"Rocky" - 1981 F250 Restoration

Going to be awhile before I have more progress to report. We were very close to the recent fires in Boulder, CO and while our house wasn't affected, we have friends/family that were. In addition to helping out those folks, we had a cold snap and 8" of snow, and "Rocky" is parked in the driveway. It's hard to work on the truck when it's 5F and snowy. But don't worry, we're all fine, I'll post back here the next time I get a chance to actually do something. Hope everybody had a happy holiday and new year.

Sorry about your friends, but happy to see that you and yours are safe.  That was a horrible thing to have happen.  

So I fully understand the need to turn your attention to help them.  Plus you don't want to be out in that weather!  It is already down to 16F here in the Tulsa area, and just walking to the shop will get your attention.

Take care!

Thanks, Gary. I'm pretty "hot blooded" in terms of generally tolerating the cold but working with cold steel parts and tools is another story! Definitely a lot less fun.



Forgot to post this earlier, but in the interests of completeness I did complete one small task recently, replacing the front head- and marker-lights. I didn't want to mess around with LED headlights because they can be such a mixed bag, so I just got new Sylvania's, but I did spring for the XtraVision, which seems to be worth the extra few bucks.

Above is the before and after, I don't need to say which is which.  The difference is a little exaggerated because I have the Hi beams on here, and I was pretty certain the Hi filament was burnt out in both bulbs, but still, definitely worth it. I didn't have the patience to try aligning them. My driveway is a fairly steep angle and it was too cold to be messing with calculating angles and taping up my garage door. My #1 priority is getting the truck running again, so for my next few tasks I'm triaging and only doing "blocker" items. I'm just going to hope it's close, reassemble the grille, and get on to other things.

One thing I learned that I didn't pay attention to before is I guess I have the "Dual Horn" option. It's one of those little things not high on the list to look for but I have the one you can see here and a second inside the front grille itself. The EVTM lists these as "LH" and "RH" but they're right above each other. They both look like stock/OEM parts but the wiring has been butt-spliced so maybe somebody messed with it a bit.

It's a small detail but an important one now because I'm thinking through my winch install. I want to fit it as tight into that space as I can, and relocating the horn will help. Based on some initial measurements, I think if I don't go crazy with a 15k winch, I can get a 9000 or so in there while still fitting the stock bumper on with maybe 1" bushings to offset it forward. If that works I'll cut a hole behind the license plate for the fairlead (I'll spring for a synthetic partly to reduce maintenance since this will be rarely used, and partly because Hawse fairleads are more compact) then put the license plate on a hinged mount.

I have no idea if this is all going to work out but it's a fun simple fab project that I think is about within my ability and could look pretty nice if I don't botch it...

I have a heated shop, so I've forgotten how bad it is to work outside in the heat or the cold.  Good luck!

But I applaud you for not going with LED headlights.  To me they don't look "right" on these trucks, and any that put out the correct light are very expensive.  So I think you did well with your choice.  But, do you have a relay setup?  I've forgotten.

On the horn, assuming you have one of each the second one really improves the sound.  But they are marked so you might look - although getting to the top one isn't easy in some cases.

And I agree that a winch through the stock bumper is a cool way to do it.  I've seen pictures of people who have done it and if I didn't have the Warn winch bumper I'd have seriously considered going that way.

I replaced my headlights with same as you.   I agree with Gary about finding appropriate, safe LED headlights.  

I would LOVE to have a set of GM horns like out of a Buick or Cadillac.  The multi tone BIG sounding horns.  That stock Ford horn is wimpy.  My mom's 78 Granada had same horn.   Seems weak.  And no fun.  

Stay safe with those fires, I hear there is a search going on for a suspect that may have started it…

I feel you pain working outdoors. I have all but halted work till the spring. Snow on the ground and sub freezing temps.  I really need to finalize my shop plans!

The locals here all "know' who started it - there's a religious group (they call themselves Christian but if you read up on them there's no way you can convince me they're not a cult) there that's caused trouble before. There's video footage of the fire being in their barn before it spread elsewhere. They've got search warrants already and they're investigating it now. https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/02/marshall-fire-origin-twelve-tribes/ I'm all for a fair and accurate investigation before making any judgments, but nobody will be surprised if that gets confirmed. Plenty of folks I talk to hope this gets them shut down / disbanded for good. If you google "12 tribes" you'll find a lot of pretty creepy history on the group.

Back on better topics, I ordered a garage heater today, one of the typical propane units you're all familiar with. I've used them before in the past, but sold my pair when I relocated to CO. I don't know why I didn't think to get one again before now, but they help a lot so hopefully that will "unstick" me.

As for the horn, am I crazy to be tempted to get one of those programmable ones that have a variety of different sounds? I basically never use my horn in "anger or danger," I'm just not mentally wired for it I guess. But maybe it would be fun to put in something more interesting, like one of those "Ooga" horns... Any laws against having a standard horn sound?

Next challenge: convince my wife to let me use the garage for a few weeks for the camper rebuild. I don't want to do it at the storage unit (too far and too windy), or in the driveway (HOA - just barely getting away with this truck work as it is). I just measured, and it won't fit in the garage WITH her car so I guess I have some salesmanship ahead of me. Wish me luck guys!

I too went with the Sylvania XtraVision headlights. Like Gary, I just don't like the look of some of these LED head lights on our trucks. Those headlights made a huge difference for me. I also did the headlight harness mod and if you have not done that yet, you really should. Quite an easy mod that will protect your electrical circuitry.

Curious what you went with in regards to your propane heater?

Stay safe and warm!    

Machspeed wrote

I too went with the Sylvania XtraVision headlights. Like Gary, I just don't like the look of some of these LED head lights on our trucks. Those headlights made a huge difference for me. I also did the headlight harness mod and if you have not done that yet, you really should. Quite an easy mod that will protect your electrical circuitry.

Sorry, I didn't really respond directly to that question. I did do the relay harness upgrade. It seems to help but I don't really have a frame of reference - I'm not exactly testing my lighting objectively.  Just throwing every "this $20 mod helped other people" into the bucket and figuring it's all worth it in the long run...

Machspeed wrote

Curious what you went with in regards to your propane heater?

I'm going to give this Dura-Heat TT-360 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EFKURHW a try. In the past I've always used this other style: https://www.amazon.com/HEXAGO-Adjustable-Portable-Propane-Heating/dp/B09DFP94TT and they work fine but my wife is hosting some science co-op programs for the kids this school year and since this pandemic is dragging on we've been using the garage for the meetups to give folks some room. The cannon-style ones work really well (I used to heat a 20x40 aircraft hangar with two of them) but you don't want to stand anywhere within 6' of the front of them. We'll see how this other style works.

Big progress today. First, a small but nice thing. I got my new lug nuts from lugnutguys.com, the only place I was able to find all 3 combinations I needed in the same "lug nut" style (9/16-18 RH, 9/16-18 LH, 1/2-20 RH). Out with the old:



In with the new:



Funny how some things hit you in odd ways. This truck has not been driven since I parked it in my driveway to start restoring it. You can see some dust/dirt... but also lots of white specks.

That's ash. From the fires.

...

Anyway on a bigger note I started reinstalling my panel. It went really well but if any of you have pulled yours, you know it's a big job. Nothing ever seems to line up right, the wiring harness is always pushing back at you, etc. With the ARA aftermarket A/C, it's SUPER tight back there and you have to work the dash back into place a little bit at a time, coaxing each side or spot that's binding to go a little further.

I have it mostly in place and screwed in, but didn't install any trim pieces yet. I need to do some final wiring hookups for the climate control and stereo, and I'm waiting for a new wiper switch among other things (I broke my old one). But this will at least let me start doing some integration testing, like the brake controller (I'm falling in love with this REDARC, it looks really nice on the dash, see the driver's side photo below, it's just to the left of the turn signal lever) and instrument panel lighting.

 

The lug nuts look great!  I just checked their site and may order a set from them.  Their prices a very good.

On the ash, that is such a huge tragedy.  I cannot get my head around that.  

On the dash, yes it is a lot of work to get everything in place at the same time.  Lots of wires going everywhere.  But zip ties and patience got mine back on.  Good luck!

Change of subject. Got a new problem, or maybe two, now. Maybe related.

I just took a chance and started it for the first time in awhile. It took a few seconds of cranking but it's cold out and hasn't been run in a month so I wasn't surprised. When it started I was pleased to see my tach worked immediately so that was a bonus.

I let it run for a few minutes but noticed two new problems.

1. When I hit the gas, the pedal is VERY stiff. Like, I had to stomp on it as hard as I could just to get it to rev to 3000rpm. It felt like the pedal or the linkage was stiff or something like that. I was very careful not to touch the pedal or linkage while working on the dash, so I'm pretty confident I didn't do something stupid like drop a screw into the hinge or whatever. And I haven't touched the engine at all, other than adding the headlight relay - nowhere near the carb. Is there some kind of common "stiff gas pedal" thing I should know about, whether an issue or something I may have caused?

2. If I put in neutral and let out the clutch, it "ticks" very noticeably. It was not doing this when I first parked it. The sound is coming from the transmission (I think) and I did have THAT cover off, but only the top cover where the shifter cane goes in. I was careful extracting the alignment pin, I had cleaned the area before taking the cover off, and protected the hole with plastic while working on other things (before reinstalling the cane). I don't think anything "fell in".

An obvious guess would be a broken tooth and some metal floating around in there, but that couldn't have happened while it was parked, and I'm sure I was careful while it was in my driveway. The one common factor is that it's much colder now than when I first parked it so maybe there's some cold related issue?

Scratch the first one. I forgot, I did do one thing around the engine, just weeks earlier that I forgot. I replaced the air filter.

So I'm a newbie to carbureted engines (in cars anyway) so I don't know what this is called. But there's a hefty air tube (1"?) from the top of the valve cover up to a port in the throttle body. The way my tube is routed if you take the air filter off and put a new one on, that tube is so stiff it wants to rotate the base plate under the filter a bit counter-clockwise. When it does, the tube impinges on the throttle plate lever the linkage attaches to. Here you can see I've rotated it back to the left so there's clearance again:



It's a worry though. Any of you guys have a pic of a similar tube properly installed? I feel like this is a failure point, something that could easily vibrate its way around again and cause the throttle to get stuck. Biggest worry would be being on the highway and having it get stuck open. Is it supposed to be a different length, or tied to other things or something?

This may not look like your engines because this is that aftermarket Holley carb, but if you have any advice LMK.

That hose / fitting in the valve cover is factory and is the fresh (clean) air supply for the PCV system.
The factory air filter had a fitting on the side of the main housing and on the inside has a little "breather filter".

Because you have that aftermarket open air filter they put the supply for the PCV on the bottom.
If you have the factory air filter housing you could put that back on, it should fit the Holley carb, you could use it and not have that issue you have now.
OR
Get a longer hose, just make sure it is rated for oil & vacuum, and turn the base so it clears the linkage.

A picture of mine would not really help as I have a 300 straight six motor but it dose have that same hose from valve cover to side of filter housing.

Dave ----

Thanks Dave, that's super helpful. I feel like the simplest short term answer is a longer hose. Right now the hose is within a half inch of the right length. It's sort of exactly the wrong size, because it's "just long enough" to "cam over" to the right depending on how you hold the base plate of the filter as you tighten it. I think if the hose was even an inch longer, it would be forced to stay to the left, out of the way, and would never get a chance to switch to the dark side.

most factory air cleaner housings have a made-on tab at the rear which folds down beside each side of the secondary vent tube. it is there to locate the lower and hold it in the proper position. aftermarket ones often do not and that is why it can spin around. i used one on my last build like yours and the best i found was to put the fitting on the passenger side and ran a little longer hose. the hose swept neatly under the front bowl only a little forward, so it cleared everything

Now that you mention it... Is there anything sacrosanct about this air cleaner base plate? It seems like it would be simple to rivet on a small tab like the one you're describing - I have some stainless rivets right on my workbench from another project.

it's a great idea! my only caution would be to not use anything that could come loose and get drawn into the engine. aftermarket air cleaners need proper fitting. "Universal does not fit a damn thing"

Fair point.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2SpLzRPEM2R3bAJ79

With the throttle obstruction resolved it revs pretty well. Gary, this "bud's" for you - those are the HiPo LEDs in the panel that you recommend. They look great. The empty hole is my ammeter, out for the "Rocketman" voltmeter conversion.

Guys, I'm really counting my blessings here, and want to thank you all again for all your advice so far. I think I got lucky with this one. It had a dump truck full of issues but most were cosmetic. This thing obviously had some love before me. It's 25F out right now and it starts on barely one rotation, runs strong, has a new exhaust, passes emissions (if barely), and my wife actually likes it :)

Starting tomorrow I have all the "little projects" to start: parts will be arriving from all over over the next few weeks, basically everything I couldn't get shipped faster (without signing over Rocky's title!) Should be a lot of little updates and a busy few weeks.

The gauges look great!  Well, all save the voltmeter.  

And the throttle obviously works.  Engine sounds sweet.  Can't wait to see the incremental updates.