Gary Lewis

Wow! That's a lot of work, but your research will be invaluable to others. Thanks for sharing - now and in the future.

I'm reminded of this. 1962. I was a sophomore in high school. Good times. Enjoy.

Eddie - That is usually called a "buck" tag and all of the beds were said to have them. And all of the cabs supposedly had them as well. They were then married on the assembly line and that's how they knew for sure they were the right ones. As for what is on them, Bill/Numberdummy said years ago that you can't decode them. But you seems to have done a pretty good job. But I have no idea what the rest of the info means.

Yep, that would ensure you get the right stud.

You could put a sign up there "Warning - Hyperdrive Active". Are you suggesting it looks like a space ship?

John - The storage unit looks great! You do good work. I think I'm going with an Element extinguisher. Granted it is more expensive than a 5# dry unit, but you don't have to recharge it and it doesn't pack down. So in the long run it'll be less expensive and always ready to go. Plus it runs ~5 times longer than the dry unit and doesn't leave a mess. As for where to put it, the end of the storage unit right by the door looks to be an ideal spot.

Bill - That would be quite a truck. Not many around. But you are right, upgrading the engine would help. But then you need to upgrade the tranny. And the brakes. And the.... Sounds like what I did with Big Blue. Speaking of BB, the door lock motors came in. Here's a comparo to one I took out of another truck. They look like twins, save for the fact that the link on the old one doesn't come off and the link on the new one came out of a pack of them and is held on w/a roll pin. Otherwise they are the same and take the same connector. Then I did some work on the radio support. I folded the top tab back and tacked a piece of angle to it, installed it, put some black paint on the end of the screw, and slid the radio in. Bingo! Then I pulled it out, drilled the hole out to 1/2", and hit it with a countersink. Then I put it back in w/the rubber stopper on the screw and the rubber went into the hole perfectly. Snug with no movement. So I pulled it back out and welded the angle on a bit more securely. And, here 'tis: Now it is ready to go in, but I want to fill the hole in the top of the instrument bezel so you can't see the wires, so the plan for tomorrow is to cut the plastic holding the XLT emblem out of the bezel on the left, trim it to size, and put it in the bezel on the right. Then I can install the bezel and radio, and hopefully be done with that.

That's exactly what I was going to say! Well done, Cory. Those look factory.

Close:

A number of Panteras today run Tim Meyer engines. He has a new aluminum block Cleveland with way over 400 cubes that they like due to the light weight and that it’ll bolt in.

Well if 14.04 for blend then I am not off all that much as you say. I did 1 full turn of the rod / seat on the carb to get were I am at now and that was before I had the gauge. It did seam to help with a little more power and the motor ran smoother just nothing on the MPG front As for the "while you can determine when it comes in you can't change how much you get." from what Jim is saying below I need to slow down the mechanical. I was all in by 2500 RPM so if I slow this down and / or limit it I would be changing the total. My thinking is keep the vacuum to come in as it was, low vacuum, and install heavy springs so the mechanical will come in later. It is rare it get the RPM up to 3000 RPM, I shift between 2000 & 2300 RPM and maybe 2500 RPM but the truck does not shift well (NP435) at the higher RPMs. I will look up the information to get a better grip on this timing thing So right now my mechanical is all in by 2500 RPM and as I posted above if I was to install heavy springs and return the vacuum can back to where it was that would limit the total timing, remember I have 46* BTDC @ 2500 RPM. The vacuum timing would kick in as soon as the carb was off idle but the mechanical would not start to come in till say 2000 rpm. Now this is just numbers I am throwing out and would be adjusted for best running and no pinging. Remember I shift around 2000 RPM and cruse RPM is around the 1800 in OD in the high way and under 1400 RPM on back roads. Or am I way off in my thinking before I read up on this Dave ---- I am NOT a guru on this, so take what I'm saying with a pound of salt. But I didn't think they changed the static nor mechanical/centrifugal timing all that much for EGR vs non-EGR. That the real change was done in the vacuum advance because it was only at high vacuum that the exhaust gas came in. In other words, when you are accelerating hard the EGR will be off and the vacuum low so you are mostly getting your timing from the static + mechanical. So they left that alone and just dialed in lots of advance via the vacuum can. Again, that is my very limited understanding and may well be wrong.

That is not an easy question to answer as I'd have to know the #'s off your axles and then look them up in the Parts List for each axle. That would give a part number, not a size, and then I'd come to this chart to determine the size. Maybe the chart itself will help?

That is going to be very tedious. Good luck!

Sorry, but that's the one that is in many, many strips. Didn't take it out of the seat as it would fall to bits. Don't think I even took a pic.

Bummer!

It would have been an '81 build sheet, but it is in a whole bunch of strips. It was put between the seat's springs and the foam and the springs rusted and cut through the paper. It is really just a bunch of pieces with info missing between the pieces. Sorry.

Dave, I am running an Air/Fuel Ratio gauge also, and it oscillates a bit like yours. If I'm running along on the hwy at very light load, it's in the 14.2-14.7 range, but it probably bounces overall between 13.5-15.0, but I can get it to hold relatively tightly around 14.5 +/- 0.3 or so. It runs around 12.5 at idle. This is with the Holley 4160 4bbl 600CFM Vac secondaries. When we did the break-in on the dyno, we did bump the jet sizes up from the stock #66 to #68. If I recall correctly we were hitting upwards of 13.0 on the dyno pulls and he wanted to get it back down around 12.5, and the #68 jets worked. He said at that time that I could probably put the #66 jets back in the truck for street use...assuming that one, I wasn't going to be doing heavy load redline pulls with it, and two, it wouldn't breath as freely on the truck as it did on the dyno with their longtube headers and basically no exhaust. Howver, the #68 jets seems to be OK. I was going to put the #66 back in to lean it out a little more to see if there was another MPG available, but the darn thing just works so nicely where it sits now, I figured it is best if I simply don't touch it at all. And, after all that....with regards to my typical light load easy driving, I'm probably running on the idle jets anyway, and not the main jets, right? PS: I should note that the truck did get better MPG with the large open element air cleaner installed. I didn't have the AFR gauge installed at the time, but the truck got a solid 2MPG more. I will have to try it this summer for a while and see what the AFR is with the open element air cleaner. When I heard the pinging the AFR was around the 14.0 - 14.2 mark and after what Jim posted if I try to adjust AFR to mid 14's pinging may get worst. But I may be able to get to the 14.5 and adjust the timing curve to stop the pinging but like you the motor runs so good I hate to start messing with it other than to stop the pinging. It just hit me I think Gary posted what the AFR would be for 10% blend over real gas. I have been looking at the AFR as real gas and not a blend so maybe I am ok AFR wise now? If that is the case my MPG sucks at mid 14's! I will do more adjusting to see what I can get out of her Thanks Dave ---- Yes, the "best" AFR for 10% ethanol blend is 14.04:1, not 14.7. So you may not be that far off. But, I suspect that your pinging problem is due to having a vacuum advance can that was designed for EGR, which was meant to come in at high vacuum. But the exhaust gas slowed the flame front such that they had to give it a whole lot more advance, which they did with the vacuum can. So if you are running w/o EGR but with an EGR vacuum unit you have too much advance at high vacuum. And while you can determine when it comes in you can't change how much you get. I don't know what the options are from Crane, but I'd be looking for a vacuum unit that gives less advance.

How about showing us some pics?

Yes, enjoy your trip! I hope the high idle is the worst of your problems, and that you get it tamed easily. And post up some pics! Start a thread for your trip and let us know where you are and show us what you are seeing. Please!

A 429 built by Holman and Moody sounds ferocious! My brother had a Cobalt trihull with a Holman & Moody-built 351W. When he finally found a prop that wouldn't just cavitate when he hit the throttle it would take the rope away from any skier. It was by far the strongest out-of-the-hole setup we've ever encountered. On the 400, a friend of my put a straight-up timing chain and a 4bbl intake and carb on his 1981 400 and said it was like having two engines. Twice as much power. I'm not saying it'll be as good as a 460, but a 400 can be very strong. I recently "got" a guy on a Bullnose Facebook page that was calling 400's slugs and anchors. He made the statement that they won't put out nearly as much power as a 460. I explained that my "slug" put out 400 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque on the dyno, and Scotty Johnson said the 460 he built for me would be at 360-370 and 500 if put on the dyno. The guy asked how much I have in the 400, and I told him it doesn't matter as he said they won't put out as much power. Later we discussed it without the derogatory terms and I was quick to admit that it costs more to get the same power from a 400 as a 460. But that is mainly due to the limited aftermarket support for the 400, not the capabilities of the engine. The 400 has a slightly longer stroke than the 460 so can make very good torque. And with people like Tim Meyer specializing in them, and even Scotty getting into building them, they can be made into a power house.

Yes, there's no doubt that Darth has the best of both worlds - a long bed and a crew cab. Not to mention the DRW. But I'm doubting Darth would be much fun on the Jeep trails I hope to go on given the length and the DRW. Nor would it fit in our garage. One of the really nice things Ford has done in the newer trucks is that the rear seats fold up and the rear floor is flat - no hump for the driveshaft. That makes the rear floor very useful for loading things. For instance, when Janey bought an secretary desk recently we slid it in on its back on the carpet. No chance of scratching it. On the other hand, Blue has bucket seats up front and a console, so there's only room for two up front. And while I love that configuration, Darth wins on seating.

Oh, we are talking about two different things. I was thinking of the one-piece covers, the fiberglass ones. Yes, I've seen the folding ones. They aren't bad and I thought of that for Blue. But for Big Blue the availability of the cover with the tracks for a rack won me over. We are going to be seeing our kids soon and I'm getting geared up for a conversation with my son. "Big Blue has a new engine/transmission/transfer case/u-joints/front axle/brakes/steering/alternator/cooling system/etc. And lockers front and rear. Lots of ground clearance. On-board compressed air. Locking tool box and bed cover, and so much more. He is ready, and Mom and I are taking him on many adventures. But, if you'll go overlanding with me I'll add the rack and tent."

I think in 1982 they listened to the customers complaining that they wanted their 460 back, so they dangled one from a shop crane and literally dropped it in. The crossmember was dented and they couldn't get to the bolt on the banjo, so they made adjustments. But, someone had been schooling them for decades on how to make things hard for others. Whomever thought it would be a Better Idea to give every part two numbers and put the ID # not the part number on the part was 'round the bend. Oh, and only cross-reference the two numbers in an obscure book that few people have.

You are really doing well. On the choke, I like to set them almost closed with the engine cold. Leave maybe a 1/16" gap? But "cold" is a very relative term and you won't get it right on the first try. As for having to adjust the idle mix to get it to start and idle well, that accelerator pump has been leaking fuel into the mix and now you've eliminated that source of fuel and had to add it back with the needles. Well done, Carl!

Not sure where yours is, Jim. But we had a discussion recently on this in the aptly-named 460 Engine Crossmember thread. That link will take you to my pic of Big Blue's crossmember, below, and then some of Bill's pics.