and that can take out the booster. And the gauges look great. But I wouldn’t change the oil too soon. I’d drive the truck some and see if the pressure doesn’t come down after that. As for rotating pics, each phone has its own position for “normal” and if you find that and take the pics in that position you shouldn’t have to rotate them.

Yes, 83 should be mechanical on a 351W and you should be able to crank it in gear.

I think the clutch switch appeared in '84. I know that Dad's truck didn't have one and one doesn't show in the '81 EVTM. But it does show in the '85 EVTM. And IIRC, it showed first in '84 so an '83 probably doesn't have one.

Mine's an inch shorter than it used to be. But it no longer leaks. And, w/o any smoke grinders I don't like that thing sticking up in the breeze, so I certainly like that hose. I did put some thought into why it was leaking. As said, there was a crease caused by the "shoe" on the clamp, and even when I put a different clamp on it the thing still dripped right at that crease. But the clamps were almost to the radiator, well away from the raised ring at the end of the fitting. So when I shortened it to get rid of the crease I also put the clamp close to the ring so it is causing the hose to seal against the ring - in addition to the cylindrical part of the fitting. And I'm sure there wasn't any crease where the hose is hitting the ring. Which raises a question - where is the hose clamp supposed to go? I've always put it close to the radiator, but as I think about it placing it closer to the ring seems to make more sense. Thoughts?

Yes, it is a big system. And thermostats are analog, not digital, so it makes sense that it would open enough to hold 178 instead of 180. It probably doesn't have to pass much to keep the system cool with that radiator. As for going through the heater, yes it does - when I don't have the A/C in Max A/C as I have a shutoff valve that works then. So there's even more coolant to heat up. On the upper hose, I don't know what one you have, but I'll guess it is the top one, left below. Mine is the one on the bottom. And in that pic, from July, 2022, I can see that mine is longer than yours, so taking an inch off won't be a problem.

Hey guys, are you making sure you are logged in before looking at the "read" status? I ask because I was just reminded that you don't get the status if you aren't logged in.

Yes, it was new. And it is an F5TZ 8260-A Motorcraft, the one w/o the hump. Looks like I installed it in July of 2020, but who knows how old it really is. As for the "reverberation" (good term) of the coolant temp, I did expect a bit of it. But I didn't expect it to go on for about 3 minutes. And I didn't expect that it would take over 12 minutes to get the whole system up to 180 degrees. I guess I assumed that the thermostat would close enough to bring the engine temp up to the rating on it, which is 180F. But it lingered at 178 until the trip was over, so who knows how long it would have taken. As for seeing the changes on the gauges, you can on the Bricknose as they aren't thermal like the Bullnose. And I can on my aftermarket mechanical gauge. Which reminds me, I installed its bulb in the thermostat housing, so it is measuring the temp behind the 'stat. I'd often wondered how that would work, and I can now say that I like it. I can tell exactly when the 'stat opens and know that it is working.

Set up an appointment for Friday for Big Blue to go into the shop for A/C work. And, I'm pretty sure I got the cooling system sorted. But it took a bit to get the upper radiator hose to stop leaking. In the pic below the hose clamp on the right is the kind that was on there, and when I looked closely at the hose I could see that there was a crease in it at the ends of the "shoe" that's at the top of the pic. The only thing I could figure is that is was leaking along that crease. It even leaked when I replaced the clamp with the one on the left. So I cut 1" off the hose, which got rid of the crease, and it sealed up nicely using the clamp on the left. I then took the truck for a spin to get it up to temp and then let it cool down so I could top the cooling system off. And I logged the engine coolant temp, as well as lots of other things. The pic below shows the ECT trace all by itself, and I found several things interesting from that. For one, I didn't realize that the temperature "bounces" when the thermostat opens. Second, I expected that driving the truck would significantly speed up the warm-up, but the line looks pretty straight to me, before and after starting to drive. Last, it takes a very long time to warm a 460 up! And that helps me understand the error of my ways in setting up the "Idle Air Adder for ECT" table. I had the RPM adder going to 0 at 180F, but since it takes so long to get there I think that needs to be dropped down a bit to maybe 160F - which is where the factory had it. However, it didn't reach that point until 5 minutes after being started, so maybe even that's too high?

Yes, the Crane instructions are on the page at Documentation/Electrical/Ignition and then the Instructions tab and then the Crane tab. And the vacuum advance is the place to adjust because exhaust gas was admitted when the vacuum was high and they had to dial in quite a bit of advance because the flame front is slow with the inert gas added. Take it out and you have dial back the vacuum advance.

It is awesome that you have it running so well. And that MPG is nothing to be sorry about. But, if you are running at 14.0 - 14.5 most of the time you can gain a little bit by leaning it to 14.5 - 15.0. The reading I've done says that max MPG is at 15.6 but that there's not much difference between 15.0 and 15.6, so the high 14's are good. But if you are running 13-13.5 at WOT you are leaving torque on the table. Best torque is at 12.6 and it won't hurt to be a little lower than that. So I think if you got the carb to provide more fuel when getting into it you might find that it pulls a bit better at 1000 RPM. And that may help with the 2nd/3rd shifting. And these things can be some of those "gradual improvements".

I think replacing the calipers is a good plan. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

Oh yes, I forgot - the A/C system is "dry". Not only is it low, there's no pressure at all. So I've called the people who last worked on it. So this is going to curtail our trip we'd planned for Thursday as it is supposed to be in the 90's and that doesn't sound like fun w/o A/C.

Got the radiator installed, but did another mod at Scott's recommendation. There are two holes on the bottom flange of the radiator that are 19.5" apart c/c, and they apparently match up with an electric fan shroud that he has. So in the event I want to go to an electric fan he suggested that I put nutserts in the holes. It took very little opening up of the holes to get an 8mm x 1.25 nutsert in, and I chose that size since Ford used a lot of those bolts on these trucks. In fact, here's a pic of the nutsert in with a Ford bolt in it: And apparently this was "Nutsert Day" as when I was reinstalling the air cleaner box a screw stripped out of the bracket. So I added nutserts there as well: But you might be asking why the air box was out. Well, in this engine compartment the knee bone is connected to the hip bone, and the hip bone is.... IOW, nothing comes out w/o something else coming out first. In this case the radiator can't come out w/o the cold air duct being removed first, but the cold air duct doesn't come out until the air box does, but the air box doesn't come out until the air box lid & MAF sensor comes out. And when going back in, the radiator goes in but can't be bolted to the radiator support until the cold air duct is in since there's a bump-out on the duct that has to go in front of the radiator. Last, I have one coolant leak, and at the easiest spot to fix - where the upper radiator hose connects to the radiator. So tomorrow I'll see what the problem is and, hopefully, fix it.

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Good description! They do have a number of things in common, like a love for reading. But Isla likes to be cool and Ian can't stand to be. From Day 1 you'd better get him wrapped up quickly when changing his diaper or there would be lots of noise. And Isla's into sports and Ian is into music. It isn't that she doesn't like music or that he doesn't like sports, but each is more into one than the other. So "womb mates" rather than "twins" makes a lot more sense.

I grew up with manual transmissions. I learned to drive on a '34 Ford, then moved to a '54 Plymouth, '60 Chevy, etc - all with manual transmissions. We did have a '57 Buick with an auto as the family car, but Mom usually drove that and I drove the manuals. And all of those manuals had a carb, and all of them drove quite nicely. So my comment about Big Blue's issues wasn't about the carb itself but the intake manifold, aka lower plenum. It is apparently huge and, being designed for port-injection EFI, wasn't expected to have fuel in the air. So there was no concern about keeping the mix moving for fear that the fuel would drop out of suspension as there wasn't supposed to be any fuel in there. And even the interior surface texture of the intake would be different for a "dry" intake vs a "wet" intake. Apparently what I was experiencing was what I've read about for decades - a huge intake on a street-driven engine. Think single-plane, high-rise intake meant for high RPM, with torque dropping off dramatically as the RPM goes below about 1200, making starts and shifting more difficult. On the parking, have you tried using the park brake to hold it while you ease out on the clutch and move forward? And, have you considered a 2x4 block glued (lightly) to the driveway where you want the truck to stop? It would be small enough you could easily drive over it, but maybe large enough to stop you as you are gently rolling forward.

There's a lot to be said for manual transmissions. For instance, they are more efficient than automatics, and especially so compared to the C6 of the Bullnose era. And they are a built-in security device as 90% of the people out there can't drive them so can't steal your truck. But I will admit that in traffic a manual transmission can be less than fun. For instance, with the carb on Big Blue I really didn't appreciate when people slowed me down and made me shift gears. However, now that I've added the EFI the shifting is easier and I don't seem to mind nearly as much. That probably seems strange to you, and it surprised me as well. But the engine pulls so much better from idle that shifting down is frequently no longer required. I think that is more due to the design of the EFI manifold than the difference between carbs and EFI, but I can say that Big Blue is now easier to drive with the EFI. And it is especially easier to take off from a stop with EFI. Previously you had to rev the engine a bit and slip the clutch to take off in 2nd, which is the preferred starting gear as 1st is a granny low and you'll have to shift in the middle of the intersection. But with the EFI you can almost come out on the clutch w/o giving it much throttle, and that makes taking off much easier. Given that I think it'll be easy for my son to learn to drive Big Blue now. He drove it some last winter with the carb on it and had a bit of trouble taking off from a stop. But the EFI will help that a lot. So I'm looking forward to the next round with him.

I knew the PMGR starter is lighter, but didn't realize it is basically 1/2 the weight. And I also knew that it pulls less current, but not how much so 183 vs 207 amps. That may not sound like much difference, but that current also spins the engine much faster. Good info! Thanks!

My grandtwins, a girl and a boy, are so different it is difficult to believe they are twins. Anyway, got the old radiator out and the mods made to the new one: And I took pics for Scott. Hope they are what you are looking for, but if not tell me and I'll get them. However, I did find some differences in the two radiators. For instance, the top flange of the old one is .075" thick and the one on the new radiator is .117". You can see the difference in the pictures. And there are some other minor differences as well. But overall the new one looks great. Anyway, hope to get it in and the truck back on the road tomorrow. Janey and I are hoping to take it on an excursion soon to try out the new Garmin Montana GPS. But first I have to figure out how to use it and plan the trip on it. And pair it with the Sony radio so it can play the turn-by-turn guidance through it. I think this is going to be light years ahead of the Gaia app on the phone where you had to stop at turns and let it catch up. And it would freeze at the worst possible times.