Rembrant

I've heard about this enough with old trucks and cars I went out and bought a good quality fire extinguisher to carry with me. Thinking about buying one for the passenger side also;). Good luck getting her fixed up.

I have the large port in the back supplying the vacuum to my brake booster. The side timed port supplies the distributor vacuum advance, and then I have the two 45* angle ports at the base in the front...one small, one large. The large one I have connected to my PCV valve, and the small one goes to my air cleaner. That's it for vacuum lines on my 302. I can take some pics no problem, but see below some pics from one of my Holley carb books. I have 3 of these for coffee table reading, but mine is connected as per these pictures. Mine is just a basic 4160 with vacuum secondaries and electric choke.

Well that's interesting. My 4160 is relatively new...purchased only about 2 years ago, and it has the two angled barbs like the upper right hand picture above. I can tell you that the bottom barb on mine is full manifold vacuum as that is the port I used for my vacuum gauge when I was getting everything set up. I wouldn't be able to use it for the distributor in my situation as I would have full vacuum advance at idle.

Scott, I don't have a 460, but I have a complete de-smogged 302 with a Holley 4160 (with all the same vacuum ports as yours). The upper barb (above the mixture screw next to the sight glass) is the timed spark vacuum source for the distributor. The barb at the base is full vacuum. I have this one routed to the air cleaner. It is routed to the thermo valve first, and then to the green (CWM?), and then to the dual snorkel air motor/valves. I removed everything else.

Well that's an interesting theory. Anything is possible I guess. I don't remember ever hearing about similar issues with the 302, wouldn't the 302/351 blocks have been cast the same in this area? I've heard, anecdotally that the 302 will crack down the middle if you push them over 500HP, but I don't know where this crack happens. Anyway, I've heard about the 351 roller cracks enough to know it's an issue. Good point on people just discovering the cracks though. I too haven't heard of how they fail...just that they have found cracks. Interesting stuff.

Cool truck. According to that original order sheet it has a limited slip diff too. The fire departments sure did like those single wheel F350's. I'd rock it.

Ya, and I thought mine was heavy enough with the one spring.

That was when I was installing the engine...it's not quite that clean anymore, but it still looks OK from a few feet back...lol. One spring seemed like it was more than enough pull for me, so I just didn't bother with the second.

I have one of these kits installed on my 4160. It came with 2 springs, but I only installed one. I was trying to find a better picture of where I have it attached...had to zoom in here...in case it is any help.

I have one of these kits installed on my 4160. It came with 2 springs, but I only installed one.

Cool! Yes, my 302 has the partial VIN stamped in the same place as well. It seems to be completely random, but they do show up like this every now and then. I've done some reading on it, and according to some folks, these random engine VIN stamps were showing up in the 70's too. I have two really nice books on small block Fords, and there is no mention of these stamped VINs in either book. Still, they did pop up once in a while, so somebody was doing it on an assembly line somewhere. Any idea where this truck was built? We need to call Steve Magnante, he'll get to the bottom of this!!...lol. Sure would be cool if he did a show or a book on the Freewheeling and XLS packaged Fords.

Cool! Yes, my 302 has the partial VIN stamped in the same place as well. It seems to be completely random, but they do show up like this every now and then. I've done some reading on it, and according to some folks, these random engine VIN stamps were showing up in the 70's too. I have two really nice books on small block Fords, and there is no mention of these stamped VINs in either book. Still, they did pop up once in a while, so somebody was doing it on an assembly line somewhere. Any idea where this truck was built?

I've read about this issue previously. Out of curiosity, what do you do if you find a crack? Scrap the block? Before building (or, rebuilding) my '84 flat tappet 302, I did briefly keep my eyes open for a local 302 roller block to use. I considered a roller 351w the couple times they popped up for sale, but they sold instantly and were gone. I didn't even get a crack at them. Anyway...I ended up staying with my original block, it was basically still new anyway, but I did toy with the idea of a 351w roller.

What a sin, I just threw one away about a week ago. I would have given it to you for the price of shipping it.

Pffft, that's not expensive.... This is expensive...lol. https://www.ebay.com/itm/353050043586

I need to clarify my comments a bit, because we're probably on the same page. I'm also running 275/60/15 Copper Cobras all around, but our roads are worse than yours, and with the ruts in the asphalt, the wide 60's series tires track with the ruts badly...so on that kind of road (which we have a lot of) the steering wanders quite a bit. When I was running the truck with the stock small tires, it wasn't nearly as bad. My old man's Infiniti and my wife's Lexus are the same...winter tires no problem. Throw the low pro summer tires and wheels back on, and they're tracking all over the place. On smooth flat asphalt, they all track straight and smooth. The tighter RedHead box eliminated a lot of the wander, but the truck still tracks with the road (ruts) a bit. If I threw a set of 235/75/15's on it, it would probably drive perfectly. Mine handles corners pretty well. One thing with those Ford steering boxes is that most of the slop is when driving straight. Throw them into a turn, and that is where the boxes are still nice and tight. We have some pretty twisty roads around here, and I must say, my steering is solid while turning. Driving straight down the road though...it still does wander a little bit.

Ok, 235 75's are totally fine. I was just curious if you were running wide/low profile tires on the front like I am. They actually make the problem worse as the wider tires track with the road more. There is an adjustment procedure for the steering box, and it's very simple. I did it to mine originally, and it felt a little better, briefly, but then got loose again. I installed two new reman boxes before finally buying a RedHead box. I actually wanted the BlueTop box, but every time they had a sale on, they had no stock on the Ford boxes, and RedHead did, so that is all that drove my decision. I might try a BlueTop in the future. They do make a noticeable difference.

Great choice. I think the roller block 351w is the cat's ass. A friend of mine has a 1997 single wheel F350 parts truck with a 351w in it, and I would love to have it. Having built a nice little 302, my only regret still is that it isn't a 351w. Good choice. I have these exact heads on my 302. Some guys argue that the GT40 heads are all the same, but they are not. The Explorer GT40 heads do not have thermactor ports or the thermactor humps in the exhaust ports. They are a nice factory bolt on upgrade. The chambers in them are not small, so they don't offer much in the way of a compression bump, but they do flow nicely. My recommendation is to get a custom curved distributor from Parkland Performance (Scotty). You can send him yours, or buy a new one from him. He will set it up based on your engine specs. I'm quite happy with mine. Prices are reasonable imho.

I didn't see it in your list of items, but are you still running the stock "suggestion box"...I mean steering box? What size/profile tires are you running? I've done pretty much the same with my 1984 short wheel base. New everything...and I mean everything. However, with the stock steering box, these trucks just wander...that's kind of how they go. I installed a RedHead steering box, and it made a big improvement, but it's still not tight as rack and pinion or anything.

Well, it was almost a year ago, so I'm assuming he got it sorted by now, but you never know... http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Looking-for-someone-with-a-parts-truck-I-need-tp28535.html

Oh...has Pete been around lately? He was looking for one of these a while back and was having trouble finding one. I wonder if he ever located one?

Same as the one on my radio delete truck. I see later on, after 1986, they did away with the antenna delete cowl panel and just had a blank plate to cover the antenna hole if you ordered a truck with no radio.

I disassembled a 302 EFI engine from a 1985 F150, and it only had the inner piece of the two piece eccentric assembly installed from the factory. It certainly wouldn't make any noise that way, but I'm sure a 2pc would be fine. A lot of people go with electric fuel pumps for various reasons and leave the eccentrics installed. It's nothing that I'd worry about. Pic below of 1985 302 EFI engine: Pic below of 1984 carbed engine from my truck:

Neither am I, but I just happened to look at a 1983 with a 300 at the junkyard a few months ago, an both manifolds were missing so I had clear view of the temp sender. Otherwise I wouldn't have known. In any case, I'm anxious to hear the next chapter in this story now that the OP knows where to check. I imagine that sender is quite well hidden from normal view with a completely intact engine.

Gary, I agree on the stock gauges. They do work nicely if everything is set up and working correctly. After having some temp gauge issues due to an aftermarket sender I tried, I did a lot of testing with an IR temp gun, and the coolant temp gauge is quite useful. Same for the oil pressure gauge...since I had my engine broken in on a dyno, I knew my pressures cold, hot, and and idle, which all show differently on the factory gauge. They do have decent range. I've also had to replace the ICVR too. Now, I'd agree that the DC gauge is all but useless lol, and the fuel gauge can be far less than linear, but with a lot of patience and screwing around, I got my new sender to behave quite nicely with the stock gauge. Took more work than it should have, but it was worth it in the end.