Gary Lewis

Welcome to why I bought basically a crate engine for Big Blue. As for the cam, I don't know that I agree with the guy. First, he's wrong on the compression ratio. Ford said the '86 351HO had 8.3:1 compression. But, if I were you, I'd up that to the 9:1 he mentioned. Or go with aluminum heads and 10:1. And, I don't know that I'd want my torque coming in at 1300. That's not bad, but I usually shoot for more like 1000. Anyway, let's see what the others say as they know more about this than I do.

Done. But you might want to go to the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then start a new thread to introduce yourself. Please.

Love the Blue Jeans! And if the 2nd Gen EB is better than the first it'll be fantastic. I've said many times that I'd much rather tow with Blue than Big Blue. Blue will tow our 25' Sea Ray at 11.0 MPG all day long at 65 MPH. Big Blue, with the old engine and tranny, got 11.0 MPG by himself at 65 MPH. Perhaps the new 460 will win me over, as I'm sure Rusty's 400 will win you over, but those EB's are STRONG!

That is very suspect. The catalog shows that all of the Bullnose bumpers were new as of 1980, or later. I'm doubting that earlier bumpers fit, but what do I know?

I wondered what the status of Rusty was. Glad you told us, but sorry things are running late. If it is any comfort, that's been my experience on all machine shop jobs. As for the '17, I like it! I can't tell, but what engine? And it should have the 10-speed tranny?

The master parts catalog says that bumper is for: 80 F100 (83) EOTZ 17906-E Chrome That's got to be a mistake as there is only one other entry for Flaresides (83): 82 F100 (83) E2TZ 17906-C Black hi gloss So, the first one should really say "80/" which means 1980 through the end of the catalog, which is 1989.

Yes, welcome! You started your adventure here in a bit of an usual place, but it'll work. However, as Jim suggested, if you go the main section and start a new thread/topic there about your truck/ambulance I can move the discussion from here to there - if you want. And, pics are always a big help. Post them up! Plus, we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we'd love to put you on it if we had a town or a zip.

Got it. Last year I would have countered that my preference would be a Viking ship. But right now no ship is sounding good. The news says a Norwegian ship had a few crew infected and appear to have infected several along the coast of Norway. Count me out for a few year.

If you click on his, or any member's "handle" it'll take you to a page where you can email him.

Definitely proud of her work. That's why I pointed out who did the stacking! And definitely a keeper! We learned long ago that her "love language" is spending time together. She'd rather do it on a road trip, or better yet, on the deck of a cruise ship! But if she "can" help me splitting wood, or building a fence, or landscaping the yard, she's got me "cornered" for a while. So it all works out good! As to making a dent... I don't know if I posted these pictures last year or not, but here are a few pictures from the day after the wind storm. These 2 big oaks took out the railing my grandpa made 60 years ago (and broke my finger the next day as I was trying to clear the steps) The top 50 feet of a 70 foot tall white pine broke off and landed on the cabin. Broke a window, but surprisingly no other damage. These next 2 pictures are where we've been working this weekend. A branch from the oak in the first picture punched a hole in the end of the cabin, but that was the extent of the damage to the cabin. We haven't even started cleaning up the downed trees in the woods, including the 2 1/2 foot diameter oak in the first picture. The garage took the most damage, with two big trees hitting it (one oak, one poplar). But it stayed up and protected everything that was in it, and we were able to get it repaired within a month or so (no small feat, with contractors still working on other cabins on the lake now, a year later). So as much work as this was, it was really just a dent. But we're prioritizing the stuff needed for access first (done last year), the mess that's visible from the cabin next ("just" the 2 1/2 foot diameter oak left there now), and cleaning up the woods last. We have 3 acres and estimate we lost over 50 good-size trees. Our property was one of the hardest hit as far as trees go. But we had surprisingly little damage otherwise, just what I already mentioned and one broken window in my folks travel trailer. Other cabins had serious structural damage, tipped over boat lifts (with boats on them), smashed docks and vehicles... We didn't even lose the cover on our lift. And my parents had been out on the lake a half hour before the storm hit, but were in town 10 miles away when it did (they'd have never got out after the storm until we cleared the road the next day, and I can't imagine the PTSD if they've been there). And my sister was 30 miles away, going up to the cabin with her daughter and a group of her daughters friends to stay for the weekend. They were disappointed to not be able to get within 5 miles of the cabin due to downed trees on the highways, but after getting up there the next day to help us start to clear it out they decided that being able to go back home the next day wasn't so bad! Wow, that’s a lot of downed trees! We had an ice storm about 10 years ago and had some trees and lots of limbs down, but nothing like that. And yet it took a long time to clean it up. So I can guess the amount of work involved - a LOT!!! But overall you had surprisingly little damage. That was very fortunate. Obviously could have been a lot worse. 👍

I wasn't backing the TRAILER up the hill, just the Bronco, pulling the trailer from the front hitch. That had seemed easier after "backing" the trailer while driving the Bronco forward down the hill. But on the second trip I unhooked after pushing the trailer down, backed the Bronco alone up the hill, turned around and backed back down so I could drive the Bronco forward up the hill pulling the trailer. That made it a lot easier to maneuver. Ok, that makes more sense.

The sway bars were originally available as a kit, but I've not seen those kits offered in many years. Your best bet is to find someone that has a set to sell them to you and ship them over. However, there may be aftermarket kits. I don't know that.

David - Is this something like you are talking about?

Bill beat me to it. But we are on the same page. His "shutter" is my "reluctor wheel". And his idea of placing your timing light on 3 & 4 is a good one.

I doubt it. The TFI failure mode is usually "on" or "off", meaning that it either works or doesn't. But I suppose that if the teeth of the reluctor wheel in the distributor for those two cylinders were shorter, meaning that they didn't come quite as close to the pickup as the others, it might not fire on those cylinders. In that case I think the pickup module in the distributor would be the culprit. That module provides the signal to the TFI module that tells it to fire, and the TFI doesn't know which cylinder it is firing. But the pickup module does because each cylinder has its on tooth on the reluctor wheel.

The TFI (Thick Film Ignition) is the aluminum module attached to the distributor. You might want to read up here on the results of the class-action suit won against Ford. Basically, the module gets hot and fails, but when it cools the vehicle will run again. That write-up mentions 257 degrees F, but it isn't that precise. And, as the modules age the temp can easily come down - to the point the engine may only run a few seconds and then stall. The fix is either to install a new module and hope it doesn't fail, or move the module to a cooler spot, like on the fender liner, like Ford did later.

Wow! That's a lot of WORK! (Maynard G. Krebs) I can't even imagine trying to back the Bronco up the hill with the trailer. I'm just not that good at backing, and trying to fit it and the trailer between the trees doesn't sound like fun. But pulling it would be a different story, and put weight on the rear tires. Aren't you glad you have the rash rail? It'll be time for one on the other side soon. By the way, when are you going to enter it in the show? And, for that matter, how 'bout you, Jim?

I'm having a hard time figuring out where the 3.8 volts on the stop switch is coming from. Do you have any lights on at the time you are testing? In the schematic it looks to me like there are only two sources of power to the off-side of the stop lamp switch - assuming the switch itself isn't "leaking" First is, as Jim suggested, a bad ground on the stop lights. But that comes all the way back to the instrument panel on your truck. The other is bleeding through in the turn signal switch. The irrational part of me says to replace the LED's with incandescents and run the tests, including the speed control test, again.

Glad you got it back on the road. But it sounds like your choke may not be adjusted well.

It is 1984 or earlier, for sure. Look at where the tutone break is - above the crease. As of 1985 it moved to below the crease. And it looks like it has a full-floating rear axle, so is a heavy duty F250, meaning 8500 GVWR or more. I like it. Should clean up nicely.

Yep, come on people! Matthew, The Truck Of Doom has been entered.

Ok, you are on the map. Have you pulled the injectors to see if they are plugged? I don't know how to do that as I don't yet have an EFI engine, but it would seem that if you've verified that the plugs are good, the wiring is good, and you are getting spark that it must be a fuel problem.

Got the rear FDM in yesterday and tried it in the 38 gallon Bronco tank. No go. In the orientation the tank calls for it was as if the FDM was 180 degrees out as the sender's float was hanging down and the filter was on the top side. However, if you rotate the thing 180 degrees, meaning put the connections on the bottom rather than the top, it looks like it'll go but it hits the bottom 2" before the flange hits the tank. So I'm lost. It looks like I'll need to return the FDM for the rear tank, but I'm not sure what to order to replace it. If I could find a 33 gallon Bronco tank with FDM I might go that way and sell this 38 gallon tank. As for the mid-ship tank, we'll see how the FDM for it fits. As you'll see below I'll at least have to cut new slots in it. But then I worry that it'll rust there since I will have cut through the galvanizing. Perhaps I could paint the cuts? The tank is nice and clean inside, so I'm loathe to replace it. Here's a comparison of the slots in the tanks. First row is the the 1985 mid-ship tank on the left and the 1990 mid-ship on the right. Notice the slots are 180 degrees off. And the second row has the 1985 Bronco rear tank on the left and the 1990 F-Series rear tank on the right:

Yep, that's how I think I did the ground relay, and how I plan to do the power relay - with the exception that power will be from a fuse in the PDB and then from the battery. As for providing source, sink, etc, we'll get official schematics when we conclude. But I was just answering Scott's question of where I put the ground relay and thought I might as well show where I want to put the power relay.

Welcome to the forum. But before we get to your truck, you were asked to go to the New Members Start Here folder and post there. That's because the guidelines we hold people to very closely are there. So, since you didn't, please assure me you've read them? And, my usual first question when someone gives an intro is to ask them where home is. That's because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could put you on if we had a city or a zip. On the engine, have you pulled the codes the ECU is throwing? That would be the first step. But, there were two firing orders for the 302. They are: Which one are you using?