"Hook 'em Up Loose" - 1986 F-150 Restoration/build

[Danny G]

By request, the build thread is started. Originally posted on the FTE boards

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1581088-restoration-project-1986-300-i6-4x2.html

I will truncate this one a but because that thread is several pages long.

Ok the introduction.

My grandfather was a mechanic, me I am a tinkerer with a background in aviation and quite handy. I think I get that from him. I was born in '85 and my dad had a 1986 Eddie Bauer Bronco, midnight blue and tan. I loved that "truck" I loved the bullnose body style and wanted to have both a pick up and Bronco in that style. I have about given up on the latter. I owned an 85 back in 2008-09 STD cab 300 with Granny. It was a beater but the funnest truck I ever had. Had to sell it (for $300).

Trucks of this era are slim pickings in SC and when they come up here they are pricey. You can probably pick up a rust bucket that "started when I parked it 3 years ago" for $4-5000.

I knew what I wanted, a truck in decent shape enough not to have to do major body rust repair. Standard cab, short bed, 351w or 300i 5speed manual if I could find it or AOD.

I had found it in NC in late 2018 but was sort on cash. I took a chance again in March and he had not sold it. A rust free, excellent condition lariat, loaded, powers by the 351w and with a unique bumper that had two hitch receivers. Interior was rough but I was ok with that. He wanted $3500. I took out the cash and made plans with the owner. The day before driving to NC I was still trying to get an address and he told me he sold it from under me the day before. Heartbroken the searched continued.

I found what appeared to be a decent shape 4x2 standard cab in VA. 300 six and what I understood was the AOD transmission. It had only surface rust and dings a dents. The owner supposedly fixed all leaks in the power train and had Benn up and down

the truck and it had no rust through. Having to bring my family with me, including a 11 mo the old baby I clarified over and over again that it was solid enough to make the drive home from VA to SC.

Long story short we bought it for $2800, it was raining and I couldn't get under it. It died 20 minutes down the road. The owners fessed up to lying about the vehicle. It had a charging problem. I was getting 11.5v! So with heat, lights and wipers I didn't last long. We patcher her up and played the charge the battery and go till it dies game back to Charleston.

Definitely learned my lesson on things to look for on this truck. The windshield was delamed, I though it was fog from the rain. The doors had no seals in them so it was like driving home in a tornado, but the consequences to that was the door seems were rusted through. Missed that. The read cab cross member is rotted out pretty good by the bodyount. Everything leaked if it had been sealed/gasketed he did it wrong. The last kicker was I did not see the rust damage to the driver's vent window. The frame was blown out.

All that said here are the pictures of the old gal. She made it home on prayer for sure. Left it running to gas up and got home parked it and she wouldn't crank again.

 

[Gary Lewis]

That's a nice looking truck. And alternator problems are fairly easy to fix. And you really did come in on a wing and a prayer!

But rust? Yipes! What parts are you looking for?

On the windshield, if you haven't replaced it be very careful when you do. The VIN moved some time after '86 and most companies want to install the later windshield. But the mask is wrong and you can't see the VIN. In fact, you have to remove the dash cover and use a mirror to read it. That can be a real problem when you sell the truck. Don't ask.

Anyway, I'm along for the ride.

 

[Danny G]

Step one - Addressing the monkey in the room, the charging issue.

In the way home I had both the battery and alternator bench checked. The alt failed on the truck but passed on the bench. Being an aviation guy with a background in electrical I immediately suspected bad wiring. I noticed some shoddy work on the harness between the alt and the starter contactor (selenoid/switch whatever floats your boat). And some bad fuse links etc. Those were the first to be replaced. Every wire repair I did was done with serviceability and longevity in mind. Every splice and connection was environmentally sealed, heat shrink, labels applied for connections and splices etc.

The old fuse link looked like this:

I found a lot of bad cuts into the harness and corrosion from poor troubleshooting practices and more importantly poor restoration of the harness after those practices. It all got replaced. After that the truck.idled and output was up around 13.5 at idle.

Damaging this jacket allows water to flow into the splice. The splices are molded so you can't see what's going on corrosion = impeadance.

Rebuilt harness, voltage at idle went from 12.4-12.6 to 13.55v.

 

[Danny G]

Step one - Addressing the monkey in the room, the charging issue.

In the way home I had both the battery and alternator bench checked. The alt failed on the truck but passed on the bench. Being an aviation guy with a background in electrical I immediately suspected bad wiring. I noticed some shoddy work on the harness between the alt and the starter contactor (selenoid/switch whatever floats your boat). And some bad fuse links etc. Those were the first to be replaced. Every wire repair I did was done with serviceability and longevity in mind. Every splice and connection was environmentally sealed, heat shrink, labels applied for connections and splices etc.

The old fuse link looked like this:

I found a lot of bad cuts into the harness and corrosion from poor troubleshooting practices and more importantly poor restoration of the harness after those practices. It all got replaced. After that the truck.idled and output was up around 13.5 at idle.

Damaging this jacket allows water to flow into the splice. The splices are molded so you can't see what's going on corrosion = impeadance.

Rebuilt harness, voltage at idle went from 12.4-12.6 to 13.55v.

I'm going to type this on the computer and then probably just edit in the pictures from ye olde phone.

After I handled the charge issue, the next issue was it dying when putting it into gear or hitting the gas. It would die. With some help from snooping this forum and talking to the guys at the FTE boards we settled on vacuum issues. And boy did we find... many. The big one being the charcoal canister being unhooked but also found several on the "tree" behind the carb just unpluged.

Part of my reason for the 300 six was its reputation as a simple, durable engine that will be left running when its just cockroaches and fall out left.

My favorite quote is from a guy I was talking to about his truck, in short he said he could throw his 300 off the golden gate bridge, fish it out 10 years later and it would crank up and go to work. My friend has the sister truck to mine. Built on the same factory line in VA in the same month of the same year. Mine was chestnut, his was Blue, but in rough shape and no AC. He pulled that truck from a field where it had been sitting for more then a decade, hit it with some fresh gas and ether and drove it out of the field. My dad had the EFI version of the engine and the only thing that ever went bad was the thermostat.

With that said, part of the allurement of the 300 was it was mechanical and simple. I have never timed an engine etc and still need to learn BUT this is where I learned the truck has a computer.... queue shocking music.

I am focused on getting the truck restored and running to factory specs so I have clean slate knowing what is what. Modifying something like this when it already is out-of-sorts will just inevitably lead to head pounding frustration. I think my future plans included deleting the computer and reverting to mechanical only function.

I worked to plug all the holes and replaced bad vacuum lines with new silicone lines. I found these extra hoses on my carb, I think the previous owner may have replaced it with he wrong carb. I have yet to fully understand where these lines go on my feedback operated engine.

A couple of the silicone lines are visible here. I bought them to color code to the diagram on the core support. Everything is also getting high temp sleeving for added protection and to tidy up the engine compartment. I may splice out and rewire the compartment so everything runs down the fenders and fire wall in the future. Maybe add some water tight plugs instead of splices and make a patch harness which would allow for easier future modification or restoration and troubleshooting.

Working down the wire harnesses to check their status I found some troubling issues. I cannot remember off the top of my head if this splice goes to the coolant temp sensor or the AC compressor. The previous owner had the AC compressor disconnected because supposedly it didn't work. I don't know why he just didn't leave it off but I am sure ill find out when I get to that point. Using the EVTM off this website I identified it as splice 276. So off to work I went, adding a bit of wire, fixing the splice and sleeving the lot when satisfied.

[Danny G]

I'm going to type this on the computer and then probably just edit in the pictures from ye olde phone.

After I handled the charge issue, the next issue was it dying when putting it into gear or hitting the gas. It would die. With some help from snooping this forum and talking to the guys at the FTE boards we settled on vacuum issues. And boy did we find... many. The big one being the charcoal canister being unhooked but also found several on the "tree" behind the carb just unpluged.

Part of my reason for the 300 six was its reputation as a simple, durable engine that will be left running when its just cockroaches and fall out left.

My favorite quote is from a guy I was talking to about his truck, in short he said he could throw his 300 off the golden gate bridge, fish it out 10 years later and it would crank up and go to work. My friend has the sister truck to mine. Built on the same factory line in VA in the same month of the same year. Mine was chestnut, his was Blue, but in rough shape and no AC. He pulled that truck from a field where it had been sitting for more then a decade, hit it with some fresh gas and ether and drove it out of the field. My dad had the EFI version of the engine and the only thing that ever went bad was the thermostat.

With that said, part of the allurement of the 300 was it was mechanical and simple. I have never timed an engine etc and still need to learn BUT this is where I learned the truck has a computer.... queue shocking music.

I am focused on getting the truck restored and running to factory specs so I have clean slate knowing what is what. Modifying something like this when it already is out-of-sorts will just inevitably lead to head pounding frustration. I think my future plans included deleting the computer and reverting to mechanical only function.

I worked to plug all the holes and replaced bad vacuum lines with new silicone lines. I found these extra hoses on my carb, I think the previous owner may have replaced it with he wrong carb. I have yet to fully understand where these lines go on my feedback operated engine.

A couple of the silicone lines are visible here. I bought them to color code to the diagram on the core support. Everything is also getting high temp sleeving for added protection and to tidy up the engine compartment. I may splice out and rewire the compartment so everything runs down the fenders and fire wall in the future. Maybe add some water tight plugs instead of splices and make a patch harness which would allow for easier future modification or restoration and troubleshooting.

Working down the wire harnesses to check their status I found some troubling issues. I cannot remember off the top of my head if this splice goes to the coolant temp sensor or the AC compressor. The previous owner had the AC compressor disconnected because supposedly it didn't work. I don't know why he just didn't leave it off but I am sure ill find out when I get to that point. Using the EVTM off this website I identified it as splice 276. So off to work I went, adding a bit of wire, fixing the splice and sleeving the lot when satisfied.

I guess the next logical step in this catch up thread is the air cleaner. I am lucky enough to still have the hose from the intake box and also have the metal heat plate along the manifold. The air cleaner I feel like is wrong though, like not original to this model. You will see a picture of it with hoses on it after i cleaned it up that im sure is not right the sensor on the side is not on my vacuum diagram. my diagram shows a hose from the flapper, to the bi metal valve on the top then to the vacuum tree behind the carb.

Areas of concern. I had oil in my air box. The filter for the hose running to the breather was soaked in oil as well. The PCV was oil soaked and the breather and breather hose oil soaked. The valve cover was also loose enough I could take the bolts out by hand.

I removed the breather and tried to clean it up. I got nothing but bug parts non stop out of it. Two cans of cleaner later I exceeded the part value and was still getting junk out of it. I ordered a new stand alone breather filter. Removed the PCV it was moving but slowly. Chucked that one cleaned up the hoses and put a new pcv in. The bi metal valve was toast, rusted closed.

I already knew what I wanted on this breather... I ordered some Ford Blue and black duracoat, found a NOS bimetal valve on ebay and went to work stripping the box down.

While I was at it I was changing V belts and replacing the leaking thermostat housing and thermostat. Decided it needed a coat of paint to. It was too seized up to get apart so I bought a new elbow, housing, stat, gasket, and sensor. It doesn't hurt to replace old parts with new ones, especially if they are cheap. it gives a piece of mind aspect, and for me... I hate doing things twice or taking things back apart to get to something else. This is why the interior went full bore when I just needed door seals and seat belts to make it driveable, hence the specific mechanical work I was starting with. I just wanted to drive it for now. Well that didn't pan out.

With that in mind every step of the process is treat rust as we go. That includes the bolts. Each one that came off got cleaned up, treated and painted.

Next bit of inspiration came when digging around I spotted the Ford script on the valve cover. So off she came. The old cork gasket was in three pieces... yep.. the PO definitely replaced this... Stripped it down and sealed it with corroseal, and made what I visualized come together. Some Aluminum color and black duracoat. It was not until after this I learned a few hard lessons Corroseal is not intended for high temperature areas and the brush strokes will show through... but I don't think you can really sand it because it would seem reasonable you would void any rust protection it offered. IF YOU CAN sand it someone let me know. If not in the future ill use it in spray or roller application.

You'll notice I already did wires and rotor cap and plugs. This was part of the prompt to pull the Valve Cover as I found some oil on the rear plugs. I also found that when cyl 1 is TDC(best i can tell) the rotor points to the factory location for cyl 5. So i relabeled the cap. This kind of thing will drive me a bit OCD and I don't fully understand timing and how all this works yet. But once I am back to working on the engine I am going to want to fix this so the rotor posts are in he right locations per the manual.

Super clean is some great stuff and cheap. Using it straight will strip paint and the grease off of this cover. This cover was originally gray and had the ford part number label on the back still.

lots of brush work to get the rust out of all the nooks.

Its time to make that inspiration a reality, and my 3yo son decided he wanted to help. Painters tape, an Xacto knife and a boneing tool from my leather working kit to make this work.

a little minor touch up with a detail brush and its right as rain.

 

[Danny G]

I guess the next logical step in this catch up thread is the air cleaner. I am lucky enough to still have the hose from the intake box and also have the metal heat plate along the manifold. The air cleaner I feel like is wrong though, like not original to this model. You will see a picture of it with hoses on it after i cleaned it up that im sure is not right the sensor on the side is not on my vacuum diagram. my diagram shows a hose from the flapper, to the bi metal valve on the top then to the vacuum tree behind the carb.

Areas of concern. I had oil in my air box. The filter for the hose running to the breather was soaked in oil as well. The PCV was oil soaked and the breather and breather hose oil soaked. The valve cover was also loose enough I could take the bolts out by hand.

I removed the breather and tried to clean it up. I got nothing but bug parts non stop out of it. Two cans of cleaner later I exceeded the part value and was still getting junk out of it. I ordered a new stand alone breather filter. Removed the PCV it was moving but slowly. Chucked that one cleaned up the hoses and put a new pcv in. The bi metal valve was toast, rusted closed.

I already knew what I wanted on this breather... I ordered some Ford Blue and black duracoat, found a NOS bimetal valve on ebay and went to work stripping the box down.

While I was at it I was changing V belts and replacing the leaking thermostat housing and thermostat. Decided it needed a coat of paint to. It was too seized up to get apart so I bought a new elbow, housing, stat, gasket, and sensor. It doesn't hurt to replace old parts with new ones, especially if they are cheap. it gives a piece of mind aspect, and for me... I hate doing things twice or taking things back apart to get to something else. This is why the interior went full bore when I just needed door seals and seat belts to make it driveable, hence the specific mechanical work I was starting with. I just wanted to drive it for now. Well that didn't pan out.

With that in mind every step of the process is treat rust as we go. That includes the bolts. Each one that came off got cleaned up, treated and painted.

Next bit of inspiration came when digging around I spotted the Ford script on the valve cover. So off she came. The old cork gasket was in three pieces... yep.. the PO definitely replaced this... Stripped it down and sealed it with corroseal, and made what I visualized come together. Some Aluminum color and black duracoat. It was not until after this I learned a few hard lessons Corroseal is not intended for high temperature areas and the brush strokes will show through... but I don't think you can really sand it because it would seem reasonable you would void any rust protection it offered. IF YOU CAN sand it someone let me know. If not in the future ill use it in spray or roller application.

You'll notice I already did wires and rotor cap and plugs. This was part of the prompt to pull the Valve Cover as I found some oil on the rear plugs. I also found that when cyl 1 is TDC(best i can tell) the rotor points to the factory location for cyl 5. So i relabeled the cap. This kind of thing will drive me a bit OCD and I don't fully understand timing and how all this works yet. But once I am back to working on the engine I am going to want to fix this so the rotor posts are in he right locations per the manual.

Super clean is some great stuff and cheap. Using it straight will strip paint and the grease off of this cover. This cover was originally gray and had the ford part number label on the back still.

lots of brush work to get the rust out of all the nooks.

Its time to make that inspiration a reality, and my 3yo son decided he wanted to help. Painters tape, an Xacto knife and a boneing tool from my leather working kit to make this work.

a little minor touch up with a detail brush and its right as rain.

Valve Cover goes back in.

The gasket was a Mahle rubber/cork with metal carrier. Very easy to work with, no flopping around. Installed with the ever excellent Permatex No. 3 Sealant, not gasket maker. I am almost positive this is why the water outlet gasket failed. The previous owner installed it with a die cut gasket that had permatex gasket maker on both sides. Paper gaskets and permatex don't really mix IMHO, use one or the other. The paper gasket separated between the gasket maker and leaking ensued. I think people also don't think about squeeze out. The amount of sealant you need is very very minimal on aircraft we put that thin, like half the thickness of a credit card. And even then you get squeeze out. But with squeeze out its going to push all directions available which means INSIDE your engine as well as out. If you see a bead on the outside, you can bet your paycheck there is an equal amount on the other side of the mating surface.

But you just used Permatex sealant... yep it is not gasket maker its gasket sealer, it does not dry, and I put it on thin. Where gasket sealer flexes and peels over time, gasket sealer allows he gasket to do its job while filling any imperfections, it does not peel.

That Spectre oil cap has got to go. I ordered one that has "OIL" and the bottle on it. New grommets installed for the breather filter and pcv.

The entire engine bay, wire harnesses around the lights etc have this thick layer of gunk... i think its from oil? I am not sure, it has definitely preserved the integrity of the truck, but I am worried why it is here in the first place.

[Dorsai]

The entire engine bay, wire harnesses around the lights etc have this thick layer of gunk... i think its from oil? I am not sure, it has definitely preserved the integrity of the truck, but I am worried why it is here in the first place.

Is it perhaps mildew? After parking my truck outside for most of the last 5 years I had an amazing layer of mildew in the engine bay, although in my case the worst of it was on the underside of the hood. Ten minutes with the pressure washer and things were MUCH improved.

[Danny G]

Valve Cover goes back in.

The gasket was a Mahle rubber/cork with metal carrier. Very easy to work with, no flopping around. Installed with the ever excellent Permatex No. 3 Sealant, not gasket maker. I am almost positive this is why the water outlet gasket failed. The previous owner installed it with a die cut gasket that had permatex gasket maker on both sides. Paper gaskets and permatex don't really mix IMHO, use one or the other. The paper gasket separated between the gasket maker and leaking ensued. I think people also don't think about squeeze out. The amount of sealant you need is very very minimal on aircraft we put that thin, like half the thickness of a credit card. And even then you get squeeze out. But with squeeze out its going to push all directions available which means INSIDE your engine as well as out. If you see a bead on the outside, you can bet your paycheck there is an equal amount on the other side of the mating surface.

But you just used Permatex sealant... yep it is not gasket maker its gasket sealer, it does not dry, and I put it on thin. Where gasket sealer flexes and peels over time, gasket sealer allows he gasket to do its job while filling any imperfections, it does not peel.

That Spectre oil cap has got to go. I ordered one that has "OIL" and the bottle on it. New grommets installed for the breather filter and pcv.

The entire engine bay, wire harnesses around the lights etc have this thick layer of gunk... i think its from oil? I am not sure, it has definitely preserved the integrity of the truck, but I am worried why it is here in the first place.

Making a new fuel line.

The fuel line between the pump and the carb was bent out of shape pretty bad. I rotated the fuel pump top a little struggling to get it off. Time to learn a new skill... pipe bending.

Bought a straightener, fittings, pup, cutter, flareing tool... that failed then bought this inline flare tool, and bender and started learning lessons.

After scrapping a couple runs of pipe for silly mistakes I finally got my new fuel tube bent.

There are correction factor formulas for bending tube 90 and 45 degrees. I am working with 5/16 tube so my 90 degree correction factor is 0.297". Basically you measure all your centerline's and then multiply .297 by the number of 90's then add that to your centerline totals. Then add extra to that for your overall rough cut length.

I'm working with coiled tube so I want extra for goof ups, but also after straightening, the ends of the tube should be cut off about an inch back to be sure it is as straight as possible.

Tools and Materials

-5/16 tube

-Flare fittings

-Double flare tool capable of bening your pipe

-Debur/chamfer tool or cogsdill if you have one.

-5mm allen socket and 3/8 ratchet (for setting up my flare tool)

-Wire brush for cleaning out the flare tool grip

-Rule (lost mine used a measuring tape instead but a steel rule is best)

-wrench for the fittings and flare tool

-tube straightener

-vise

-tube bender

Pencil or sharpie

Uncoil and rough measure your tube and begin running it through the straightener, rotating as necessary and adjusting pressure until the tube is straight. Then cut off about 1" from the end and debur/chamfer. You will probably see some minor bends at the end of the tube here you can't pull out, this is why we are whacking off an inch or so.

Make the first flare and install the fitting. I chose the end that hooks to the pump because it was the longest first run and allowed me to have room to make the first bend without having an interference with the fitting. Do not forget the fitting. If you make the first bend after the flare, start over, you won't get the 90 out.

"But I'll just do the fittings last..." Yes you could do this but having one done allows us to dry fit the tube in the truck as we go to check alignment.

Before you start making the flare use a pencil or sharpie to mark the back of the tool. This will allow you to see if the tube is slipping excessively and stop before you get to far. After the flare is done use the brush to clean out the flare too grip area. Inevitably some metal shavings will be here. Making another flare with these in place can damage the tool.

(Picture is of my final flare)

Measure your first centerline and mark the tube on what will be the outside curve of the bend. If you mark the tube this way, you will always bend the tube in the correct direction especially on those bends that do not intersect the tube plane at 90 degrees. The final bend that goes to my carb is like this. It is a 90ish degree bend that intersects the tubes plane around 55 degrees.

My tool was not capable of making two 90 degree bends 1 3/4" apart like the factory tube. I destroyed my first tube by flattening the previous 90. To make up for this I had to make this part longer by 5/8" then compensate on the length of tube going the other direction.

Dry fit the tube after each bend (this is why the first fitting is on.) So you can gauge if anything is off it also helps to compare to the original.

This last bend is one where marking the tube on the outside curve of the bend and dry fitting both help you make sure you are heading in the right direction. You can bend tub more, but going back after a significant bend is not gonna happen. You can also take a scrap piece of pipe and install it on the fuel filter here and use it to mark the point where it intersects the new tube.

Additional bends were made. And a little hand adjustment to get the tube just right. Use a fitting to check final alignment.

Before you make your final cut do not forget to compensate for the flare. Measure your centerline then add in the flare adapter length, then cut. Once you have that make the final cut and dry fit one last time. Then do the final flare and go put her on.

I took it off and gave her a good coat of black paint, cant seem to find that picture right now.

 

[Danny G]

The entire engine bay, wire harnesses around the lights etc have this thick layer of gunk... i think its from oil? I am not sure, it has definitely preserved the integrity of the truck, but I am worried why it is here in the first place.

Is it perhaps mildew? After parking my truck outside for most of the last 5 years I had an amazing layer of mildew in the engine bay, although in my case the worst of it was on the underside of the hood. Ten minutes with the pressure washer and things were MUCH improved.

That is an interesting thought, I have seen truck here with mildew and algae. But its almost like tar.

[Danny G]

The entire engine bay, wire harnesses around the lights etc have this thick layer of gunk... i think its from oil? I am not sure, it has definitely preserved the integrity of the truck, but I am worried why it is here in the first place.

Is it perhaps mildew? After parking my truck outside for most of the last 5 years I had an amazing layer of mildew in the engine bay, although in my case the worst of it was on the underside of the hood. Ten minutes with the pressure washer and things were MUCH improved.

That is an interesting thought, I have seen truck here with mildew and algae. But its almost like tar.

Special internet high five to anyone who can tell me what "Hook 'em Up Loose" means and where it came from.