Gary Lewis

Yes, I still plan to take a break, but the date for that has shifted roughly a month. Our daughter, SiL, and grandtwins were to arrive today. But they recently informed us that they are not going to do that, instead staying where they are in the Houston area for another month to, hopefully, get past the peak of the virus. So I'll continue working on Big Blue and as we get closer to their arrival, maybe in late April, I'll figure out a new check-point. Maybe I'll get the headers, t-case, and driveshafts installed. Then the carb adapter and fuel system. And then I could start it!

Oh, ok. But, I really didn't "accept" Ray's vote. He thinks he knows which pic he'll vote for when the time comes, but he may change his mind. Which is fine since voting doesn't happen until the poll is available.

I haven't found anything about the light, but I did get quite a few details worked out today. First, I checked out the C305(A) situation. Sure enough, there was a white/purple in the connector going to the truck, and it had power on it for the speed control. So in the connector going to the speed control I pulled the red retainer, removed the blue/red wire in Pin 11's slot and put the white/purple wire there. And then I covered the blue/red wire with heat shrink, although it doesn't appear to connect to anything. Then I checked and the buzzer no longer buzzes when the door is opened, and the speed control gets power when the key is turned to Run. So I'm calling that problem SOLVED! Next was the original aux battery relay. You'll remember that the plan was to pull the trigger wire to it as well as the trigger wire to the key-on relay off the aux battery relay and put a screw through them. That would prevent the aux battery relay from coming on, but allow the key-on relay to still function. Well, in the pic below the trigger wire is the one with the molded connector, and I thought it would be a pain to secure the wire below it to it and get that insulated with heat shrink. So instead I pulled the grounds off the empty stud, tied them together with a screw and nut, put heat-shrink on them, and tied the combo with a red zip tie to the adjacent wire. Problem solved: the aux battery relay doesn't come in but all of the other wires are still getting power, and the key-on relay does come on and shows the aux battery voltage on the aftermarket voltmeter. (Well, it didn't appear to be working when I first got done until I realized I'd not connected the aux battery up so the voltmeter was showing exactly what was on that circuit - nada. ) Then I pulled the hot lead to the starter and turned the key to Start. Sure enough, the relay in the starter itself came in with a loud clunk. Then I pulled the trigger lead off the starter, tied my test light to it, turned the key to Start, and used a bungee to hold it there. The light came on, brightly, although it is kinda hard to see in the pic so I gave you a bit of help. Then I worked under the truck for about two hours neatening up the wiring and speedo cable, all the while watching the light. And nothing I did caused it to blink, and I moved and stretched all the wiring and associated connectors, so I'm confident that the Start circuit is solid. So, what did I do while working under there? First I cleaned off the grease that was all over the speedo cable, only to find it damaged. So I replaced the cable with one from the attic. And I lubed the cable before I put it on. Then I tied the wiring on the frame rail down, covered some of it with convolute, and generally neatened it up and ensured it won't move. Here's a shot of it ahead of the transmission crossmember. Note that the clutch slave cylinder is now installed. (I'm not sure you are supposed to open the bleeder valve to compress the piston, but that's what I did and it worked.) And here's a shot of the wiring aft of the crossmember. With that, all I need to do to call the electrical system done is to tie the batteries down. Hopefully that will easily happen tomorrow after church and I'll be ready for the headers. Oh, wait! I still have a fuse in the clutch start switch connector. So I will pull the hot lead off the starter again, pull the fuse, connect the wire to the switch, and see if the start circuit actually works.

I don not have one. But if they are the same through the 80's , I might find one in the junk yard. Yes, that would be preferable. But, if you can't find one then I have a tracing that I can ship you if you'll pay for the shipping both ways. I think it would go in an large envelope and I did it for a gentleman in Germany to do the same thing with, but he's not opted to do it - yet. So I want it back, just in case. It is on non-stretch fabric and you could trace around it on some heavy cardboard to create one.

Welcome, Shaun. And thanks for the documents you've supplied. I'm slowly getting all of them on.

Yes, I think the pics will be motive for all of us. But, you may have misunderstood the process, which is:1. From 1st of month to the 15thish we nominate pics for next month, so until the 15th we are nominating for May2. On or about the 15th of each month I create a new thread with the nominated pics and a poll. Then you vote. So for May I plan to create the new thread w/poll on April 15th and you'll vote until the 30th of April.3. On the 1st of the month I create the new thread in the Monthly Truck Photo Contest folder. So on May 1st I'll create a thread entitled May 2020, and y'all can comment and drool. :nabble_smiley_wink:All that seems a bit complicated, so I'm open for suggestions.

And, to continue to try to catch up to my one doc/day goal, I added these brochures courtesy of Shaun: 1980 4-Wheeler Brochure 1980 F-Series Pickup Brochure Both are also show on the Literature page awa the 1980 page:

Congrat's! You should be proud! But, you should be getting a bit better MPG, like maybe 17ish? (I realize you have 4wd and no overdrive, so I've backed it down a bit from David/1986F150Six's ~20 MPG.) I suspect that you will need to advance the initial spark timing a bit to get there, and may need to play with the vacuum advance. But I'd start dialing in a bit more timing, like 12 or 14 BTDC. If you get kickback on starting then drop back a bit.

All vacuum comes from the engine. The only exception is the diesels, which have a vacuum pump. So it sounds like one of your vacuum motors in the HVAC system is leaking. And that is a sure source of air into the system that will upset the idle. So use a hose to your ear as an aid to pinpointing the hiss.

This article says, in part:

It doesn't need to be an '85. Anything from 1980 up into the 90's will fit. I have a 1990, not for sale, that I laid on top of my 1985 board, and they are essentially the same. But shipping one of those is going to be EXPENSIVE. If yours isn't in terrible shape maybe you could find a heavy cardboard, which is pretty much what these are, and use yours for a template? Or, do you not have one?

By golly, those are BROWN! That's the worst "fade" I've seen. That plastic is somewhat flexible, kinda like the door panels, and on them I've been fairly successful sanding and scrubbing. I've used 40 or 60 grit wet/dry paper and kept it wet or it loads up pretty quickly with the dead plastic. Scrub down until you get to blue. And then you can go to smoother paper if you want. The dead plastic on mine is kind of mealy and I don't think it would be good to paint it, so it really should come off first.

4V heads have HUGE passages. Way too big for most use. But even the 2V heads blow a Windsor head away. Don't know why you'd want to put a 400 crank in something and run Windsor heads. Put the 400 crank in an M-block and bolt on stock heads and you'll have something. Or, port the 2V heads a bit and find a bit more power, esp on the exhaust.

Hard to have a game plan with something so seemingly random. Just put a piece of tape on each hose you check and go until they are all checked. But, there are a couple of other ways to do this: Brake cleaner: Get a can from the parts store and spray it around where there might be leaks. If the engine's idle speeds up you've found a leak. But, the stuff will mess paint up, so be careful. Smoke test: David/1986F150Six has a writeup on doing this here: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Vacuum-leak-detection-effective-and-inexpensive-td11511.html

It is a bummer when something like this happens. But the ring gear can be replaced on a flywheel. Not on the flexplate for an auto, but on a flywheel for a manual tranny. They just heat the ring gear up, press the old one off and new one on.

Love those M-block heads! Big ports. Funny story. Brandon/Bruno2 came over to pick up some Windsor heads from me one day a few years ago. I told him where they were upstairs and he came back with the M-block heads. I said "Follow me" and we took them back and laid they beside the Windsor heads. He was stunned.

No need to apologize. None of us were born knowing this. Basically all of the hoses under the hood are vacuum hoses except the radiator and heater hoses. The two radiator hoses run from the radiator to the engine and are probably 1 1/2" in diameter. The two heater hoses go from the engine to the heater core, are roughly 1" in diameter, and those connections are near the passenger's fender on the firewall. All of the other hoses are, I think, vacuum hoses. They'll be roughly 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter and are connected to all sorts of emissions stuff. They'll look like spaghetti, running everywhere. Does that help?

Good question, Shaun. Good explanation, Scott. And note that even the '86 doesn't show the PRNDL indicator as being lit. However, in spite of the '81 EVTM showing it the 1981 Owner's Guide does not list a shift indicator in the Light Bulb Spec's - unless I'm missing it. So, is this one of those things that was meant to be but didn't happen?

Congrat's! Getting to drive it is such a good feeling. You say it idles well in neutral, but not in gear. However, then it runs ok once you accelerate? That sounds like an incorrect air/fuel mix at idle. Probably lean, which could be from a vacuum leak, and that could be due to a cracked hose, a hose that's come off, or a cap that's come off. I'm sure it could use plugs and wires, but if it runs well other than idle I'd not rush to replace them as acceleration tests them far more than idle does. Instead look the vacuum hoses over very closely. VERY closely. They tend to get old and crack or even fall off, and that causes a lean air/fuel mix. The engine might run ok at idle with no load on it, but not with a load.

Looks like there was another change 'twixt 1981 and 1985. In '81 the PRNDL indicator was illuminated, and it doesn't appear to have been in '85. :nabble_anim_confused:The '81 schematic on the left shows the C305 connectors and the bulb, but the '85 schematic on the right doesn't. So there's no problem with the last row of the spreadsheet. Now to figure out the first row......

Ok on the pictures. I may have put them in a folder on my PC but after I had them sent to Walgreens to be printed I deleted the folder and since then did a clean up of my PC and the trash got emptied. Being 170 pictures for the album I could go thru my site and pull them out just don't know where I could put them other than my site, I can do that if wanted. When driving I was always thinking I should pull the vacuum line as a test just never did it (yet). I do have to get un-lazy and look into this. Maybe this weekend after I wash the truck and get the tailgate letters on it. Dave ---- The thing on the pics is entirely up to you. But if you have a Dropbox, Google, or Microsoft Onedrive account you can put them there and give me access. And the Dropbox and Google accounts are free.

Rick - I voted for "plain" because I think adding the bumperettes makes it too busy. I don't dislike them, but just like the front better w/o them. Having said that, I like Dave's option #3 best of all. In addition to placing the lights in the factory bumper, our member Alfie has made a Warn winch bumper look-alike and has put lights in it. I really like that approach as it keeps the front looking "clean" but adds functionality.

Ok Ray, if even you aren't going to vote for your own truck, then why are you entering it? Seriously though, I'll take that as Entry #2.

Gary, on the pictures can I ask what brought this up, did I miss something somewhere? They are not sorted on my site just uploaded as I did the work or if someone needed a better picture of something I would get it and add it so may not be in order. I should have a link in my signature to the pictures on my site for others to check out if they want. Was it when I said I had pictures printed for a photo album I can display at car / truck shows when they start back up. Some like to display what their car / truck started out and when it is in person. In my case I can also show all the work "I did" and not a shop I paid to do the work. On the dist. it was what ever the motor came with. I don't know if it has a tag or not as I have not looked. I am pretty sure the motor did not come from the factory in that truck as it was gray and has a sender in the stat for a computer feed back of some sort. I have turned the vacuum advance set screw and at first it helped a lot but has gotten worst over time. I wonder if it is the gas, winter / summer blend? I do know the high test there is no knock at all and the motor seams to run better. The next tanks I will try middle grade gas and see how it runs on it but I really need to put a timing light to this motor so I know where it is at to start with I just been lazy. Dave ---- Dave - It was when you said you had the pictures printed. I thought it would be nice if you had a page on here where you could point people to show those pics. (I have a "business card" with a link to this site and have considered including a link to pics of my trucks.) On the timing, checking it with a light is obviously the place to start. And then check the advance. But I can't figure out why the vacuum advance "got worse over time". Does it still ping or knock if you disconnect the vacuum to it? I think we have the info on how we set up David's dizzy in case you want to copy that.

When you are hot, you're hot! Well, I'm not sure "hot" applies, but progress is being made. Anyway, I think I got to the bottom of things on the wiring. I think I did. But at one point today I was about to pull the column and C305A harness and go back with the originals. But that would take fixing the probably-broken tilt column awa swapping out the lower bearing, and certainly take repairing the C305A harness that was hacked. I've put the spreadsheet here for discussion purposes, although it automagically is updated in the previous post. But I modified it to show the 4 versions of C305(A) and the wire colors in each. At first I was quite concerned about all of the differences in colors in the middle of the s/s, but then I thought that perhaps the differences were in the darkness of colors, like the blues, the vendors chose and decided to just test the circuits. Sure enough, all of the stop/turn/hazard circuits work, so I colored those cells green. That let me focus on the two rows top and bottom, and I soon realized that the buzzer issue is on the top row, what I'm calling Pin 1 of the C305 connectors. (I haven't found any illustrations with official pin numbering, so I made my own.) What is happening is that the wire that is supposed to provide power to the speed control, the white/purple wire, is getting connected to the buzzer's input, and the speed control provides just enough "sink" to turn the buzzer on. I proved that by pulling the connector off the speed control itself and the buzzer doesn't sound. And there's also the potential issue of the instrument illumination wiring, the last row with the blue/red wire. The gauges on the dash light up, but I've not checked anything else. Will do tomorrow. As for fixing the power feed issue to the speed control, I think I must have missed something in the last C305 connector's wires. Surely that power feed is there, but just in the wrong spot. If so I can move the pin in the 3rd connector to that position and the speed control should be happy. But, I won't have any key-in-ignition warning when the door is opened as this column doesn't have that feature in it. However, I think I can live with that.