85lebaront2

FYI, Dexron II is synthetic.

Somewhere in the 80s there was a requirement that the last portion of the VIN had to be stamped on major components, such as engines and transmissions. There is a location where it is supposed to be on the frame rail. Good luck with your search, are there any stickers on the windows that might identify which assembly plant the truck came from? The sticker on the body is on the driver's side door post above the striker except on crew cabs, on a crew cab it is on the rear of the driver's door just above the latch. This becomes a problem if the door is replaced.

As far as soldering vs. crimping, IF you can get heat shrink crimps with the sealer in them to be heat shrunk down over the splice, then it MIGHT be ok. You might want to ask the ones who are in favor of crimped vs soldered and heat shrunk (a) how much rewiring they have done and (b) how long it has lasted. FWIW, the man who taught me about wiring had an MS in electrical engineering from MIT.

Josh, the correct starter relay will have a total of 4 posts, 2 big ones for battery and starter, a small one for the starter wire and an even smaller one that fusible link T goes on, it corresponds to the old ignition resistor bypass. What has probably happened is either the oil pressure switch on the back of the engine or possibly the relay is bad and it was bypassed to keep it running. Welcome to our group pf looneys!

The problem with buying a loot of 16 gauge, it makes the bundle a lot thicker. On splicing, do not rely on crimp splices, the sensor circuits are 5 volt across, so a little resistance will mess it up totally. I do have sources for some of the connectors and their innards and a pretty fair assortment I have salvaged. What I plan on doing for the 60 pin EEC connector is to take it loose from the harness as far as the wires run so you will have some to work with.

That looks about as bad as the one my son had in his 1986. When I get over to Newport News VA again, I will see if I can get the box of 1985.5/1986 harness stuff.

The bracket is common to all 2.2/2.5L engines in cars with power steering and a Saginaw pump, lines are somewhat vehicle specific due to length and routing, also the year makes a slight difference, somewhere between 1986 and 1989, the rack mounting bolts were changed from 8 mm to 10 mm as the 8 mm ones were prone to coming loose or breaking, and even pulling out of the nut plates welded inside the K member. The 10 mm nut plates are probably 13 mm long and the bolts are also longer. My lines had the holes for the 8 mm bolts, I just enlarged them for the 10 mm bolts the 1989 K member has in it. Did finally find my hood cable and a week ago I had a neighbor come over an we installed the hood (bonnet for those from the continent) and yesterday I got it adjusted. It is only on the safety catch as without a dashboard to mount the release handle on it is a royal pain to open.

The cowl drains on these trucks are very prone to clogging. Leaves get in through the slots in the cowl. get washed down into the drain pocket and block the small rubber drain valves. Best solution, once you have the drains clean is to cut a piece of plastic screen that will cover the area under the cowl grille and place it between the grille and body and that will keep the leaves out. To clean out the drains can be a royal PITA, but if you take the rear attachments for the fenders and the one rear inner fender to firewall bracket bolt out, the bottom of the fender can be carefully pulled out to the point you can remove the rubber valve clean out the decomposed vegetation and reinstall the valve.

Single Rail Over Drive transmission.

Yes, but what if you need it for the left side?

Then you'd really enjoy the rest of the KaleCo site. I like the cross-drilled brake lines, & the O-pipe. I was impressed that they had the hard to find muffler bearings for my Chrysler, but the do not have the Lucas PN 530433, replacement wiring harness smoke.

When I watched the video, my first impression, other than the impressive power was that it looked exactly like the 1970 F600 dump truck a friend owned. A group of us bought it and donated it to our Boy Scout camp Ranger. It had the HD 300 in it complete with a velocity governor under the Carter YF manual choke carburetor. Those engines are really amazing for the amount of work they can do. At one point a group of were there, and we really should have gotten a picture, we had a number of Ford trucks, every one of which had a 300 in it. Roy Weidmann had an E150 and the dump truck, I had a 1977 F150 with the MD 300 (limited emissions), Tim Smith had a 1990 F150 with a 300. Would have made a heck of a picture. We had all three levels of the 300, LD, MD and HD.

Is that your engine for the classic F150?

Turn "710" over.

Ford changed some of the service points (dipsticks, filler caps, ...) to yellow so owners could find them. Not to make the engine bay more colorful. I can understand the reasoning behind that since the '90's I've been seeing more and more people who are completely lost and confused under the hood of a vehicle. I even saw someone ruin a car once by driving it until it wouldn't move or run any more because they didn't understand what the red light saying HOT meant. It wasn't just Ford, Chrysler did the same, my 1986/7 engine has the old ring shaped oil dipstick, the 1989 engine from the parts car has the T shaped "engine oil" handle on it, the older transaxles had an inverted "J" for the dipstick/vent, later ones have a T handle with trans fluid on it.

You will find a few changes, a couple of pin functions changed in 1987 up, and there were some additions starting in 1998 for the E4OD. Go here for pinouts:http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/efi.html As previously mentioned, I have a few salvaged harnesses, including a 1988-91 pair, and a 1995 one. I can remove as much of the EEC-IV wiring from one of the 1988-91 harnesses and send it to you, I also have a few of the sensor plugs (ECT, ACT, Knock Sensor EGR position etc.)

Did you get the impression that he had ever taken a materials class? Did he mention the temperature at which they temper their springs, and for how long? If you have any spares, I'd paint one, powder the other, and then drive on the powdered one until it breaks. I bet it'll take a long time. My concern (I worked in a materials testing laboratory for 30 years) would be changing the temper in the springs, not necessarily causing them to fail, but changing the load characteristics. We were asked at one point to do hardness tests on springs, after discussing it with our metallurgist and engineering, we did them on the tails only, not the main active portion, as even the small indent of a Rockwell C diamond indenter could create a stress point and lead to a failure.

Tell me which connectors you need (I sent you an email through the site) and if I have good spares, I can help you there.

No. It will get really-confusing really fast, and when you have problems later, it'll be nearly impossible to figure out. Striped wire isn't common, but it IS available & affordable. I keep several of the ones that either match or are similar to Ford colors so I can modify & repair harnesses (which I do often), so I haven't ordered any in a while. There are a few sellers on eBay & Amazon, and it takes a little effort to find them, but it's worth the effort. Another good source is any Ford product in your local JYs. That's probably also the cheapest & best, and you're guaranteed to get Ford colors & quality. It's the CONNECTORs that you should thinking about changing - not the wire colors. Don't feel like you have to keep using those antiques that weren't very good to begin with. Newer connectors are MUCH better; often having Gold-plated terminals. Just avoid the tiny ones that are difficult to re-pin. I agree completely, I salvage harnesses and parts of harnesses every chance I get. That way I can usually match the original colors so it is easier to follow (try working on a 1970 Rover 3500, all the wires were white with cloured tubes at the ends).

I have found some good sources for some of the connectors, EEC pins, there was a place, but I think he is out of business. On most of the other stuff, Motorcraft has a lot of the pigtails and their catalog is on this site. If you get the Motorcraft number, then go onto Rock Auto and use the Part Number section, it's a little annoying, but you can find it if they carry it. The molded ones, like the EFI to front harness interface, you can get replacements, but will still need to splice them in. If there is nothing wrong with the resistor, why change it? I suspect it is in the tachometer wire. DO NOT use crimp connectors, wrap splice, solder and use heat shrink tubing over it. On retaping the harness, use friction tape, it will hold up better. The corrugated sleeving that a lot of it is in, can be purchased, or I have a load of it from salvaged harnesses. The larger pin connectors, round and flat 1/4" are readily available aftermarket in Dorman products Help line. I have PNs for those. I also have extra 60 pin EEC plugs (which can be a pain as the little retainer tabs break if you look at them wrong). Be glad it's a Ford and not a Chrysler product, at least your parts are available.

I noticed in his introduction he said he is a truck driver, in which case he might be on the road.

Apparently he either hasn't read anything or doesn't like the answers given.

I would say any play on a 300 would be bad, it is a gear drive cam, not chain like the 223. I would take a good look at the shutter in the distributor, make sure there is no damage and it isn't loose on the shaft, also look at the wiring from the Hall effect trigger and the actual pickup and it's plastic mount, there should be a metal arm locking the pickup in place, if it is missing or not securely attached to the pickup (plastic pin through the end) then your timing will go all over the place. Unfortunately, unless you have the tools to take the distributor apart and reassemble it, you are better off with a rebuilt unit. When the SPOUT lead is unplugged, timing should be rock steady at the specified setting, which varies depending on equipment installed (transmission) where it was built for and weight class. Since it is an F150 that pretty well eliminates the HD versions. Question comes, since you refer to disconnecting the SPOUT that you have the feedback carburetor EEC-IV system meaning the distributor has a TFI-IV gray module on the side of the bowl. You should not use the later black module as the internal circuitry and external wiring changed. The gray module is referred to as a "push start" and uses an input signal from the start circuit to "push" the dwell to the maximum to aid in starting, the black module is referred to as CCD, for Computer Controlled Dwell, where the EEC adjusts the dwell to increase the spark voltage as needed. These were a 1995 model year introduction.

You have to remember, when the F150 was introduced, all of the big 3 did something similar, it was to beat the "light duty" emission rules. Ford took an F250 and downrated it, GM's "heavy halfs" just had beefed up springs. Example, F100 in 1977 had ball bearings for the rear wheels, F150 had roller bearings, same 9" rear. Mine came with a 300 and C4 so had a 3.25 gear. My trailer guy is a Chevy/GMC guy, and he is the one who told me that. I did have to stick a pair of helper springs to level it, but had the adjustable shackles all the way as slack as they would go, then it rode level with the camper in it. I had the camper special 390 in mine, and I designed a dual system that went down the right side and out on a 45° angle, also built a slide out rear bumper system for it.

I used to have a Wolverine 11.5' slide in camper I hauled in my 1977 F150 (after I swapped in the 390 and C6). I towed our 1981 Omni behind on a tow bar (it was a 4 speed) that way we didn't need to break camp to go somewhere. We went from tent camping to a popup, then the slide in and finally a 30' Wilderness 5th wheel with a slide out living room and dining area. Current wife's idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn Express.