Rembrant

Thanks for the info Rick. I still have the original smog pump bracket, but I cut all of the upper parts off of it. I may make a custom coil mount that sits on top of that bracket...we'll see. It's low priority at the moment, but I am contemplating installing a different carb and if I do that the coil is going to need to move.

That's good to know. Mine runs right in the middle of the "M" when cruising, and in the middle of the "R" at hot idle. I think that's pretty good, but it IS a freshly built engine. I seem to recall them telling me it was at 55 psi during my dyno/break-in day.

This is a lovely looking truck. My only comment is (before Reamer gets here...hehe) is that the chrome fender trim does not match from front to rear, and it's irrelevant anyway as the Flareside never had chrome trim on the wheel arches (It was added, obviously). The front trim looks like the original Ford pieces, but the rear ones are aftermarket. Still, it's a great looking truck, and with a 300/6 and NP435 it's a nicely optioned 4x4 Flareside (imho). AC would be nice though....

I've seen some SBF's with the coils mounted vertically in front of the head(s) if I recall correctly? Was there a Ford bracket for this install on a Non-AC 302, or was it something homegrown by the owner?

I quite like that cab combo with the short bed. It looks good and will look even better with a fresh coat of paint on it;).

Welcome aboard! So is the truck a 2wd? The lift looks great. Well done.

I haven't done anything to my truck today, but the mailman just dropped this off! I also picked up a new carb spacer and new gaskets this morning, so that will be this evenings project. I have a feeling that I have a vacuum leak under the carb, and I will explain more later after I take it apart. Anyway, some good reading material for the long weekend! (Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!). I already have a couple Holley carb books, but they're more on general information and rebuild basics. This one gets into tuning and I need all the help I can get.

I think so...if not it's somewhere in the ballpark.

I have one bung only on the RH exhaust bank, just down a bit from the shorty header. I asked them to install this when I had the dual exhaust installed, but I didn't give them any instructions other than I needed a bung for later. Hopefully it does the trick for some basic testing? I need to start another thread on tuning as I'm having some issues and I'm starting to get confident that they're fuel related. Anyway, I picked up an O2 sensor thread chaser this morning and a new plug since the old one was very hard coming out a ruined the threads (on the plug, not in the bung hopefully).

Rick, Out of curiosity, what spark plugs are you running in your 302? I would think our engines are fairly similar. I know you're running Thumper E7 heads and I'm running GT40's, but overall they'd be similar. I'm running Autolite 764 plugs, and I chose those somewhat randomly by reading online what the guys were putting in the SN95 Cobra cars.

Ok, so I just ordered this same AEM O2 sensor/gauge kit. The cheaper kit of the bunch should be fine for what I'm doing. If I can't get this carb tuned the way I want it the truck will be getting an EFI swap pronto!! I need to start another thread on carb/AFR tuning....

DOH...apparently I missed it too. In any case, it will be curious to see what it goes for. I have the Terrapin one in my truck and it's doing the job.

I was looking to paint it like the factory did but too much work so the plan it to get reflective letters as I think the back nerds more to be seen in the dark. I leave for work anywhere between 12am and 7am when it is still dark out, at work now, so the letters should do that. Other than the picture, I have not looked at the grille & head light doors since I painted them. It was the last thing I did and called it a day. On the grill & doors they should be replaced. The chrome on the doors are showing wear and 1 has a Crack thru the chrome but no money so we do what we can. What I painted on the doors was where the factory painted and cleaned the rest the best I could. Grille painted to match the doors. Dave ---- Weren't the original letters decals? My '84 had old cracked and weathered decals for the tailgate letters. Again, maybe this is something that changed over the years? I bought the ones on Ebay and they fit and went on nicely. My originals were white also.

OK, some interesting findings, I guess... I went on Rock Auto and looked at the various coils available for my 1984 F150 w/302 and in the OEM replacement group there were basically two to choose from. Standard Motor Products (The blue one) and United Motor Products (Black, like the original). I called both manufacturers, and they both told me that their coils were oil filled. The interesting part is, the guy at Standard told me that the oil filled coils cannot be mounted horizontally. They must be mounted in the vertical position. The guy at United said sure they can be mounted horizontally, Ford did it that way for years. NBD:nabble_smiley_grin:. So, I thought why not, I'll swap in this new oil filled coil, even if only temporary to see if it makes any difference. Low and behold, my original Ford coil is also oil filled (it sloshes a little bit) and IT has been laying on it's side for 35 years...lol. Interesting I guess, if nothing else. At the end of the day, the new aftermarket coil is on there, and if it made any difference in performance, it was too small to notice. I may stick the original back on and keep this one for a spare. I checked my original while still installed (and when hot) and the primary side reading was 3.0 ohms, which is out of spec. The output side was showing approx 9600 ohms, which seems OK. The new coil, cold, was reading 3.0 ohms on the primary, and 11,880 ohms on the output, so not much difference between the two I'm afraid. I think I'm just skinning my knuckles for the sake of skinning knuckles...

Ray, That was my assumption when this part was discussed previously, that it was somehow used as a registration point on the assembly line. It's certainly nothing fancy. It just looks like 2" square steel tubing, cut on a 45 on the top, and with a hole in the bottom...presumably so it can drain. It doesn't appear to have been painted or finished in any way...

Those bed bolts appear to be the aftermarket ones from Mar-K? Did you replace them? I used I believe a #4 Phillips with 3/8" drive...with a broken tip no less. I think a #3 will work in a pinch, but they're even bigger than #4 anyway... You could call Mar-K in Oklahoma and ask them what size you're supposed to use on their 1/2" bed bolts.

Looks like one of the previous owners of this truck had an auxiliary fuel tank in the bed at some point? That little fuel line sticking up through the bed wood...when you look at the pics from inside the bed looks like the hose is plugged and has a hose clamp on it. I'd personally have a good look at that hose and either remove it or ensure that it cannot leak. Long live the last Ford OG Flaresides!!

It's like the factory 3pc plywood bed floor from late 1982 to 1987, lots of people say that Ford didn't do that either. But back to the square steel tube bracket...not only was it installed by Ford...it was part of the design (in case anybody thinks it was added after the fact). I installed the new Ford bedsides on my truck, and they had the extra 2 square holes on the left side for this piece. You can see this part on my original 1984 bed below: I have no idea what the thing is for though...lol. Here are a couple pics of my new bedsides...and the holes for the steel bracket were there, stamped in the original panels. Interesting I guess. Be cool to find out what that stupid thing was for.

That's a smokin' deal considering it's a NOS part. Terrapin has stopped producing them and the Bronco Graveyard one is $70 or $80 bucks I think?

I guess I'll have to look around for an epoxy filled coil....hmmm Do you know of any brands that are off hand?

Looks like the original cab...it has the Flareside filler panels in the corners above the steps.

That would be me, yes. In my case the truck was already equipped with a hydraulic clutch, so it was an easier swap for me. My existing driveshaft fit as well as my existing speedo cable. I also have a 3.08 rear diff, so it's nice on the highway with the OD, and of course I still have 4th gear, so I can leave it there and get the same 1:1 ratio as a 4spd or a 3spd if I want to. To make mine look more old school, I grafted a curvy NP435 shifter stick on to a Mazda shifter socket, so the truck will look like a factory 4spd when it's all done. I personally haven't had any issues with the hydraulic clutch, but I don't drive the truck much either;). If youre wanting to stick with the original mechanical clutch linkage then I get it. I was just curious if a 5spd was an option or not. Carry on.

My new coil is clearly oil filled. Of course there were no instructions with it, but while looking at other coils on Summit, I did see a note saying that oil filled coils can only be mounted in the vertical position. Is this true? The stock coil location on my '84 302 is horizontal on top of the intake in front of/beside the carb. Any comments from the experts?

Not considering a 5spd at all? The ones from the 1988-1996 trucks are very easy to swap in, and everything pretty much bolts right up with little or no modifications.

Gary, Good call! I disconnected the vacuum advance, and the engine runs much better without it. I think I knew this, and forgot...lol. I did play around with it last year and I knew it wasn't right, but then the truck sat basically for a year, so I forgot that I needed to deal with the vac advance. I will work on this, but glad to know that is at least part of the problem. A friend came over tonight to help me with a compression test and timing checks. Base timing is still good and solid at 12 degrees BTDC. The centrifugal advance is still 20 degrees and it's all in by about 2800 RPM. The increase is not as smooth and gradual as I'd like it to be, so I must read up on this a bit and see what can be done with the springs. It's a bit of a flat curve that ramps up sharply at the end, and I'd rather it be more like a straight line if that's even possible. Compression looks pretty good I think. This was with the engine hot, all plugs removed, and throttle tied open. I never did do a base line test on dyno day, so I didn't know where it was. #4: 177 PSI #8: 170 PSI #3: 170 PSI #7: 170 PSI #2: 177 PSI #6: 170 PSI #1: 178 PSI #5: 168 PSI The biggest spread is between cylinders #1 and #5, but still reasonable. I don't know what is the allowable deviation. I must go read up on that. I know my 302, in it's original form was only about 150 lbs compression, but it was more even across all cylinders. Oh, and I found #4 spark plug to be loose...not sure if that was a problem yet or not. Haven't test driven it yet;). Oh, and I checked exhaust temps at the headers next to the heads, at idle, and they were mostly in the 265F range. They kind of varied a bit, but mostly in the 250-285F range. Cylinder #5 was the coolest of them all coming in at only 225F, but it also turned out to be the lowest in compression (I believe cylinder #7 was the hottest). I think I need to finally bust open the piggy bank and get myself an AFR gauge. I think as you suggested I've had too much advance and too little fuel.