Gary Lewis

We have some Brits on here and I've lived there, so try to remember their terminology from time to time.

Yes, I'd lock it down and then move to a different location. And yes, those are locknuts. I think they are called "prevailing torque" locknuts. Last, yes I do wear a belt and braces.

That will be a great project to work on. I hope the carb rebuild does the trick.

Ok, thanks.

Reads like a nice, solid truck. Should sell quickly. Do the captain's chairs go back in it? (They'd look good in Big Blue.)

Around 2-3 seconds. Depending on the fuel pump, you may or may not be able to hear it run from in the cab. Thanks, Shaun. I'll have the door open but it'll be inside the shop so will be pretty quiet and maybe I can hear it. Hoping to do that tomorrow after I put the gauges back in and add the seats. I've already connected the battery long enough to test a couple of things. The lights and the horn work. But I need to connect the ECU then connect the battery and turn the key. We shall see.

That's a good idea, Bill. But no other advice? How long should the fuel pump run when I turn the key on?

No prob, Bob. Ok, today's report is that I truly believe the wiring is D.O.N.E. I got Pin 64 connected to the R/LB going to the starter relay - but only after a battle. Turns out that the connector going to the clutch lockout switch is unlike any other I've encountered on these trucks. I finally found one on another harness and figured out how they work. In the pic below you can see the piece pivoted up, and those pins go behind the retainer pins on the terminals, so w/o pivoting them up and out of play you won't get the terminals out. But, even when you do get them out of play there are "steps" in the connector that catch the retainer pins on the other side. So you need to slide a tool in the groove and gently pry up on the pin to get that terminal out. Anyway, now I'm trying to figure out how I want to go about bringing this beast to life. (I'm envisioning scenes from a move that included Frau Blücher.) Here are some thoughts, but I'd welcome yours, please: Connect Batteries: Turn Key To Run: The fuel pump should run a few seconds, right? Check For Fuel: Depress Schrader valve to see that there's fuel in the rail. And, that there's no fuel leak at the connectors. Set Timing: Do this per Bill's instructions here. Start It: I'm going to roll it out of the shop for this, just in case. But it should start right up, I hope. Any need to have the laptop connected? What am I missing?

... I'm going to try to put a high pinion axle in it. In more conversations on an early Bronco forum I've now heard that 3.5" lift is enough for a high pinion, and I'm pretty close to that. Also I've heard at least once that it's the oil pan of the C4 automatic that's the issue, not the engine oil pan, and I don't have a C4. Looking at what room I have I can't imagine I'm going to have trouble with any interference with the oil pan or the NV3550 trans. So today I got these: I really only wanted one, but the first axle the junk yard pulled had water in it so they stripped it down to find out what it looked like inside. The gears were rusty, so they pulled another one. That wasn't the right one* (fortunately I talked with them before they shipped it) so they found another that was correct and said they'd ship that. But since I had told them that I really didn't care if the gears were rusty I guess they decided to sent the first housing to me as well. Anyway, I got everything i expected and more, so soon it will be time to start putting a high pinion axle together! * And on "the right one," Up through 1975 F-100s and F-150s (if 150s existed yet) had drum brakes in front. In '78 and '79 they had cast axle tubes that had the wedges integrally cast with the tubes, so you can't cut them off and weld them back on. So '76 and '77 are "the right years" to get. You get all of the parts needed to put disk brakes on and tubes you can more reasonably modify. Plus I think the '76 - '77 are the largest diameter, thickest wall tubes, so you also get the strongest housing. And yes, even though I already have disk brakes on my stock axle, I need new parts for this one. My Bronco came with drum brakes, and the easiest way to convert to disks in front is to use a combination of aftermarket parts and parts off a Chevy truck. While I might be able to put my old knuckles on the high pinion Cs, using all '76 - '77 F-150 parts makes for a simpler system. And it also gives me stronger outer axle stubs than the '71 Bronco parts. Cool! I'm subscribed. Now where's that popcorn-eating emoticon... On the frame/skid plate, I think it is good to get several ideas in mind up front and then you can think about them as the project progresses. Sometimes things will fall into place and you'll said "Yep, that will work."

If it goes under the Atlas to be the skid plate then I think it has to sit lower than if it is just reinforcement. So what if it was two parts - the one I show that is wider than the frame rail by ~2", and a skid plate that bolts onto that with spacers that drop it down enough to go under the Atlas. The ~2" lip, sticking in, is to bolt to. But that also means it'll have to go lower than if it was just the width of the frame. On the other hand, if the strap was just the width of the frame but was thick enough I think you might get by with two holes in it to bolt to. That would minimize the drop in the strap, but then you'd have even more of a need for spacers to get the skid plate under the Atlas.

An '86 F350 should have the D60 Monobeam front axle. In my estimation that's the way to go.

Not bad at all. And you should be able to more than double your money with a bit of work cleaning it up, fixing some things, and then selling it. But it looks like it has good bones.

There were three versions of the two-tone color treatment shown in the '86 brochure:

That is CHEAP! Jamestown, NY.

Excellent! Looks good, and if it made it home you got a great buy.

Thanks, guys. I'm not ready to add anything so will wait to see what others have to say before doing that. Everyone, please let me know what you think.

Well, for $12K and several tanks of gas you can have all of those things. Seriously though, that's a nice truck and one with that setup is rare.

I think you'll see a lot leaner mix in the morning. Both from the smaller jets as well as the lower float level. As for the idle mix, turning the screws in was the right direction. You were already rich so needed to have less fuel, and the screws restrict the fuel when turned in. And that should raise the vacuum at idle. I think with a stock cam you should be seeing at least 18" if not 20". But you might want to dial in another 2 degrees of advance once you get the AFR set where you want it and see if that doesn't bring the idle up and give the engine a bit more spunk. But everything is looking good! The carb looks nice and clean.

I don't think so, Dave, but then I'm like you and really haven't gotten my head around what you said. But I wasn't talking about using the bits that came out. Instead I was talking about strap and plate, as shown below. This view is from the inside of the frame looking out, and the strap would be welded to the bottom of the frame ahead of and behind the cut. The plate would be welded to the outside of the frame, or maybe bolted, and welded to the edge of the strap.

Big Blue is getting the '96 CA-spec MAF/SEFI system, but from what I can tell both the SD and MAF systems have the same starter feed to the ECU. But I think the difference in yours and mine, Bob, is that you have the E4OD and I have the ZF-5. So I assume you only jumper the starter relay with it in Park and that will send the signal to the ECU via the Transmission Range Selector. In my case I'd have to have someone in the truck with the clutch disengaged to get the signal to the ECU. And speaking of that feed, I didn't get it installed today. I got part way there as I found the right wire and pin and put it back in the ECU's connector and put a 1-pin connector on the end of that wire. And I found the clutch lockout switch and the R/LB wires going to it. I even determined which one goes to the starter relay. But it so far up in the dash that connecting to it would be very difficult. So what I want to do is to pull the pin out of the connector to the switch and connect to it as it'll dangle down just a bit and should be accessible - just. But I haven't found the release in that connector to get the pin out. And I ran out of energy so called it quits for today. Tomorrow I'll bet I can get it out and connected to the ECU. However, I did get the Brake On/Off bit sorted. Pin 92 of the ECU now sees ground until the brake lights come on, and the speed control sees ground until either the brake or clutch pedal is pushed in. So there has been some progress, but the last few details are tedious. We'll get there.

Good luck! Show us pics, please?

Yep, it needs to be fixed now. And it really isn't that big of a deal. Here's what I'm thinking now, and I may tackle it this afternoon after church: Pin 64: Find the pin in the bag of removed pins, add it to the connector, and connect it to the R/LB wire coming from Clutch Lockout Switch, which is on the rod coming from the clutch pedal's lever, as shown below. Pin 92: This is BOO and the LG wire needs to move from after the Clutch Switch (Not Clutch Lockout) to before it so the ECU knows when the brake is applied, but not when the clutch is engaged. But since the speed control needs to know when the clutch is depressed, the existing connection from after the switch to the speed control needs to stay in place. And for others reading this later, the Bullnose trucks have two "clutch" switches (as of '84 IIRC). The first is the Clutch Lockout and the other is the Clutch switch. The former is closed when the pedal is depressed so the starter can run, and the latter is closed when the clutch is engaged so the speed control works. Some time after '86 but before '96 the Clutch Pedal Position switch replaced the two separate switches. Clutch Lockout Switch: Clutch Switch:

"And, while I'm in there....." Funny, I just brought this very topic up in another thread..........it never ends, Gary! It has to stop some time, John. I'm getting worn out! Seriously though, I'd already ID'd a minor problem in the wiring regarding the difference in brake on/off (BOO) to the speed control vs the ECU. But I was reluctant to fix it as it requires getting into the harness, albeit just under the dash. Perhaps the ECU wouldn't really care about that. But now that I have to get in there anyway I "might as well" fix it at the same time. Having said that, I really do think the light I'm seeing is the end of the tunnel, a very long and dark tunnel. I'm reminded of the movie Von Ryan's Express where the train went into tunnel after tunnel. That's the way I feel. Big Blue has been apart off and on time after time since I got him, and some of those tunnels have been long and dark. I'm ready to be out in the light!

I know. That's why part of the reboxing will be welding a horizontal "flange" across the top of the hole, from the inner frame wall to the outer wall. I know it won't bas as effective as the bottom flange since it's getting so close to the top. But it's one of the best things I can do in the space available. That's also why I don't want to go any higher with the hole, and especially why I don't want to go through the top flange. That's a good idea! I was planning on having the skid plate attach to the outside wall of the frame anyway. I'll have to figure out a good way to attach it that helps with the structure as well as just keeping it in place (and that I can get at to remove, even when the aux fuel tank is in place). But it's definitely something to keep in mind. And another reason to hold off on buttoning up the frame until the end of the project, so I can think about how it all will go together best. The farther apart the upper and lower flanges are the stronger the beam, all else being equal. So if you can come down at an angle from before and behind the cut with a strap welded to the bottom of the frame, and then fill the outside gap in the strap with plate up to the frame it'll add strength. Then somehow attach the skid plate to that.

Happy Easter, David!!!