StraightSix

That's going to be really slick! And with the engine internals and EFI you may not recognize your formerly stout truck for all of the improvment in driveability and performance.

EDIT - I cant seem to get the photo editor to work this morning. Ill try to add photos again later in the day. Hi Guys! Ive made a bit more modest progress on the truck. Jim was right about the clutch safety switch, an easy fix! Thanks Jim! I dropped a vacuum gauge on the engine and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was making 19 inhg at hot idle around 600 rpm. Moving on to brakes – the brakes on this truck are outright scary. The stopping distance from 30 mph is probably 3 full lengths of the truck. This will need to be remedied before the truck goes out on the road. I had been assuming that the idle vacuum was weak and that was the cause of the poor brake performance but with 19inhg at idle, I know that’s probably not the cause. I lifted all four tires one by one yesterday and tested to see in the brakes would lug the engine down in 1st gear. I tested the rear axle in 2 hi, then dropped the rear driveshaft and tested the front axle in 4 hi. It turns out that all 4 corners are doing something – they will all four lug the engine down in 1st or stop the wheels from 20 mph speeds on a dime with the clutch depressed (driver rear wheel makes about half a revolution, all of the others stopped dead). Atleast I know that all four corners are doing something. I don’t have a lot of break diagnostic experience. The pedal is soft, but it doesn’t drop to the floor on its own or anything like that. Part of this repair will certainly be bleeding new brake fluid into the system, but I want to diagnose the failure mode before doing that if I can. Is there a way to isolate parts of the system to narrow it down? Additionally, the Ebrake cables are loose and hanging so I need to address that. When I bought the truck the IAC feed was broken off from the main snorkel with a bolt plugging it up. After unplugging it, the engine seems to idle normally. It starts and runs at 900 rpm or so, then steps down to 750ish, then finally to 600 rpm. That whole process takes a few minutes. Just based on that, I assume the IAC is working somewhat normally. Im not sure why the PO elected to plug it off. Perhaps they didn’t understand what it was? The long term solution is to find a replacement for the plastic body that joins the main snorkel lines and this little feed line. Until I stumble across one of those I plan to make an epoxy repair so the engine isn’t getting unfiltered air. Hopefully today Ill be able to flush the coolant – of course Ill capture all of the original coolant for recycling. What is in the radiator has the consistency of antifreeze, but the color of river water. Before adding the new coolant to the system Ill replace all of the hoses other than the jumper from the pump to the block.

Vivek, no worries! I figure that was what you meant! Jim, thanks for the incredibly generous offer on the yoke, I was able to get mine apart without any trouble. Kroil and the air impact did the trick. Plus, I scored a nice cluster for $25 at the local pick and pull. I appreciate the offer though! I had a productive day yesterday on the truck. I finished rebuilding the rear driveshaft and got it hung back up. I installed a pick and pull gauge cluster from an 87-91 302 manual truck along with a new speedo cable. I now have a working trip odo, speedo (reads about 10% low), working factory tach, and the fuel and volt meters work. The oil and water gauges are MIA, but they didn't work on the old cluster. Perhaps the issue is elsewhere? Next I shifted focus to the drivers door. The mirror was missing it's glass, the door could only be opened from the outside, the wing window was frozen closed, and someone had installed a big aluminum lock plunger that was too large to go far enough into the door to allow it to lock. I replaced the wing window and mirror with pick and pull parts, then took the latch mechanism out and got it loosened up. The mechanism was frozen with rust, that is what prevented to inside handle from working. Ofcourse, it all went back together with a correct lock button. Finally, it got an oil change. For now I'm going to try out Joe Gibbs HR30. It's the oild I use for flat tappet protection in the Bronco. I picked up a gallon of redline MTL for the transmission but I haven't put it in yet. It seems that reviews are mixed, but the temptation of a gear oil pulled me in. Hopefully I'll finish out fluid changes in the next few days, then it'll be time to diagnose the terrible brakes. At that point it might be "road worthy"! Oh - it will no longer start from the key. If you put the key in run and jump the starter solenoid with a wire (battery pole to start pole), it fires right off. I assume my start wire is not supplying enough voltage to engage the solenoid. I need to find a friend to roll the key so I can measure with a volt meter. More to come on that.

Gary and Jim, Its good to know that the rattle I heard in neutral is not unusual, what a relief. Im still skeptical of the rebuild that the transmission has had, but maybe I can put that off until the truck has had some drive time. Is a whine in the input above 2000 crank rpm also common? the whine is not an alarming sound but I don't know if its typical. Fluid choice for the ZF5 seems to be much discussed with little or no resolution. I've read about folks using Mercon spec fluids, Redline MTL, and the Redline site recommends a product called D4 ATF for the ZF5. Coming from working on the top loaders my knee jerk reaction is to pour it full of MT90 but discussion of true gear oils seems less common for the ZF5. I'd gladly take recommendations and listen to the voice of personal experience. I plan to replace all of the fluids bumper to bumper in the next 100 miles. I know what I plan to use everywhere but the ZF5. The rear driveshaft is coming down for rebuild before the truck goes out on the road again. The driveshaft has a double Cardan which I'm not sure is factory. The 87 doesn't have one, and the length between the axle yoke and the transfer case output are the same. I'm not sure if its aftermarket or if Ford put it there but I plan to retain it. The U joints in the DC are both 1330s while the U joint at the rear axle input is a 1350. The bolts for the saddles retaining the driveshaft to the rear axle are STUCK. I even tried the hammer blow impact on them without getting them free. Im a little afraid to put the air impact on them because of how bad the problem gets if I break them. I guess Ill try heating the yoke with a propane torch at the bolt holes and then the hammer impact again. After that the air impact is the next option. Oh - one of the saddles on the rear axle yoke is loose, it flops around! and I found one crossmember bolt loose too. I hope that between those issues and the Double Cardan rebuild the driveline shake will be gone when it all goes back together. The 1345 is shifting smooth now! I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I didn't actually look at the shifter cane and notice that it requires you to pull the cane to the driver side to get out of high range. the 87s 1345 shifts with a straight pull to the rear, it didn't occur to me that the 88s 1345 would require the leftwards pull. doh. But it works! As a bonus the 4x4 and low range lights are working. Ive experienced the magic of the PMGR starter in the bronco, as soon as this one gives me trouble itll be replaced with a PMGR! Since my odometer is wrong, my gauges don't work other than fuel, and the cluster has to come out to install a new speedo cable anyhow, I have a few options. the 87 Cluster seems to feature a full suite of working gauges, and its just sitting there in the yard. Otherwise, Id love to have a factory tachometer. Ive seen 87-91 clusters with tachs but I don't know which vehicles they came in. I assume a diesel cluster/tach is not a good donor for a cluster swap. Vivek44, I did make the entire drive home in 2 Hi. Thanks man! By the way, all of your 460 related threads have been very helpful to me as I learn about this engine platform. Thanks for doing such great work and documenting it all here for everyone's benefit!

Hi Guys! project "One Piece at a Time" came to a hard left turn today with the addition of a second truck. the new vehicle is a 1988 F250 EFI 460 4X4 With a ZF5 and (oddly enough) another BW1345 transfer case. The gears are 4.10s. The Good - This truck actually runs!! I drove it almost 400 miles home from North Carolina. The interior is is pretty good shape, and generally it hasnt been ragged too hard or picked over. Of course, being EFI is a big bonus. It made about 11.5 MPG on the trip home too. The Bad - The truck has a lot of small issues. Ive already fixed some of them just by poking around in the fuse panel. The AC doesnt work. The speedo doesnt work (cable is dog chewed at the transfer case end). The oil pressure, volt meter, and water temp gauges dont work. The brakes are pretty weak. The engine has a lot of small issues like broken vacuum lines and something funky going on with the IAC valve. The exhaust pipe sheared off at the muffler inlet about 150 miles away from home last night, so apparently I need a new muffler. the truck has been through one of those $500 paint job places, it looks good from a distance but the gleam passes as you get closer. The rear tank has bad gas in it, and the condition of the tank beyond that was unknown to the previous owner. The Ugly - There is a pretty serious driveline vibration between 55-70. I found one loose crossmember bolt and the double Cardan is really loose. The transfer case is stuck in 2HI. finally, the PO told me that he had a local shop rebuild the ZF5. The evidence of those folks is all over the bottom of the truck - missing bell housing bolts, missing starter bolt, crossmember bolts lost and replaced with hardware store stuff. They clearly had the rear housing off of the ZF5 based on the RTV. The transmission has a wine in the input above 2000 crank RPM and now I can hear noise in the input when you let the clutch out with the trans in neutral and the engine idling. The plan - Nothing is set in stone, but I know I dont want to tear up that ZF5. They are hard to find. I dont plan to sell the red truck, Ill keep it for the driveline and as a donor vehicle for the bronco and the white truck. Currently, Im considering the merits of pulling the T19 and BW1345 out of the Red truck and putting them in the White truck so I can rebuild the ZF5 at my leisure. Between that and fixing smaller issues with the white truck I can make a lot of progress without spending too much money which is good since I just bought two trucks. Im hoping I can get to a good reliable running driveline and a cab with most of the amenities working this year. I wanted a fall project, it looks like I found it!

Hi Guys! I had another big win on the truck last night. I laid in my ebay engine bay harness, dropped in a battery, and most of the electronics in the truck are now live. I ran a single power lead from the (+) pole of the battery to the battery lug of the starter solenoid, and a single ground from the (-) lug of the battery to the base of the starter solenoid. So far, the headlights work, the cab dome light works, the gauge cluster is live (though the fuel gage is pinned to the right) the radio powers on and the speakers crackle, the AC Blower fan works. The windshield wipers and wiper fluid pump do not work, the horn is not yet hooked up, the pigtails for the turn signals are different so not hooked up, and Im not positive that the starter solenoid pulls in when you roll the key to the “start” position. The starter solenoid does work with a satisfying clunk when 12v is applied to the s terminal with a jumper wire. The wires running to the rear lights and trailer hookup have been butchered, so none of that is hooked up. Its amazing how the truck feels so much less like a carcass and so much more like a vehicle. Im hoping you all may be able to help me identify some of the remaining pigtails. I know that the harness came from an 87-91 460 manual transmission truck but I don’t know the year or EFI vs. Carb. I assume this may be the EFI harness since it doesn’t have the two wire pigtail for the DS2 box. From what I can tell, the 4 wire DS2 pigtail comes off of an extension harness that I don’t have but the 2 wire DS2 pigtail comes off the main harness. If anyone could confirm or deny that, it would be helpful. This two wire pigtail comes off the main harness right next to the battery. Perhaps they are grounds? Connector mounted on the waterbox – I have 3 wires going in on one side (2 black and one green) but only two black wires coming out on the other side. The blower works. Any ideas? These three pigtails on the driver side fender This 10 pin connector on the driver side fender Finally, I have an 8 pin round connector on the driver side wheel well, it only has 6 wires going into it. I believe this may be connector C344 in the 1987 EVTM ignition diagram for the 7.5L carb engine. Im confident that this connector carries the oil pressure and water temperature senders, somewhat confident that it may carry the tachometer signal and ground, and I suspect it carries the coil power if not the coil ground. I haven’t been able to find a pinout for this connector. Wire colors at the pigtail are black with green stripe, another black with green stripe, orange (or faded red), yellow, black with yellow stripe, and green with yellow stripe. I have a new male pigtail that will plug into this connector. If I can determine which wires are which Ill have everything I need to make a new engine harness and get all of the gauges and the ignition running. Of course, the tach wires and oil/water senders will be hooked up directly. If I can identify any hot in run/start signal (like coil power), it will be used as the signal to trip a relay that will power a fuse block, that will in turn power things like the ignition and a fuel pump. Jim, Thank you again for your consistent support and advice. Is that fuel flow rate for the fuel pump, or for the return line? Im still leaning towards an electric fuel pump, having a GPH number to shoot for would be really helpful! I think Ill plumb it in with a return regulator, it will be easier than figuring out how to demo out a fuel tank return line and it seems that it cant be a bad thing to have a return in terms of pump life and fuel temp at the carb. I recently installed on of the “cheap click clack pumps” on the bronco, and while you can hear it Im reasonably pleased with it. There is a spare in the back already made up with the fittings and harness pieces. If the one in service fails I should be back on the road in less than 20 minutes. Thanks for the input on exhaust. Im glad to hear that Im not nuts about sizing or arrangement. Simple is good for me. Ill focus in on picking a good muffler for the job. For some reason, I don’t get the idea “race truck” when I look at one piece at a time sitting in my drive way. Doing good electrical work really is a gratifying experience. Ive found that laying out a good infrastructure so that doing good work is easier than doing shoddy work helps keep me straight. I don’t think you and I are using the same hardware, but I recently rewired the bronco to run much of the aftermarket equipment off of a new relay and fuse brick, and I added a ground buss so that everything has a good clean non frame ground path back to the battery. Ill just start out there with this truck and skip the years of goofy wire splices. Jim! Why did you give away your harness building stash? I hope the recipient appreciates it! The parts are cheap on a per piece basis but building up a good harness building tools and materials inventory is not.

Jim, I hope so! Learning together is always the easy way. It may not look like much, but Im on top of the world. My donor harness arrives Wednesday. By then, I should have an evtm, the rest of my miscellaneous wiring supplies including relays and fuse blocks to duplicate what I did in the bronco, as well as all of the components to wire up the HEI setup. I hope to do top notch harness work that would make anyone proud; my early electrical work in the bronco was not excellent. I've since redone that, I hope to echo those lessons here. I'm hoping to have most of the engine bay amenities, a battery, and a working charging circuit by Friday. An assembled IGN system shortly thereafter. My 4180 rebuild kit came in today, so a carb/cold air intake rebuild/inspection may be next. At this point, I'm focused first on getting the engine to run and the electrical system reasonably sorted. To accomplish that, I still need: -radiator -fuel pump setup (may run out of a jerry can at first) -wire starter -exhaust -belts Once the engine will idle, I hope to be able to drop it in 4LO granny and get it into a workshop bay. That's where I'll feel better about things like timing chains and dropping fuel tanks. I'd rather not do invasive engine work outdoors if I can avoid it. Fuel pumps - I've been reading about the fueling systems in these trucks. I have a mechanical pump, so I assume I don't have hot fueling. Bummer, that seems like a well thought out system. After years of mechanical pump frustrations on the bronco, I know I want an electric pump. The easiest thing would be an aftermarket pump straight to the carb powered by my add on electrical architecture. I notice that my mechanical pump has three lines, two from the tank (single tank) and one to the carb. Did these have a built in return line? If so, plumbing in a regulator and return would be very easy. Does it hurt the modern frame mount fuel pumps to dead head them? Is a return regulator worth the effort? On exhaust - I'm considering paying a muffler shop to put an exhaust on the truck. I assume this will run me about $1500 in today dollars. I recognize that everything from the muffler forward may have to be redone with an eventual EFI conversion. As far as the sound or tone, I dislike droning noise and just want the truck to run well. Couldn't be less concerned with the sound so long as it's not unreasonably loud. With that in mind, is there a real benefit to a true dual exhaust? Is a crossover pipe useful? Is 2.5 to the muffler and a single 3 or dual 2-2.25 out the back sufficient? Even with efi and a fully built block, I still just want a truck engine that pulls below 4000. Thanks for following along! More to come this week!

He already has the chrome casting off of the lock cylinder. I think the flange casting the service manual refers to is the one the lock cylinder sits inside. Those are a pain to replace so prevent damage to them at all cost. Hi guys, I have the lock barrel out, and the new one should be here tomorrow. I'll try it out when it gets here, I think everything is still serviceable. Agreed, replacing the housing that the lock barrel and blinker assembly live in would be a huge pain I made this video detailing what I did.

I've just reviewed the instructions in the FSM link that Jim and Gary have posted. Essentially, the FSM seems to be instructing me to continue disassembling the colum until I have the flange casting in hand. After that, it only seems to say "remove lock cylinder assembly" and doesn't elaborate on how to accomplish that if the cylinder will not turn. Is it implied that you would drill out the cylinder at that point?

Hi Guys! I made modest progress today. I think at this point Im headed towards trying to get the engine/driveline running as is. I'll focus on not making changes that would be difficult or unlikely to transfer in the event of a cab swap. Parts ordered today include a full copy of the 1987 shop manual, a 4180 carb rebuild kit, hei module, canister style coil with similar resistances to an E coil, radiator hoses, and miscellaneous wiring supplies like relays, a fuse block, and wire. I think once these supplies and the wiring harness from Ebay arrive I'll have everything needed to get the carb, ignition and charging circuit in order as well as a lot of miscellaneous stuff under the hood. TDB on the starter and fuel pump, radiator and exhaust. I found an old power supply with a finned Al housing. A few minutes with the metal cutting bandsaw and I now have a small selection of heat sinks. I'll use one of the to mount the HEI. All of them are significantly larger than the factory chevy heat sink, I may actually cut one of these in half. I also made myself a crude steering wheel puller to help with getting the old ignition barrel out. The threaded holes in the steering wheel are 5/16 -24 fine thread. I got matching bolts as well as a 1/2-20 bolt and matching nut. The outside holes for the 5/16 bolts are 1-3/8" apart from eachother. The 1/2 bolt hole is in the middle. I welded the 1/2-20 nut on to the bottom because I don't have a 1/2-20 tap but I do have a mig welder. The steering wheel popped off much easier than I expected. Am I correct in thinking that if I drill out the retaining pin that is now visible (photo below), that the lock barrel will slide out? On an unrelated note, the clutch is dead. If you push it in, there is no resistance and then it cams over and springs into the firewall. The master cylinder has no break fluid in it but there is a fine coat of brown goo. Id rather not replace the master/slave cylinder if I can avoid it, I doubt that you can buy service parts as good as the originals and if you can Id rather spend the money on the brakes. I'm hoping there is a way to flush the master/slave cylinders with a light solvent and then refill and bleed with brake fluid. Perhaps Diesel or Kerosene? Is this a bad plan?

Jim, unfortunately my donor harness doesn't seem to include the DS2 harness all the way out to the ICM/Distributor/coil. Years ago in my bronco build thread, you shared photos of your trucks factory DS2 setup. Those photos show a round 8 pin connector, black with red inside. My donor harness has that connector. Im guessing that in 87, the DS2 ignition harness plugged in through that connector, but in previous years the DS2 plugs were hard wired into the harness. I say this becasue my bronco doesn't have the round 8 pin that my new harness and your photos share. I say all of that to say that I dont think I actually have a DS2 harness even with the purchase of the ebay harness. I perceive that wiring in an HEI from scratch will be no more difficult, possibly cost less, and I havent really had great luck with DS2 ignition boxes so far. I've had motorcraft, napa, and advanced boxes. I'm glad yours has served so long, it's worth it's weight in gold! My trucks original box is there, but the hooligan cut the wires off close and it looks like the potting has melted out and run down the fender.. Points on the 5 pin and using a DS2 shell noted.

Hi Guys! Ive found some good parts. I have a replacement ignition/door lock set (aeronose style) in the mail. I snagged an engine bay harness off of EBAY for $100, it runs from the C202 connector under the brake booster and seems to be the main harness for the engine bay. I think the provisions for ignition and some other portions of the harness may be disconnected from this harness by plugs, but Im hopeful that this will make it easy to get headlights, the starter, and other odds and ends running. even if I still have to make some legs of the harness, I think this was a big win. I have a 4180 rebuild kit (holley 3-1346) in my summit cart. Id like to purchase an appropriate HEI module and coil while Im at it. Im not terribly sharp on electronic ignition, but I know that I need to match the coil to the HEI. Id rather have a canister coil style if possible so I can just slide it into the factory bracket instead of needing to work out how to mount an E coil. I plan to use the original DS2 distributor and factory style wires/plugs. Does anyone have a good grasp on coil selection for HEI? I can find scrap material for a heat sink, and I feel pretty confident about making/modifying the harness Ill need from what I have. I do have some concerns about feeding the coil+ and module+, but that can come later. My exhaust pipe confusion is making much more sense now. I may just need to bite the bullet and brink the vehicle to a muffler shop, atleast to make a collector. I can handle it after that I think. more to come. Salans7, Thank you. I think Ill head your advice and focus in on 87-91 cabs. as I continue to chip away at the truck as is my focus will trend away from driveline donors and toward cab donors. straight (enough) sheet metal is unusual but not unobtainable.

Thank you Jim. Coming to a new platform is like drinking from a fire hose, your info and knowledge is extremely helpful. Thanks for helping me get my expectations on fuel economy in line. I'm looking for a factory fit y pipe for this engine and struggling to find a P/N. I had just assumed walker would make a y pipe. I can fit everything from there back, but making a Y is probably beyond my fabrication limits. Does anyone know off hand if such a y pipe is made, or possibly have a P/N?

Thank you all for the ideas, your experience with these vehicles definitely shows. It sounds like I need to do some research on HEI ignition swaps. on the factory carburetor - Ive read around on this forum and on four eye pride, it seems like this carb is essentially an annular booster vacuum secondary 600. From what I can tell, the carb is desirable for low rpm truck use, and in conjunction with the EGR and factory timing hopefully it will be able to produce double digit fuel economy unloaded on the highway. I have read that the rebuild kits for these carbs are no longer made with the 2 stage power valve being difficult to obtain. Does anyone know if a standard rebuild kit for a 1850 will supply the correct gaskets and small parts? Is there an option for a replacement 2 stage power valve, or do I need to plan to run a single stage? I recognize that a lot of the value of this carb is in the factory settings, but are there any factory settings/emissions features that are worth defeating during a rebuild? I think I read that the idle mix cannot be adjusted on these. Ill focus my efforts on factory manifolds. If I have to rerun portions of the exhaust when the EFI heads come along down the road, that can just be a part of the plan. I know that I want to use the factory EFI intake, heads and manifolds. I still have a lot to learn about EMS. on cab interchange - will 1980-1991 cabs all swap readily? I assume that putting an 87-91 dash in an 80-86 cab and front clip would not work because of issues with harness compatibility. I vastly prefer the looks of the bullnose trucks, and it seems that most of the difference is in the hood and front clip. can a bullnose front clip be installed with a bricknose cab/fire wall? because I have a good dash and interior for a bricknose, Ill probably focus my efforts on those years for cab donors. what do you all think about priming the oiling system before running a compression check? Salans7 - how did you accomplish your front axle swap to 4x4? I need to find your thread! Thanks!

Hi Guys. Now that the truck has been here for more than a week and I've had some time to look at it, I'd like to share some thoughts on where this is going. The driveline is good, it spins from the balancer to the rear axle cover. It's a desirable driveline that is quite possibly ready to run. I hope to conduct a compression test soon. If I make this driveline run as is, I'll rebuild the factory carburetor and attempt to have the EGR function. Ofcourse, Ill use the DS2 with the factory curve. I'll likely eliminate the air pumps, they are locked up and the exhaust needs to be redone anyways. The DS2 harness is mostly gone. I don't mind putting the DS2 setup back on but I ultimately swapped to an MDS 6AL on the bronco to get away from issues with DS2 boxes. Im skeptical of the modern production ICMs. I dont mind dropping the cash to put an MSD setup in this truck, but the end goal is fuel injection. Anything I do that is expensive needs to be inline with the fuel injection goal. It seems like an HEI module with the DS2 dizzy might be a more cost effective way to make this engine run for the next 10,000 miles. Before doing the compression test, would you all pull the dizzy and use a priming tool to prime the oiling system?? The truck has been sitting for 5+ years. The frame is good. It has some rust, but its all surface rust. I wire brushed the frame clean in the bad spots and I'm fine with what was underneath. I've been working on a design for a light duty 6'4"× 8' flat bed specifically designed to compliment the load capabilities of an 8600 gvwr truck. The bed, as designed would weigh 740lbs with a 1/8" steel deck. Thats about 250lbs more than the factory bed, gate and bumper. For me, "One piece at a time" needs to be a flatbed. The cab has deep dents and a lot of surface rust. Im leaning in to building this driveline and frame, but with a different cab and front clip. Hopefully the donor truck will come with a good wiring harness. Ofcourse, if I stumble on a good deal on a 250/350 with an efi 300 or 460, Ill buy that truck. Otherwise, anything with clean sheet metal from 87-91 seems like a good bet. I need to run a new exhaust. I have both factory manifolds, but the passenger manifold has one broken stud at the collector. Ive considered pulling the manifold to machine out the broken stud, headers, and a new set of factory manifolds. Everything downstream of the manifolds is gone. If I run a new exhaust, Id like it to be compatible with EFI 460 factory heads, but I know the exhaust port shape is different. The carb setup is worth fixing to me, but its temporary. What would yall do? Thanks for listening to my ramblings. - John