Gary Lewis

Wow! That's excellent work! I, too, miss the old Shack. Even in my home town of 15,000 people we had one, and I was a frequent visitor. Used many, many of those project boxes, including on my CB750 to strobe the headlight to serve as a daytime running light.

Yes, the battery is impressive - especially when you are lifting it into or out of the truck. Imagine my dismay when I was showing the grandtwins what those things protruding from the radiator support are - the turn signals. I pulled the headlight switch to On and the marker lights didn't come on. On no! There's no way my 72 year old hands were going to get back there w/o pulling the batteries. Boy was I happy that a 9 year old has small enough hands to get behind the batteries and change out the bulbs! Anyway, I really like those tie down hooks. But, like you, have wondered how practical they are. Will be looking for a report on them.

Now, if you'd just go measure Scott's or Jim's air flow with their relay mod's we'd know how much improvement they make. Of course, that's assuming their evap's aren't clogged.

Josh - You are really making headway! Well done! In no particular order, yes that is the computer/ECU. On the printed circuit, if it makes good contact I wouldn't worry about it. You aren't going to unplug and replug it on a daily basis. For the speaker wiring, search the forum. Several have talked about it recently. There are usually dimples and you can drill out at that point and put a rubber conduit in, just like the factory did.

Scott - Do I need to undercoat them? They'll be protected by the skid plates, so??? Let's see: Engine: far from the rebuilt one that took four years to deliver. Surely was directly from a salvage due to the valve covers marked by a salvage and the fact that it was totally worn out and leaked like a sieve. Carb: The accelerator pump was inop as the skirt was off on one side Electrical: Safeties for the fuel pump bypassed and bypassed the dropping resistor to the fuel pump Radiator support hacked to improperly install the aftermarket oil cooler Grille hacked to improperly install the aftermarket oil cooler Clutch: fluid put into the sock rather than into the master cylinder and clutch ran dry and was't fully releasing Crossmember: Hacked for who knows what reason? Headers: Touching the frame Exhaust: Touching the frame and with welds that a kindergartner would be ashamed of Nice Trick Flow rear diff cover not properly installed I don't know. Maybe he didn't mess up the seat?

Thanks, Jim. I'll use the rubber. The split skid plates are off Dad's truck, but I don't really want to use them on that truck, so will use them on Big Blue. And the diff cover was installed at Vernon's request - and I've checked the main cap supports and they were improperly adjusted.

I have a question for y'all, down below. But let me pose it here - before you know the specifics: What should I use to protect the tanks from the straps and the skid plates. Well, today was four steps forward and one back. The first step forward was that when we backed out of the garage this morning both of the new tanks were in the driveway. The step back was that the guy at the salvage had not only cut the outside hose to the rear filler neck, but he'd cut the inside hose! And there's no way to get up in there and get the remaining hose out. In fact, on the front tank's filler neck you can see a crimped hose clamp waaaaaay up inside the neck, far out of reach. Bobby, the guy at the salvage said "Just put a hose barb in and extend the hose." But that's going to reduce the fuel flow and I'm not willing to do that. So I rejected that one and ordered a SCITOO E7TZ9034B FN725 Fuel Tank Filler Neck Pipe Tube. There were less expensive ones, but they wouldn't get here for two weeks, and this one is to be here Sunday. The next step forward was when I stopped by the post office and they had the front fuel delivery module. Didn't appear to have any plans to deliver it, in spite of the statement on the sticker they left that said they would two more times. And that confirms what a friend had said - with this post office you get one strike and you are out. I sure hope Amazon or UPS outsources USPS some day. The next step forward was when we got home - the two fuel filler hoses were on the front porch. And the last step forward was when the rear tank & skid plates went in, as shown below. But it wasn't as easy as it sounds. First, the tank won't go in with the trailer hitch in place, and that hitch is too heavy for me to hold up while I pull all six bolts. So I set it down on the tool box with the lift, removed the bolts, and picked the truck up. Then I did basically the reverse to put the tank and skid plates, plural, up there. It isn't exactly in the perfect position, but a bit of tweaking will get it there. But that brings me to my question - how to protect the tanks. The front/mid-ship tank will be up against a crossmember at the top and held in place by straps going under the tank. The rear tank goes up against straps at the top, and is held in place by the skid plates. The MPC shows the insulators as 9240 and says " INSULATOR (FUEL TANK)" and then says "improvise unless listed below". But, it doesn't say what they are made of. I have a motorcycle inner tube and am considering using strips out of it to protect the tanks. Will that work? Is there something better?

Looks good, Jim. How'd the shake-down cruise go?

Life is a compromise! Yup. So true.

I remember it well, David. I used the term "optimum AFR" on purpose. That isn't exactly 14:1. It varies by what you are wanting to do. If you are wanting power it needs to be closer to 12:1. If you want economy it needs to be more like your 17:1. And along with the varying AFR comes varying ignition timing. Carbs and "dumb" ignition systems just cannot be "right" at all points like today's multi-port EFI systems that control not only the AFR but also the ignition timing and transmission gear and, therefore, RPM.

Let's face it, the engine doesn't know if it has a carb or EFI on it. And if whatever it is gives optimum AFR then you'll get the same MPG regardless. But a carb, by itself, gives a static AFR at its point of tune. So if the air temp, air pressure, fuel level in the carb, or anything else changes the AFR will not be the same. And, a carb is giving you an air/fuel mix at a central point, but that won't be the same at each cylinder due to the intake manifold. That's where the feedback carb system came in. The ECU tried to adjust the carb to keep the AFR at the best setting. But the ECU's didn't have the bandwidth nor the inputs to allow it to do so at all times. Still, it was better. However, it is still limited by the intake manifold. Then there's EFI. Throttle body systems can give "best AFR" at all times since it adjusts for all of the variables. But it is still limited by the intake manifold, so each cylinder is going to see a different AFR. Enter multi-port EFI. These systems read not only all the parameters but also can vary the amount of fuel going to each cylinder. So now we are approaching "optimum AFR" at each cylinder. And this combo will give the best MPG.

I forgot the "where it was made". Go to Documentation/Specifications/Certification Label. That will let you decode that label, which is on the driver's door post, and in it is the info on where it was made.

John - You are now on the map. On the pics, where you do them is your call. I do most of my threads in the main section, but some prefer the Projects section. So it is up to you. Yes, Conoco. Did the circuit of Ponca City, London, Houston. Had 20+ years with them then DuPont bought us and I got transferred to Wilmington, DE. I was in IT and they outsourced theirs and I went with the outsourcer. Moved to Chicago for a major account, which we lost and I decided to retire and moved back to OK. Now I play with trucks. Lots more fun.

John - You are right and I started into that in my response and then ditched it as it got complicated. The Edelbrock electric choke kit uses that port to pull a piston as part of the vacuum pull-off. But clearly his doesn't have that. He just has the bimetallic spring arrangement w/o the piston. I've not seen that, but it should work although won't have the pull-off function.

You are on the list.

Yippee! Good job, and good luck!

I think I'd start with finding the crankshaft pulley and then find an alternator pulley to match because the crank pulleys have a limited range. We have a page on pulleys that will help: Documentation/Engine/Pulleys. But what that page doesn't tell you is the size of the grooves or sheaves. And in my hunting I found that most crank pulleys have different sizes for the two grooves you'll want to use. If the crank pulley is off Dad's engine, like I think it is, then I'll look for an ID # on it. That might be a good starting point.

Yes, cool! I want to see the pics, but you'll also want the for the virtual truck show. You want others to see what's been done.

Jim is right - crankshaft pulley and I have an 8-page microanalysis of the subject somewhere. But to summarize, both pulleys are hard to find. Most alternator and crankshaft pulleys I found had a different belt size for one groove vs the other. But that's not going to work, for several reasons. One, you aren't able to get both belts tight at the same time. Another, they are going to want to run at slightly different speeds. But, you can find the pulleys.

Rick, I bought one of these Motorcraft modules and it made my truck really hard to start. I didn't physically check the timing with it, but I assume that it did not have the retard on start feature. I swapped my old 1984 factory box back on the truck and it went back to starting like it's EFI. The Motorcraft module is probably fine if you're running stock ignition advance, but mine is way up around 16deg. Once it was running the Motorcraft module performed just fine, but starting was an issue. The only reason I bought the thing was to clean up my engine bay. My original DSII module was working fine, it's just that it was getting really crusty on the underside and the epoxy is starting to separate from the case. Live and learn as they say. I'm going to leave the original installed now. I have about 4 spares now anyway...lol. Cory - I have an ignition module that says Motorcraft on it, and the retard feature only works sometimes. It was on Big Blue when I got him and about half the time the engine would kick back when trying to start it. One day I swapped modules and the problem went away. A bit of testing showed that it had the feature in it, but it didn't work consistently.

That's cool! But, like has been said, I'd not plan to ever use it.

Has the fairly rare adhesive'd trim. If it is all there that's good as you can't find a complete set. Anyway, you are looking at another $2500 or more for an engine and $1000 - $1500 for a new tranny. But then you'd have a nice supposedly-running truck for $5k. However, since you can drive it now to ascertain what else is bad, you have to assume that a lot is. For instance, are the diffs good? Where's the t-case? What about tires?

Ask for pics! No one is likely to buy it out from under you w/o them. But if it is what it might be, that's a buy.

RTV should work, but it doesn't always hold around gasoline. Instead of just RTV I'd use a self-tapping screw just slightly larger than the hole with thread sealant on it. Or, if you don't have thread sealant, a bit of RTV on the threads.

Yes, welcome! And sorry about the accident. That's a shame. Odessa? Want to be on our map? Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu. I worked for Conoco, and back when the bottom fell out many decades ago the running joke was "What do you call a petroleum engineer in Midland/Odessa?" The answer was "Hey, waiter!" Unfortunately I knew many out there that lost their jobs. Those bearings look well worn. But with the .060" over-bore and the 240 head you should get a bit of spunk out of the 300. Does your '81 have slide locks? How 'bout clear turn signal lenses. And, when and where was it made? I've done some research on that and it appears the change back to pin locks and to amber lenses were done on a by-plant basis.