Gary Lewis

If buying a new master I’d urge considering the later one with the aluminum body and plastic reservoir. No leaks and it can be a bolt-on.

Looking good! Are you going to paint it, powder coat it, or have it chromed?

If your engine is “cold blooded” then you need some choke. And you probably don’t have enough at the moment. However, without the heat tube there’s no way for the choke to know how warm the engine is getting - unless you have the electric-assist choke that has a wire to it. Do you have a wire? But even if you have a wire it doesn’t mean the choke will work correctly. In fact, it probably won’t as most of those only worked in a narrow band of temperature. So to have it work correctly you will need to replace the hot air tube. Dorman has a kit for that which most part stores sell. Or you could replace the choke cap with an all-electric one. That’s not as good as the hot air tube but it is workable.

Now THAT is ingenuity!!!

I’d bet that has something to do with your problems. It is obvious that Ford is using a voltage divider to present different voltages to a logic circuit, and when you change out R1 in a voltage divider you are going to get different results. Are they different enough that it won’t work? That probably depends on what relay you use. I happened to pick one with fairly high resistance and I think that’s why mine won’t work. But I don’t know for sure that the red Taurus module works with the stock relay, so I’ve introduced two variables into the equation. I hope to take one of those out this afternoon, but with the weather forecast I doubt I’ll get to test it today. Maybe tomorrow?

I sure hope air isn't getting past a caliper seal. If so I think it would leak profusely when the pressure hit it during braking. But I'm at a loss as to where you are getting all the bubbles. However, when you pull the bleeder screw you are probably letting air into the system, so it will take a bit to get it out. It may not be a lot of air, but some. So I'd give it another try.

Well done! So, it works now?

Yes, hope you heal quickly. And thanks for the explanation.

Thanks, Bill.

Good point, Bill. I can't explain why that would work. Here's my take on what is happening. Those values are calculated using the voltage divider formula and the resistances for the horn pad switches shown in the EVTM. But the resistances for the relays are my guestimates based on the current they pulled. And the On Voltage resistance is also a guess of what the input impedance is for the module. As you can see, Set should be 13.6 volts but it is probably 11.9. So while the module may be turning On it won't Set. So I'm going to redo things, hopefully this afternoon as we have errands to run this morning. And during the night it occurred to me that there was no reason to have the Bosch relay put the Ford relay in. Instead I'll just have the relays in parallel and either can honk the horn, as shown below.

Ok, I have to ask - what's with the "medically induced" delay? What's going on, Bob? As for the welding, it looks good to me. I'm certainly no pro, but it looks substantial and complete, so I'd be proud were I you. This one is going LOTS faster!

You need to lay under the truck and have someone move the linkage through its range. But with the parking brake on! If I remember correctly you'll see where the linkage from the column meets that to the transmission between the frame and the transmission. And there's a bolt and nut that join the two linkages, with a slot in one of them. So you loosen the nut such that you can move the two independently, shift the column into Park, shift the transmission into Park, and then tighten the nut.

I think that shampoo system is working pretty well for you. As for treating the rust, I'm not very aware of the options. Haven't heard about Brunox before. Maybe Jim has a suggestion?

I'll do that if he asks me to help. But I got the impression that he wants to farm it out. He said the MPG is awful, so I asked if the Check Engine light is on. Yep. So there's a problem that probably has it in limp-home mode. We talked about how to pull codes, etc and he said he'd need to take it somewhere. So I suggested he take it to the new place east of town as that guy specializes in EEC-IV vehicles. But I also pulled the eval up on Hagerty, and the $14.1K # got his attention, and that's as a #3. So he's now thinking he wants to get it going.

I suspect that the adjustment on the linkage down near the transmission needs to be adjusted. You can loosen that, put the shifter on the column into Park, shift the transmission itself into Park, and then tighten the adjustment down.

Well, it is all theory on the relays at this point in time, but it makes sense. We don't know the resistance in the speed control module, so we can't calculate the voltage the two different relays would present. But it would be a whole lot less due to the 1/6 less resistance of the coil. So I think that throws the voltage off so much that it won't work. As for the Bosch relay, I'm learning how to use Paint better. Just copied the left end of the horn relay and then the right end of it and put them together. Copied a bit of the blue background to cover the connection w/in the relay between the coil and connection 30. And used a bit of the vertical lead from elsewhere to take the coil out to 86. All just to see what I could do.

Yes, a larger reservoir w/a non-tip base would be helpful. But I gave up using my Mityvac to bleed brakes 'cause of the air bleed around the threads on the bleeder screw. That's why I love the later master cylinder - single screw-on lid so it is easy to pressure bleed.

John - I've searched the wheel cover page (Documentation/Driveline/Wheel Covers) and I'm a bit lost. It looks to me like the trim rings are a Type 15. Right? If so, I'm not finding them used on Bullnose trucks. Were they? Looks like they were used on the little Ranger and Aerostar, but those had 14" wheels. What am I missing?

I hope you have the newer plastic Mityvac. I had a metal one and brake fluid got in it when the container got full and it KILLED it. Replaced it with the plastic one.

Well, two out of three isn't bad. The shakedown cruise proved the security system is fine. And the grease on the speedo cable helped a whole bunch - while there is still some nervousness to the needle it is much improved and the noise is gone. But, the speed control doesn't work. However, having now taken a closer look at the EVTM I think I know why the speed control doesn't work and it isn't the Taurus box. In the schematic below ignore the Bosch relay for a bit. What I did the other day was to replace the horn relay with the Bosch. But remember the difference in the amount of current it takes to pull in the horn relay (.6A) vs the Bosch relay (.1A)? My guess is that the resistance of the horn relay's coil allows just the right amount of current to pass through to provide just the right voltages to the speed control module to turn on, set speed, etc. But the higher resistance of the Bosch relay messes up the voltage divider circuitry and the speed control module never detects the command to turn on or set speed. So, now what I'm going to do is to put the horn relay back, which will make the speed control happy, but I'll also have the Bosch relay there which will make the security system happy. And to do that I'll just have to make two wye jumpers, with one 1/4" male connector on one end to go into the factory plug, and two 1/4" female connectors on the other to go to the horn relay and the Bosch relay. I already have the male/female jumper for the Y/LG H wire and the female-to-ring tongue jumper for the ground, so it should be easy. Thoughts? (And do you like my depiction of the Bosch relay? Just a modified version of the horn relay. )

I don't know, Jim. I've never seen the vehicle. Apparently they don't drive it as "it isn't dependable enough". I think what he means is that you can depend on it stalling. We started the conversation with him telling me that he has a security system on it and the Ford dealer in some town in Arkansas where it died the first time told him the security system is the reason it dies. So, when it does pull this connector apart and put it back together and it should start. I don't think so. I've not seen a security system that is supposed to be tied into the ignition system. (Yes, I know of at least two which are. ) So I think it is just the time it takes to do that with the hood open which lets the TFI module cool and it starts back up. I explained that and they agreed it fits the symptoms. So he's planning on either working on it himself or having the local Ford hot-rodder do it, which is what I recommended. That guy has a very nice shop and has told me what he does, which includes EEC-IV work, so I'm confident he understands the problems with the TFI modules.

We have a bathroom remodel going on and friends of ours, a father and son team, are doing it. Ford guys. In fact, one of them is the one with the '88 Bronco I mentioned in the other thread. But his father told me that he has a '97 F350 w/the Powerstroke engine and has over 400,000 miles on it and it is going strong. And when it was new they took it on a 4500 mile trip around the western US and got 21 MPG with it.

Thanks, Jim. Apparently I was wrong on this one. I was sure there was a TSB on it, but cannot find it. Apparently not. Anyway, I'll pass that suggestion on to him.

What, push button start or mod-cons? I thought I had lots of mod-cons.

And yes, you'll exceed the truck's GVWR before you exceed the trailer's GVWR. So I see what you are saying about the trailer being "overkill".