FuzzFace2

Does look good. On the ground I wanted to go with what the factory had and had to make my own cable. Right cable is the ground the left is the starter cable and is an insulated holder. Your right finder where will the jack go? On the head lights the HD part is relays right? If not I would do them difference is night & day! On starting the motor: Many many years ago when I had a shop with my dad a lot of our cars did not run unless you jumped them and that was a PITA even more so in winter. When I left my dad & the shop I said to my self what ever I had would run and not with a jump start. So on my project when the motor went back in I got it running as soon as I could. This way I could move it if needed but it made me feel like I got something big done on the truck. I also had to move the truck when working on the bed and fitting it on and off. Dave ----

Thanks for the run down on what was done. Lets say the motor rebuild it good, 125 across all holes I say is ok for an 1984 motor in my book. But sounds like you are still running the feedback carb & dist. and from what I have seen posted if just 1 thing is out of spec the system goes into limp home mode. This can / could hurt performance & MPG. The speedo reading 65 MPH when doing 70 MPH will also throw off the mileage and throwing off the MPG. Take it no tach so we don't know what RPM @ what MPH you have to see if in the sweet RPM range or not at a given speed / RPM. Mine w/T18 (non-OD), 2.74 gear, 235/75/15 tire at 65 I have 2300 to 2500 RPM, 70 MPH is like 3000 RPM. I hope with OD to get the RPM down to 1800 that is the sweet spot of the 300 six from what I have found. If you think the toe is off you can set that with a tape measure and get it close. Dave ----

Only thing to note is the wheel bolt pattern came in 2 sizes on the 9" depending on the year(s). I have 1 of each that came from 1981 trucks. Also besides the wheel bolt pattern the brake sizes are different between them. So if the wheel pattern is the same then guessing from what was posted you could swap the whole brake assy. from the 8.8 to the 9". Dave ----

I saw what you did with the column flange and then you said you were worried about body work welding I knew you had the skill before you started the body work welding part. As for cutting that inner roof out I bought a stud welding gun kit to pull dents. My roof looked like some one walked on it, used a screw in dent puller and then filled with body filler. Rust was under the filler and making it crack so it all had to come off and that is when I found the dents. They were so bad it bent the inner roof down. You can just make out the studs welded to the roof You are doing a great job Dave ----

And I thought 14 MPG I am getting with out OD was bad With out going thru all 16 pages maybe a little update what has been done to the truck so far that could have helped or hurt the MPG when trying to fix the "Lugging at speed/No power at WOT". 1984 would be a feed back system how much of that system is in place, carb & dist.? Have you checked the heat riser valve to see if it opens when hot, could be stuck closed? Running a cat? Maybe it is plugged? Between the 2 could be why you have no power and bad MPG could also make the motor run hot. Are you sure you have good numbers for the MPG part? Do you have a tach, what rear gear and size tire you running. Dave ----

The Siler City plant was in the news I think it was one of the plants workers got sick and was shut down for a bit. I don't know what other plants might have been shut down but I think the real problem was places that would take the products shut down backing up the product line then transportation for places that could use it. Dave ----

Got to love it when you try and help someone out and they know better Dave ----

I am running KYB's on my 81 F100 4x2 rwd and like them but I have not driven the truck with anything else. Dave ---- ps I got then thru LMC

I am one of them that does not like sea food cant stand the smell and don't tell me "if it is fresh it dont smell" as that is BS. I think it goes back when I was young me parents delivered sea food as part of their delivery service and during the summer it a non-AC van the ice would melt and smell up the truck till washed out at the end of the day. Do you think it is so cheap because the eateries are not open because of the virus and they were still fishing as if they were open? A few weeks ago chicken was that way down here. Because there were ready for market but no way to get them there so butchers / farmers were selling then in shopping center parking lots dirt cheap. Most of that was because the middle man was cut out but the farmers wanted to get something other wise they would have been killed and farmers would have lost $$. Dave ----

I'm not Cory but what I found on my truck. First do you know what ohm speakers your radio needs? Cory's are 4 omh's but think the factory radios use 8 ohm speakers but check your radio first. I don't remember the size of the speakers I installed but think 5.25". They do fit behind the door panel and you DONT use the covers that come with the speakers. Also know where the speaker fits in the door is recessed to give room between speakers & door panel. I have not tried to look thru the door grille to see if I see the speaker but I cant see where you would see it. My .02 Dave ----

I hope to have AC on my truck before it get to hot here but if not my Durango is the AC back up. I want to run 2 full fill ups, remember I have 2 tanks to run thru, before I say if the vapor thru the PCV hurt the MPG. Thing is I only drive the truck if I work and all last week I did not work. This week I don't know what is going to happen. I worked today but they are talking rain for the rest of the week so maybe no work? Dave ----

So I was not wrong on GCC being gone. I thought both Levine's where open at the same time when I was up there just did not know if the NC one had paint supplies so never went there. Yea the Norwalk store always treated me good. There is also a paint store close to the Norwalk store. Only been there once Paint Re-Finishers or something unless they went under also. Dave ----

On the heated intake give it a try worst that can happen is you need to add it down the road. Also how much you will be driving the truck when it cold out. As for the vapor I don't know how much "harnessing the energy" there is? It is mostly so the vapors don't pollute the air just like the PCV over the road draft tube. As long as the vapors, gas & crank case, are pulled back into the motor to be burned all is good. And the capping of the lines, that did cross my mind. I think the worst would be if I cant pull gas from the tank(s), non-vented cap, and run out of gas. At that point I will pull the gas cap or the plug in the line and rethink the system. Yesterday was a little test as I drove maybe 5 miles at 60-65 MPH and did not have any issues with the tank I am on. The real test will be when I go to work because 98% on the high way at 65+ MPH. Dave ----

I have used them both at one time. Is GCC still there? I want to say I went there to get supplies and either they were closed for some reason or gone. I remember when they were on Main St on the west side. So I started going to Levine's in Norwalk just before the RR tracks. Think they have one in New Cannon also but don't know if they do paint supplies? They were able to put paint in spray cans IIRC. They also helped me get spray gun cup adaptors for my Start line guns so I did not need to swap the adaptor between guns to use the Dekups. I always like to go local for supplies than on line, local can help if you run into issues and give you breaks on price. Dave ----

That does look nice. On the door panel paint color match. Have you tried a car paint supplier to see if they can mix the right color and if they can mix it put it in a spay can? I know at one time you could get the paint shop to mix the inside colors to use in a spray gun so that may be an option? Dave ----

I did not see any "Kid's", I am 60, most I think were around my age or in their 50's. I think a lot of not having younger people is they can not afford what we are into car / truck age wise. Look at what we can find 80 - 86 Ford trucks for and them look for anything cheaper and it will be FI and run by computer. I don't have anything bad to say about that but how much can be done that can be seen? The other is you see the car / truck on every corner, here it is Mustangs. You also have to look at how many of their parents are into cars & trucks. When we where growing up dad could and HAD TO fix his car or truck. Todays kids father most likely does not know much on fixing a car other than put gas in. I think a lot is because they were also sent to school so they would not be a low life grease monkey. I know I have not spent a lot of time with my son but coming from a car family he is into them and if he / we had the money he would still have his moms 76 Gremlin and a 73 Fire bird (low miles) my dad gave him. He does have a Jeep YJ he has done work on at my house for when he gets on his feet. Just my .02 Dave ----

On the hot/cold is he running a header or EFI manifolds? If so without making a tin shield to fit around the header tubes or manifold he could not have heated air. I am running EFI manifolds and I do have the factory filter assy. so it can pull warm air from that area but I don't count on it. I also have hot water heating the factory intake and it has not gotten that cold here since I got the truck on the road but no issues so far. As for the vapor line. Gary is right the factory had this system of electric valves and things but I was missing them on my truck and the parts truck came with no motor so I did the next thing and ran it like the factory just with out the valves. Link to the picture on my site so you can click on it to make larger to see. http://cars.grantskingdom1.com/index.php/1981-Ford-F100/20160606_165929 This is the one I followed from my parts truck as everything on my truck came from it at this point. Now I had a high idle issue where I could not lower it and tracked it to a vacuum leak and it turned out to be the vapor hook up on the PCV, it was pulling to much vacuum and caused the leak. As a fix I installed the smallest Holley jet I had in my "pit box" and I was able to lower the idle speed. That brings us up to this weekend. The MPG on my truck is pretty poor at mid to high 14's, hit 15 MPG only once and I got 4000 miles on the truck since November 2019. I am thinking that I might still be pulling too much vacuum from the vapor system and causing the poor MPG. I filled the truck up last week and has been parked as I had no work. Well Saturday I went to a cruise in down the road and hope to have work after the holiday so I cut the vacuum line close to the PCV and plugged it on both sides of the line and will run a bunch of tanks (remember I have 2) to see what I get for MPG. I can tell you the idle speed has come down a little bit so the vacuum still had to be too much. So if you do pull vacuum from the top of the PCV you will need to "throttle down" the vacuum being pulled at least for the idle speed part as I don't know of the MPG part yet. Good luck Dave ----

Man do I hear you on that one. I was able to take my truck to the company 60th birthday party that they had a car / truck / bike show back in November then nothing. But I do have to say the state has lifted a little more of the stay at home Friday. I was told of a cruise in not far from the house today put together for a car guy's birthday but he is in the hospital (not looking good) so they video taped it and took pictures and going to send them to him to hope cheer him up so off we went. The wife and I did wear our N95 masks the whole time, stayed 6 feet apart and being high 80's sweated my butt off. It was held at a burger joint so grabbed some burgers, fries and shakes and took them home to eat in cool AC. I was the only Ford pick up of any year, 1 - 50's and 3 mid 60's Chevy pick ups. Dave ----

If you can get heavy wall pipe you can make one think swing set with out the swings. They one I made I used to pull many a motor / trany combos and a few cab swaps. Dave ----

It sounds like you have done some home work at least on wheel base. I never looked into the rear suspensions on the cars but we are only talking 3 inches could the rear be moved back the 3"? I would say making the frame 3" longer is a lot of work but is another way of going. I take it you have looked over the Youtube videos on older ford trucks and how the CV front suspension was added to the trucks frames, that cant be done easily on ours because of the front frame. Then you have the CV fire wall & floor grafted into the cab of the truck this way you use all the CV dash & HVAC, floor to replace the trucks rusted floor. I would look them all up and see what way you may want to go or even use a little of each one. Just remember it is yours so build it the way YOU WANT IT! Dave owner of a 81 F100 flare side custom and I built it the way I wanted.

Love that Ford tractor bet you cant kill it compared to the new lawn tractors of today. Most of the smaller JD's come from the big box stores and hear that are crap, they break you toss them and get new. Have you tried on line for the JD parts? I had to replace the in tank fuel pump and found one on line a whole lot cheaper than the local JD dealer wanted. Also got the solenoid for the deck PTO on line. I do have to say the dealer did tell me how to go about checking the fuel psi because where JD put the port you could not tell if it was the pump or regulator that was bad. Dave ----

My parts truck had something close He wanted $300 for all 4 I could not say NO! fast enough http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/laughing-25-x-25_orig.gif He came up with steel wheels and dry rot tires so I could roll it on the trailer. Dave ----

What can be said that has not been said yet, vary nice. I can take that summer temp but not the cold & snow and even more so now that I have been down here for 5 years, we only get a little ice and everything shuts down. If I could find another bullnose (LB?) with a nice cab and that flare side bed for $300 was still around I would look into making an "express bed" flare side. Back in the day they made 3 different size flare side beds, short bed 6', long bed 8'and the Express bed that I think was 9' long. Ok so I would make a long bed flare side Bullnose. Dave ----

BR is the dash lights for diming BK (black)is a ground LG/Y power all the time memory W/P power with key to run & acc. Now I don't know what year truck you have as the colors on the truck changed over the years My 81 the BR wire for dash lights went to LB/R wire on the truck all the rest were the same colors. I cant help on if it does not work or how to fix as mine, from Ebay, worked when I hooked it up. Good luck Dave ----

It stopped raining first time in a week today and the truck being dirty I washed it and the wife's car being I had everything out already. Later I want to remove and plug the vacuum line off the top of the PCV that pulls vapors from the charcoal cans under the battery and the carb bowl vent. I think, I hope, it will make my MPG go up a little as it is always pulling vapors when the motor is running. I will run it this way for 2 or 3 fill ups to see what I get. Dave ----