85lebaront2

Gary, since it picks up the teeth on the tone ring (120 on a 10.25") the only time you really need to mess with it is if you go to different tyres. Rear gear changes do not affect the count.

Electronic speedometer, uses the ABS signal to create a speed signal for the PSOM, which outputs a speed signal for the PCM.

Ok, update on the rear disc conversion. All parts ordered, new wheel bearings for the left side, new 3.73 gears and installation kit, and due to (a) the rust on it and (b) the fact that it has to come off to do the ring gear, a new tone ring for the ABS/speedometer. He was going to order some drain plug kit for the cover, I told him a nice hex socket pipe plug in the bottom of the center casting would be better as it will drain it fully.

235/85R 16 may actually be a bit narrow for yours, look at the owners manual or if it is still legible the tire size on the door post label. The other thing to consider is load range. Darth specifies 215/85R-16, load range D, but that is based on dual rear wheels. I am lucky here, the school buses use 215/85R-16 Load range E tires so they are easy to locate and a little less costly.

I know the feeling. Even though my truck has the bigger mirrors, it never got much more than 10 mpg with the 300 C6 and 2.75 rear axle ratio. Now that I have the 5.9 cummins and nv4500 in front of that same 2.75 axle, it gets well over twice the mpg it did with the gas/auto combo, and pulls MUCH harder with very little pedal input. If I didn't have stuff going on, I would love to join into the MPG test. It would be very ironic for the oldest truck, and largest displacement engine, to win.... What's bad are two things, my 1977 F150, 300 engine, C4 trans, 3.25 9" rear and the big tow mirrors would get 16 highway, and about 13-14 in town. Darth, with a very low compression EFI converted 460, E4OD, 3.55 gear and the same mirrors, gets a solid 10, but on long higher speed runs (70 mph) can get 12.5 - 12.7.

I remember hearing about these 5.7 diesels. Aren't they kind of a bad memory?>..lol. I've never actually seen one, but I did see a truck that had a 5.7 diesel but had already had a gas engine swapped in it. 30 years ago (as a young lad) I was pumping gas at a small station, and one of the bigger GM cars came in...I can't remember what it was, but I'm thinking something like a big late 70's Delta 88? Anyway, I'm filling this thing up with gas and have a good 5 gallons in it when I happened to notice the diesel badge on the trunk lid...lol. I initially freaked out, but the owner assured me that the car had had a gas engine swapped into it. Those early 5.7 diesels were rare where I lived growing up. By the time the 6.2 diesel came out in the trucks, they were everywhere. The smaller diesels were a little more common...like the S-10 and Chevette, or the Ranger and Escort. They were all short lived, but I knew people that had all of them. The little diesel Rangers still pop up for sale every now and then. They had some issues, primarily head bolts and gaskets. The firing order was the pretty standard 18436572 which if you use the Ford cylinder numbering comes out 15426378. The problem area was between cylinders 5 & 7 the load on the head bolts between those two cylinders was unreal, and they have 10 1/2-13 bolts. There were a couple of gasket updates, a redesigned head, improved bolts during the production run. Once I put the 1983 engine (from a wrecked Eldorado) in and did some other updates, the car was pretty reliable and once I added a lockup converter transmission would consistently deliver 30-31 mpg highway. The Rossamaster injection pumps had issues too, the governor weight retainer ring was a piece of soft plastic, that after a few years hardened and crumbled, clogging the return fitting on the pump cover. This would cause extremely poor running if at all. When we first got the car it's fuel economy and performance were pretty bad, 12-14 in town and 18-20 highway, worse that our 1970 1/2 Falcon wagon. I found the Roosamaster internal timing mark after 6 trips to the dealer to resolve the issues, culminating in the service manager telling me they really had no solution and since I was trained on Diesels, to let them know if I figured it out. Using a piece of vacuum hose to lock the rotating portion of the pump at TDC, I put it back on the adapter and pulled it against the gear train and marked the adapter. After returning the pump to normal operation, and reassembling everything when I started the car , it sounded different, a more normal Diesel clatter. Fuel economy and performance went up sharply. End of story, about 2 weeks later I received a call from the service manager, he had a copy of a TSB from Oldsmobile regarding improperly marked pump adapters and would I like to schedule a day to have this done on ours. When the tech went through the procedure with the tool GM provided, my mark was dead on where it should be. Once the bulk of the bugs were resolved it was a pretty reliable car. The Bonneville that replaced it had been a beneficiary of the 5 year 50,000 mile extended warranty on these engines, ours had too many miles the first time the head gaskets went. I got extremely proficient at changing head gaskets and rebuilding Roosamaster pumps (also used on GM 6.2/6.5L diesels and Ford 6.9/7.3 IDI engines). Somewhere, I think I still have the Roosamaster service manual as there were a number of people who I worked with at NNS, we called ourselves the Diesel Underground.

Because of the harmonics. Rolls-Royce used an elaborate liquid balancer to try to get their in-line 6s as smooth as American in-line 8s and V12/16 engines. Most American 6s were balanced to run smoothly at lower rpm and the redline was below the destructive harmonics (funny story on that, Ford's 226 ci L-head was raced at Indy by Andy Granatelli in the late 40s, he was told it went into destructive harmonics at 4600 rpm, his solution, just buzz it past and keep it high). European manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz put the harmonic frequency down low, my 1961 220Sb, shook like crazy around 1800-1900 rpm, which would have been lugging it, get it up over that, it was nice and smooth. When I put a 220SEb engine in it, still had the same vibration at 1800-1900 rpm, that is where M-B put it, redline was 6200 rpm.

Might help, don't know as Darth's seems to stay tight now.

We had them on our GM 5.7L Diesels, the first one was a 1978 and it was optional unless you lived up North, then GM released a recall instructing the dealers to install the kits for anyone who wanted it at no charge. The 1980 Bonneville had it as factory installed. The 78 really needed it in cold weather, it had the original microprocessor controlled "slow glow" system. 8 12V glow plugs that took sometimes nearly 2 mins to turn off the "wait" light and illuminate the "start" light. In mid 78 GM started offering a "quick glow" system with 6V glow plugs and a pulse controller. Nice system, no more microprocessor, just a thermal controller, essentially the same thing Ford uses. I found a later car in a junkyard and retrofitted ours. The Bonneville had that from the beginning. I was driving it to work during one of the Steelworkers strikes as I really didn't want to drive the Chrysler convertible. I would leave it plugged in overnight and it would start right up and have heat immediately, after work it was a little slower, but not bad. They had all salaried employees and "scabs" parking in the NNS owned lots so the security guards could keep an eye on things.

Only a slight chance of either earthquakes or tornadoes.

Yes, particularly with the fiber washer the 1983-87 adapter used. Since the filter hangs at an angle, eventually road shock can loosen it. The oil to water cooler has a tab to keep it from moving since it is quite a bit heavier. I, so far, haven't had a problem with the oil to air cooler adapter, it has O-rings on both ends (inner and outer) and I do check it when changing oil.

He's gonna need to meet Darth some day. They will have a lot in common. I believe Darth and Big Blue remind me of the advertisements regarding pets at shelters which are: looking for their Fordever homes. I believe Darth and Big Blue remind me of the advertisements regarding pets at shelters which are: looking for their Fordever homes. Considering that this past April it was 25 years ago I bought Darth. He was purchased to tow our 30' 5th wheel trailer. And I think the 3 day a week part time "mechanic" that Gordonsville VA Ford had, may have retired to Florida as the workmanship on Big Blue reminds me of what I found on Darth. Holley accelerator pump lever wasn't even touching anything, oil filter base bolt was loose, heater return fitting had apparetly leaked, the swivel fitting was brazed together, timing cover bolts were loose. Between them and the oil filter base, the 1982 Horizon I drove up there with a tow bar on it was well lubricated by the time I got to Suffolk. The gentleman I bought him from knew nothing about working on him and wasn't too good at driving him either, both front fenders were bent and the dually fenders were cracked, and the back part of one was in the bed.

I'm the guy in charge of patches and strips in our troop...I wonder how many 'Untrainable' strips I could hand out before someone noticed? Maybe I should send you a picture of my jacket. I am no longer working with the scouts but have a lot of stuff.

They look pretty good for close to 40 years of use. Run your fingernail across the tip where the valve stem rides. If you feel a pronounced ridge, that would be the only real concern, but if you put them back where they came from it shouldn't be an issue. Fulcrum area looks great, no signs of scoring. After reassembly, before starting it, pour a small amount of oil into each rocker arm so they aren't dry.

From what I remember on the first cat systems, the front was the reducing catalyst, worked in the absence of O2, and the second one was the oxidizing catalyst, worked with excess O2. Yes, they were combined but initially they still had the air pump injecting O2 into the space between the two beds. That is what the 460s had from day one in the 1988 models. The only change on them was the air injection into the manifolds from 1993-97.

Damn Jim, I didn't realize you speak "Southern". We had gag translator strips made for our BSA uniforms, one of which is the translator strip, we had an Air Force NCO from New Hampshire who had one the said "Southern Drawl". I have one somewhere that is a spoof of the "trained" strips, it says "Untrainable".

It's even nicer with an OD gear, Darth is turning 1500 rpm at 55, that is between the E4OD overdrive ratio and the lockup converter.

If it swings out to the East, I hope it swings WAYYY out, I am on an even smaller peninsula than you are with large bodies of water on each side.

I was just asking for opinions on sources. I will be doing the setup, just like I did mine. I may call Kool Ford and see what the parts run there. I did suggest he might want to consider a different ratio since we have go into it, current is a 4.10, I suggested maybe 3.73 since it's a Powerstroke and he doesn't do any real heavy towing with it. Darth does quite well with a 3.55. Factory gears NLA from Ford, any ratio.

Recommendations for a source for R&P and shim kit. At least I have a press now and do have the tool kit.

Probably Holley 1901, they look just like the one my 223 had on it right down to the glass float bowls. It was called a "Visi-flow" since you could look inside and see what was going on. They are pretty simple, straight forward carbs and very trouble free other than the venturii icing up in cool damp weather. I would rather have one of them than a Carter YF, or Rochester B series.

Well, the onion peeling went well, but, when I pulled the cover off, and rotated the gears, I found this:

If they pay me for helping re-engineer it it would be nice. As far as being a pioneer, I am pretty used to it. Well, today unearthed or peeled whichever you prefer a new issue. The left side wheel bearings sat with a bit of water in them, so the cups and rollers, and probably the cones are pitted and need to be replaced. John wants me to pull the cover off and inspect the differential for possible water damage since we are this far into it. Other than Ford, NAPA looks like the best bet for decent quality parts, but for reference they have the Scotseals, but at nearly twice what Ford wants for them. Amazon has the Motorcraft seals at $24.79.

Ok, I finally saw the change this morning, looks good and does make the top more compact. Since I only visit on my computer it really didn't matter one way or the other to me.

One suggestion from experience, do not use the expanding rubber plugs, it you must use expanding plugs use the metal ones. You would not believe the force a Ford 390 water pump can empty the cooling system with.