WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[salans7]

Shaun - You do have some work to do to replace those panels. But, I agree it should be done.

Gary and all others reading:

But therein lies my question. What do you guys think the best course of action is for fixing this? I'm leaning towards a patch panel from another cab, and welding that in place of what is corroded. Any other options? The section of the cab that the rear cab bolts go through is slightly corroded as well where it meets the back wall, so I will need to patch that as well although the main issue with that section is serious pitting and not giant gaping holes like the rear wall.

For now I've wire wheeled the entire area and laid some paint to slow down the rust.

Is this the part?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1980-89-FORD-TRUCK-REAR-CAB-PANEL-F100-350/223125760396?epid=20021457856&hash=item33f354e98c:g:cTYAAOSwJRxbSmze

Dave, thank you for the offer but I am in Florida so I'm pretty far from NC.

Is this the part?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1980-89-FORD-TRUCK-REAR-CAB-PANEL-F100-350/223125760396?epid=20021457856&hash=item33f354e98c:g:cTYAAOSwJRxbSmze

Yep, that's it. But @ $169 and considering I only need the bottom 5% of that panel, it's probably gonna be cheaper to just hand form the patch I need out of some sheet steel.

[Dorsai]

Dave, thank you for the offer but I am in Florida so I'm pretty far from NC.

Is this the part?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1980-89-FORD-TRUCK-REAR-CAB-PANEL-F100-350/223125760396?epid=20021457856&hash=item33f354e98c:g:cTYAAOSwJRxbSmze

Yep, that's it. But @ $169 and considering I only need the bottom 5% of that panel, it's probably gonna be cheaper to just hand form the patch I need out of some sheet steel.

Aside from an oil change this weekend (which I'm going to make my son do as part of his Automotive Maintenance merit badge for Boy Scouts), I've run out of major things to do to my truck for the time being. So now it's time to take care of a minor item...

Like all of the other plastic in my truck, my fan shroud is in the process of decomposing back into the petroleum from whence it came. A few weeks ago when I was removing it to get to my crankshaft pulley, one of the mounting tabs disintegrated as soon as I touched the bolt:

Fortunately I had some bits of aluminum bar stock left over from our robot project, so today I cut, drilled, and painted myself a new tab. It looks ghetto, but at least I have a shroud again:

 

[1986F150Six]

Aside from an oil change this weekend (which I'm going to make my son do as part of his Automotive Maintenance merit badge for Boy Scouts), I've run out of major things to do to my truck for the time being. So now it's time to take care of a minor item...

Like all of the other plastic in my truck, my fan shroud is in the process of decomposing back into the petroleum from whence it came. A few weeks ago when I was removing it to get to my crankshaft pulley, one of the mounting tabs disintegrated as soon as I touched the bolt:

Fortunately I had some bits of aluminum bar stock left over from our robot project, so today I cut, drilled, and painted myself a new tab. It looks ghetto, but at least I have a shroud again:

Ford strong! Good job!

[Gary Lewis]

Aside from an oil change this weekend (which I'm going to make my son do as part of his Automotive Maintenance merit badge for Boy Scouts), I've run out of major things to do to my truck for the time being. So now it's time to take care of a minor item...

Like all of the other plastic in my truck, my fan shroud is in the process of decomposing back into the petroleum from whence it came. A few weeks ago when I was removing it to get to my crankshaft pulley, one of the mounting tabs disintegrated as soon as I touched the bolt:

Fortunately I had some bits of aluminum bar stock left over from our robot project, so today I cut, drilled, and painted myself a new tab. It looks ghetto, but at least I have a shroud again:

Well done, Matthew.

[fords4life]

If you can go newer, at a minimum, I would go up to maybe a 1990/1991 system, you can still use your wiring harness with a couple of changes (see the pinouts page) and the EGR system is simpler (only one control valve). Everything else is pretty much the same, so a visual inspection will pass, only obvious real change is the O2 sensor, instead of being in the back of the right exhaust manifold, it moves under the truck to the exhaust pipe behind the Y so it samples both banks and is heated for faster light-off.

Any idea what the firing order is or when it changed on the 302? I have figured out that it changed, but haven't figured out exactly when yet. I need to make sure if I do go with a newer style that I get one with the correct firing order to match how the injectors get fired from the computer and match my current distributor.

Starting to wonder if I should just stay with an '86 block to avoid any little detail issues I'm unaware of.....

 

[85lebaront2]

If you can go newer, at a minimum, I would go up to maybe a 1990/1991 system, you can still use your wiring harness with a couple of changes (see the pinouts page) and the EGR system is simpler (only one control valve). Everything else is pretty much the same, so a visual inspection will pass, only obvious real change is the O2 sensor, instead of being in the back of the right exhaust manifold, it moves under the truck to the exhaust pipe behind the Y so it samples both banks and is heated for faster light-off.

Any idea what the firing order is or when it changed on the 302? I have figured out that it changed, but haven't figured out exactly when yet. I need to make sure if I do go with a newer style that I get one with the correct firing order to match how the injectors get fired from the computer and match my current distributor.

Starting to wonder if I should just stay with an '86 block to avoid any little detail issues I'm unaware of.....

Trucks changed in 1994 from 15426378 to 13726548 as long as you (a) run the wires correctly and (b) if you go to MAF/SEFI have the correct injector firing order, no problems. If you stick with Speed Density Bank Fired, it doesn't matter on the injectors.

[grumpin]

Aside from an oil change this weekend (which I'm going to make my son do as part of his Automotive Maintenance merit badge for Boy Scouts), I've run out of major things to do to my truck for the time being. So now it's time to take care of a minor item...

Like all of the other plastic in my truck, my fan shroud is in the process of decomposing back into the petroleum from whence it came. A few weeks ago when I was removing it to get to my crankshaft pulley, one of the mounting tabs disintegrated as soon as I touched the bolt:

Fortunately I had some bits of aluminum bar stock left over from our robot project, so today I cut, drilled, and painted myself a new tab. It looks ghetto, but at least I have a shroud again:

Good job! Personally I don’t think that’s ghetto. I like it!

[fords4life]

Trucks changed in 1994 from 15426378 to 13726548 as long as you (a) run the wires correctly and (b) if you go to MAF/SEFI have the correct injector firing order, no problems. If you stick with Speed Density Bank Fired, it doesn't matter on the injectors.

Sorry for the 99 questions, but I'm used to working on my 7.3 powerstroke. lol

So I looked up SDBF because I never did understand how the 8 injectors were firing with only 2 outputs from the computer. Now I get it. That being said, I think I have it figured out....Maybe

I can go with a '94 block so I get the higher flowing heads and roller cam, leave the '86 manifolds and injection system on with no issues. At some point in the future, I can convert to a '94 computer, re-pin the PCM plug for the 28 pinouts that are different and convert over to SEFI with the MAF setup and swap around the spark plug wires on the distributor so everything fires in the correct order. That takes care of the engine side and then I'll have to figure out the dash at that point too. At least the trans is easy since I have a manual.

Only question. If I maintain the same fuel, but have higher flowing heads, am I going to have any issues with A/F ratio?

[Gary Lewis]

Sorry for the 99 questions, but I'm used to working on my 7.3 powerstroke. lol

So I looked up SDBF because I never did understand how the 8 injectors were firing with only 2 outputs from the computer. Now I get it. That being said, I think I have it figured out....Maybe

I can go with a '94 block so I get the higher flowing heads and roller cam, leave the '86 manifolds and injection system on with no issues. At some point in the future, I can convert to a '94 computer, re-pin the PCM plug for the 28 pinouts that are different and convert over to SEFI with the MAF setup and swap around the spark plug wires on the distributor so everything fires in the correct order. That takes care of the engine side and then I'll have to figure out the dash at that point too. At least the trans is easy since I have a manual.

Only question. If I maintain the same fuel, but have higher flowing heads, am I going to have any issues with A/F ratio?

First, the firing order is determined by the cam, not the computer on the EEC-IV and V systems. (Yes, the computer can fire individual cylinders when you get to coil-on-plug ignitions, but not on these.) So the spark plug wiring order will come with the engine.

As for higher flowing heads, that may be a problem. The issue is that the Speed Density systems have a table that tells the computer if the engine is spinning this fast and the air is this dense then it just ingested this much air. But if you change anything in the air inlet system the answer will be wrong.

However, the computer is also sampling the air/fuel ratio and has some ability to trim the amount of fuel injected if it finds out that the AFR is lean due to more air than expected coming in. But I don't know if it has enough adjustment range to accommodate the higher-flowing heads. Perhaps someone else does?

[85lebaront2]

Sorry for the 99 questions, but I'm used to working on my 7.3 powerstroke. lol

So I looked up SDBF because I never did understand how the 8 injectors were firing with only 2 outputs from the computer. Now I get it. That being said, I think I have it figured out....Maybe

I can go with a '94 block so I get the higher flowing heads and roller cam, leave the '86 manifolds and injection system on with no issues. At some point in the future, I can convert to a '94 computer, re-pin the PCM plug for the 28 pinouts that are different and convert over to SEFI with the MAF setup and swap around the spark plug wires on the distributor so everything fires in the correct order. That takes care of the engine side and then I'll have to figure out the dash at that point too. At least the trans is easy since I have a manual.

Only question. If I maintain the same fuel, but have higher flowing heads, am I going to have any issues with A/F ratio?

First, the firing order is determined by the cam, not the computer on the EEC-IV and V systems. (Yes, the computer can fire individual cylinders when you get to coil-on-plug ignitions, but not on these.) So the spark plug wiring order will come with the engine.

As for higher flowing heads, that may be a problem. The issue is that the Speed Density systems have a table that tells the computer if the engine is spinning this fast and the air is this dense then it just ingested this much air. But if you change anything in the air inlet system the answer will be wrong.

However, the computer is also sampling the air/fuel ratio and has some ability to trim the amount of fuel injected if it finds out that the AFR is lean due to more air than expected coming in. But I don't know if it has enough adjustment range to accommodate the higher-flowing heads. Perhaps someone else does?

If you stay with the Speed Density system, it should adjust to the higher flow as the system uses two different control methods, first uses the O2 sensor(s) to adjust the mixture to the desired air/fuel ratio for best emission performance, the second is WOT control, this isn't necessarily full throttle, but is a point at which the computer says "hey, more fuel is needed" under this condition the system uses pre-programmed tables for fuel, spark advance etc. The two main inputs used are throttle opening and manifold absolute pressure. If the MAP signal stays low due to higher flow heads, intake and exhaust system, then the fuel will be delivered.

If you go to a Mass Air Flow system two items of concern, first, the EEC-IV computers can not be reprogrammed, but an add on device, such as a TwEECer or Moates Quarter Horse will allow changes to be made, they modify the EECs programming by essentially replacing the EPROM with one in their board or attachment. This will allow a later computer with the 13726548 firing order to be used on an engine with the 15426378 firing order (I actually started on mine with that idea).

An EEC-V (1996 up) can be reflashed using a laptop (maybe a tablet by now) and a pass-through cable that provides the 18V signal to put the computer in the flash mode. Core Tuning sells an excellent package and has some pretty good support. There are other companies that also do this. There are aftermarket sources for EFI systems, but many actually only build throttle body injection systems, which in my opinion are not as good as the factory units.

One additional item, starting in 1990, Ford relocated the ignition module from the side of the distributor to the left rear of the inner fender getting it away from the engine heat. I highly recommend anyone doing upgrades to early EFI systems do that.